Here’s your weekly Brush-Up video of last week’s Game of Thrones episode entitled “No One.” There were lots of ups and downs in this episode so join me in exploring it.
This video should be safe enough for the Unsullied because the spoilers and speculation are at the very end of the video with plenty of warning beforehand.
Video after the jump.
WARNING: This video is NSFW and definitely not for the kiddos. Enjoy my fellow Thronites!
Bastid!
Nailed it, once again, Dame Pasty!!!
I look forward to your recaps so much. Thanks for doing such a great job.!
I agree with Dame Pasty – actually I literally loved this episode except the Arya silliness and that was only bad because of what happened in episode 7 (worst of the season IMO).
I want to belieeeve that Jaime and Brienne will meet again – or at least that Jaime survives this season and goes on to meet up with Tyrion and Dany. I don’t know if Jaime is the valonquar or not – he might kill Cersei in order to try to stop the wildfire (which he’ll fail at in any case) but I can’t see him doing it for any other reason (vengeance, etc). Whatever the case, the break between Cersei and Jaime will happen in Episode 10 one way or another, and then maybe everyone will stop whining…?
I really have to wonder about the people who have labelled Kevan ‘misogynist’ and ‘douche’ in recaps of this episode. I have no idea if the people holding these opinions have children themselves. I’m sure, if either of these people had an adolescent son, they would be just thrilled with a woman, twice their son’s age (and his cousin, to boot) who seduced him and involved him in a plot to murder a king. Yup, I’m sure they would be totally cool with that, and would regard a person like Cersei as someone to whom all due respect and deference should be shown, as well as a fit person to advise another teenaged boy.
MadMouse,
Cersei being villainous does not mean it’s okay to be misogynistic toward her.
I have an 8 year old son and I can say with confidence that Kevan’s remarks toward Cersei display the sexism that almost all men of Westeros have, since it’s embedded in their society.
MadMouse,
Kevan clearly loathes Cersei personally – for the reasons you stated and others. The issue is that rather than just saying so, he’s using the sexist structures of the society to punish her. Same as the Sparrow did with the WoS. It’s bad because it perpetuates sexist BS (which will hurt other women), and punishes Cersei for the wrong reasons (being a woman who has sex outside marriage) rather than for her real transgressions (plotting to murder Robert, knowingly putting her bastards on the throne, conspiring against the ruling Queen, etc).
MadMouse,
It’s one thing to not want her to be near Tommen, which I agree with, but the way he talks to and the way he goes about it has more to do with Cersei’s being a woman than it does with her influence. He never ever told Jaime to stay away from Tommen or to go stand with the women and Jaime is just as guilty and bad an influence as Cersei is. So yeah, misogyny applies. And I have both a daughter and a son, which has nothing to do with ones understanding of misogyny.
Queen of Thrones
Thank you for explaining that, it is interesting to read how other people see this. But I’m afraid I’m not convinced that Kevan is ‘using the sexist structures of society’ to punish her. That might be applied to the High Sparrow and Faith Militant, but not Kevan. He can’t openly accuse her of what he knows she has done, as to back up the accusations against her would bring about the downfall of their entire house. I simply read his hostility to her as suppressed anger that he has to support someone who he knows is guilty of the worst crimes, for the sake of his family. No need to drag misogyny into it. Not all anger against a woman is misogyny.
MadMouse,
Yeah I think that’s fair enough and I see what you mean. It just personally gets under my skin when people treat women like 2nd class citizens, whatever the reason they might have.
I totally get Kevan’s anger at her but he could stand up for women while despising Cersei rather than use Cersei’s status as a woman as a bludgeon against her.
Victoria of the Vale,
Thank you, it’s heartening to get positive feedback after spending so many hours on them.
QueenofThrones,
If Jaime is supposed to die in the arms of the woman he loves then it’s with Cersei very very soon, right? If it’s Brienne’s then at some indeterminate point in the future I guess?
Dame Pasty,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I’m not sure the parallel with Jaime holds – Jaime and Cersei’s relationship is one thing (seen from a certain perspective, it is a consensual relationship between two adults, albeit an incestuous one), Cersei’s behaviour with her young cousin is another. The way she casually uses and discards people. It is the latter (and what it reveals about her character) that makes Kevan loathe Cersei; hence he would not have the same reasons to disrespect Jaime.
Anyway, I’ll stop here and say ‘have a good evening’ to everyone who responded to my comment, as I hope the comment thread won’t be taken over by this issue and there is a lot more to this episode.
Did Jaime say that at some point? Love it. Jaime “dying in the arms of the woman he loves” seems to imply that she is alive after him. I really can’t see Cersei outliving Jaime / holding him while he dies in her arms. I don’t think she cares about him that much to be honest.
Brienne though… quite possible. Would be sort of a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon moment.
ETA: I guess Jaime could force Cersei into a murder suicide situation where they both burn alive while he’s “in her arms” but that’s pretty… horrible… But this is GoT, it kind of does horrible some times…
Thank you, Dame P. I’m glad you acknowledged the elephant (with peritonitis) in the (dark) room.
Another superb recap, Dame Pasty, and the funniest bubble captions ever.
I’m hoping the last scene of the season will show Varys, hammer in hand and nails clenched between teeth, smirking at a terrified Qyburn as the lid of the wooden crate he’s imprisoned in is nailed shut. Fade to black to the sound of chirping of little birds.
But srsly, I’m very very curious about what Varys is up to. Hopefully we’ll get at least a wee hint next week.
Just popped in to say that I love your Brush Ups!
Thank you for taking to time to do them every week!
Your recaps are the reason I came to this site when it first started. You are incredible. Thank you so much!!
I did not make it through most recaps / reviews of this episode because most of the people doing them grasped the opportunity to show off how much smarter they are compared to the people making the show.
I enjoyed yours and it was the only one apart from a depressed Ozzyman that I watched to the end.
I had Alt Shift X´s running to the end as well but made the mistake of starting to read the comments…. WOW 2500 comments of saying that this is the most sorry thing ever on TV.
I had my (stabbing) problems with this episode as well but I’m thankful to be heading into next episode with you as the last reviewer I watched.
And of course people are now comparing episode nine to the greatest battle of Lord of the Rings. Even fans are looking for an excuse to be disappointed…..
Good job. Enjoyed.
(never understood commas in English, Sorry).
I would agree that sexism is heavily embedded in this society, but I’m not 100% certain that Kevan said exactly what he said because Cersei was a woman. Would Keven have said much the same thing to Littlefinger if Kevan were in Yohn Royce’s position and if Robin decided to fly the mockingbird’s nest? I could totally see Kevan saying to LF, “Your place is on the floor with the other lords of the court.” And I would cheer because Littlefinger really needs to be put in his place. Cersei is no longer queen and no longer on the small council. If Tommen is cutting ties with his mother so completely as to practically sentence her to death, I would think that it would be the Hand’s job to make sure Cersei wasn’t standing beside the king when that happened. I could be completely wrong. Did Kevan say anything that I missed, because that’s all I heard was him telling Cersei that her place was with the rest of the ladies of the court? I agree with Sue more often than not, which is why I wonder if I’m missing something.
As for the valonqar, the full prophecy heavily implies the three children die before a bereft Cersei, drowning in her own tears, gets strangled by the valonqar. Unless Tommen comes back to life while in his golden shroud, I don’t see him as the valonqar. And I really think they’d have used the Valyrian word for “son” rather than “little brother” if they meant son rather than little brother. Half the men in Westeros would be someone’s little brother: surely the prophecy means Cersei’s little brother. That would narrow it down to two.
My vote is, even more than ever before, Jaime. The writers have gone through great pains this season to establish Jaime as in love with and ceaselessly devoted to Cersei so that the fall will be all the further when he finds that she Mad-King-burned all of King’s Landing, including their last living child.
Dame Pasty,
I want to thank you, as well, Dame. Even though I sometimes theorize in different directions, I always love how much your posts make me think.
Sue the Fury,
Dame Pasty,
Hey Sue and DP, this is a bit OT. Has anyone mentioned that Sansa’s letter to the BF (which was tweeted a few hours ago) contains an error? BF was Cat’s uncle, she wasn’t his sister. BF was Sansa’s great uncle. Or is this a show thing?
Great recap and thoughts as always, DP.
Hodors Bastard,
Pretty much everyone.
But that’s the letter posted by HBO, so there you have it.
Ginevra,
Thanks! And I think you are right…occurred to me today that Tommen has to die before Cersei so it doesn’t make sense for him to kill her.
Hodors Bastard,
It has to be an HBO flub. He is Cats uncle and therefore Sanaa’s Great Uncle.
Hodors Bastard,
Maybe that is what BF meant by “she’s just like her mother”: it’s a little known fact that Catelyn constantly confused “niece” and “sister.”
😀
more incite from
Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 8 – “No One” ANALYZED
Hodors Bastard,
And the House words were in the wrong order: Family. Duty. Honor.
Wimsey,
And got her own words wrong.
omg Arya did not know that the waif saw her not kill Lady Crane!!
Therefore she did to know she had a hit on her orchestrated by Jaqan H’gar derr….all he said was if she failed that there would be consequences so how on earth would she know what was going to happen, she’s not a mind reader ffs! She thought she was going to leave the city hence letting her guard down, we don’t know how many days it had been since she made that decision so it’s plausible that she thought all was fine.
It amazes me that for people to whine that she should be some stealth superhuman is kinda stupid.
Sure she sustained the wounds yet she was definitely not out of the woods when Lady Crane patched her up, I even think Lady Crane suspected she might not make it at all hence going for another dose of the poppy milk.
Arya was running on adrenalin for her life all believable and it had already been established that the pool of water at the HOBAW could take or restore life and the trail of Aryas blood ended at the pool, obviously she was on the right side according to TMFG and survived wounds now completely healed. The only blood shown after was The Waifs dripping down the wall.
The whole scene was fine and believable in my eyes and very well directed, she has lear5ned a lot of lessons and will go home stronger than ever!!
Jaqen did not only say there would be consequences. Rather, he said:
That statement is a barely veiled threat that, should Arya fail to kill Lady Crane, her face would be added to the Hall. All of the viewers understood this, even though the ambiguity of which face did leave room for a substitution, Jaqen made himself crystal clear that Arya needed to add a face or her own face to the Hall.
Arya spent every night for years in the HoBaW until the night she failed to kill Lady Crane. Her absence would be noted and noticed, as would the absence of Lady Crane’s face.
1.) Why would Arya go through the trouble of taking Needle from its incredibly well-hidden spot in the rock wall only to leave it in a place where it was 1000 times more likely to be stolen, in some random, unlocked room in Braavos?
2.) Why would Arya not know the FM were after her after she failed, for the first time in years, to return to the House of Black and White that night, especially since Jaqen said, “One way or another, a face will be added to the Hall”?
3.) Why was Arya willing to pay all she had to leave Braavos the very next morning if she thought she had absolutely nothing to fear from the Faceless Men?
4.) How did Arya, a girl you said you thought “might not make it at all,” go from being viciously stabbed in the gut multiple times to feverish and dying to superwoman?
Note this article that says, “The milk of the poppy that Lady Crane gave her would alleviate Arya’s pain, but since it’s an opiate, Raunig says ‘she’d be as high-as-a-kite and not jumping through the streets like Jean-Claude Van Damme.’” Dr. Raunig is a medical doctor specializing in pediatrics and in battlefield casualty response, so he knows much more about how adrenaline and an opiate could work together in a sixteen year-old than any of the rest of us. And in his expert opinion, being stabbed and given milk of the poppy won’t turn one into Jean-Claude, even if being chased by the Waif.
I think it’s been way to overthought, who cares it’s a tv show so stop overanalysing it sheesh…. I can’t get over people knit picking for the sake of it, no wonder they are so easily disappointed it’s a TV FANTASY SHOW!
My response is too well reasoned and too well analyzed? Aww, thank you, Loolaa! You say the sweetest things.
Another Great review Patsy
Agree with you Whole-Heartily with the Arya business. Still leaves me annoyed a week later, but just going to forget it as at least Arya is on her way home without the Faceless Men on her back.
I just hope the writers and producers don’t suspend our show ‘universe’ again so badly!
Really was disappointing how they set up and resolved that storyline. :o(
I really don’t get all the outrage about the Arya scenes. Here’s how I saw it:
– Arya decides not to kill Lady Crane. She knows she can’t return to the house of B&W so retrieves needle then finds a place to stay until she can find a way out of Braavos.
– She then spends the next few days (or maybe a week or two?) stealing money to buy passage back to Westeros.
– Once she has enough she goes to the harbor where she knows ship crews will be and buys passage.
– Once that is done and she knows she is going home, she lets her guard down for a brief moment and the Waif (who has no doubt been stalking her the entire time waiting for this moment) strikes. Was this careless on Arya’s part? Yes, of course, but not unrealistic. Arya is smart but not a robot. And we saw previously that, despite all her training, Arya is still not as good as the Waif.
I think the main reason so many people are so unhappy is because they convinced themselves after Arya was stabbed that there was going to be some huge twist and so were disappointed when there wasn’t. But that is not the show runners fault. They film this show over six months in advance so cannot possibly be expected to anticipate all the wild theories fans will come up with. It is completely ridiculous for people to rant about the writers not using theory x,y, or z.
And I just can’t with the articles out there now quoting actual doctors saying that Arya wouldn’t have survived. Wow really people?? Next thing you know they’ll be telling us that Dany couldn’t have survived those fires and that Jon should still be dead! Craziness. Oh well, I guess no season of GoT is complete without people becoming outrageously outraged about something.
By the way – screw you autocorrect for constantly changing Arya to Aryan!
Dame Pasty,
I don’t think the witch confirmed that all 3 children would die before Cersei, only that they would die. I believe that in burning the Sept and most of Kings Landing with wildfire, Cersei will have killed or mortally injured both Margery and the High Sparrow. In his rage for revenge, Tommen (the Valonqar) will kill Cersei and then himself. Jaime will return to KL to find both Cersei and Tommen wearing golden shrouds. He will either kill himself or removes to Casterly Rock.
Also in re Arya speculation in other comments:
1. Arya may not have been as deeply injured as everyone presumes. Could her bags of money have deflected some of the most serious damage.
2. People forget that Arya has Stark blood which has a certain amount of its own power and magic which was awoken when the Dragons were born. Ned and Robb were both beheaded that’s why they could not come back or survive their wounds.
Ginevra,
I am disappointed that she did not consult Pod, master of Westeros Houses, Sigils and Mottos. Seriously, he was right there! Didn’t Sansa find him the least bit interesting??? Sheesh! A chance missed. 🙂
Lord of Coffee,
Thank you, finally someone who has sense.
Ginerva don’t be pissed because I can’t see your logic with real life scenarios v’s fantasy, all good : )