Game Of Thrones
I wrote
a couple of weeks back that I was concerned about the future of villainy in
Westeros. The Lannister’s from top to bottom were not only the most evil
characters on GOT; they were often the most interesting. Charles Dance’s reign
of terror as Tywin Lannister was first rate from beginning to end, his subtle
manipulation of his children was like watching a deadly spider spin a web.
Tyiron has proven himself to be the most interesting character on the show and
Jaime has evolved from someone who shoved a small child out a window into
someone that viewers would be sad to lose.
This is
a credit both to George R.R. Martin and the casting of Beneioff and Weiss.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said thus far of the Bolton clan. The episode
swirls, and there was a long stretch of exposition in this one, it was almost
like Samuel Tarly was reading through an old book at times, around the Bolton’s.
However, the Bolton’s lack the nuance, the temerity, the fierceness of the
Lannister’s. The most humanizing moment we get is when Roose tells Ramsey that he’s
actually his son because he raped his mother and hanged the man who would have
been his father. We’re not quite approaching touchy feely hear. And even though
he says, “The North is ours; it seems a bit early in the game to be saying
that.”
The
problem with characters who are just strictly “evil” is that they turn out to
not be as arresting. Rather, you root against them, but the stake in it isn’t
at large. GOT has specialized in nuanced characters, The Hound anyone, who
manage to make you feel that the world is a conflicted place and the margin
upon which a man or woman chooses to be good or bad can be razor thin. The
Bolton’s don’t make you feel that way, and so I’m sorry and have been sorry in
the past to see that particular story line played out as much as it has been.
No, I don’t need to see Ramsey Bolton taking his girlfriend from behind after threatening
her to know that he’s troubled, nor that he owns the former Theon Greyjoy; we
all have our Waterloo and Theon’s was the weenie roast.
Sansa
has jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, and it’s becoming clear to
her rather quickly that Ramsey isn’t much better than Joffrey, but she’s more
equipped, at least according to Littlefinger, to deal with his machinations. We’ll
see. At best there are hints that Theon will tell her about Rikkon and Bran, or
perhaps play a role in setting her free. As it is, Brienne and Podrick and
Podrick’s legendary sexual prowess are around to keep her safe.
Up North the transformation of Jon Snow continues. He shifts
gears in an instant, mirroring Dany out east in trying to end centuries and millennia
old wars by bringing the Wildlings into the fold. It’s the second episode where
Tyrion points out that the thing that makes the Wildlings so bad is that they
are born north of the wall, an idea which Jon’s love of Ygritte has taught him
well. Of course, he’ll probably get poisoned by his squire. But I’m assuming the
mixed blood of Stark and Taergaeryrn will allow him to be saved. Though I’m
profoundly excited about Jon Snow learning to lead, I’d have been a bit less
hasty in taking off Eric The Red’s chains as his beard is bigger than Jon’s torso.
Nevertheless, Jon’s play is the right one, and the first in a series of plays that
will need to be made if anyone is going to survive the attack of the ice
zombies. In season one, during the War of the Five Kings, I lamented how little
attention was being paid to the threat in the north. Jon is at least attempting
to be the unifying force that is sorely needed. Also, I can’t wait to watch his
hair blowing in the wind on the ship as he gazes out over the water. Heart
flutter.
In Old Valyria Ser Jorah and Tyrion sail the narrow
channels, reciting poetry together in the dusky light. Then Drogon the dragon
flies overhead, after no doubt spending some quality time with a dragon lady of
his own. Sigh.This romantic scene is interrupted when stone men start dropping
from the cliffs and trying to eat them alive. Nothing spoils a romantic eve out
on the water like cannibalism. I’m not sure why the Stone Men don’t sink in the
water, but I suppose that’s a question for another day. As it is, the episode
ends with Ser Jorah pulling back his shirt to reveal the beginnings of grey
scale, which it doesn’t look like he intends to share with his new found friend
and poetry partner, Tyrion. Whether this will lead to an outbreak of grey scale
or a one man wrecking crew is rather unclear, but it’s probably not good news
for the gallant Ser Jorah. And by gallant I mean soon to be dead.
Meanwhile, Stannis continues his quest to win father of the
year, pointing out that he’s not leaving his daughter behind with a bunch of
murderer’s and rapist. To be fair, we learned in an earlier season that many of
the men are not as bad as they seem, but poor folk shipped off for stealing
eggs. Still, Stannis marches south to take on Roose Bolton, though he’s sans
his fleet. He apparently has a larger army and is considered the finest general
left in Westeros. This can only mean that he’s going to lose spectacularly, probably
when Brienne kills him. Sigh.
In Mereen things are, finally? Oh please tell me, moving
along? Dany, a bit peeved at the death of Sir Barristan erstwhile knight and
famous busker, decided to burn some Lords and feed them to her dragons. It does
give Emilia Clarke a nice moment of dramatically walking towards the camera
with an icy glare, which I think we’ve all missed…..okay so it happens every episode.
Luckily, Missandei, after briefly kissing Grey Worm, (Note: I could do without
this love scene. I’ve been told some people think it’s sweet, but after
watching seasons of Ramsey and Jaime etc. I don’t know what to do with sweet.
Especially because he doesn’t have the butt of a young Rob Stark) gives Dany an
idea. Sort of.
Dany’s choice to reopen the fighting pits and to marry a
Meerenese master gives her the opportunity to bring more long term stability
through that old tradition: marriage. It seems like it’s the right play, but I
can only assume that Dany will be in Mereen long after the battle in Westeros
has been fought, debating whether to allow the people to assemble in the
streets to protest things like the oncoming ice zombies.
The episode wasn’t the strongest of the season. Though the
flyover by Drogon and Stone Men dropping into the water was scary and
introduced a new plot element, parts of the episode, I’m looking at you Bolton’s,
dragged. In fact, part of the reason I would have been fine with Grey Worm’s
death is that the field needs to be winnowed. If the show only has twenty five
more episodes to go then some people are going to have to drift off into the
long night. So long and thanks for all the grey scale.
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