“You are small men.
None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. So I will. You’re not going
to serve. You’re going to die.”
FIRE AND BLOOD, MOTHERFUCKERS. Man, it’s been a long time
since we’ve had a proper Dany-taking-what’s-hers moment, and the climactic
final scene of this fourth episode of season six, “Book of the Stranger,” is a
great return to what we love about Dany. She takes no prisoners (literally).
She doesn’t give a fuck about whatever limitations you try to put on her. And
if she is going to go full white savior on a bunch of oppressed brown people,
she is going to do it with fire, goddammit!
But Dany showcasing her power wasn’t all that happened in “Book
of the Stranger”: We also see Jon Snow and Sansa Stark join forces to save
Rickon from Ramsay Bolton, a plot development I guessed at in last week’s recap.
You’re welcome! And power moves are also happening in the Iron Islands, where
Theon pledges his help to sister Yara during the upcoming Kingsmoot, and in
King’s Landing, where Jaime and Cersei cook up a scheme to free Margaery Tyrell
from the High Septon.
What else went down in “Book of the Stranger”? Let’s get to
it.
+ “I will never run
from Dothraki.” Nope, but Dany will lead
them. We never thought that Dany would let Dothraki Dave Navarro decide her
fate, did we? But I personally did not expect Dany to turn the tables on the
Khal Convention by her own damn self, not relying on Drogon—still out roaming
the Grass Sea, I guess?—but instead resorting to fire to get the job done. I
mean, she is fire made flesh, so it makes sense.
Nevertheless, this was still great stuff that tangibly moves
Dany’s story forward: Now she has the Dothraki on her side, including the Dosh
Khaleen and the remaining bloodriders of the khals. Now she has horses. And now,
her legend continues to grow, forcing even Daario—the mercenary lover who has
always seemed somewhat skeptical of Dany’s power, even remarking “We’ll all
disappoint her before long” to Jorah—on his knees before her.
Of course, it’s inarguable that Dany’s story continues the
single-white-female-savior narrative—she did, as a small “pink” girl, just set
fire to a temple full of brown men who own brown women. For people keeping
track at home, the colonialist angle of Dany’s tale is pretty damn inescapable,
even as the feminist angle is pretty damn great. But her ass-kicking is still
top-notch, and her sneer as she set the Khal Convention on fire? That shit is compelling,
well-executed television, no matter what.
+ “Your brother
Rickon is in my dungeon. His direwolf’s skin is on my floor. Come and see. I
want my bride back. Send her to me, bastard.” Stark reunion time! How long
has it been since Jon Snow and Sansa Stark have seen each other? Long enough
for Jon Snow to fall in love, see his lover die, become Lord Commander, die
himself, and understand the seriousness of the war that is coming against the
Night’s King. Long enough for Sansa Stark to have her sense of romance and
fantasy die, to live through Joffrey’s torture, to survive Littlefinger’s
tutelage, to escape Ramsay’s mind games and his rape, and to team up with
Brienne and Pod in a bid to reclaim her home. Oh right, and their parents are
dead and their other siblings are far-flung across the world. It’s been a rough few years.
With all this in mind, it’s clear why Jon Snow would want to
find another way to deal with Ramsay and why Sansa would know that there’s no other way. There’s a good push-pull dynamic in
their sibling relationship here (“You were occasionally awful,” as well as
Sansa trying a swig of her big brother’s ale, were nice touches), and a great
moment for Sansa when she proclaims “I want you to help me. But I’ll do it
myself if I have to.”
She won’t though, right? Because Jon Snow has Tormund
Giantsbane, and an army of 2,000 wildlings, and Sansa has Brienne, and perhaps
Davos and Melisandre will join the fight, too, as long as Brienne doesn’t kill
them first. So yes, “a monster has taken our home and our brother,” but they
will go back to Winterfell and save them—perhaps with the Knights of the Vale,
too, now that Littlefinger has convinced Sansa’s cousin Robin Arryn to send
them to her.
And maybe foster brother Theon Greyjoy will show up, now
that he’s throwing his support behind sister Yara in the Iron Islands
Kingsmoot. And even if she isn’t elected ruler, is there some other way Theon
can reunite with the Starks? Never forget what Theon thought about Robb when he
learned of his death: “I should have been with him. Where was I? I should have
died with him.” Maybe joining Jon and Sansa in their fight against Ramsay, his
own torturer, is how he repays that debt.
Although, of course, Dolorous Edd brings up a great point: “I
was with you at Hardhome. … How can you leave us now?” The fight for Winterfell
is a personal agenda for Jon Snow, but what about the fight for the future of
humanity as they know it? What about the fight against the Night’s King? That
seems like a greater problem at play here, and it will be interesting to see
how that factors into things down the line.
“You will not use
them. They will use you. That is what they do.” What’s Tyrion, Dany’s white
ally (according to fellow PDC-er Julian Lytle), doing in Meereen? Oh, just
pissing off Grey Worm and Missandei, and possibly compromising their support of
him, by making peace with the masters of Slaver’s Bay. No big deal!
There are layers here, of course: Tyrion thinks that through
diplomacy, the same kind of diplomacy he used as the King’s Hand back in King’s
Landing, he can smooth over the problems between the slavers of Astapor, Yunkai,
and Volantis and Dany’s rule in Meereen. With seven years to phase out slavery
and with compensation provided by Dany and Meereen, the masters should be
happy, Tyrion thinks—but they have to cut off their own support of the Sons of
the Harpy and stop trying to destabilize Dany’s rule. That’s the compromise,
and one that the masters seem to consider as Tyrion leaves them with a room
full of prostitutes.
But this doesn’t go over very well with either Missandei or
Grey Worm, both of whom have actually been
slaves and who saw in Dany’s freedom something to fight for. “I don’t make
peace with the Queen’s enemies, I kill the Queen’s enemies,” notes Grey Worm, and we’ve
never seen Missandei as dismissive of Tyrion as when she says “How many days
were you a slave? … Not long enough to understand.” (Also great to see
Missandei in a very Xena-like outfit this episode, ready for battle against the
masters.)
Nevertheless, Grey Worm and Missandei have to tacitly agree
to Tyrion’s plan to save face in front of the masters and in front of the freemen
of Meereen, but they’re clearly not all-in. They’re both shocked that Tyrion would
be this short-sighted, and in a way, I hope they’re right. Slavery doesn’t get
solved easily (Tyrion’s use of the term “abolishing slavery” felt very modern,
no?). This Reconstruction-inspired plan from Tyrion can’t do the job this
quickly. War will probably come to Meereen regardless—although with Viserion
and Rhaegal on their side, chances are probably in their favor … right?
+ “Many will die no
matter what we do. Better them than us.” Is this Cersei/Jaime and
Kevan/Olenna truce for real? Only time will tell, but for now, it seems like the
Lannister Twins are throwing in their lot with uncle Kevan, the Hand of the
King, and Olenna, the Queen of Thorns and Margaery and Loras’s grandmother. Is
this to sway Tommen over to Cersei’s side, or does she legitimately want
Margaery released from the High Septon (loved Lena Headey’s delivery of the
line “Of course Margaery’s safety is paramount”)? Either way, the plan is in
place: Have the Tyrell army enter the city, storm the Sept, and free Margaery
before she has to take the same Walk of Shame that Cersei did. Jaime sells the
idea to Kevan and Olenna, and it very likely could lead to civil war—with the
Sparrows and the Faith Militant facing off against the Lannisters and the
Tyrells. What’s more powerful, faith or money? That’s the question being raised
here, in deadly terms.
In the Sept itself, Margaery is trying to endear herself to
the High Septon—look at the way she lets him lead her to Loras, as meek as they
come—but while she’s still playing the game, she’s shocked by how broken Loras
is. She’s not getting beaten like he is, she’s not getting tortured like he is.
And while she can say things like “You are the future of our house, the future
of our family,” Loras doesn’t care. He just wants the pain to stop.
But will
Margaery ever “let them win”? In her stubbornness and her ambition, she’s just
like Cersei—she wants to be the queen.
Would she sacrifice Loras to do it?
And finally, some
various odds and ends:
+ For the most part, the High Septon is a hypocritical
douche twisting religion to his own ends, but he has some great lines in his
interaction with Margaery this week, like in his commentary on how ruthlessly
materialistic the rich are (“I imagine you’ve worn a year of someone’s life on
your back”) and in his observations about identity (“It’s all part of a story.
A story I was telling myself about who I was. A collection of lies that would
disappear in the light.”) It’s doubtful that any of this will sink in for
Margaery, but still, a nice try.
+ Of course Daario would, after seeing the Dothraki horde
partying it up in Vaes Dothrak, regretfully say “I should have been born a
Dothraki.” Dude, your life is already about sex and murder! Come on. What are you really missing out on?
+ “Fuck the wise masters in their perfumed asses!” Oh,
Dothraki Dave Navarro. I will miss you.
+ “Don’t go, you idiot!” Agreed, Sansa. Younger you was
terrible.
+ What is Tormund doing at that dinner table? Is he making
sexy eyes at Brienne? You gotta steal her first, dude! Wildling custom and
shit!
+ PLEASE DO NOT HAVE SANSA AND JON FALL IN LOVE. This is a
relationship that certain readers of GRRM’s novels want to happen, and it is
terrible, and I REFUSE.
+ So did Davos and Melisandre not know that Stannis was
dead, or at least defeated? I was a little confused by their reactions to
Brienne dropping that knowledge on them (I appreciated her don’t-give-a-fuck
walk away from them after she said “Just before I executed him”), since I
thought at least Melisandre knew that Stannis was dead. I guess she didn’t tell
Davos? Regardless, the two of them clearly have an enemy in Brienne, who isn’t
going to forget about the demon baby that Melisandre birthed that killed Renly.
“That’s in the past now. It doesn’t mean I forget, or forgive.” But at some
point, Brienne has to let go of this Renly revenge oath, right? There are
bigger issues at play here. And Renly kind of sucked, soooo.
+ “Should we throw him through the Moon Door?” Damn, I did
not miss Robin Arryn AT ALL.
+ “‘Theon Greyjoy?’ I said. ‘He’s dead. He’s been dead a
long time.’” Powerful shit, Yara.
+ Ramsay was already the most ridiculous villain this show
has ever had, and he got EVEN MORE SO when he killed my beloved Osha. I WILL
MISS YOU, NYMPHADORA TONKS. I legitimately shrieked when this happened. Fuck off
forever, Ramsay.
+ “You don’t like Margaery, do you?” How did Tommen go from
(correctly) guessing that Cersei would kill Trystane Martell if she needed to,
to legitimately wondering if Cersei likes his wife? Clearly she hates her. Come
on, kid.
+ “Do you eat them after?” “No.” “Then I’ve seen worse.” For
real, you’ll be missed, Osha. SO MUCH.
+ And in previews for next week’s episode, “The Door,” Sansa
asks Littlefinger whether he knew about Ramsay; Arya gets some wisdom from
Jaqen; Yara makes her claim for the Salt Throne at the Kingsmoot; a red
priestess unnerves Varys and Tyrion in Meereen; and Bran sees a vision of the
Night’s King and his army—and they see him, too.
