Saturday, 21 May 2016

TV Review - Game of Thrones (S06E04) "The Book of the Stranger" (Spoilers)

The latest episode of Game of Thrones gives us one of the long-anticipated Stark reunions, with Sansa, Brienne and Pod meeting Jon at the wall. What I liked about Sansa reuniting with Jon was that it was not exactly the reunion one would have expected. We've never seen these two interact before, and one would think that Jon and Bran, or else Jon and Arya, or Sansa and Arya would have been more appropriate, given that we've seen those character interact before. This odd pairing also made the emotion of their reunion all the sweeter. With all the grim happenings of late, this show has been begging for a little happiness.

Jon and Sansa's dynamic here gives a glimpse into the past lives of the Starks, building on last week's flashback to the Tower of Joy. Learning his family is not completely dead gives Jon a purpose again, as he struggles with his second chance of life. But it's Sansa who's shown to have changed the most in this episode. This isn't just shown through her regret for looking down on Jon before, but also through her demands that they return to Winterfell with arms to save their home and their little brother. With Jon, Davos and Melisandre all adrift, not knowing what to do with their lives, it's Sansa who tries to provoke them to action. This suggests that Sansa may become more a political force in the future.

The ground is also laid for plenty of complications: how will the Watch react to the call to march south, when they know a much greater threat is building to the north? How will Sansa take it when she learns Jon has been resurrected through magic (it's unlikely she already knows, given that she's yet to encounter any supernatural forces, unlike her siblings)? How will Brienne react to Jon being a product of the same magic that killed Renly?

Meanwhile, there's another force preparing to march on Winterfell to the south. Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) returns to the Vale to persuade young Robert Arryn to mobilise to “save” Sansa, while also carrying out Littlefinger's plans to spread his influence to the north. Watching his standoff with Lord Royce made me wonder “What the heck is up with these guards?” First Dorne and now the Vale! What's with this sudden scourge of disloyalty guards have towards their employers? I'm starting to wonder if the Others cleansing Westeros would be such a bad thing, given how there's only about ten sympathetic characters left there.

I'm hoping the clash at Winterfell provides the catharsis denied in last year's anticlimactic Baratheon-Bolton showdown. Odds are at least one unpleasant character will be offed, perhaps Sansa killing Ramsay or Littlefinger, or Ramsay killing Littlefinger or Sweetrobin.

In King's Landing, we get another uncomfortable audience with the High Sparrow, this time as he tries to persuade Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) to confess her crimes. Pryce's benevolent smile throughout this whole scene continues to be one of the most unsettling things about this season, moreso than Ramsay in all his eye-bulging glory. The fact that his arguments about the nobility's debauchery carry a lot of weight only adds to the insidiousness of the character.

It's also a great scene for Dormer, who conveys through her huge doe-eyes that she's starting to be taken in by his arguments . . . only to show her real mettle when she tries to talk Loras into staying strong. Margaery's balance of firmness and humanity has made her one of the most fascinating characters on the show, and I hope she gets to do a lot more this season than just sit in a cell being lectured to.

From Cersei and Jaime alas, it's more of the same sniping with the small council and generally being ostracised by everyone. There is one tiny exception with the possibility of a brief alliance between the Lannisters and the Tyrells to undermine the Faith Militant's authority. These are two other characters that I hoped are utilised better in the second half of this season.

In Meereen, Tyrion is finally back in the saddle as he cuts a deal with the slavers to wean them off of slavery, rather than snatch it away from them like Daenerys tried to do. This subplot is based around the gap between compromise and ideals, with Tyrion being the pragmatic foil to Grey Worm's dogged loyalty to his queen, with Missandei mediating between them.

I have to say, I found Grey Worm and Missandei far more interesting in this one episode than I have in their three seasons on the show. For them, the deal with the slavers is of greater emotional significance, yet Tyrion (who's had plenty of experience working with and for people who despise him) can see the bigger picture and knows that compromise is sometimes needed. We never had this sort of ideological conflict when Daenerys was in charge. By being placed at odds with Tyrion, Grey Worm and Missandei are forced to assert themselves more, leading to more of their personalities being enforced into the show.

And speaking of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), whom I've avoided up until this point due to the lack of momentum in her subplot, well . . . it looks like we're back to the Season 1 finale all over again. Of all the characters in this show, Daenerys is the one I'm the least invested in. This is partially because all the show's attempts to make her impressive feel like Telling not Showing, and partially because Emilia Clarke just doesn't sell it for me. When she's supposed to look powerful and frightening as she burns the khals alive, she instead comes off as weirdly detached from everything.

I didn't dislike the climax to this episode, but I didn't feel much of anything else either. It was just a thing that happened. But I suppose the fact that Daenerys' plot is once again progressing could form some interesting conflict down the road.

My prediction for the rest of the season is that Daenerys will try to retake Meereen, and will be shocked and angered at Tyrion's compromise. Daenerys will try to have Drogon incinerate Tyrion, but Rhaegon and Viseryon (whom Tyrion released whereas Daeneys imprisoned them) will fight for Tyrion, leading to a showdown between the three dragons. Last season, Shireen Baratheon mentioned the bloody Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, which may have been a setup for a second Dance.


And no, that does not mean I hope Tyrion is secretly a Targaryen, although it might look a lot more likely if my prediction comes true.

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