JON SNOW WATCH: *sigh* Still dead....
Just a little explanation as to why I’m only now, six
seasons in, writing up reactions to Game of Thrones: up until this point, all I
would have been doing is pouring fuel on the substantial complaints fire with
respect to the deviations between the show and the books. As an avid reader and
a fan of George R.R. Martin (and as a frequent hater in general), I find meaningless deviations from the source
material to be annoying and disrespectful. Granted the novels are sprawling
epics so there’s no way they could accomplish filming it all even with an HBO
budget in the amount of time the actors are contracted for, so I fully
understand that fat needs to be trimmed and certain story lines won’t see
screen time. But Benioff and Weiss have cut waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many corners
and altered things excessively and we’re now completely off book in terms of
the show because there is no book to go off of (yet); therefore the show is divorced from any source material
I could be internally comparing it against so only now can it be truly assessed
on its own merits as a TV show. It’s no longer comparative: it stands alone
(until Martin finishes The Winds of Winter, anyway).
So we open right where we left off, on Jon Snow’s corpse at
Castle Black. I thought it fitting he be discovered by Davos (alerted by Ghost’s
howling), who was conveniently joined by Jon’s inner circle seconds later. I’m
still in the "Denial Phase" of Jon Snow’s death so I’m unconvinced he’s going to
stay dead in the truest sense of the word. I know the writers ruled out Jon
warging into Ghost (although based on what Bran learns in the books, a part of
you remains in the creatures you warg into even after you die!), so I guess we’re
supposed to still wonder if Melisandre is going to attempt to resurrect Jon.
Speaking of the Red Woman, I know the internet blew up when
we found out her face and boobs are a lie because she’s actually an old crone,
but that was one of the least exciting things in this episode IMO – and this
was an underwhelming one at that. It was an interesting reveal because to me it
signifies that she isn’t entirely full of shit – she can actually do magic, her
Priestess powers aren’t all smoke and mirrors. Were her series of epic prophecy-interpretation blunders to blame on all the energy she’s been wasting on
beauty glamours? Hmmm. Aside from giving the actress another excuse to be naked on
camera, I think the scene served to show that Melisandre is probably
questioning her powers or perhaps the degree to which the Lord of Light shows
her favor. I’m hoping her vision of Jon fighting at Winterfell is a true one
and that she’ll be able to bring him back a la Beric Dondarrion – we’ll see.
The best part of this episode BY FAR was Brienne and Pod’s
epic Deus-Ex-Machina rescue of Sansa and Theon. Although I often wonder if
Sansa could have avoided this whole debacle if she had just gone with Brienne
in the first place on the road to Winterfell, we wouldn’t have gotten to
appreciate the gravity of this scene: Brienne finally got to keep one of her oaths, and Sansa is finally being supported by someone who
isn’t hoping to manipulate her for their own gain. I know I’m nitpicking here,
but was anyone else bothered by the fact that Sansa and Theon forged a freezing
cold river and somehow didn’t wind up hypothermic? I guess they didn’t shatter
their legs jumping from the wall at Winterfell so why would the laws of
thermodynamics apply when gravity clearly doesn’t either? Silly me.
We also got to see the aftermath of Dany’s departure from Meereen
– the streets are barren and Tyrion can’t even be nice without terrifying a
poverty-stricken woman with a miscommunication about paying her so he could eat her
baby. Thanks for clearing that up, Varys – the Tyrion/Varys bromance is more
intellectual than the Tyrion/Bronn bromance, but dag nabbit I miss the T/B
dynamic! I guess because T/V banter is clearly for exposition whereas T/B
banter was for comic relief. The big mystery there is obviously “Who’s the
leader of the Sons of the Harpy?” I’m more interested in the Red Priest who was
proselytizing to the Meereenese before the arson in the harbor – he’s no
Melisandre, but could we have cult problem cropping up here adding
insult to injury? What a hot mess.
I know I skipped everything that was going on in King’s
Landing. It bores me. Boo hoo – let’s all feel bad for Cersei because her only uncorrupted
child is dead! That sounds cruel, but I seriously don’t feel sympathy for her
because she played the game unwisely and it came back to bite her on the ass,
via Myrcella this time. I have no idea why we needed to check in on Margaery Tyrell
– but I have a theory overall that will touch on later.
Meanwhile in Dorn we got the coup that was all but
inevitable because of the way the writers deviated from the source material last
season. I was seriously hoping we were going to be subjected to a minimal
amount of the Sand Snakes because they were the absolute WORST last season –
but no such luck. Because they cut half of the important characters in Dorn out
of the show, I guess it makes sense that they would try to overthrow Doran and
seize power for themselves. But what’s your end game, ladies? You gonna gate crash the
clusterfuck that is King’s Landing right now? How is this making the show less
complicated than it already was in the books? SMH
Daenerys got a much needed humbling after her kidnapping by
the Dothraki, only to be smug and triumphant in the face of impending sexual violence by
Khal Moro, only to be chagrinned again when her reveal as Drogo’s widow puts
her on a fast track to growing old in Vaes Dothrak with the other Khal Widows.
This is obviously not great for Meereen, but maybe she can learn something
valuable in the Dothraki “city.” At the very least we can hope for another
Drogon rescue, or an escape plan from Jorah and Daario, but I suspect it won’t
be coming anytime soon. Also –how is it that word of Khal Drogo’s white haired
wife never reached these Dothraki? It seems unlikely.
Lastly, poor Arya got nega-Obi Wan Kenobi’d by the Waif in a
back alley where she was blind-panhandling (try saying THAT five times fast!) –
but at least we know she’s getting another chance at the House of Black and
White, so hopefully she can get her sight back soon.
I’d say overall this episode (aside from catching us up from
the stuff that happened last season) was an effort to put the female characters
at the forefront of the story and show that (mostly) good things can happen to them. Seriously – 90% of
the living female characters on this show were in this episode: even Margaery,
whose appearance in this episode seemed pointless except to confirm that she’s
still alive and refusing to confess her sins (right on, sista: fuck the Sparrows). There has been such criticism
about how sexist this show has been since its inception, I’m wondering if they
were hoping this would seem like they were putting their best feminist foot
forward, especially since the only actual violence perpetrated in this episode
was by women – Brienne and the Sand Snakes were both the aggressors and the
victors in their sequences. Dany and
Sansa avoided rape and violence at the hands of their assailants, and even
Margaery was saved from a purifying beating from Septa Unella. The only main female
character that took a beating and lost was Arya – who was taken to task by her
superior female acolyte from the House of Black and White, and she got good
news at the end of the whooping so no harm no foul.
I doubt the future will be as kind to these characters as
this episode was, because this is Game of Thrones and as the Starks can tell
you – being a main character counts for shit.
Next week: My, my,
Bran: how you’ve aged!
