Sons of the Harpy

I suppose I look like a bit of an idiot now for calling last week’s episode “a watershed moment” in the book-to-show transition of Game of Thrones.  This week, the brutal episode “Sons of the Harpy” largely lured viewers into a false sense of security before putting both schooled and unschooled fans through a horrific shock death, perhaps two.  On the traditional opening day of the Meereenese fighting pits, the insurgent Sons of the Harpy ambush Daenerys’s patrolling Unsullied in the backstreets of Meereen.  The entire patrol is wiped out along with Ser Barristan, who takes it upon himself to attack the attackers, killing most of them before being stabbed in the heart himself.  Though Barristan went out with an absolute bang, it was an inglorious end for perhaps the greatest contemporary Westerosi knight. 

I can’t write this review without getting this fact out of the way – Barristan is alive in the books, and not just alive, but alive and doing exceedingly important things.  His death thus portents considerable changes in Daenerys’ storyline, and in that sense, the proof will be in the pudding as to whether this was a good idea or not.  I feel slighted, shocked and angry, but considering the experiences of show-watchers, who have endured the shock deaths of far more important and beloved characters, I feel a bit ashamed.  Barristan is no Robb Stark.  In some ways, this is the first time I’ve ever really experienced what this show really is.  Maybe I should just grow up.  

The subreddit has been having an absolute conniption about that scene.  In some respects it was not thoughtfully choreographed – the Unsullied fight in a phalanx and would never have broken rank and been cut up like that - but the broader strokes of the scene make a lot of sense.  The Unsullied were lured into a trap by citizens (that black-hearted prostitute is due for a cut throat) and were surrounded and outnumbered in a dark alleyway.  Even if they had fought properly, the point of being ensnared in a foreign city where the citizens hate you was the overriding point, and the Unsullied would have lost this fight either way.  Sure, the Sons of the Harpy only had daggers but many of them were probably out-of-work pit fighters.  The scene worked very well as an appropriate escalation of what is becoming a very terrifying insurgency (the Thrones production squad absolutely slayed it with the masks).  

Before the climactic action scene, director Daniel Mylod and writer Dave Hill gave us a very well-paced episode, one that not only moved the action decisively forward in several locations but also did some shrewd bits of world-building and gave us one of the most unexpectedly touching scenes in Thrones history.  Personal fury aside, this was an excellent episode in many respects. 

The most eventful and momentum-building scenes came in King’s Landing.  At one of the increasingly small Small Council meetings, Cersei sent Mace Tyrell to Braavos to renegotiate the crown's terms with the Iron Bank along with her thug Meryn Trant, which basically amounts to an execution.  She then has a meeting with the High Sparrow and offers to arm the Faith Militant, hoping that they will become as much a tool of the crown – read: Cersei – as a tool of the faith.  Jonathan Pryce and Lena Headey are both terrific in their meeting, as each believes they are getting exactly what they want from the other and can barely contain it.  The Faith Militant embarks on a rampage of justice all across King’s Landing, smashing false idols, destroying wine caskets and raiding the brothels once again.  They castrate homosexuals, which is a bit ham-handed and anachronistic but at least consistent with Cersei’s more meaningful scheme of having Ser Loras Tyrell imprisoned for the same offense.  It also sets up the Faith’s awful sexual politics, which will be relevant later. 

Cersei’s approach to her natural rivals, the Tyrells, highlights the fundamental differences between herself and her father.  Tywin found the Tyrells distasteful but was also fully aware they were the only natural rivals to the Lannisters in terms of power and influence, and thus shrewdly knew that the most logical move for his house was to bind them in an alliance.  Cersei allows her personal distaste for the Tyrells to act as her primary motivating factor.  She would love nothing more than to jail all of them but in seeing them as her enemies she is in fact alienating the only allies the Lannisters have left.  Back in Season 4, Cersei asked Tywin what a jailed Tyrion should deserve for setting the Lannister future on fire, but nobody has done more in service of that goal than Season 5 Cersei.

Cersei makes an incredibly irresponsible parenting move later in the episode by pressuring Tommen to confront the High Sparrow personally, which almost leads to disaster.  This is offset, however, by some very heartwarming parenting from the unlikeliest of figures, the steely Stannis.  By far the best scene this week, and one of the best in the show to date, came from Stannis telling his daughter the story of her greyscale infection and his relentless efforts to save her.  "You are the Princess Shireen of the House Baratheon.  And you are my daughter."  Thrones never, ever tries to warm our hearts, just break them.  I'm hoping to God this isn't the plan here, but for now, color me tickled.  The show desperately needs these moments, no matter how occasionally.  

This excellent episode, which for the most part tempered brutal militant escalation in King's Landing and Meereen with some deeply thoughtful scenes like the one mentioned above, delivered a decidedly mixed bag in Dorne.  On the one hand, we got a very entertaining fight scene between Jamie/Bronn and some Dornish patrolmen.  On the other hand, the Sand Snakes are probably the worst-realized characters in Thrones history.  I don't want to besmirch this review by spending more time on them, but it's just really, really bad writing.  The characters are awkwardly shunted in there, and it's just not much of a story.  

But this does little to dampen an otherwise excellent episode, full of major plot escalation, tightly-written and character-driven small-scale scenes, and a savage shock death.  Season 5 continues to impress me as much as it horrifies me.  I think this is how show-watchers have been feeling the whole time while I've been smirking in the corner.  The book reader in me could snark at all the changes, but the truth is, this has already been a wild ride, and I love it.  

A- (A if not for the Sand Snakes)

Bits

- Maybe the best touch of this episode was Tommen on the steps of the sept and the smallfolk calling him an abomination or whatever.  Good stuff.

- I would certainly love to see the blubbering Mace Tyrell attempt to negotiate with Mark Gatiss's icy Iron Bank representative.

- Another less-than-stellar week for our boy Tyrion, but it was pretty funny when Jorah just knocked him for being such a dick.

- Great sword-hand catch by Jaime.  I don't know why he doesn't use the hand all the time.  That said, he was right to note that it was just luck, and things may not be so easy when they get to Sunspear.

Book Bits

- Meryn Trant is firmly on Arya's list.  Mercy, Mercy Me?

- The show hit book readers with Rhaegar stuff like they were using a fucking hammer this week.  That said, I think that while all the pieces are there for a show watcher to put it together, it would take a pretty astute viewer to do so.  Loved to see Aidan Gillen tell one of the series' best backstories.  

- I just about shit my pants when Carice van Houten delivered the iconic "you know nothing, Jon Snow".  What is his deal with redheads?

- Can't overstate the fucking-up of the Sand Snakes.  That Obara monologue was cringe-worthy.  The sad thing is, it's not even the actresses, but poor writing.  They obviously don't have time to do this properly and it should probably have been excised entirely, as they originally planned.  I would have preferred Arianne and like 1 well-developed Sand Snake.  And I'm still terrified about who may fill the Arys Oakheart role.