(This review contains
spoilers from episode 6 and A Dance of Dragons)
This week's episode of
Game of Thrones takes its
title from the words of House Martell. Which is odd, given that House
Martell do very little here. In fact, the Martells have done very
little this season. With all the hype surrounding Oberyn and his
shocking death last year, I would have thought the Sand Snakes' plan
for revenge would have been a major force behind this season, to draw
in as many viewers as possible.
I
said previously that the Sand Snakes made little impression on me in
the books, and it's very much the case here. I only remember one of
their names, we haven't seen enough of them to give them any
distinctive personalities, and at this stage I coudn't even tell them
apart. Prince Doran has also been given the short end of the stick
here. The waste of Alexander Siddig is absolutely shameful. We've
only had two scenes with him so far, and his ideological clash with
Ellaria has only been briefly alluded to. I imagine the people that
haven't read A Feast for Crows
don't give a shit about this guy who seems to sit around doing
nothing. Given Doran's duplicitousness makes him the most fascinating
character of this subplot, that's practically criminal neglect on
part of the show.
On
the whole, Dorne has been very underdeveloped this season. It's the
sad reality of adapting a story to a new medium – the books don't
have to worry about budgets or shooting schedules or paying multiple
actors or fitting the story into a ten-hour structure per year. I'm
sure this is why the Greyjoy and Riverlands subplots have also been
completely excised. At this stage, Jaime and Bronn are just enough to
keep me invested, but I certainly hope to see more effort in the
coming weeks.
I was
glad to see the return of Diana Rigg, once again playing Olenna
Tyrrell. It was also interesting to watch her sharp exchange with
Cersei, and Cersei's apparent victory over the Tyrrells at the trial.
What's interesting about this portion of the episode is the way
Cersei is presented to the viewer – she comes across as a
terrifying leader on par with Olenna or even her own father in terms
of ruthlessness and cunning. She appears to have crushed the Tyrrells
by convicting both Ser Loras and the queen herself of sins against
the Seven. She also orders a mission to Winterfell to execute Sansa
and mop up the North once the Boltons and Baratheons have wiped each
other out.
Of
course, it's clear that all Cersei is doing is dragging House
Lannister further and further down. Not only does she swallow
Littlefinger's story hook line and sinker, but she also causes a
division with the Tyrrells at a time when the Lannisters need allies
more than ever. There's Stannis in the North, a potentially
rebellious North who could ally with him, and a Targeryen to the east
who plans to marry into one of Meereen's oldest families. The episode
never makes it explicit that Cersei's plans are heading for ruin, and
in this way the episode reflects Cersei's own delusionment and
vanity.
I was
a little puzzled by Loras' interrogation, where they bring in his
lover Olyvar, who reveals not only that they slept with each other
repeatedly, but that Margaery was well aware of it. Olyvar confesses
all this very openly, the implication being that the Faith have
bribed him. What makes it odd is that Oliver is also confessing his
own homosexuality. What's to stop the Faith from betraying him
once he's served his purpose? It would have made more sense if Olyvar
had been beaten and tortured to coerce him into confessing. Perhaps
it was done to feed into the general backstabbing nature of the show,
but it still comes across as odd.
Speaking
of backstabbing, Littlefinger reveals his real plan (as
opposed to all his other real plans so far) to become Warden
of the North, by presumably betraying Sansa and handing her over to
Cersei. Honestly, I have no clue what this guy's endgame is and I'm
starting to think even he doesn't even know. At this stage, I'm not
sure Littlefinger is out for power as such; I think it's more
that he wants to show those pompus highborns how weak their system is
by ruthlessly exploiting it. His vying to become Warden of North is
certainly as much about delivering yet another posthumous “screw
you” to Ned, as it is a strategic gambit. I don't even think
Littlefinger honestly cares about ruling the Seven Kingdoms.
He probably just wants to seize the Iron Throne for the sake of
seizing it, not holding on to it.
One
change from the books that I think does help is the expanded
relationship between Tyrion and Ser Jorah. As I said before, the two
are very similar and this episode expands on that as the two discuss
the future if Daenerys becomes Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Jorah
going from a cynic to an idealist raises the possibility that Tyrion
could go the same way. Then again, Tyrion's fortunes get considerably
worse in this episode, so that's really no guarantee of any
transformation.
Tyrion
also raises a very interesting question: How good would Daenerys
really be for Westeros? Daenerys may have grand ambitions, but her conquest of
Meereen isn't going as well as she'd hoped – what's to say that
Westeros won't rebel against her in the same way?
In
Braavos, Arya's plot finally shows some progression when Jaqen H'gar
decides to send her out in disguise to carry out the Faceless Mens'
duties. I admit this plotline hasn't really grabbed me so far, as it
hasn't consisted of much beyond Arya cleaning floors and corpses,
with the occasional cryptic remark from Jaqen or the other serving
girl. This week we see Arya continuing to lie about her identity,
claiming to a sick girl that her own father brought her to the House
of Black and White to find a cure for her. It was a great moment
because even though the story itself was a lie, it was built on a
certain truth: Ned Stark really did love his children and would
certainly have done anything to protect them from harm. It's nice to
get moments like this and the earlier one with Needle to show that
Arya still has connections with home, despite her constant claims to
be “No one”.
Another
nice touch was the mention of Sandor Clegane and the revelation that
Arya didn't actually hate him. However that doesn't explain why she
left him to die in the mountains instead of putting him out of his
misery. That's one thing that definitely needs to be addressed, as it
leaves this particular character moment feeling more confusing than
illuminating.
Of
course, the most talked-about portion of the episode is Sansa's
marriage to Ramsay. The depiction of the ceremony itself surprised
me. You would expect it to be a grim, bleak affair, but instead it's
conducted in the godswood with lanterns to give it an almost
fairytale vibe. The cruel irony is this is probably how Sansa
imagined her dream wedding – it's even happening in her own home.
We also see Sansa's harder side when she coldly dismissed Myranda's
attempts to frighten her, making for one of the most satisfying
scenes I've yet seen this season. But ultimately, all this is
undermined by what happens after the wedding, where Ramsay rapes
Sansa while forcing Theon to watch.
Sophie
Turner said this scene would be controversial, and it certainly seems
to have had that effect. There has already been talk of fans quitting
the show after what they see as tasteless exploitation of a harrowing
issue all for the sake of shock value. Honestly though, while the
scene is disturbing, I don't see how this is the moment where
people quit the show, when the show has arguably done far worse in
the past.
I
know Game of Thrones has been problematic in the past with its
depiction of women. The show leans very heavily on the male gaze,
happily showing breasts and vaginas but so far, not a single penis.
And of course there is Jaime's rape of Cersei, which was a huge
insult to the character and went against everything we've been led to
understand about him. While Jaime would happily murder a child to
keep his dirty little secret, it's been made clear that he would
never sexually violate a woman. Jaime may not be a good guy,
but at least he has a set of morals, which last year's episode
trampled all over.
But
by contrast, raping his bride is exactly the sort of thing you'd
expect from Ramsay Bolton. The scene was disturbing, but it was
completely within the spirit of the source material. Hell, the show's
version is actually more tasteful than the book's. At least
here, Ramsay doesn't force Theon to join in. I was surprised by that
omission, given how much Ramsay has enjoyed rubbing Theon's betrayal
in Sansa' face. I get the feeling that the backlash from Jaime's rape
of Cersei played a factor here. Perhaps D&D felt wary about
having another (sort of) sympathetic character rape someone, and they
left it out because the scene is unpleasant enough without it.
I'm
sure there are people who feel the use of rape was just as
exploitative in the book, and that perhaps D&D would have been
wiser to cut the whole thing. And maybe they would have. It's not as
if we didn't already know Ramsay is an evil shitheel. Then again,
Sansa being wed to Ramsay is an important plotpoint, and you couldn't
imagine Ramsay to be gentle in the bedroom. Even if Sansa never made
a sound, Ramsay would probably beat her viciously just to make her
suffer for his pleasure. The scene was definitely unpleasant, but I
don't see how the show could have avoided it. If other people feel
they can't watch anymore, that's their business, but I just don't see
how this scene is worse than some of the other horrific content we've
seen from this series.
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