Chris: Good morning fine sir. Last night’s episode was called “The Laws of Gods and Men” and it was a definite plot pusher, full of details and rules and titles and numbers. Which any story titled “The Laws of ______” is likely to do (looking at you, Leviticus). This is fine with me, however, because we finally began/returned to two arcs I’ve long been waiting for: the introduction of the Iron Bank and the start of Tyrion Lannister’s trial. In case you have forgotten, Andrew, Peter Dinklage is wonderful, and given the stage to himself, he does not disappoint. His full-throated confession for being a dwarf-an attack on his father and sister, on King’s landing, and the the people he saved, was a fine bit of Dinklage. The scene may have been hammed up a little in the music and the lingering reaction shots, but I was moved by Tyrion, at long last, airing his rage in public. I imagine Tyrion sitting in his cell, writing and re-writing in his mind what might be his last public speech: “I wish I was the monster you think I am. I wish I had enough poison for the whole pack of you.” The opportunity for Dinklage to shine has been too long absent from Game of Thrones.
What are you initial thoughts on “The Laws of Gods and Men?”
Andrew: My main thought about last night’s episode is that the laws of gods and men can be cruel indeed. Especially the laws of men. The world of GoT is primitive, even atavistic—but the most interesting theme that leapt out at me was the very modern one of privilege and systemic discrimination, of the injustices that inevitably result in societies that are run on power and violence, and who it is that these societies chooses to value and devalue. “My only crime is being a dwarf”—those are powerful words that resonate in our own world. Tyrion is being strung up because in this society, he’s essentially a disposable person, a convenient vessel for the rage and resentment of his family and for the fear and anger of the mob.
For me, Tyrion’s speech about being unjustly persecuted for being a dwarf twinned with a quieter scene in which Varys came out as another kind of persecuted minority: an asexual person in a world seemingly ruled by sexual desire. It wasn’t entirely clear to me whether Varys was asexual before or after his castration—I think he implied before?—but either way, to the pan-sexual Oberyn he’s an unknown quantity: a person who doesn’t seem to want anything. Well, except for power. In GoT, minority status makes you an object of persecution—it’s awful to be a woman, or disabled, or poor, or a dwarf in this world—but it can also make you powerful if you know how to turn the thing that makes you different into an advantage over your enemies. That’s an echo of something that Tyrion told Jon Snow in Season 1—but Varys’s betrayal of Tyrion in the courtroom made me think that the difference in their fortunes is a result of how they play the game: that Tyrion, for all his smarts, just isn’t that good at it after all. But I’ve no idea what Varys’s aims are. He’s playing a long game.
Chris: Varys did imply that he’d always been without sexual attraction, and the writers are answering a fascinating question with Varys: what does asexuality look like in a world that is, in part at least, defined by sex and sexual violence? Varys’ claim that his freedom from desire provides him advantages makes an odd contrast to Oberynn, who more than anyone else seems to indulge his desires openly. That was indeed an intriguing moment.
Tyrion’s future makes me nervous for the conclusion of the season, a conclusion I feel is going to come down hard on several of our players. Losing Tyrion would be a huge blow. His character has always been dealt fairly, I think, from the writers’ perspective, and Peter Dinklage was a primary reason I decided to continue with the show after season 1. The laws of men have never served Tyrion fairly, and his request for a trial by combat makes clear your point about the reality of life as a dwarf in Westeros. Not that long ago Tyrion was in the same place. The last time he faced a trial by combat, in the Eyrie, Tyrion requested Jaime be his champion, but to no avail. Will Tyrion once more request the Kingslayer to defend his honor? I love the idea of Jaime fighting in defense of Tyrion against Cersei and Tywinn to determine whether Tyrion murdered Joffrey.
Clearly the Lannisters are falling apart. The only Lannister outside this collapse recused himself from the whole affair, Tommen. Perhaps another sign of what’s in store for the Lannister name.
Andrew: Yes, things aren’t looking good for the Lannisters, as Ser Davos pointed out at the Iron Bank in Bravos. Even though that particular scene was basically just a lot of sitting around and talking, I really liked it—and not just because a beardy Mycroft Holmes made an appearance. (Though I did yell out “Mycroft!” when he came on-screen.) Ser Davos’s speech on Stannis’s behalf was forceful and, I thought, convincing. Really, who else but Stannis could really rule the seven kingdoms at the moment? The Lannisters are falling apart. Daenerys isn’t ready. After Davos’s impassioned plea on his master’s behalf, I wasn’t at all surprised that they got the money to fund a new army. Though someone should tell Davos showing a banker your chopped-off fingers is the weirdest way to apply for a loan ever.
Lingering in the East for a moment, Daenerys was also struggling with issues of law and justice. Her dragons are terrorizing the countryside because, well, that’s what dragons do. But Dany’s careless wrath has done damage as well, as became clear when the son of one of the crucified slavers came to her asking if he could take down his father’s body to have it properly buried. It turns out that, though the slavers were a horrible bunch, this particular man had argued against crucifying slave children (though I don’t suppose he objected to slave labor in general). Dany initially pushed back against his son’s request, reminding him of the horrific crimes of the slavers, but her stricken face when he left said it all—she’s finally realizing that violence, even when it’s practiced in the name of justice, still leaves scars that are felt long afterward.
Chris: I was surprised by the Iron Bank’s decision. I thought that the Iron Bank would have a little more steel in their resolve. Aren’t they essentially giving up on the Lannister’s debt being repaid? If the Bank loaned so much coin to the Lannisters to keep them on the throne, would they really be convinced by some lost fingers? The logic from Ser Davos was sound I suppose, but as a banking decision, I was underwhelmed.
What marked the seen in Mereen for me was less Dany being forced to face the consequences of her justice (though clearly that’s part of it), and more the complete tedium of ruling. Marching armies in a quest to conquer cities and free slaves all on the way to reclaim the Iron Throne of Westeros, this is the glorious life Dany wants, of power wielded on behalf of those without power. She is Daenerys Stormborn of the House of Targaryen, First Of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons. No one with such a title wants to sit on a cold bench in a dark pyramid, listening to 212 individual complaints against you and your pals. But such is the life of a ruler. One that Dany has never experienced. It seems that Dany has justice in her blood, and a real desire for vengeance and compassion. We’ve seen her compassion several times, and did again last night with the goatherder. We’ve also seen her vengeance, which his terrible to behold, as we saw with the son of the crucified man. What Dany does not appear to have, not yet at least, is an understanding of the politics and the life of leading people. Dany has two powerful former knights advising her, but she lacks a Tywin Lannister to slough through the mundane life of ruling Essos to teach her the civics and politics of being Queen. And until she learns to rule, she’ll need to stay parked alone in a pyramid across the sea.
Andrew: Let’s see, what else did we have last night? I guess there was Yara Greyjoy’s attempt to save Theon from the Boltons, which for me was by far the weakest part of the episode. She travels all the way from the Iron Islands to the Dreadfort, frees her brother from his cage, then turns tail and runs the moment Ramsay Snow makes a move to set the dogs on her? Lame.
The whole thing basically served to show us Theon’s mental state—that really, on some basic level, Theon Greyjoy is truly dead. Now, there is only Reek. Which is interesting enough, I guess, in a completely nauseating sort of way. Ramsay Snow’s control over Reek is now total, something which will come in handy when he tries to take Moat Cailin.
But speaking of Moat Cailin, last night’s Reek/Ramsay plotline reminded me of something I find exceedingly irritating about fantasy, and about GoT in particular: its glacial pace. When Ramsay drew Reek a bath and told him that he needed his help taking a castle, my honest reaction was: “Um, didn’t your dad tell you to head up to Moat Cailin like four episodes ago?! What the hell have you been doing this whole time!”
Which is basically my main complaint with this episode: in spite of some good stuff, I can’t shake the feeling that the show is just marking time. Sometimes, when the credits roll, I want to leap up and yell, Veruca-Salt-like, “But I want to know what happens now!” Last night was one of those nights.
Chris: Everything coming from the Iron Islands or the Dreadfort bores me. I thought for a few minutes that Yara might bring us some life and progress here, but then she just turned around and left the story exactly where it was. Even the showrunners don’t know what to do with this stuff. The bathtub scene capped it for me. Ramsay says: I need you to help me take a castle and pretend to be someone else. Theon says: Who? And the director lingers for a beat, two beats, and the big reveal: THEON GREYJOY!
Really? No shit guys? The deprogrammed Theon’s going to have to pretend to be the old Theon? Whoa! The least interesting dialogue reveal I could seen since, I dunno, Snape was the Half-blood Prince? It’s possible that Ramsay might have something else happening; washing Reek’s body in the tub might be a sign of furthering their relationship. But still, each episode I find myself hoping the Greyjoys and Boltons are just off-camera plotting each other’s mutual destructions. Did I mention I don’t like this arc?
We only have four more episodes this season, though, so things are going to pick up. That’s the flipside of the glacial slowness leads to great cataclysmic eruptions. Until then, if we are going to kill time, let’s do it somewhere other than Dreadfort.
