A Bear There Was! A Bear! A Bear!

[netgirl_y2k]

-Jaime and Brienne continue to make me happy in my heart. Like Dany's destruction of Astapor, the bear pit was another scene that was exactly as awesome as I needed it to be.

-The Theon stuff was already edging dangerously close to torture porn, and this. Yeah. No.

Partially unrelated, but while ship and let ship is of course the platonic ideal, ever since Iwan Rheon appeared on our screens my scrolling finger has been getting a lot of exercise scrolling past Ramsey/Theon on AO3 and the kinkmeme.

-Dany! I would crawl over broken glass on my belly for Dany, but fucking hell, she's scary. Also, while the sacking of slavers bay is her best plot, and it's an interesting character note that while she loved Drogo and embraced being a khaleesi, being sold to him really seems to have affected her. But she spend the entirety of last year demanding/begging for ships to go home, so part of me was going: Take the ships the nice slaver is offering you, go to Westeros, and we can get this plot going.

-The Sansa & Margaery scene was a thing of beauty to behold. Shipping it like its my job, to be honest. The rose, the pretty girls comment... thank you, show.

I have been following a discussion in fandom about how manipulative and fucked up Sansa/Margaery is or isn't as a ship. And at the moment I think it's three parts I care for you and genuinely don't want you to be sad, to six parts Hmm, the future lady of Casterly Rock and Winterfell will be a useful friend and ally to have, to one part If you think a secret lesbian affair might help you deal with your unhappy marriage, call me.

I did like the canon acknowledgement that Peter Dinklage is much easier on the eye than book!Tyrion. Though, when Maragery said her son would be king, and sons learn from their mothers... that sound you could hear in the background, that was Cersei Lannister laughing bitterly.

-Speaking of everyone's least favourite psychotic boy king, his attempts to intimidate his grandfather were laughable, and how easily Tywin brushed it off was pretty funny. The weird thing is, though, that Joffrey - and I can't believe I'm saying this - was correct in everything he said, he should be in small council meetings, even if he has to be dragged there by the ear, Dany is a threat that should be taken seriously.

Comments

[karatam]

Margaery and Sansa just knocked it out of the park. Natalie Dormer's face when she was looking at Sophie Turner's just heartbreaking expression was amazing.

Also, "Pretty girls" WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SUGGESTING, MARGAERY, AND WE WOULD PREFER IF YOU DID THAT RIGHT NOW ACTUALLY.

I couldn't stop giggling through Dany's scenes, because holy shit she's scary but also so hilarious. I also love how tiny Emilia Clarke is, because it makes the fact that everyone is terrified of her just that much better. Also, yay! All the dragons were there!

How is Joffrey the only person in Westeros who takes the threat of Dany seriously? Which means that no one will ever take the threat of Dany seriously until she burns down half of the country upon her arrival.

[likeadeuce]

It is kind of weird that they went from 'Robert wants to have Dany murdered' to 'I guess she's over there, NBD.' I feel like in the books this is lampshaded as Cersei being shortsighted, but I don't know that there's ever a good explanation for why Tywin isn't more concerned.

[netgirl_y2k]

Remember a few weeks ago when Tywin was berating the three finest spymasters in the realm for being unable to find Jaime? He perhaps should have been less surprised seeing as they also haven't noticed that not only are Dany's dragons the real deal, but she now has an army and has conquered most of an archipelago.

[netgirl_y2k]

EXT. WESTEROS

EVERYBODY: Well, what dragons?

(wall to wall fire and blood, everyone dies)

EVERYBODY: Oh... those dragons...'kay

Also, no one will ever convince me that when Margaery was talking about women being hard to satisfy, that she hasn't been on both sides of that equation.

[likeadeuce]

I agree a thousand percent on both Jaime/Brienne and Margaery/Sansa.

I really don't know WHAT the point of the Ramsay + Theon plot is. I thought they were onto something originally when Ramsay was posing as his friend, but they got done with that quickly and now, without any context of who Ramsay is and why he's like this, it is doing absolutely nothing/ I'm verging on fast-forwarding those parts.

[netgirl_y2k]

Yeah, I mean I find Alfie Allen strangely endearing, but maybe it would have been better to bench him more than they have.

Anyway, when reading the books I thought the power of the Theon/Reek plot was that you didn't see most of it, and the show is doing absolutely nothing to change my mind on that front.

[mfirefly10]

I actually skipped all the Theon stuff in this episode, though I heard enough about it to know what happened. I don't know what they plan to do with Theon next season but if it's yet another 10 episodes of him being tortured, it'll be a while before I watch another Theon scene.


Jaime and Brienne ♥


The Sansa/Margaery scene was incredible but I really don't get all the manipulation talk. Sure, there are elements of that in their relationship but that's not unheard of for relationships in this world. How is Sansa/Margaery any worse than Jon/Ygritte? It's possible to have genuine feelings for someone even while you're manipulating them/the situation.

[netgirl_y2k]

Yeah, if I get the S3 DVDs I know what the fast forward button is going to be used for. And the thing with the Theon stuff, is the more of it you see the less impact it has, so...

It's possible to have genuine feelings for someone even while you're manipulating them/the situation.

Yes, thank you! I mean, I find a lot of the fic for them skews slightly too fluffy for my tastes, but then I subscribe to the theory that Sansa's story is about a pawn who becomes queen (literally or not) and I like to think that Sansa will be capable of manipulating Margaery straight back someday, and they could have a fascinating relationship full of manipulation and history and genuine affection and sex. Why is fandom not catering to me in this?

[fitz_y]

THIS! All of this. That Theon scene WTF?? Such torture porn. Which you know if that's your thing, fine, but it just feels so gratuitous to me. Plus this whole Theon plot has been dreamed up by the 12-yr-olds writing the show, yes? It's not in the books. So again oh it's the 12-yr-olds with boners writing the show again.

I can't get over how much I ship Bri/Jamie.

[netgirl_y2k]

Well, sort of. In the books Theon vanishes at the sack of Wintrfell, disappears for two books, and turns up tortured beyond recognition. And that's the power of it, that you don't see it. And unless they're planning to switch things up or bench the actor, we've a lot more more of it to come :-(

Jaime/Brienne, the het ship so awesome even slash and femslash only fans ship it!

[kmo]

Jaime/Brienne, the het ship so awesome even slash and femslash only fans ship it!

TRUTH!

[kmo]

oh the Sansa/Margaery bits were the *best* last night. and when Margaery is all "oh sure, my mother told me" i just laughed and laughed and laughed. i love how Highgarden (kind of like Dorne) is apparently this anything-goes sexual free for all. um, i don't think Sansa/Margaery is anywhere near as fucked up as some of the other people Sansa gets shipped with (Littlefinger, Sandor). But then again, I'd gladly become Margaery's political pawn/secret lesbian friend any day. And hey, she gave Tommen those kittens- not gonna lie, Ser Pounce and Lady Whiskers is the casting I am most excited for for s4. :D

Melisandre just continues to impress me. She leaps off the screen a way she never did in the books. And Olenna & Tywin were just killin' it last night. I'd ship them, except both are far too clever ever to fall into bed with each other.

I think you might be on to something about Joffrey. I feel like the writers are aiming to make him seem just a touch sympathetic or pitiful before the Purple Wedding. I think it's a good dramatic choice.

[netgirl_y2k]

Yes, even if I didn't like the show on its own merits, I would still be glad of it for making the fandom big enough that it's now possible to find fic about Sansa that doesn't ship her with Sandor, and don't even get me started on how fluffy a lot of it is.

Yeah, in the books Melisande sort of faded into the background, didn't she? Although, I did like her pov chapter in ADwD, but show!Melisande... perfect casting is perfect.

I mean, I won't be weeping into my beer over Joffrey or anything... but this season, with his infatuation with Margaery who's pulling all his strings... oh, you poor terrible little psychopath, you are not going to see this coming.

[tardis_stowaway]

Jaime and Brienne in the bear pit was a scene made of win.

Urgh, I had to look away from my screen for most of the Theon scene. I just wish his whole plotline would go the hell away. Theon is (IMHO) a repulsive, abhorrent human being who deserves bad things, but (a) nobody deserves that level of bad things, and (b) I certainly shouldn't have to watch it. Way too much torture porn. I've only read through book 3, so I don't know where this is going, but I keep hoping that one of these days he's just going to go into shock and die so we can all move on. I suspect I will be disappointed.

Dany and Margaery as tiny women in charge are the best. I love how Dany still takes the issue of people having their freedom stolen personally, even though her arranged marriage worked out. It's a nice aspect of character continuity.

It's a crazy topsy-turvy world when Joffrey is actually right!

[netgirl_y2k]

And the thing is, I actually liked this Theon plot in the books, I thought it was a nice dramatic twist; Theon is a terrible person and I want only bad things to happen to him... wait, stop, I didn't mean that... leave him alone! But, in the books, and this is the important bit, I feel, I didn't have to see or read about it.

Perhaps I'll just only pay attention to the bits with epic tiny women in charge.