Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Game of Thrones 5x06 Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

 Let's jump right in.

Arya is washing corpses in the House of Black and White. There is a gorgeous music playing in the background. Waif comes in and tells Arya to get back to work. Waif tells her she will know why she is washing corpses when it's time, she also tells her of herself a bit. And then she asks was it a lie or truth? Arya doesn't know.

Jaqen teaches Arya lying. Whenever Arya lies he hits her with a whip. Arya says that she hated Sandor and he hits her. I was hoping she will mention Brotherhood without Banners. No such luck. Why do you do these things to me?

Meanwhile, Jorah and Tyrion are still traveling. Tyrion tells Jorah that he killed Tywin and tells Jorah that at least his father was a good man, referencing commander Mormont - you remember him, right? It was nice that they finally reminded the audience of a connection between Joer and Jorah which was last mentioned in what, season 1? Before he died commander mentioned Jorah to Sam but it was never featured in the show.

Tywin tells Jorah of his father's death, how he was killed by his own men. Apparently Tyrion has better intel than Littlefinger.

Arya is scrubbing floors when a man enters, carrying a sick girl. The man asks Arya to end the girl's suffering.  Arya approaches the girl and tells her not to be afraid. Arya tells her that she was sick and dying too but her father never gave up on her. Arya says she drunk the water from the fountain and it healed her. The girl drinks and Jaqen is watching from the distance, pleased with Arya's progress in the art of lying.

The girl is then shown dead and Arya is stroking her hair. Jaqen comes in. Arya then follows him downstairs. They enter the room - or to be more specific - the Hall of Faces. Jaqen asks if she is ready to give up all that she is. Jaqen tells her she is not ready to become no one, but she is ready to become someone else. The design of the Hall was very well done and the whole scene was appropriately atmospheric.
Back to Jorah and Tyrion they talk about Daenerys. Jorah asks if Tyrion believes in gods, to which Tyrion responds no. Jorah says he was like Tyrion until the night dragons were born and Daenerys was unharmed by the fire. Then they talk of Jorah's plan. Tyrion is hesitant because Daenerys has no experience and he doesn't think she would be a good queen.

And bam! They are imprisoned by slavers. Led by Mr. Eko, no less. They want to chop Tyrion's cock off because dwarf's cock has magic powers. The hilarious exchange follows where Tyrion tells them they have to show the buyer a dwarf otherwise he won't know the cock came from a dwarf. One of the slavers says he will know it's a dwarf's cock and Tyrion goes "GUESS AGAIN!"
Slaver tells them Daenerys opened the fighting pits. Tyrion spins the tale about Jorah being an incredible warrior. Jorah tells them he killed the dothraki blood rider in single combat and Mr. Eko is impressed. The plan is to get Jorah into the fighting pit. He really can't catch a break, can he?

In King's Landing Batfinger arrives. Faith Taliban arrives along with Lancel and tells Littlefinger of all their great deeds they have been doing like spilling wine into the gutters. My God, the audacity. Littlefinger tells Lancel he is there with urgent business to Queen Mother and he is allowed to go.

Cersei is sitting in front of her wine and Littlefinger asks her if she thinks it's wise to arrest the heir of Highgarden. Cersei tries playing him like Tommen and tells him it's the Faith that arrested Loras. Littlefinger tells her House Tyrell won't tolerate it. Cersei drops golden line of how Loras was promised to her and instead chose the company of boys so she is the one who is insulted.

The conversation steers to Lysa and Cersei says she pities her son Robin. Cersei asks if the knights of the Vale will fight for the King. LF tells her he always counsels loyalty to the throne. He has told so many other versions to different people I'm surprised he can keep track, especially given his insane stupidity that is reaching new levels with this whole Sansa plot.

And here comes the bomb - Littlefinger tells Cersei he found Sansa. He tells her his sources tell him Sansa is in Winterfell and is to marry Ramsaay. Cersei is furious at Roose who was proclaimed to be Warden of the North by Tywin. LF mentions Stannis is marching on Winterfell so Cersei should just let them slaughter each other. Cersei tells LF Jaime and Kevan cannot help with any forces that could go there and claim the castle. So LF offers Vale riders. LF wants to be named Warden of the North.

Surely the riders won't back him up, yes? Please tell me they won't listen to this glorified gigolo.

Dorne gets even more cheesy with Trystane and Myrcella. Trystane who is - wait is he the son of Doran in the show? Who cares. And Myrcella, the daughter of Jaime and Cersei. They are all lovely dovey and Doran along with his bodyguard Areo look at them from the balcony. Doran tells him they need to protect the young couple.

We finally get to hear Dornishman's wife, beloved song from the books. We hear Bronn sing it on his way with Jaime. The two are wearing Dornish outfits...to blend in. You know with all the grass that surrounds them. Jaime and Bronn sneak into Water Garden with ease. By that I mean that NO ONE is there to guard the place where the prince lives.

At the same time Sand Snakes and Ellaria say the house Martell words "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" and shout "for Oberyn". Yeah, I don't think Oberyn died for that shit.

Meanwhile, Trystane and Myrcella are sucking face and they are interrupted by Jaime and Bronn. Myrcella is stunned to see "her uncle" there. Trystane notices blood on Bronn's clothes and reaches for a sword, so Bronn hits him. Jaime urges Myrcella to go but in true Twilight fashion she refuses.
Enter Sand Snakes. Boy that fight scene....I tell you Oberyn is rolling in his grave. It was so funny. I mean it was terrible but at least it was funny. It was basically Bronn and Jaime waving their weapons around while these three were jumping around and making hilarious noises. Thank God, Areo shows up and arrests them all. Including Ellaria.

Also Keisha what's her name is the only actress in the show who is Oscar nominated and let me tell you her acting was so bad I seriously started missing Shae.
Grandma Olenna arrives, throws comment about how everything smells like shit and then takes Margaery for a little "Renly was gay, who cares, Loras is gay, who cares, they can't imprison people for that" conversation.

Olenna then goes to see Cersei. She tells her to release Loras and reminds her of how precious Tyrell-Lannister alliance is. Cersei says how there is just gonna be an inquiry and she is sure Loras is not guilty. Olenna remarks that she respected Tywin, implying that she has absolutely no respect for Cersei and her actions are foolish. Still, I was surprised by how easy Olenna went on Cersei.
The inquiry happens and High Sparrow is questioning Loras about Renly. Loras denies ever having any relations with him. The High Sparrow asks Margaery to testify. She says she doesn't know of any wrong doing on her brother's part. Then Olyvar, that convenient bisexual plot device from Littlefinger's brothel is brought in.

He says that he had relations with Loras many times and that Margaery knew about it. Cersei is all like "how dare you accuse great house of such things" and plot device mentions the plot device in the form of Dorne-shaped birthmark on Loras ass thigh. High Sparrow deems it as a sufficient evidence and Margaery is imprisoned for perjury.
Dorne-shaped birthmark, seriously, you guys.

While all of this is almost as flimsy as Sansa plot in Winterfell, at least King's Landing storyline got going and Cersei regained her bitchy, fabulous self. This will only keep getting better and better with every single episode now.

And here we go to the land where we all cry and scream in agony.

Winterfell.

Sansa is sitting by the candlelight and there is a knock on the door. It's Myranda. She tells Sansa that Ramsay sent her to draw her a bath. Then Myranda is washing the black dye off Sansa's hair - because there is no reason to hide anymore (when was she hiding, exactly?!). She then proceeds to tell Sansa of Ramsay's previous girls and the horrible fate they met.

Sansa won't have any of this - she tells this basic bitch "I am Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home. And you can't frighten me.". She sends Myranda away. I loved Sansa in this moment. She was channelling so much of Catelyn, her pride, her fierceness, her nobility.

Which made what followed so much worse.

Theon comes by. Sansa is wearing a beautiful wedding gown. Theon is there to escort Sansa to Godswood where she will marry Ramsay. He asks her to give him her arm but Sansa refuses. Theon says that Ramsay will punish him and Sansa tells him she doesn't care what happens to him.

Sansa is escorted to the Godswood - it was so nice seeing this beautiful place again and the whole sequence looked gorgeous. Roose and Ramsay are there and Theon gives away the bride. Sansa agrees to marry Ramsay.
And then the real awfulness started.

In the next scene Ramsay and Sansa walk into the bedroom with Theon. Ramsay becomes more and more creepy with each passing moment while Sansa tries being sweet, smiles at him, answers politely. He asks her about her virginity and Tyrion. Sansa remarks how nice and gentle Tyrion was, a little thing I really liked hearing.
And then everything goes to horrible place.

Ramsay orders Theon to stay in the room, saying he saw Sansa growing up and now he will witness her becoming a woman. He orders Sansa to undress and she does it slowly so he loses patience and rips her beautiful dress. He bends her over and we see frightened expression on Sansa's face.

Then all we see is camera closing in on Theon's face, as he cries and becomes filled with rage and hopelessness as Sansa screams in agony.

They had Catelyn and Ned's daughter raped by the worst monster in the show. Just a little over a year ago an episode where Cersei was raped by Jaime - though they had consensual sex in the books - aired. There was backlash and that was the last straw for many, which now pushed them to hate watching. Now, any sane or at least risk avoiding person would try to avoid this kind of trouble again. Any station would want to avoid having this many women upset. And what do the writers and HBO do? They have Sansa raped by Ramsay.

Not only was that not even in the books, as Sansa is used as replacement for whole other character while book Sansa has a story of her own. This is one of those times where it's really difficult to write about the scene without seeing the rest of the season.

For us book readers, we have no idea what is going to happen. We can only assume that just as in the books SPOILER Theon and the bride escape and run into Stannis. END OF SPOILER But truly if that is it, if that is the pay off and Theon finally snaps, couldn't he snap before Sansa was raped? This is the girl who saw her father die - she was the ONLY Stark who saw her father die - this is the girl whose direwolf was killed, who was abused by Joffrey, married to a man she didn't love, almost raped by a mob, then a toy in psychopath's hands and now her first sexual encounter is with Ramsay.

Please tell me there is a point to this. Please tell me there is an epic vengeance coming for this particular thing. Please don't brush off rape and this girl's first sexual experience being an assault as one of the many things that command revenge. This on its own commands revenge.

The only reason why I have hope this will lead to something and I'm probably wrong is the way this scene was done. They were so lucky Jeremy Podeswa was the director here. The scene was as tasteful as it could possibly be and captured every single nuance - Theon's rage which will no doubt culminate in him overcoming Reek and helping Sansa and Sansa's growing realization that her charm won't stop Ramsay's brutality.

I cried twice watching Thrones. When Catelyn saw Robb's dead body hit the floor and when Stannis told Shireen of how much he loves her.
During Sansa's wedding and bedding scene I cried for the third time.

I'm not ready to join the outrage. There are people calling for a boycott, shouting they'll never watch the show again and even thinking that the title of the episode is a disgusting pun referencing Sansa. But this time I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.

Yes, they can make it worse. They can have Sansa pregnant with Ramsay's child. But they can also have her team with Stannis or even be the one who slaughters Ramsay. Whatever happens, my judgement on Sansa in Winterfell hangs to the answer on two questions - will Sansa avenge her innocence being taken? And will she avenge the North?
I hope she cuts Ramsay's dick off while Stannis shoves a sword down his mouth.

I also hope Stoneheart shows up and hangs Brienne. That stupid bitch is sitting in the tower waiting for candle light while Sansa is getting raped.

Sophie Turner and Alfie Allen were wonderful again. Allen's work especially is just incredible. If there is someone who truly deserves the Emmy this season, it's him. And I suspect him and Sophie have several wonderful scenes coming up in this season.

As a whole the episode was very good. I thought this is gonna be my least favorite episode of the season on account of what happened to Sansa, lack of Stannis and the inclusion of Dorne but the episode was very well paced and at least Sand Snakes were so awful they provided comic relief, which Lord knows was needed this week.
Next week the one true King returns in The Gift - Stannis is determined to keep marching on Winterfell, Sansa and Theon find new understanding, the winter arrives and Cersei visits Margaery, while Jon leaves for Hardhome
PREVIOUS RECAPS FROM THE SEASON:


34 comments:

  1. [ANY "IT WAS NOT A RAPE" COMMENTS WON'T BE ACCEPTED. TAKE YOUR FILTH ELSEWHERE]

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  2. Thank you for your reviews Sati. You've really helped me keep up with GoTs over the last month. I still haven't been able to watch any more eps since the 1st one. Unfortunately, now I think I'm done. I was really hoping they weren't going to go there, but they did. There have been so many mistakes on the part of the producers.

    As an example 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' which was absolutely fantastic, was a movie about 5 sex slaves without any sex in it. It proves that difficult topics can be covered, without using rape as a means to entertain viewers. It's really too bad, b/c it seems like the rest of the ep was fairly good, excluding this part, but I'm out. I will just have to keep up with Thrones fix by reading your blog! :)

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    1. That bad, huh? I think they can still salvage it, depending what happens to Sansa in this season's last episodes

      I don't think they were using it to entertain, the scene was the most disturbing one since the ending of 3x09, but they really didn't need to go there...well from what we know of the plot so far. They already showed a rape without consequences, a year back, between Cersei and Jaime, so I'm hoping they won't make this mistake again

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    2. Will cross my fingers that they salvage the season. I'll keep reading your reviews. I'm still a little sad that there will be no Stoneheart.

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    3. Keep hoping, I still do :D

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  3. Setting aside even the rape, my biggest problem with this story is that I'm extremely skeptical that there's "epic vengeance" in store for Sansa. So far, she's played the role of Jeyne Poole, pretty much to the letter; I expect she'll be a marginally more active Jeyne Poole, but for her to get revenge would require a radical restructuring of the plot of not just her story (beyond what they've already done) but the entire Northern plot. Call me cynical, but based on the writers' handling of Sansa's story to date, I don't buy that that's happening. Based on everything that's been set up, we're looking at a rerun of the book story, except with a Jeyne who is somewhat more active in her escape. But running away is no revenge, and it's certainly not the accomplishment of a "player", which is what Sansa's arc is supposed to be working toward.

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    1. Well the revenge can come afterwards, after she is with Stannis. At least I hope so :/

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    2. Sean, I have to agree with you. I highly doubt there is epic vengeance in store for Sansa and I think she might just wind up being a slightly more proactive version of Jeyne Poole.
      I expect the majority of the storyline to fall into place with it's book counterpart.

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    3. I hope you guys - and myself - will be pleasantly surprised, because man, one more misstep and people are seriously gonna be pissed off

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  4. I love your comment here btw. Yeah man, it was terrible. I didn't even remember what came before that scene- first because it starts off so beautifully and the because of what followed. I am not ready to leave this show yet either. I'm trying to remember how Dany too had a horrible first experience but she rose above it. Obviously that was Khal and this is Ramsay but the show on a whole is quite good to its main female characters (in the sense that they are strong, brave, formidable women and Sansa in the bathing scene showed us a glimmer of that). I am a bit disappointed that Sansa's rape will serve to be a sort of impetus for Theon because I really don't want it to be about anyone else except Sansa. Alfie Allen and Sophie Turner are indeed doing great work. I've always thought that Allen is one of the best actors on the show and I'm looking forward to more of that. I know last week I said I find Ramsay hilarious but yeah, Sansa/Stannis need to skin him alive already.

    Uhhh about the other stuff- I wasn't really paying attention to the fight in Dorne. The Sand Snakes are such uninteresting characters, which is especially sad knowing that they had such an instantly iconic father. I was just scared that something would happen to Bronn.

    The Arya setting was really incredible but I'm losing all interest in her story tbh.

    I love Lady Olenna so much! I will hate Cersei forever if anything happens to Margaery, though yes, Lena Heady going back to her fabulous bitch ways is fun.

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    1. Well to be fair I think the camera moved to Theon not to make it his moment but to spare us the sight of what was going on. I think it may be the breaking point for both him and Sansa. Ramsay is the worst. He is just the worst.

      Well about Bronn...he is in danger, and you know why if you watch the fight. But I think nothing is gonna happen to him in the end.

      Arya's story is gonna pick up the pace soon ^^

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  5. What do you think of the idea of Stannis marrying Sansa? Selyse would of course be out of the picture.

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    1. I love it! I always wanted Stannis to have a nice, pretty bride after all that he went through. The age difference between them isn't this big in the books. However, given Stephen is 40 years older than Sophie I'm sure HBO and some shallow viewers, mostly those who went 'eww' over buzzfeed 'Stannis is hot' article would disapprove. A shame because Stannis would fit the description Ned gave her of a husband once - gentle, brave and strong, wasn't it?

      I think Sophie would be on board, she likes Iain Glenn so I'm sure she appreciates Stephen's looks and general appeal :)

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  6. The Hall of Faces looked so much cooler than I had pictured it.

    "Faith Taliban" LOL

    You should've included that Dorne fight scene gif. I didn't realize how badly choreographed it was until I saw that.

    It's definitely my least favorite of the season, even with the wonderful acting and "cock merchant" thrown in there. I really hope Sansa gets some redemption of some sort. I'm not ready to join the social justice outrage either. While I hated the scene and agree that it's stupid for Sansa to be in this story, I disagree with the idea that women only exist on GoT to be raped and tortured, and that D&D were apparently salivating at the thought of Sophie turning 18 to film this scene.

    I'll just be rooting even harder for Sansa to kill a bitch.

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    1. I couldn't include that, I would laugh too hard to finish the recap ^^

      I think the criticism of them waiting for her to be old enough is kinda mean because Sansa was actually given a decent amount of screen time and varied scenes - even in this episode she had that wonderful moment of resistance when she told Myranda to fuck off. But yes, they better have one hell of a revenge arc for her now.

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  7. For a moment I thought that Sansa might have a knife or will say something to Ramsay so as not to get raped or something. Wishful thinking...if this doesn't have a payoff..........and not just a payoff, an awesome one!

    I was also like 'What? ANYONE can enter these gardens where the future heirs are?' I wonder how come Martells don't die as often as Starks do. But we'll see about that...

    I remember when Cersei was talking to the High Sparrow he said that 'anyone' is equal in front of the Gods (or sth like that). I though that even she herself could be made to face her sins, I mean, only Jamie doesn't know that everyone else knows.

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    1. Well regarding Cersei, just wait and see :) I'm hoping they will do the book story justice, she is gonna have her most powerful scene this season

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  8. I completely agree with your comments on Sansa's storyline. It has been proved multiple times that GoT has many great, strong and independent female characters. I think that D&D are going to have Sansa get her revenge sometime later this season. That's the only way that they will be able to get back the viewers who have supposedly stopped watching after this episode.

    Also, I saw your first comment in this section… are there actually monsters who say that it wasn't rape? That's so despicable.

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    1. The outrage is huge. I'm gonna write a bit about that in my Friday post. I really hope they have something awesome in store in Northern revenge department because man, have they got themselves into a bad situation with most of the female audience....

      oh fuck yes. On my board, on imdb, on comments which I deleted here people are saying since she agree to marry him, she agreed to have sex. It's seriously horrific people think that.

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    2. Wow, I can't believe people are actually saying that b/c she agreed to marry him she wasn't raped. What psychos.

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  9. Can't comment on this as I don't watch GoT but man, the visuals of this series is superb. That last photo below your score graphic is sooo gorgeous. I was marveling at the production design of Penny Dreadful too, man it must be fun working on the set design for these cable shows.

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    1. That was a beautiful looking scene but it was very horrific :/ And the episodes without Stannis lose a lot of beauty :)

      Oh yeah PD looks awesome too!

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  10. Oh wow, first of all, those scenes in Dorne are so badly done that they're very amusing, especially that fight, what was that fight, I laughed from beginning to end, it was like a badly done school play or something. I am thinking they don't care/find the Dorne stuff boring,not enough rape and abuse going on or whatever, so they don't invest much into it, too bad for Alexander Siddiq! The only good things are the scenery and the traveling comedians Jaime and Bronn.

    Loved the Cersei/Olenna and Cersei/Baelish scenes, so much good shade thrown about, a delight! I find it funny that some characters still find it in themselves to trust Baelish, even if only a little and cautiously, especially when he says stuff like he lives to serve.

    That Sansa thing, I really cannot! Visually it wasn't as bad as I expected, at least for some reason they didn't have Sophie(or a stand in) naked, I was expecting at least a side shot with a bit of boob or something, but the whole thing was terribly disturbing for her character. I really feel, at the moment at least, that they didn't only replace Jayne Poole with Sansa, they made her arc serve the same main purpose as her arc, a catalyst for Theon's character growth. That is so not ok considering Sansa is a much more important character than Theon and thousands of times as important as Jayne, a minor character who existed pretty much for Theon.
    I used to think that maybe people are exaggerating when saying D&D are sort of douchey and creepy, but in the past 2 seasons I've become more and more convinced there's truth to it, there is just a lot more abuse and sexual objectification of women than in the books and most of it is absolutely gratuitous, popping up randomly in the background even, for no reason whatsoever and too much to even justify it 100% by saying HBO requires it. I think maybe D&D(and some of the other writers)find the sexual abuse and violence towards women(and even Theon's torture)a bit too entertaining and arousing.
    I said it on Tumblr too but really, maybe one of the reasons they don't like Stannis and find him boring or something, is also because he isn't prone to such abuses towards anyone and certainly not towards women, so the potential for this kind of "action" in his arc is very low and that is boring.

    Oh man, maybe I'm a creep now but I really wish for Sansa to meet Stannis and for them to have a good interaction, I kinda' really ship it! Yeah, Stephen is much older but, honestly, when I was the age Sansa is supposed to be, I already found his type attractive, not to mention at Sophie's age, so as long as it's consensual, why not! Plus, really, out of all the contenders, Stannis would be best for Sansa and she would be a great Queen. I think someone like Stannis would even allow her to have a say in things, he'd take her opinions into consideration once he sees she's intelligent and capable, she could be an active Queen and even soften him and his image a bit. Most importantly, he's trustworthy and would never abuse her or force her into anything, she wouldn't have to worry about him lying to her since he's painfully honest and to me he never seemed actually cold, just really repressed and unable to handle social stuff. They could be like Ned and Cat, he's really not much different from Ned.

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    1. I think they actually find Dorne to be awesome, that's why they included it - in their eyes it's probably comedy duo Jaime/Bronn fighting with 3 hot armed women, so how dare the audience not like it?

      LF is not even trying to deceive anyone anymore, plus he is an idiot, but Cersei is so drunk and desperate I feel she will trust anyone who throws her a rescue line now

      I think it's still possible her arc will both serve her and Theon. Even if her arc gets her to see LF for what it is, that is still a huge development, considering how many people, me included, hope that Sansa serves LF justice for what he did to her, her family and the realm. But before he left WF she still trusted him, now that she sees what monsters he left her with that trust must end.

      I don't think it's this bad - I think they definitely love the shock factor and the fact they so often use rape with consequence and much thought is troubling, but I don't think there is more abuse here than in the books - I think they are similar proportions given the amount of abuse in the books, which also had more nuance, and the amount in the show, which let's face it, toned a lot of things down. As for Theon I think the amount of his scenes come from the fact he is apparently D&D's favorite character so they wanted to feature him as much as they could.

      I definitely agree with you about Stannis but for other reason - he is not a young, blonde girl who gets naked. If the roles were reversed Stannis and his 3 dragons wouldn't get much screentime, while we would see plenty of Dany in Dragonstone. I find it irritating how Melisandre is basically being made as if she is the lead of his story, simply because Carice loves to get naked.

      I love, love, love pairing of Sansa and Stannis. Someone here suggested it and it's just perfect. After what they have been through Stannis deserves a beautiful, kind girl and Sansa deserves someone better and more mature and respectful than all of those young knights she used to dream about. The age difference in the books is not that big, the problem would probably be with the actors but I maintain that those who don't see what a beautiful man Stephen is are just blind and Sophie fancies Iain Glenn so she is obviously not bothered by age difference.

      BTW Thank you so much for your comments, they are so fun and insightful!

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    2. First of all, thank u for the compliment at the end, I appreciate it ,especially since I have a hard time being succinct in writing, particularly when analyzing something I'm invested in! Your blog is great and I love your posts.

      Maybe they find the concept of Dorne cool, I don't know, it just seems that they're not so invested in it, if we're to judge by the quality. Bronn and Jaime are A+++, I hope Bronn doesn't die, he had a cut and it might be from a poisoned blade.

      Baelish was still smarter this episode than during the let's take Sansa to Winterfell part,that was downright retarded. But God bless Aidan, I can't even hate on the stupid writing when he's trolling so beautifully on screen. Oh and I totally went "she's a certified alcoholic" when I saw Cersei with her wine.

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    3. Ooops, I pressed the wrong button and it sent the message when I wasn't done.

      How I hope you are right and I'm just cynical, Sansa deserves to do something that shows some clear agency and strength, not just something like "oh Theon please wake up and save me!". Still, her being given the arc of a minor character who existed to serve Theon's character, is forever a slap in the face and a step backwards. With Sophie saying that the end of the season finds Sansa in a very confusing or ambiguous(or however she put it) situation, makes me be pretty pessimistic not only regarding her character but also Stannis, a lot! What I would like to see is Sansa using Littlefinger, reading him perfectly and playing his game, making him a pawn without even realizing it.

      They had a lot of pointless rape and sex with an emphasis on the female body as an object, much more than what can be justified by saying it's for shock value, for HBO, to be edgy. As I said, I don't mind the visual, I can look at naked people and sex scenes all day and decapitations or whatnot, it's just that I'm bothered when they serve no purpose and they clearly send a wrong message about women, perpetuating stereotypes.

      Lol you're totally right, I forgot that Stannis is not a blonde girl with Dragons, a very valid point that I thought of too before! Generally, to me, it seems Stannis's arc(and character)are more purely dramatic in a way that isn't so glamorous because Stannis is able bodied/has no physical deformities(unlike Tyrion), he's pretty sane and rational(emotionally repressed and with his own traumas and obsessions but sane), he's a character with a rich inner life but an apparently bland exterior ,who isn't into grand gestures, speeches and stuff like that.

      I accidentally stumbled upon some Stannis/Sansa online once and it really hit me how fantastic they would be together, I'm so glad other people see this too, I always kept this to myself. They're both also rather tragic characters, Sansa for clear reasons but Stannis too and I just always thought Stannis has a big heart, he just keeps it under lock and key instinctively and, like any good old school military leader, is very able to keep his feelings from interfering with political, military decisions. Even his love for justice, for law and especially for honor and duty, show he's an idealist and indicate towards a capacity for feeling that I'm surprised people overlook, not to mention his complete hatred for rape and brothels, which people just attribute to him being asexual, which I don't think he really is, more like repressed in that too, but his obsessions tend to make me think he is a passionate person at the core. Of course ,maybe I overanalyze. He'd still be perfect for Sansa and vice-versa and it would be so hot on tv, no shame, can u imagine that! It's creepy sounding, perhaps, since Sophie is so young but whatever, she's legal, it's hot and Sophie seemed to enjoy the kissing scenes with Aidan, she probably grew up around many adults so I don't think age is such a big thing for her. Plus, hey, Stephen's lips are so beautiful, so kissable and he could look her in the eye intensely too, should make for a fun day. I bet he'd be all kinds of awkward about it though.

      Did u see that Red Nose charity thing?I really wish we would see Stephen sing,I'm curious if he can,especially with that beautiful speaking voice he has, but I doubt he's in it, both cause he's such a recluse and cause they always seem to overlook him.

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    4. I think the ambiguity in Sansa's storyline may come form Brienne? like a dramatic ending and shot of her face deciding whether to avenge Renly or protect Sansa seeing how Stannis would protect her too.

      I'm glad that they are giving Stannis more scenes I just wish he wasn't surrounded with these two whack jobs, Melisandre reached new levels of psycho this new episode.

      I'd love for Stannis to finally have romantic relationship with someone, especially that in the show he clearly is interested in women, given how he makes advances at Melisandre and she just keeps shooting him down :/

      I haven't have the time to check it out yet but I hopefully find 12 minutes to watch it soon :)

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  11. I liked Tyrion's "Guess again" line. He can keep his wits and think very quickly with a knife pressed to his throat. I think the weak fight choreography hurt the Sand Snakes as being this supposed deadly threat. The previous fight in Dorne with the golden hand in sword had some amusing moments but this one was unintentionally goofy. Maybe we'll get some good developments in Dorne once Jamie meets with Prince Doran. Arya's scenes are so good. I'm very happy that the writers aren't dropping the ball in her development and are sticking to the source material more or less.

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    1. I think Jaime's scene with Doran will easily be the highlight of Dorne storyline, Siddig is such a good fit for the role and he is so underused so far :/

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  12. I love this write-up Sati! This episode made me feel so sick and angry. Bloody writers, what are they doing? You're right though, at least the director was good enough to treat the scene in a tasteful manner, imagine how terribly it could have been shot otherwise.

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    1. If Alex Graves directed it, there would be the backlash so big it would swallow the universe :D

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  13. I think people really need to wait to see how Sansa's storyline develops through this season to make a judgement call on how necessary/well-handled this was. I'm hoping for the best, and especially that she might lead or at least be equally as involved in some sort of escape/revenge with Theon. I agree with you that if anyone in this season is Emmy worthy so far it is absolutely Alfie Allen. His face at the end (sure, it did have point as far as his character development) but really just drove home the horror of the situation in a far more tasteful way than showing Sansa for the whole thing.

    Other than this scene, Dorne is just silly at this point. What is Jaime doing? Why are the Sand Snakes so corny? All this build up to them all into each other and fighting only for it to abruptly be stopped by Areo was pretty lame. I really hope they don't kill off Bronn either. I miss the hilarious side story with his marriage!

    I'm glad stuff is rolling with Cersei's storyline, although she must have either been really hoping or not intended to get Margaery locked up... it just seems like it happened to play out that way, not necessarily that it was her plan all along. I do miss all her scheming with the Kettleblacks. It definitely made her seem more messed up and paranoid than the way things are unfolding in the show.

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    1. Oh absolutely. Alfie has been Emmy worthy for years now, it pisses me off how they just nominate the most recognizable people from the show.

      Jaime's scene in 5x07 is even more pointless than the scenes he had so far. I really don't understand how they included Dorne and omitted Riverlands

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