Are you fuzzy about what happened last week? Did you drink too much while watching the bloodshed? Bored and tired of waiting for the next episode? Then join me for the weekly Brush-Up on last week’s episode. Spoilers are at the very end so non-book readers are welcome.
Video is after the jump.
Feedback, as usual, is appreciated! Tell me what made you laugh the most. And for the book readers, I love to hear what you think about my speculation in the Spoiler section but remember, always use the spoiler tags!
Let us hope Sansa isnt raped.
Shadow babies require Kings Blood, no????? Um, there is power in Jon Snow???? You know nothing.
Rygar,
R+L=J is beyond confirmed at this point
jentario,
Robert and Loras = John Candy?
Rygar,
Robert+Lyanna=Joffrey
Ana,
Well they will be husband and wife so of course the consumation will have to happen on the wedding night, now if it’s going to be rape or not it’s a different story, personally I think Sansa is prepared for it, she was already married once, and she was ready to undress to consumate the marriage with Tyrion even though she didn’t want to.
Now with Ramsay we all now he is a psychopath so anything can happen, I think this will be the traumatic experience Sophie and the other actors talked about.
I think they’re doubling down on the R+L=J thing for one final swerve where it turns out that Rattleshirt + Longspear Ryk = Joffrey, and so the whole show arc for the final season centers around Pod and Grey Worm randomly falling in together and going on a mystery-solving quest to find out which of Joffrey’s wilding parents was secretly transgender, and it’s a race against the clock because if Lancel finds them first, it’s baaaaad news. (It makes more sense when you realize that Arya and Jon and Dany and Sansa and Tyrion are all dead at this point, so Pod and Wormsy are really all we have left.)
But in real life, good work on the recap. I’m going to start showing up at friends’ houses early on Sunday and forcing them to watch this so I can give them disapproving looks if they ask, “wait, what was that guy’s deal again?”
Which WOW excerpt confirms that
I totally missed that!
Joffrey’s Cunt,
I kind of think so too. Sansa is very young and still a virgin, so it seems unlikely, but as this is Game of Thrones I feel she might actually gain the upper hand here by pretending she likes it/him. I know, totally f***ed up, but I see how she might want to make Ramsay trust her/admire her, and the only way to do that is to pretend she enjoys his sick taste.
But then, maybe they ARE only going for shock value by making it an outright rape and Sansa the full-on helpless victim.
In either case, though, it is going to be traumatic for Sansa.
As for Shireen’s role … (careful! book spoilers!)
I don’t think Sansa will be violated. However, I do think Ramsay may force her to partake in the torture of Fat Walda and/or Myranda. Maybe Sansa will be subtle with Ramsay, like Margery was, with Joffrey during the crossbow scene from a previous season.
MaesterofMasonry,
Thanks! Got that! I deleted it and made a new post. Any idea why spoiler tags don’t work when the post is edited?
Nah. Not Shireen! I think, at least for the show… it’ll be
I’m not convinced Mel even knows what Shireen is supposed to do at this point. I hope Shireen has a less gritty part to play in the war, like putting library heads together with Sam on subjects of dragon glass and Dragonstone in order to fight the WW.
Concerned for Walda, not so much for Myranda… not worried about Sansa. She already knows how to wear a killer necklace and this time she’ll do it on purpose. Stick’m with the pointy end.
p.s. During filming, Carice van Houten posted a vine where her dress near the heart was smoldering. Captioned something like, “I’m smoking.” No idea how to find it now. Oh and, “I need a lord to sit on,” <— fave.
Rory,
Turning on Miranda or forcing Sansa and Miranda to have some kind of bizarre, sadistic competition with one another I can maybe see.
But I reaaaaalllllly don’t see Fat Walda getting tortured… explicitly and deliberately offending/attacking Roose is one thing that would be completely out of character for good ol’ Ramrod. With so many other people in the North to serve as playthings, there’s no way he goes after his dad’s special lady.
dee,
I don’t think she will get the upper hand, at least in the very beggining, because it was already made clear that ramsay will have a new toy to torture and I think it’s going to be her. Also if you see the leak of the inside episode 5, we don’t hear exactly what he says to her before, but Dan starts to say that Ramsay sees a way to throw Sansa of ballance right before Roose gets bored of how much fun he’s having and turns the game on him…I think she will suffer a lot still but she’ll endure it until the right time for revenge comes.
People also have to keep in mind that stating that a husband raped a wife is a very modern concept. Indeed, there still are a lot of places today (Arab countries, the American South) where this idea is rejected: for example, there currently are right-wing politicians in the US who want legal definitions of rape to exclude husbands and wives.
To that end, I do wonder: what did women do to prepare each other for this possibility? History has been largely recorded by men, and throughout history most men have not given second thought to this issue. Still, I am sure that some historical evidence exists about how women dealt with this. The same could be asked of other forms of spousal abuse: after all, the idea that a husband hitting a wife is wrong is a pretty new one, and another one that sadly is not yet accepted by all cultures.
Regardless, I think that people have to reverse the way that they look at these things. A medieval world is an ugly, awful world for all but a few men. Sansa’s huge failing was an inability to see that the fairy tales whitewashed this world: readers of the book and viewers of the TV show shouldn’t make that mistake. The “new and improved” Sansa seems to understand this: but if she wants to become the Lady of Winterfell, then she has to start playing the Game, and this is a risk of that Game.
Sorry for those who don’t want to believe it but I think Sansa will get raped or at least have sex with Ramsay. Roose is only too aware that Ramsay needs to get her pregnant as , as we’ve seen before, a child is essential for prolonging the lineage. This is the most logical plotline and would really get the viewer on Sansa’s side for her eventual revenge. Having her sit by as Ramsay tortures Myranda and/or Fat Walda is the same sit back and do nothing Sansa as we always see. Then again, they seem ot be making quite the mess of this part of the story so far so we shall see. Still not convinced Ramsay will try and take out Fat Walda. Sure there’s reasons he might not be happy with a new brother ( if we refer to the books) but unless they’re going to create new tension between him and Roose, which would be quite the departure at this point, then I’m not sure what they’re thinking.
Wimsey,
Well you couldn’t have said it better, I completly agree with that, people really need to change their modern point of view when they’re watching this. For me it totally makes sense that she will still suffer in the hands of Ramsay, some people might say that it doesn’t fit her character development, well I think it does, unlike the first time with Joffrey she knows now the game and knows the consequences of playing it, she agreed to this for revenge, and that’s all she cares about now, of course what she doesn’t know yet is the monster Ramsay is and of course that will have consequences.
For me it doesn’t make any sense that some psychopath like Ramsay who hates the Starks will fall for her and do whatever she tells him like some people are thinking it will happen, Ramsay is much more complex than that.
I just think whatever traumatic experiences she will have with him, in the end she will be able to turn the game, and thats good enough for me.
For someone who has not read the books or read about that theory…no, I think not. This scene was significant for that purpose alone, that Jon must have King’s blood for Mel to want to create magic with.
dee,
I’m not sure, the issue I had was that I forgot to get rid of the spaces.
I know this is off-topic, and I also believe you meant no offense by it, but I can’t help but respond. As someone born and bred in the American South, I can personally attest it is not a “southern thing” that rape within marriage is acceptable. Yes, there are Fundamentalist Christians who believe in a literal interpretation of certain aspects of the bible wherein the woman must obey the man (which would include a wife being forced to have sex with her husband against her will), and, yes, there is a larger percentage of Fundamentalist Christians in the south than there are in other parts of the country (hence the term Bible Belt), but that has to do with religion, not being southern.
I enjoyed your recap, as always, Dame Pasty. My favorite lil joke was probably “bear baiting.” 🙂
Rygar,
I had some explanation in the video that I cut to shorten it. Basically before Aegon the conqueror forced the 7 kingdoms to unite under him the Starks were Kings of the North. So if Jon has any Stark blood it is royal. And then if the R+L theory is true, then doubly so.
MaesterofMasonry,
Wait, maybe I have that wrong! I thought it was the Barristan POV excerpt. Someone fact check me on that, please? I was up to 2 in the morning finishing the video so my brain was pretty fried.
Gatehouse Ami,
That was my favorite too. I mean who wouldn’t want to sit on Jon? Teehee
Wimsey,
My understanding was that they basically raised them to always do what they were told and that included anything in the bedroom. As for the discussion on how the anatomy part worked, I doubt they prepared them at all. However having animals, living in close quarters as the common people did, they pretty much know how copulation works. But other than that I don’t think there was any prep.
Cersai does love Tommen and the point of her sending him down there was not for him to be in danger but to show him/Marg that Tommen has no power. Tommen was never in any real danger with the 5 Kingsguard plus all the Lannister guards with him, and of course the Faith Militant aren’t just going to attempt to kill him for shits and giggles. What did not happen was Cersai sending Tommen there because she didn’t care about him at all. He’s a King and Kings need to be proactive and brave, not scared hermits who hide in their castles. Very disappointed that a book reader thinks Cersai doesn’t love her kids when that is 100% obviously not true.
Dame Pasty,
That doesnt hold as much weight. Mance had Kings Blood and he was self proclaimed. I believe that since Ned was not a King, Jon did not inherit his power from him and must have his Kings Blood from someone else.
Dame Pasty,
Great recap, as always.
I don’t remember confirmation that
I would be a little disappointed if this was the case. I always thought that would be a little too obvious.
I don’t think they are going to burn
Bronn and Jaime made me laugh a lot even though the premise behind their trip isn’t funny at all, of course. But their dynamic together is wonderful and I like how much more worldly Bronn is than Jaime. It is true that Jaime, for all his having been the best warrior in the seven kingdoms, has not had much experience with women, and this was nicely apparent in the episode. Isn’t Cersei the only woman he’s ever bedded? So I found the scene where Bronn points out Tarth to Jaime to be utterly romantic despite the fact Brienne isn’t even present.
jennyofoldstones,
Methinks Bronn is a goner and not in a boring way either. 🙁
James,
Actually I like showCersei better than bookCersei. Book version is pretty one dimensional and on the show she does profess to love her children. However, either version is a stone cold narcissist and as such she only values them as projections of herself. IIRC in the books Tommen was in danger in that situation and on the show the kingsguard was outnumbered about 2 to 1 by the Faith Militant and if you take into account the common people in the area they were VERY outnumbered. Also no loving mother would teach her child that lesson much less in that fashion. I stand by my assessment of that scene.
Gwenivere,
OK maybe I am wrong on that point. A re-read is in order!
Dame Pasty,
All we know is that Hizdar was arrested by Ser Barristan because Ser Barristan suspected Hizdar to be the Harpy, but his suspicions are not confirmed in the story. The rest are fan theories.
BTW, I share your enthusiasm for Jon Snow’s ‘swordplay’ (golden ;)). Keep those awesome recaps coming!
Ugh. Could you just stop with your constant snide remarks about conservatives? It’s burdensome enough to have to deal with your self-righteous, pseudo-intellectial tripes all the damn time, but when you add in constant slights to conservatives, it just makes you even more overbearing.
I always thought that it wasn’t kings blood but Targaryen blood that had power. Don’t the Baratheons have Targaryen blood through historical marriages with Targaryens? This would explain why Mel got powers from Stannis and Gendry and was wanting some from the son of R+L.
It would also explain why the Red Priestess that spots Tyrion was preaching for Dany. So by this logic Mel and the Red Priestess are both right in a sense. I think Mel knows more that it being reveled on the show.
Braincandy,
Possibly but in the books she definately wants to make use of Mance’s baby!
Gonna repost that claim I made: Sons of the Harpy could also be a hint towards R+L=J if you look at it as Son of the Harp = Son of Rhaegar, as Rhaegar sang and played as a minstrel, aka on a harp. I know it is meant to reflect the rise of the Sons of the Harpy in Meereen, and mirror the previous episode title (High Sparrow) and that the set of title are meant to show that besides the Wall and Meereen, there’s also very much a parallel storyline between Meereen and King’s Landing. That, and all 23’ish other direct and shaded remarks about bastards, “nieces”, trueborns and unsaid products of “rape” made in this episode just forcing R+L=J to be the correct theory.
I mean Mel going to Jon for some love-making is a big somethings up. And I don’t mean mine. Mel needs King’s Blood for all that she does. That’s been said a thousand times on the show, that’s why she went for Gendry of all things. And so she goes to Jon…? Unsullied should be able to fill in the gaps (even Cenk managed to work it out).
As for Jon having Kings Blood. If Jon is the product of R+L, that may give him Kings Blood times 3. Mostly because I believe that the Night’s King, was a Stark. Jon’s probably not a descendant of the Night’s King, but his houses would be tied to three royal uhh.. families?
Can’t wait for all the WTF-moments in the upcoming episode.
It is difficult to fully understand the idea surrounding poltical marriages these days. You really have to look at the situation from a different angle. If Ramsey and Sansa does get married, and their marriage is consummated, then it would not be rape.
It properly wasn’t a great expience for women to consummate their marriages on their wedding days, but at the same time it does not mean that they where unwilling to do so. Women very likely wanted their marriages to be consummated on their wedding night, just as much as the men, even if it was a difficult experience.
As a highborn Lady it is seen as your duty to consummate your marriage on your wedding night. It all goes back to heirs. When bringing together two families for poltical reasons you need to have children as soon as possible, an heir is a binding of the contract, and a heir also provides security for everyone involved. Heirs is always the first priority, for both highborn men and women. Therefore it is not about having sex on the wedding night, it is about getting an heir as soon as possible. Both genders basically wanted the same thing, and both “worked” towards the same goal, therefore it wouldn’t really be rape.
Braincandy, Also, when the Myr sorcerer threw Varys’ junk in the fire, a blue flame spoke in a foreign tongue.
Rygritte,
Faith of the Seven
Old Gods
R’hllor
Many-Faced God
Drowned God
Great Stallion
… and the almighty Lord of Flaming Dangly Bits.
aka R’holla!
TheTouchOfFrost,
What makes a king special? It has to have some realistic aspect. I think it’s genetics. As for Mance’s baby maybe Mance’s wife had Targaryen blood.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought Ser Berristan and Grey Worm didn’t do so badly considering they were outnumbered. I wonder if anybody who has actually been in the military (or some service anyway) who ever reads these posts who could give an opinion. BTW, Dame P, I didn’t realise you were “kissed by fire”.
On the Unsullied’s performance in the ambush:
I agree that, armed only with pikes and shields, they are not well equipped for street fights. However, when Dany negotiated for buying them, didn’t Missandei confirm on the show that they were trained with three different spears (assuming they’re different lengths) as well as the short sword? In the books I think it was also said that they came with full armament.
If so, when policing the streets of Meereen, why not choose the most adequate equipment available? And if they are so well-trained, when surrounded could they not have taken one second to form a tighter defensive circle, especially with the presumably competent tactical leadership of Grey Worm? As far as we could see, the Sons of the Harpies were not armoured like the Unsullied either, that should also help balance the numbers when dealing with light weapons like daggers.
The show-runners require some suspension of disbelief or forgetfulness by the viewers.
On Melisandre and Jon:
How did Mel get to the shocking words: “You know nothing Jon Snow” ? She never met Ygritte that we know of. It doesn’t feel like a quote that Jon would have retold casually around Castle Black. Tormund’s big mouth perhaps?
Could Mel have “heard it in the flames” ? Did random thought bring her to exactly the same phrase and tone as a girl from an entirely different cultural background?
Braincandy,
You’d have to ask Mel. If it was Targ blood she was after why didn’t she drain Maester Aemon?!
TheTouchOfFrost,
I’m fuzzy on book details but Jon sends Aemon away pretty quickly and in the show, well, if you were a women would you go for – Jon first or old Aemon? Maybe she doesn’t know who he is. Do you believe she is all knowing?
We don’t know what happens tonight. Maybe she figures it out too late.
Braincandy,
Didn’t Mel mention to Stannis before she retrieved Gendry in S3 that he didn’t have that magical special sauce and ooomph anymore? I would expect that Aemon had lost that special sauce a long time ago. But Aemon’s blood has got to still be worth something, right? 🙂 You’d think that Mel would at least be interested in speaking to that dear old lovable Targ.