kimberlee rossi-fuchs feels kinda gamey…
“Garden of Bones” opens on the lighthearted, puerile banter between two Lannister footmen as they stand sentry at the Lannister camp, gossiping about Renly’s sexuality and giggling at their own farts until Robb Stark’s direwolf suddenly disembowels them. These two quickly-dispatched boys had no meaningful connections to the family they fought for nor stood to gain any titles, land, or power for their efforts, but were merely obligated to fight for the Lannisters and yet were killed as Stark enemies nonetheless. Robb will later discuss this irony with Jayne, a nurse he meets on the battlefield, but it serves as a fitting opening, as this week’s episode of Game of Thrones shifts its focus from the politics and psychology of the power struggle between would-be kings to the increasingly dire circumstances of the lesser nobles and common folk caught in their crossfire, as brutality, violence, and madness lay siege to wartime Westeros.
Of all the claimant kings in Westeros, none delights in the pain-providing principles of power so much as Joffrey. After learning of Robb Stark’s latest victory, Joffrey punishes poor Sansa for her brother’s treasons through public physical abuse and sexual humiliation, ordering vile henchman, Meryn to beat her and strip her of her clothing before the audience of court. Though Sansa suffers little more than a brief, albeit brutal, pummeling and a slightly ripped dress before Tyrion comes to her rescue, it’s a disturbing, uncomfortable scene, as Joffrey’s (again, Jack Gleeson plays a perfect creep) delight in the torture and dishonor of such a helpless girl is squirm-inducing. (Though to her credit and Tyrion’s admiration, Sansa never loses her cool and kicks into self-preservation mode, calmly proclaiming her love for Joffrey after Tyrion pulls her away.)
Misinterpreting the incident as a manifestation of pent-up adolescent sexuality, Tyrion sends two whores to Joffrey’s bedchambers that night, hoping his nephew will be more pliable after alleviating some sexual tension. Rather than accepts his uncle’s gift, however, Joff shuns the women’s advances, instead ordering one to beat the other, with horribly increasing intensity. Previously, Joffrey has been portrayed as cruel, but stupid, a run-of-the-mill bully with a superiority complex. In this added scene, however, he crosses the line from adolescent thug to calculating sadist and it was just brutal to watch. While his actions were partly a power play designed to show his uncle what he’s capable of, it was also clear that he was deriving pleasure – perhaps sexual – from the misogynistic violence. The scene was so tense that I was actually relieved when he instructed Roz to beat the nude prostitute with the heavy, antlered staff rather than the other, more horrifying alternative.
Elsewhere, Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie have been herded to Lannister stronghold Harrenhal, another new location on the opening credits map and one that filled my husband and I with nerdish glee. The cursed, ruins of the castle look amazing on screen and the staging of the torture scenes, as the Tickler, the Mountain, and Polliver get terrifyingly medieval on their prisoners, provided an apt, concentration camp vibe. In another deviation from the novel, Tywin Lannister sweeps in and, after recognizing both Arya’s true gender and intelligence, promotes her to the relatively comfortably position of his cup bearer, a development which should play out interestingly in weeks to come. It was also pretty cool to see the beginning and further honing of Arya’s revenge “prayer.”
After an absence last week, Daenerys appears again, finally succeeding in finding her starving khalasar refuge from the barren Red Waste and admission into the luxurious, though perhaps unfriendly, city of Qarth (yet another new map locale). Though a fan favorite, the Daenerys plot has moved at a glacial pace this season and it feels as though her entire storyline would have been better condensed into two episodes rather than spread so thinly across four. However, at least Dany and crew have moved beyond the desert, so here’s hoping next week gives her little more to do and possibly provides us with another glimpse of those bad-ass dragons.
Speaking of bad-ass, after an unsuccessful powwow between Catelynn, Renly, and Stannis, fire priestess, Melisandre, shat out a ninja made of smoke and hell-bent on revenge. Melisandre’s supernatural powers had been implied, but to see them so vividly confirmed, even after having read the books, felt shocking nonetheless and provided an interesting bookend to an episode which began with the plight of the powerless and closed with the birth of a darker power.
I almost lost it when you said she shat out a ninja.