While the laws of gods and men are carried out in King’s Landing in the latter half of this episode, the importance of understanding a counterpart’s perspective comes to the fore in the preceding scenes, some of which were stronger than others. Beginning in Braavos, we finally get our first introduction to the famous Iron Bank, and it turns out it’s that damned Mycroft Holmes who turns up like he always does. The scenery of the setting of Braavos is enough to make this scene worthwhile, but it also gives Davos another chance to shine, reminding us (and hopefully Stannis) how important he is to Stannis’ cause.
Either the bankers were unimpressed by Stannis’ pitch for their services or were simply bored by him, but Davos made up for this by understanding that these men could not be swayed by a vague sense of subjective regal justice but instead by objective dollars and sense, so to speak, convincing them Stannis is the embodiment of stability, the magic word to financial types.
Meanwhile, Yara Greyjoy gives a rousing speech to motivate her fighters to rescue Theon from captivity, which is crosscut with images of Ramsay Snow, because, boobs. It’s also unclear exactly why Ramsay enters the cages covered in blood, but the scene recovers quickly enough. Yara gets a moment or two to remind us that she’s totally badass, but ultimately finds her task too difficult and possibly a lost cause, and this is, once again, where perspective becomes important. We know that Theon is loyal to Ramsay due to some weird PTSD/Stockholm Syndrome/brainwashing exercise implemented by his captor, but when Yara says “My brother is dead,” it seems as though she simply believes Theon has crossed over to the side of the Boltons, and abandons him as she believes he has abandoned his family.
Then there’s Daenerys, who in previous weeks was shown being on top, but nothing in Game of Thrones comes easy, or without repercussions, no happily ever after. We see that her dragons are terrorizing innocent people, stealing from shepherds’ flocks to feed themselves, which she resolves—temporarily, one would assume—by paying the shepherd for his losses.
Being confronted by the son of one of the men she had crucified along with the rest of the masters of Meereen is not as simple. Her decision to punish these men in the same way they had slaughtered children seemed harsh, but with a certain morbid justice to it, not necessarily a rallying point but a moment where those in her camp, including us, were meant to think ok wow, she means business, go Khaleesi.
From the perspective of the children of these masters, however, including this Hizdahr fellow who claims his father strongly opposed the treatment of the crucified children, Dany is kind of a monster, handing out death sentences without any process or concern for the families of those she orders to have killed. We’re reminded that every group and individual in this world has their own story and motivation, and this makes the prospect of uniting them under the rule of a monarch is, to put it lightly, hard.
Like King Tommen, we’re called upon often to recuse ourselves from judging these characters for their actions, because if we get to know them, they’re often far more complicated than it would seem if we’re only hearing about their words and actions out of proper context. It’s easy to think of someone as a monster when the majority of the knowledge you have about them comes secondhand. Game of Thrones comes back to this notion often, frequently around the character of Jaime and others who don’t fall on one side of the good guy/bad guy binary, and it was rather clever indeed for them to focus on this theme as Tyrion’s trial unfolds.
Additional notes:
- There were more things than usual in this episode that I didn’t care for, but entirely forgivable. The gratuitous sex, which the series is often criticized for, seemed especially needless here. It actually seemed like something was missing from it, as I alluded to earlier. Similarly, as great as that closing scene was, the melodramatic shots held on each of the characters after Tyrion’s demand were a tad on the cheesy side, but the facial work by each of the actors made up it.
- Davos tells it like it is. With Tyrion being confined to a prison cell for so much of this season, at least we have Davos around to hear some truths told. He carries all the weight in that double act.
- Oberyn has also been a definite highlight of this season, and both his presence in the Small Council and his brief interaction with Varys in the throne room only confirmed this. That conversation was also a nice reminder that the chasm between the privileged class and the rest of the world is quite pronounced. With that in mind, Littlefinger seems almost like a valiant underdog.
- Did you catch Jaime’s clearly visible *gulp* after Tyrion asks for combat?
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