Game of Thrones Discussion, S5E2: Boxed In

What binds us to the choices we make? Oaths and promises, our own or others’ ambitions, lofty ideals, delusion?

Sometimes we find our “choices” are traps, into which we are tricked, sometimes forced, and too often beg to enter. Sometimes escape from one box leads to another …

Open the windows and join us for a discussion of “The House of Black and White” with three fans with different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the television and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a dedicated fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, who does not read.

Please join the discussion in comments!

Cheryl Collins
This episode — again — seemed to be about power and submission: those who were seizing power (Stannis), watching it slip from their fingers (Cersei and Dany), and being prodded into it (Tyrion and Jon).

Corrin Bennett-Kill
And people searching for their identities. Taking on new ones, discarding old ones. Jaime trying on a new role as father and struggling with who he is after the loss of his hand.

Jon was offered the reins of two very different sources of power. Arya, without another place to go, is told she needs to become “no one.”

Cheryl
So many of these character’s are in “crates”: Cersei (in her high tower), Tyrion and Varys (in that wagon), Sansa under guard (boxed in), and Dany in her high pyramid.

Corrin
Boxes and snakes. No wonder this episode felt so uncomfortable.

Laura Fletcher
Arya in the windowless House of Black and White!

Cheryl
Arya must serve there … again the theme of serving and submitting.

Laura
Cheryl, no coincidence we got lots of Valar Morghulis/Valar Dohaeris this time, eh? Serving, and dying. … Perhaps the black and white is more about the dueling identities the characters are dealing with, rather than the more obvious “good and evil” symbolism?

Corrin
OHMIGOD, Laura! The title of the episode suddenly becomes clear! I was reading it simply as a reference to the literal house in Braavos.

Cheryl
Yin and yang. And as we know, there is always a bit of white in the black, and black in the white, in that symbol.

There was a lot of strategically placed black and white in the episode: a shot of a white horse next to a black horse (right after we leave Arya’s first visit to the House of Black and White), or white goats crossing a black horse, for example. Poor Dany must kill a fervent follower for an abstract notion of “law” — talk about a gray area.

What about Jon? He does not resist when Sam nominates him.

Corrin
Yes. Jon. I loved Sam in the voting scene. I just kept thinking “Oooooo! Burn!” as he talked about McScaredypants (Janos Slynt).

Laura
As a book reader, I cackled to myself at how a big chunk of Jon’s storyline was compressed into this episode. It makes narrative sense, but boy, what comes next?!

And Maester Aemon’s little grin during Sam’s story was PRICELESS.

Corrin
Knowing that Jon’s elevation was coming didn’t make it any less satisfying to see him win. He has a rough road ahead of him and his enemies aren’t going to make it easy on him, but at the very least he won’t be struggling in vain to have the Night’s Watch prepared for the true conflict to come. He will be able to lead as he sees fit. Finally.

And he has stout support from Sam as well. I see the shape of the Watch to come in those two.

Laura
So Jon, proving himself more a Stark than ever, chooses the honorable path and decides to reject Stannis’s offer – to take the Stark name. He admits he had always wanted to be a Stark more than anything, but he’s given up that life. This position as head of the Night’s Watch is his other path — a way to be a leader in his own way.

Cheryl
Finally it feels as if the shackles are off and he can be and do what is necessary. That was a real emotional high point.

Corrin
I don’t think Stannis was surprised by Jon’s rejection of his offer for Winterfell. Jon followed his own course by showing mercy to Mance on the pyre, which Stannis said he would not have done. That lack of desire to comply with Stannis’s view of the situation should have given Stannis a heads up that Jon will not be ruled by him, regardless of the enticements.

Laura
I’d guess that Stannis still respects Jon for defying him, but he’s also not about to let go of the idea of ruling the North through some strategic “up-jumping” of bastards or lowborns or whomever — a very Lannister idea, to be sure.

Cheryl
We all saw that shot of the bow from Jon last week as a threat to Stannis’s power. But wasn’t it also a shot at Melisandre?

Laura
Jon certainly doesn’t seem to trust Melisandre, after that awkward “feel my hot face in the elevator” scene.

Corrin
Again, some unexpected focus on Stannis’s wife Selyse and daughter Shireen.

Cheryl
I liked the connection. It’s not surprising that “the girls” would meet. If Gilly learns to read, it makes her an even better match for Sam.

Corrin
What was it Shireen’s mother said? A wildling will always be a wildling? It was an odd reinforcement of prejudice.

Cheryl
Gilly was tracing the letter “S” — which can stand for “Sam” of course, but also “serpent” and “snake,” which was another important recurring image in this episode.

Laura
The “S” was pretty disconcerting. “A serpent among us” sort of feeling. And yes, Selyse sounded simultaneously paranoid and wise when she warned Shireen not to trust Gilly.

We know Gilly is “good people,” but it’s true that Stannis’s enemies may use Shireen to get to him, and despite her books she’s not exactly streetwise.

Laura
And we saw a little trouble in paradise between Gilly and Sam when Shireen was teaching Gilly to read, and Sam apologized for a (previous, off-screen) conversation where he told her to practice more. A little emphasis on their very different upbringings and experiences.

Corrin
Right. Sam showing a skill he holds casually while Gilly struggles.

Cheryl
So, about that snake and serpent imagery: there was the weird “present” shaped like a dragon sent by Dorne, containing Myrcella’s necklace; the snake-headed chain coiled around Ellaria Sand’s wrist; the hissing sounds the people of Meereen made when Dany’s follower is decapitated on her orders; the “S” of that book; and Drogon the Dragon, of course, now bigger than a house.

Corrin
Ah yes. Snakes. This is going to continue to appear now that the Dornish are in play. We did get our first look at where Myrcella has been all this time and meet Prince Doran.

Cheryl
Snakes in the garden … trouble in paradise …

Corrin
And the Sand Snakes. Those are Oberyn Martell’s illegitimate daughters. Seven of them if I’m remembering correctly.

And Oberyn’s nickname was the Viper.

I think that threat to Myrcella that sent Jaime off running to collect her was from Ellaria Sand (the pissed-off former lover of Oberyn Martell).

Laura
I would guess that, too, and also guess that Prince Doran didn’t know about it.

Corrin
I don’t know what to say about Dorne. It’s one of those odd foci. It’s important in the future, but the set-up that has been made, even in the books, makes that role indeterminate.

Laura
Myrcella looked plenty happy with her Dornish betrothed, at least. We saw that Oberyn wasn’t lying when he said she was safe.

Cheryl
At least it got Jaime out into the world again and away from Cersei. It was great to see Jaime out of his king’s guard outfit or sackcloth! And hooked up with … Bronn.

Laura
Bronn! What a jackass! I missed him.

Corrin
Bronn! Making lemonade out of lemons per usual.

Cheryl
He looked hilarious in his fine clothes with his silly (but nice) fiancée — neither seemed to fit quite.

Laura
Another identity crisis: reap his reward and settle down (although the reward in question wasn’t all he thought it was) or go back to selling his sword with Jaime. We know what he’ll choose, especially as Jaime took away cushy Option A.

Corrin
Was anyone else a little confused with regard to Brienne’s plan when she approached Sansa and Littlefinger? She’s always had more balls than brains, but it just seemed like such an odd thing to do given that she apparently anticipates the negative reaction.

I didn’t get it. Although we did get a nice action sequence mid-episode as a result. It seemed counterproductive.

Cheryl
She just seemed to be driving to her goal of finding Sansa, with no strategy involved.

Laura
Here’s the way I saw that scene making sense (in retrospect; at the time I also thought it was confusing at best): Brienne has been losing faith in her old belief system, where she’s a knight by any other name. We saw it in that nasty throwdown with the Hound at the end of last season, culminated by Arya’s refusal to accept her protection.

Cheryl
Maybe that was the point. She is re-energized, refocused on her goal now. Reminded of who she was. She came back for Pod, affirming their relationship (after she was ready to ditch him). He kneels before her — submitting to his knight, as it were — as she tells him to get up.

Laura
She’s losing faith, but it’s not lost yet. She’s clinging desperately to the last thread she has — her oath to Catelyn Stark — and trying to piece together how her old-world beliefs will work in this new complicated world. So, she at first tries to simply ask Sansa: it’s respectful and I think she knows full well it won’t work. I’m hoping, HOPING, it’s part of her plan: at least when she sees Sansa later, maybe Sansa will recognize her, if not trust her? But Littlefinger now knows to keep a look out. Poor Brienne.

Cheryl
That was my sense too; Sansa seemed intrigued by what Sansa was saying, but keeping her mouth shut.

So off Brienne and Pod go … now what about Arya?

She too is trying to find her path and is led to the House of Black and White. After she is refused entrance, she’s back to hunting pigeons for food and reciting her death list. Just when it seems nothing has changed … the door opens.

Corrin
We were all so wrapped up with Arya in her expectation of what would occur when she arrived at her destination in Braavos.

When she was so summarily rejected entrance it seemed she fell back on her list as a way to find some purpose. Much like Brienne, now that I think about it.

Cheryl
Yes, it’s like that list is comforting, a mantra. I wonder why they spent so much time of her wandering the streets, forlorn.

Laura
We did get a little badass Arya action, like the quick pigeon beheading and the sass-back to three grown men in the alley.

Corrin
Arya spends a LOT of time wandering the streets in the book.

Laura
What was it that made the priest of black and white — who turned out to be Jaqen H’ghar/No One — finally seek her out? Her refusal to leave Braavos? Her general bad-assery? Or was it a sort of rescue, as she was about to get pummeled? I like the uncertainty and don’t have an answer.

Corrin
There are a lot of deviations happening now. But I’m grateful that so much of the travel and wandering has been condensed. Martin uses it as a device to show character growth or introduce new characters, but it would be irritating to watch on screen (a la “The Hobbit: They’re still walking. And they’re walking some more. Oh look. They’re walking again.)

Cheryl
What about Cersei and her new role? She seems to be vamping, trying to solidify a place for herself as the rocks crumble beneath her feet.

Corrin
She is trying to take Tywin’s place without Tywin’s skill or his power. Or his penis, for that matter. All her points of power are slipping away. Margaery and her influence on Tommen. Kevan Lannister and his unwillingness to deal with her.

Laura
Cersei’s uncle Kevan is gonna be a handful, for her anyway. A chip off the old Tywin block.

Cheryl
And that Dr. Frankenstein, Qyburn — he who’ll find some good use for that unfortunate dwarf’s head — is now on the high council.

I’m thinking she may have been unwise in all her rudeness to Pycelle. It may come back to bite her.

Corrin
She only holds sway over dregs (Qyburn), idiots (Tyrell of Highgarden), and sycophants (Pycelle).

Laura
Not-Maester Qyburn as the “master of whispers” replacing Varys seems really ill-conceived. Qyburn doesn’t seem like someone who has many connections.

Corrin
It’s not that he doesn’t have connections, He’s crazy-go-nuts!

Cheryl
I realized that Margaery’s dad looks like a munchkin from the Wizard of Oz. Seriously. Almost seems deliberate!  What a fool. (Coincidence? I think not.)

Laura
That mustache does him no favors. I was thinking more Colonel Sanders.

[Editor’s note: Talk about yin and yang.]

Cheryl
And Dany?

Laura
Well, well, well. “Justice and freedom”? More dueling identities, methinks. Dany thinks she needs both, but you can’t really have them both at once. It results in rebellion and violence (at least in Meereen!).

Corrin
It was good to see her connect with the dragon again. And her following of Ser Barriston’s advice seemed wise. But, once again, we are seeing Dany falter in her desire to rule Meereen.

She needs to get the hell out of dodge and get to the Seven Kingdoms. Her desired style of government isn’t going to easily take root in Meereen.

Cheryl
Yes, Dany is trying to do it right, but she just can’t quite get there yet.

Corrin
Drogon’s reappearance could be a reminder to Dany of who she is and who she is meant to rule.

Cheryl
Like, “I’m the mother of dragons … and the dragon is flying away … wait, who am I …?”

I think Laura’s comment last week that this was a two-part season opener seems right. Not a lot of action here; just more putting the pieces on the board.

Squawks

Corrin:

• There is yet another example of an actor giving life to a pretty two-dimensional character from the books: Daario. That actor (who also has a recurring role on Orphan Black) is killing it. Loved the lesson on the uses of fear in the scene between him and Grey Worm.

Cheryl:

• Have you noticed how they are playing with time? As Laura noted last week, lots of time has passed for Tyrion (enough for that beard growth), but we’re only a few days after the battle with the Wildings up in the North, it seems.
• Another box: the very white Dany surrounded by the box of black shields — and her white dress was made of what looks like scales. As she watched the dragon fly away, she looked just like a small white bird with clipped wings. (Maybe that partly explains that extended discussion of grey scale, and human morphing into animals?)
• It was fun looking for black and white imagery in this episode,  like the black-and-white inlay work in Dr. Julian Bashir’s (I mean Prince Doran’s) chair.

Laura:

• We saw you ogling that barmaid, Podrick. Keep it in your pants.
• The creep factor of Jaqen H’ghar in monk-like garb reminded me a bit of the blue-mouthed Warlocks of Qarth, who in turn remind me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s smirking Gentlemen, who scare the living shit out of me. They also make me think of the Mouth of Sauron, who I only saw in extended footage of “The Return of the King” but still haunts me. Then I start thinking of every creepy bad guy ever, including the goddamn Weeping Angels from Doctor Who for no good reason. Off to look at lolcats before bed.

Share your thoughts with us in comments … but please, no spoilers.