The best thing I can say about the sixth hour of the fifth season of “Game of Thrones” is that it acts as a companion piece to last week’s fantastic episode “Kill the Boy“. Like last week, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” moves the pieces around, setting the stage for future conflicts. Also like last week, it focuses on a smaller collection of characters and stories to be able to give each one multiple scenes. Finally, it too was written by series veteran Bryan Cogman. As far as I’m concerned, that’s where the similarities end and what we get this week is pure and utter darkness.
Before we get inundated with the muck, there were some elements in this episode I did enjoy. The return of The Queen of Thorns herself, Lady Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg) is going to be a highlight even in the best of episodes. The big guns have been called in to get Loras (Finn Jones) out of his situation with the Faith Militant. She is called the Queen of Thorns for a reason and has no time for Cersei’s (Lena Heady) games. The scene between Olenna and Cersei is an example of what this season has done best, setting two characters against each other and letting the thinly veiled barbs fly.
Despite Olenna’s appearance in King’s Landing, the standing of the Tyrells implodes by episode’s end. An inquiry is conducted by the Faith Militant into Loras, based on a litany of charges, but those charges all seem to be based on hearsay. Margaery (Natalie Dormer) even testifies on her brother’s behalf. When a surprise witness confirms the charges against Loras, both Loras and Margaery end up arrested and are set to stand trial. Things look like they are going according to Cersei’s plan. Is that good news?
Speaking of “good news”, Arya (Maisie Williams) is making progress in her training at the House of Black and White. The frustration that she feels at not being told what she is prepping the dead bodies for is mirrored by the audience (or at least me) at the unbearably slow pace at which this storyline has been unfolding. After a lesson in truth and lies at the hand of Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha), Arya is faced with a choice. A man brings his sick daughter to the House of Black and White desperate to end her suffering. Arya spins a tale that the audience knows is nothing but a lie. The girl, however, believes every word and finds comfort in her final moments. What are we supposed to take from this sequence?
Arya finally does make it to the Third Level, and her training to becoming a Faceless Man is about to begin in earnest, but she has to fully and convincingly shed her old self. Westeros and Essos have always been places that reward those that are able to adapt to whatever situation they find themselves in, but Arya is faced with having to completely destroy her old life in order to survive.
The other two storylines this week take the darkness found at King’s Landing and the House of Black and White and crank it way, way up. The Martells (who’s house words give this episode its title) implode in Sunspear just as the Tyrells implode in King’s Landing. The Sand Snakes still seek revenge for the death of their father but Prince Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig) still refuses to take Dorne to war with the Lannisters. The in-fighting weakens the Martells but they find additional leverage when Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) joins his daughter, Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free), as a prisoner. This is a development that could finally heat up the brewing cold war between the two houses.
Lastly, in Winterfell, the wedding no one was looking forward to happened. Sansa (Sophie Turner) has been faced with tragedy after tragedy and horrible husband after horrible husband. Despite that, she has slowly made strides to becoming a hardened person – she knows she can’t continue to be the weak and naïve girl she once was. The difference between her transformation and Arya’s is that Sansa seems to be remaking herself in order to survive whereas Arya is unmaking herself. The hair dye even washes out and Sansa’s hair returns to its bright red color. She is back in Winterfell and back to herself, but stands up taller and maneuvers with a bit more calculation…
Or at least she does until something so horrid, so unforgivable happens to close the episode…
The scene in question is so bad even the actors didn’t want to go through with it. Talking to Zap2It, Alfie Allen said, “There’s something that happens about halfway through this season that is really going to make huge waves, and people aren’t going to be happy about it. It’s hard to watch. I bear witness to this thing, and it’s crazy, sort of having to portray how messed up everyone’s situation is through my own reactions to what happens.”
This is a scene that happens in the books but something that does not happen to Sansa. It is difficult to read but when it involves a character I’ve grown to root for it becomes downright impossible. The discordant and hard to listen to music of Ramin Djawadi in this scene coupled with the scene itself made for one of the most uncomfortable viewing experiences I’ve ever had with “Game of Thrones”.
This is going to be a tough episode to discuss but I do want to know what you thought. Are you interested in Arya’s journey? What do you think will happen in Dorne now that Jaime has been captured? Let’s try to stay out of the muck in the comments below!
