*NOTE: The review contains spoilers for the episode and light references to the books.
I think it’s safe to say that Winter has officially come in Westeros (that wasn’t a sex joke but it sure could have been one). It was snowing in pretty much every scene that took place in the North, and Stannis’ march to Winterfell was halted by the stuff. It’s been quite a while since we’ve really seen anything going on north of The Wall, and the White Walkers have been completely absent this season so far, but I don’t think that’s going to hold out much longer. The common mantra has been that once Winter fully hits Westeros, that’s when shit’s really going to hit the fan. This episode was jam-packed with stuff, but it didn’t feel overly confusing or rushed. I think not adding Arya to the mix helped with that. In Westeros, there are two main story arcs going on right now: Tyrell vs Lannister, and Stannis vs Boltons.
On the King’s Landing side, we got a lot of the High Sparrow this week, and both of his scenes were brilliant. He’s not someone that Olenna can buy, but that works both ways. Cersei can’t buy him either, as seen with her meeting the same fate as Margaery at the end of the episode. I was a little bummed that we didn’t end the episode on Tyrion’s epic reveal, but more on that later. The moments of justice in Westeros are so few and far between that they really stand out in one’s memory. Joffrey’s death, Janos Slynt’s beheading, the slave masters burning alive by dragon fire, and now, Cersei being locked the hell up. Her rap sheet is much longer than Margaery’s, but I’ll be interested to see how many people come forward to tell the truth beside little Lancel.
Up North, Jon has left The Wall, leaving Sam to try and keep things together, made even harder by the passing of Maester Aemon. His final scene was particularly touching, especially knowing his past. It’s sad that he’ll never get to see his niece, Dany. Poor Sam tried to stand up for Gilly, but he just does not have what it takes. I’m glad Ghost came in at the end, it wouldn’t have been believable for Sam to have overpowered both of them, and I definitely know that the Game of Thrones audience couldn’t handle another girl being sexually assaulted. Important to note now that Ghost isn’t with Jon, so whatever craziness he gets himself into north of The Wall, he’s alone. But hey, at least Sam got a little action, and it was about as awkward as you’d expect.
Stannis’ epic march to Winterfell sure didn’t last long, did it? He’s caught in a tough spot, but you sure can’t fault the decisions he’s made and continues to make. He can’t go back to The Wall. If he does, he’ll be retreating yet again, and he may end up stuck there for the entire winter. And if he continues on, he may just end up stuck in the snow somewhere without cover, which surely means death. And even if he does make it to Winterfell, his men would hardly be fighting fit. Plus a large part of his force just abandoned him, and his supplies are running out. His assured victory doesn’t seem so assured anymore. I’ll be curious to see how his resolve holds up when it comes to not sacrificing his daughter. He’s sacrificed everything else to get to where he is now, it’s kind of become too late to really draw a line. It can already be hard to root for the guy, but he obviously wins the popularity contest against the Boltons. But if he killed his only daughter? He’d be yet another character the audience would hate to see win.
Now, onto Dany and her continued “do nothing and complain about everything” attitude. First off, let’s all just acknowledge that there is NO REASON for her to have gone out to some hicksville fighting pit training ground, but she needed to be there for the sake of the plot, so whatever. And then she has the gall to sit there and whine that she doesn’t support this and she has better things to do. One, she opened the fighting pits back up. Might as well embrace it now. And two, what better things do you have to do? Sit on your throne and not make decisions? In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not a huge fan of Dany these days. Her character just isn’t very well written anymore. In one scene, she’s a complete badass, feeding dudes to her dragons to try and get information out of them, and in the next, she’s cuddled up with Daario, swooning over THOSE ABS THO. It’s inconsistent and lame. BUT, I did like that she didn’t take Jorah back. After losing Ser Barristan, almost losing Grey Worm, and after seeing Jorah beat a bunch of dudes without killing them, she still wasn’t ready to forgive him. Chick holds a grudge, but maybe Tyrion’s silver tongue will make her chill out a bit. I seriously can’t wait to see their first scene together. That part of the story has now moved past the books, and I’m super pumped about it.
Finally, there’s one last thing I wanted to talk about, dealing with this episode and the show as a whole. It’s a bit of a diatribe, so please forgive me. I want to talk about the seeming over-sexualization of some characters, the show’s attitude on sexual violence, and the audience’s reaction to both things. Game of Thrones is a world where men and women are not equal. And they aren’t “not equal” in the ways that people say men and women aren’t equal in America. Game of Thrones is a world where a man or men can rape a woman and basically fear no consequences from it (if you’re about to say “men don’t have to fear those consequences in America, either,” take a breath and think about what you’re saying). Last episode ended with Sansa being raped, and that was hardly the first on-screen instance of it. Last season there was that highly discussed scene with Jaime and Cersei on top of Joffrey’s dead body. The Sansa scene specifically didn’t bother me at all (other than being bothered by the simple fact that an innocent character was having her innocence stripped from her rather violently). That scene served the story, and it served the development of all three characters involved. Ramsay continued to be a monster, Sansa’s “tough girl” attitude upon reaching Winterfell quickly went away, but she also gained strength in that she was willing to undergo such an awful ordeal, knowing that she’d have the opportunity for justice in the future, and Reek proved that Theon no longer exists, as was echoed in this episode by the business with the candle. So, this sexual violence that so offends people is kind of doing its job correctly. The viewer is supposed to be horrified. The difference is that people are increasingly being horrified by the writers, not of the characters, and I think that’s because people are projecting their modern attitudes towards feminism or sex in general onto something that clearly doesn’t follow the same rules.
HOWEVER, the over-sexualization of the show is reaching critical mass, and it’s starting to offend even me, and I’m not someone who’s easily offended. Game of Thrones has always shown a lot of skin, that’s one of the reasons why it’s on HBO in the first place. This is a very sexy world, and the show shouldn’t have to censor that. But, as I’d argue that the sexual violence supports the story and the characters, things like the scene between Bronn and Sand Snake #3 (because seriously, have we even heard any of their names this season?) do not serve the plot and do not serve the characters. Let’s break that scene down a little bit. What was the point of the scene, from a writing perspective? I’d think it’s that Bronn is a beloved character from the audience, but rarely is he even in any real danger due to his generally badass nature. So here, we’ll take him to the brink of death. And you know what? Let’s have it caused by one of the Sand Snakes! That’ll make them really seem dangerous. And that’s all well and good. So then why did she have to strip down naked, and why did we need like ten uninterrupted seconds of boobage? We already know Bronn gets weak in the knees for a hot lady, and the poison wasn’t caused by him being turned on, so it adds nothing for that character. It does add something for Sand Snake #3, mostly because we know almost nothing about her character in the first place. But now, all I know about her is that she’s either just a big liar, or is super vain, neither of which are very important characteristics. And Bronn being in a cell, almost dying and then not, doesn’t do anything for the story, either. It’s a pointless scene, and that’s when I have an issue.
So, Game of Thrones, keep the sexiness and the really super messed up abusiveness when it serves a purpose, but lose it when there isn’t one. It won’t stop people from being over-sensitive, but it’ll help when there are fewer things to complain about.