Well, Game of Thrones pretty much broke the internet this past week with arguments over Dany’s heel turn, Varys getting sloppier than a drunk college freshman eating at Waffle House after his first fraternity party, and Tyrion thinking that the woman who used to try to pinch hic cock off while he was a baby would listen to reason.
It is true that Dany’s arc does seem abbreviated. But a lot of bad shit just happened to her. She’s lost two dragons, her BFF, her lover, and her most trusted advisor in a span of weeks. She’s also facing treason from within and has no one left to trust other than Grey Worm. That’s a ton of trauma. And to top it off, she’s probably hangry AF. However, the timeline has moved too fast for the viewer. We get one clip of her in despair, but it’s too sudden to make an emotional impact on the audience.
It is true that Dany’s arc does seem abbreviated. But a lot of bad shit just happened to her. She’s lost two dragons, her BFF, her lover, and her most trusted advisor in a span of weeks. She’s also facing treason from within and has no one left to trust other than Grey Worm. That’s a ton of trauma. And to top it off, she’s probably hangry AF. However, the timeline has moved too fast for the viewer. We get one clip of her in despair, but it’s too sudden to make an emotional impact on the audience.
Thrones has always been excellent at forcing you to relate to some of the “bad” guys. Jaime, the Hound, and even some of the evil stuff Arya has done. You get it. But they failed this season to get us to understand why Dany was about to flip. Why is she roasting the folks of King’s Landing? It can’t be just because she’s crazy. We have too much Dany goodwill out there for that. It needed clearer motivations. We needed to see why Dany thought those people were complicit in denying her what she believes is hers. The show gave us crazy person kernels, but nothing else.
Speaking of showing empathy for the baddies, Jaime does the one thing he’s good at: sacrificing bits of himself for those he loves. He’s the poster boy of co-dependency. Cersei is unhinged and not fit to rule, but we’ve been with that character for 8 seasons now. She’s been through some shit. There’s still a human in there and Lena Heady absolutely kills in this scene. Jaime sees her sliver of humanity and gives her some comfort as they’re about to die.
Some felt like it robbed the audience of seeing Cersei suffer. Of Dany or Arya getting revenge. You want to feel glee like you did when Joffrey or Ramsey died. (Although Joffrey’s death scene largely took away any joy because it’s not natural to watch human beings being afraid to die…. Probably because it makes us think of our own mortality.) Instead of getting a scene where we’re cheering for blood and violence, we’re gifted with a scene of showing just how fucked up we can all be with relationships. The Lannister Twin relationship was always messy and ends that way.
For giving us a sliver of humanity, Jaime gets this week’s MVP. He also killed Euron, whose character was just a bag of dicks running around in human form. (Although I stand by the theory that he emulated Jaime rather than hating him.) Not for nothing, the scene where Tyrion free Jaime was this week’s emotional punch. I’ve always liked the Lannister boys’ relationship and I will miss it.
Let’s talk about Arya. In an episode with a battle and revenge on the line, we would have thought Arya was in line for some major points this week. Instead we get her finally recognizing her own mortality. The Hound correctly tells her to back. That life living in the pursuit of revenge is full of misery and will only end up in her death. She gently thanks the Hound and becomes the audience surrogate for the violence being reigned down upon the no-name commoners.
Arya, however, isn’t just our surrogate. Her character arc takes a turn here. We’ve always known Arya as a brave young woman who wanted to be a warrior. Like other kids who idealize war and fighting she did not understand the full picture of such campaigns. She’s now been in a battle and knows what can happen. All she wants to do is escape and live. She’s no longer an emotionless killing machine but instead a living and breathing person. Someone who bleeds. (And who is likely going to die from CTE or lung cancer years later.) I’m awarding 10 bonus points for the bravery here in an otherwise quiet episode for our favorite Stark ninja.
The final arc that we see concluded here is the Clegane Bowl. We all knew it was coming, but I love the payoff we get here. The Hound tells Arya don’t die in the name of revenge, intimating the futility of revenge. The entire fight is futile, and The Hound realizes that halfway through. He realizes how pointless it is to continue to slash and hack away at something that doesn’t feel. That can’t be killed. The Mountain is the physical embodiment of revenge itself. It’s only going to take you down with it.
For scoring, I won’t go blow for blow. This was a very action heavy episode, but we get some solid one-liners. For the killing, I’ve decided to Dany and Drogon really rack up a ton of violence points this week.
Favorite one-liners:
“I’m the man who killed Jaime Lannister.” Eye-liner Pacey.
“The worst things she’s ever done, she’s done for her children.” MVP Jaime Lannister
“Tens of thousands of innocent lives, one not particularly innocent dwarf. Seems like a fair trade.” Tyrion
“[Grunting in a very sexy manner.]” Jon Snow
Shane's Grade:
A-
Speaking of showing empathy for the baddies, Jaime does the one thing he’s good at: sacrificing bits of himself for those he loves. He’s the poster boy of co-dependency. Cersei is unhinged and not fit to rule, but we’ve been with that character for 8 seasons now. She’s been through some shit. There’s still a human in there and Lena Heady absolutely kills in this scene. Jaime sees her sliver of humanity and gives her some comfort as they’re about to die.
Some felt like it robbed the audience of seeing Cersei suffer. Of Dany or Arya getting revenge. You want to feel glee like you did when Joffrey or Ramsey died. (Although Joffrey’s death scene largely took away any joy because it’s not natural to watch human beings being afraid to die…. Probably because it makes us think of our own mortality.) Instead of getting a scene where we’re cheering for blood and violence, we’re gifted with a scene of showing just how fucked up we can all be with relationships. The Lannister Twin relationship was always messy and ends that way.
For giving us a sliver of humanity, Jaime gets this week’s MVP. He also killed Euron, whose character was just a bag of dicks running around in human form. (Although I stand by the theory that he emulated Jaime rather than hating him.) Not for nothing, the scene where Tyrion free Jaime was this week’s emotional punch. I’ve always liked the Lannister boys’ relationship and I will miss it.
Let’s talk about Arya. In an episode with a battle and revenge on the line, we would have thought Arya was in line for some major points this week. Instead we get her finally recognizing her own mortality. The Hound correctly tells her to back. That life living in the pursuit of revenge is full of misery and will only end up in her death. She gently thanks the Hound and becomes the audience surrogate for the violence being reigned down upon the no-name commoners.
Arya, however, isn’t just our surrogate. Her character arc takes a turn here. We’ve always known Arya as a brave young woman who wanted to be a warrior. Like other kids who idealize war and fighting she did not understand the full picture of such campaigns. She’s now been in a battle and knows what can happen. All she wants to do is escape and live. She’s no longer an emotionless killing machine but instead a living and breathing person. Someone who bleeds. (And who is likely going to die from CTE or lung cancer years later.) I’m awarding 10 bonus points for the bravery here in an otherwise quiet episode for our favorite Stark ninja.
The final arc that we see concluded here is the Clegane Bowl. We all knew it was coming, but I love the payoff we get here. The Hound tells Arya don’t die in the name of revenge, intimating the futility of revenge. The entire fight is futile, and The Hound realizes that halfway through. He realizes how pointless it is to continue to slash and hack away at something that doesn’t feel. That can’t be killed. The Mountain is the physical embodiment of revenge itself. It’s only going to take you down with it.
For scoring, I won’t go blow for blow. This was a very action heavy episode, but we get some solid one-liners. For the killing, I’ve decided to Dany and Drogon really rack up a ton of violence points this week.
Favorite one-liners:
“I’m the man who killed Jaime Lannister.” Eye-liner Pacey.
“The worst things she’s ever done, she’s done for her children.” MVP Jaime Lannister
“Tens of thousands of innocent lives, one not particularly innocent dwarf. Seems like a fair trade.” Tyrion
“[Grunting in a very sexy manner.]” Jon Snow
Shane's Grade:
A-