“Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”

Game of Thrones certainly has us used to watching the odd horrific scene ever few weeks, and as expected, Ramsay and Sansa’s wedding night was right up there. After her escape from Joffrey this seems like an out of the frying pan and into the fire situation for Sansa. This was a pretty tense and solid episode and as we know, Petr Baylish had his little fingers all over this one. He manages to manipulate Cerci which seems to negate a conversation he had with Roose Bolton a few weeks ago, and as ever his plans remain ambigus. Cerci meanwhile has her hands full as her plans to rattle House Tyrell seem to be working, thanks to the Faith Militant. Things get complicated in Dorne as Jamie and Bronne are caught, it’s now a distinct possibility that Ellaria Sand might now get the war against the Lannisters she’s been looking for. We find Arya making progress with the Faceless men and Jorah and Tyrian manage to get themselves captured, we have to question how even Tyrian will be able to wriggle his way out of this one.

Sansa’s latest wedding has definitely got to be a contender for one of the most grim rape scenes in the show yet (although the very fact that I can say “one of the most grim rape scenes” speaks wonders. We can think back to Deanerys wedding night to Khal Drogo in particular- although they did fall in love eventually. I can imagine that a lot of viewers will be put off by scenes like these but we have to remember that Game of Thrones is set in a pseudo-Medieval environment; these are the kind of things that would happen routinely. Particularly if a man of any significant power also happened to be a psychopath… I think if people are looking to point a finger over such scenes (which personally I’m not) George R R Martin is the man to look to, and not the show’s writers or producers. Alfie Allen (Theon) has been consistently brilliant as the character Reek and was particularly convincing in this scene as Ramsay forced him to watch. We have to wonder if like Deanerys, Sansa will rise from her experiences with him all the stronger, as she did with Joffrey or, like Reek, crumble under the physical and psychological torture of Ramsay Bolton.

Sansa must hold so much resentment towards Littlefinger for setting this up, but we have to wonder if she genuinely believes that he has her best interests at heart. In a meeting with Cerci he seems to drip-feed Cerci information about Sansa. The Queen mother is obviously tempted by his idea to wipe out the Bolton’s and the Baratheon’s in one go, but the question is will he hand Sansa over to Cerci in order to make himself Warden of The North? Or will he go for the bigger prise and team up the Ayrie with the Boltons? The options seem to be very open for him at this stage but his hyper ambitious nature has been clear from early on in the show and seems to suggest that he isn’t willing to compromise or settle.

I have to admire the way Cerci has managed to get the High Sparrow to do her dirty work for her by having Ser Lloras and Queen Margery both put on trial. Diana Rigg who plays Lady Olenna, was excellent in her conversation with Cerci as she refers to her as “The famous tart Queen Cerci.” With her sharp tongue she hints at potential breakdown of the alliance between the Lannisters and the Tyrells, for obvious reasons. We have to question here Cerci’s control of this situation, although she has the upper hand on the Tyrells for now, pushing them too far could be a regretful move. With potential enemies in the North and the Dornish troubles brewing in the South, it seems foolish to me for her to make an enemy of their most powerful allies. Time will tell if Cerci will regret giving free reign to the Sparrows.

Jamie and Bronn should be thankful that it was the guards of Prince Doran who captured them and not the Sand Snakes. Had Ellaria captured them it would most likely have resulted in the death of Jamie which would probably have led to a Lannister retaliation. How the Prince will deal with this is anybody’s guess but he has expressed his desire to avoid any sort of conflict with the Lannisters in a previous episode. Game of Thrones politics in full flow here and the outcome is anybody’s guess.

Arya is still only learning how to prepare the dead bodies in the House of Black and White and until this week was failing to progress in her training as she still won’t let go of her life as Arya Stark. Personally I’ve been finding this story thread a little monotonous, it slowly looks to be heading somewhere now. After she kills the little girl we see her let into to the giant hall full of pillars and faces. It is explained to her that she is not ready to become Faceless “No, a girl is not ready to become no one, but she is ready to become someone else.” It seems like Arya is getting her way in a sense here but its open to debate who she will become. Does this mean she will take on the identity of someone else and go back to Westeros to complete her death wish list? This appears to be something she is still holding onto and perhaps the reason why she is unable to become a true Faceless Man.

We are given a reminder of the greyscale that is slowly eating away at Jorah Mormont, and Tyrian still remains ignorant of the fact. It seems likely that he will soon be dead because of the disease and I doubt if he will make it as far as the fighting pits before his captors realise he has the infectious illness and throw him overboard. Tyrion manages to temporarily bargin for his life until they are able to find a merchant willing to buy his cock, because as we know, in Game of Thrones, a Dwarf’s cock has magic powers…