The Morning After Thrones: Power!!! #GOTS7 E02

Well, that was a romp. Last night’s episode of Game of Thrones seemed to be one of the talky ones, but then came Nymeria and Euron Greyjoy. From the get go, the episode dealt with power, and how these characters we’ve seen develop for seven seasons deal with it.
We start off with Daenerys and Varys in Dragonstone. Their tense dialogue about loyalty had some Trumpian undertones, with Varys going full Comey and addressing the need to serve the people over a specific king (or queen). Good on Varys, and a much needed reminder for Dany that ruling is harder than burning everything to a crisp with dragons. Burning is easy, young lass. Governing’s harder. It was, however, very exciting to see four women plot to conquer a kingdom, I’m certain for the first time in TV history, and seeing Olenna Tyrell is always a treat, since she has a penchant for dropping truth bombs wherever she goes. Will her advice of ignoring Tyrion pay off for Daenerys? Uncertain, ask again. Tyrion is clearly the smartest man in the Seven Kingdoms, and Daenerys’ emotions have always been her fatal flaw. They decide on a Westerosi attack on King’s Landing led by the armies of the Tyrell and the Dornish and Yara’s Iron Fleet and an attack of Unsullied on Casterly Rock.
South in King’s Landing, Cersei, finally queen proves that she’s like The Joker in The Dark Knight. She has chased a car all this time, and now that she’s caught it, she has no idea what to do with it. Cersei is at her best when manipulating and scheming to gain power. Now that her power is absolute, she’s overwhelmed. Not that you’d notice it in her vocie or demeanor. Cersei is doing just as her little brother predicted. She is using another Trumpian speech of wild foreigners led by a crazy queen in an attempt to rally the Tyrell banner men. I doubt she’ll be successful, but she needs all the help she can get. While Cersei is despicable and her cause is one that’s hard to support, she does have a point. Her claims of Daenerys crucifying lords are not untrue, and as opposed to our world, where the problem of “foreigners invading our lands” is nuanced, the Dothraki have a very different, near opposing way of life than that of the Westerosi. This simplistic approach to Westerosi (traditional and right even if corrupt) and Dothraki (rapey horse men) is a reminder of the show’s problems with representation of the people of Essos (and most characters of color).
After a disappointing meeting, Jaime, who seems to have gotten over the death of his last son real quick, tries to convince Randyll Tarly to join them with the promise of titles and a better standing. Randyll Tarly is a sucky dad and a sucky dude, but he is a traditional knight and bannerman. He rejects Jaime’s advances, and leaves King’s Landing. I expect to see him dead soon. Presumably at the hands of the Lannisters.
One thing that the show seems to have FINALLY course corrected this season is Daenerys’ reliance on what I call draconis ex machina. On one hand, Tyrion reminds Dany that she cannot send an army of Dothraki and three dragons to King’s Landing, as it will prove Cersei’s point that she plans to invade Westeros with a gang of Wildlings that come to destroy the Westerosi way of life. Then, we see Qyburn create a slightly underwhelming dragon-killing crossbow. It’s cool when it cracks the skull of Aegon’s dragon, but coming from the man who created FrankenMountain and convinced a gang of street urchins to stab Grand Maester Pycelle in a creepy Children of the Corn way, it was a bit disappointing. You could at least douse it in Wildfire, Qyburn. The point is that the show is signaling towards the death of a dragon, and that will be good. For five seasons we’ve seen Daenerys get into all sorts of trouble only to be saved by her dragons (mostly Drogon) at the last minute. It’s been one of the most frustrating aspects of the show, and one that makes it very hard for me to get emotionally invested in Daenerys as a character.
Up north, Jon gets a letter to go visit Daenerys and bend the knee, which I doubt he’s eager to do, but would make sense. Jon’s relationship with power has always been a complicated one. He’s never sought it, yet he seems to always find himself in positions where he attains it. After learning, via Sam’s raven, of the dragonglass mine under Dragonstone, Jon sets course for an awkward family meeting. He still doesn’t know they’re related, though. Where Bran at? Jon announces his trip in front of al the Northern lords and even badass lady Lyanna Mormont is against it. But Jon is Jon, and Jon is righteous and trusting (he maybe also knows that he can’t die now), so he leaves his sister Sansa as Queen in the North. Will this be a good idea? Probably not, since Littlefinger’s still lurking in the shadows, smirking professionally, and whispering in an undistinguishable accent, and possibly jerking it to Sansa judging by what he himself tells Jon inside the Stark crypt. It’s there, by the statue of Ned Stark that Jon grabs Baelish by the neck, just like Ned Stark did in season 1, and warns Littlefinger against touching Sansa. Jon continues to act like Ned, I hope for the sake of the show, he doesn’t meet the same end. Can you come back from the dead if you’re decapitated?

Speaking of Starks, Arya’s episode brings us two characters from the past. Let’s start with the one we’d all been waiting for. The triumphant return of Hot Pie! What a lad. Hot Pie knows how to make pies and how to divulge important plot points to random characters and that he does. He makes pie and tells ‘Arry that he’s a wizard. Sorry, no. That Jon’s King in the North. He also tells Arya she’s pretty, because he’s a chauvinistic pig. lol. When you see actors play these roles for so long, you take their work for granted. Of course Maisie Williams can act like Arya, she IS Arya. And that is true, but what a stellar performance from the young British actor this episode was. Her face is so expressive with even the most subtle movements, she completely nails what with a lesser actor, could be a very cheesy scene, when she decides to give up on her vengeful journey and head back to Winterfell. It’s her giving up of this journey what probably brings back her beautiful direwolf, Nymeria. The much-anticipated meeting was undoubtedly sad, but also perfect. Nymeria manifested herself to Arya only after Arya decided to quit the vengeful lone wolf act and head back to her pack. It is telling that Nymeria has now a pack of her own, and she, unlike Arya, will not leave that pack. Nymeria teaches Arya a lesson with her leaving, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her again in the wars to come.

Then come the last five minutes. Oh boy. Budget clearly isn’t a problem for HBO. What a beautifully shot battle. If it seems like every Game of Thrones battle tops the one before, it’s because each one gives us something we haven’t seen. This one gives us naval combat, and in what feels like a grittier bloodier Pirates of the Caribbean, we see Euron’s immense power. Euron’s gift was always going to be Ellaria Sand, who murdered her dear Myrcella. Even Tyrion foreshadows this in the meeting at Dragonstone. The awe-inspiring battle ends with Theon reverting back to Reek and abandoning Yara and Ellaria Sand. It’s disappointing, yes, particularly right after Yara claims Theon will protect her, but it makes the most sense. After his experience with Ramsay Bolton, Theon will never be Theon again, and even if he were, Theon was never the heroic type. Cocky and assertive? Yes. Corageous, never. The episode ends with a powerless Theon looking at the dead bodies of two Sand Snakes as his uncle sails into the night.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- DAT TRANSITION WHEN SAM IS PEELING OFF JORAH’S GREYSCALE SKIN. PIE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
- It’s disappointing that Ellaria Sand and her daughters died and/or were captured so quickly. They have been severely underwritten for the entire run of the show.
- Even before their capture, Ellaria fills the role of hotsy Hispanic woman (we all know Dorne is Spain), and that sucks.
- The beautiful scene between Missandei and Grey Worm makes the pus coming out of Jorah’s greyscale skin almost worth it.
- Why does Sam have to do everything gross this season? It’s a good running joke, tho.
- In the end, it’s the characters who don’t have the status of lords or kings/queens that give us the most joy. Game of Thrones is very good at subverting the tropes of fantasy, but the one thing it keeps is the humor and humanity surrounding characters like Sam, Missandei, Grey Worm and Podrick. It’s the little people that make the show so much more enjoyable.
- Grey Worm gon die attacking Casterly Rock. I betcha.
- How will Ser Davos react to seeing Melisandre in Daenerys’ throne room?
- Yes, a “more poetic” name of The History of the Wars Following the Death of King Robert I is A Game of Thrones. WE. GET. IT.
NEXT WEEK: Jon goes to Dragonstone, the Unsullied attack, and Euron gets a good reception.
UNSANSWERED QUESTIONS:
- Where is Bran? He chillin at the Wall?
- WHERE. IS. GENDRY?
