An all-female ‘Game of Thrones’ roundtable: Did Dany just become a villain?

Kelsey: Oooh yes. I love that face. More and more this show is just women doing things while men aren’t looking and then being like “sorry?” But there was some excellent situational humor with Jamie trying to have a convo on that dumb horse. I loved it because I think Jamie is cute.

Katie: The cutest. Spoiler: I think he should sit on the Iron Throne of hotness this week.

Kelsey: Woah woah, don’t get ahead of yourself.

Katie: It’s a holiday, Kelsey. Let me live.

Kelsey: You are right. Fine. I accept this submission of the hottie Jamie Lannister. One weird thing for me is I have now accepted his love with Cersei.

Katie: Same. When brother and sister Lannister were making out last night I was like, oh yes, of course this is normal.

Kelsey: RIGHT? It’s strange. Has this show made me okay with incest? Probably not. But also I liked their kiss! I don’t know anything anymore.

Katie: “Oh well, I guess I like incest now.”

Kelsey: It is confusing though! Cersei’s line “We are the only two people in the world,” is both a beautiful thing to say and a perfect reflection of how self-centered and crazy they both are.

Katie:

Kelsey: Omfg.

The Stark children break free of boring plot purgatory

Katie: Arya. A girl finally has an interesting storyline.

Kelsey: Speaking of On the Run: I have been bored with Arya for at least a season. This whole “girl with no name” thing could not have been more boring to me.

Katie: Same. But now she is reunited with her little sword Needle and back to being Arya with her revenge list. I can’t wait until she gets back into it, leaves Braavos with all of her new assassin skills, and starts trying to bring down the Lannisters again.

Kelsey: Arya feels really one-dimensional to me. Like, I have absolutely nothing to say about her, because I feel like she’s almost just a plot device. She will move into a new situation, kill some people, and then… I don’t have any idea what she could do!

Katie: Yes, I think that’s kind of the point right now, though. She has been singleminded, revenge-minded, for the entire show. Maybe this is the season when she breaks out of that a little.

Kelsey: Yes, and I am ready for that! While we’re at it, let’s check up on Bran, who most recently ruined Hodor’s life forever.

Katie: And then Meera was apologizing to him as the White Walkers approached. I’m still so pissed at Bran. Like, “I’m so sorry that you touched that tree when you weren’t supposed to and warged into Hodor while greenseeing and then ruined his life and our life and now we are going to die because of everything you did. I am sorry.”

Kelsey: I was glad to see another hottie return in the form of Bran’s uncle/Jon Snow’s friend/member of the Night’s Watch Benjen.

Katie: Yes, and it was a relief, because as much as I think Bran is a fuckboi right now, I also want to see what other things he’s messed up with his time traveling escapades. So he has to stay alive.

Kelsey: I have only one more thing to say about Benjen which is this: In two episodes, Dragonglass has demonstrated both its healing and destructive powers for society. Can Dany’s dragons make dragonglass? Do they need to take a course? How do we get more of it? I’m not sure! But it seems important!

Katie: Dragonglass is like snake venom. It can mess you up and is also an ingredient in the antidote. I mean, I think this is how snake venom works. Or maybe that’s the flu shot.

Khaleesi gives a thirsty State of the Union

Kelsey: Let’s talk about Dany. I was happy to see the dragon return, but confused about her role this episode.

Katie: At the end of the episode, when Dany is telling the Dothraki that they are all her bloodriders and they will be conquering all of Westeros, I was like, uh, maybe chill instead? As much as we talk about Dany’s leadership and power, she is better as a liberator. Watching her be super thirsty for the Iron Throne bummed me out. And the hot man she is sleeping with looked bummed, too.

Kelsey: Oooh yes. My boyfriend was here this episode. Happy to see him again. But you’re right, Katie. Where Daenerys shines is in her liberation, not her iron fist. Which kind of makes me question whether she really wants to sit on the throne at all, or whether she just feels a deep generational need for revenge.

Katie: She may believe she can change the nature of the throne, but Bran’s flashback of her father, the Mad King, reminded us that the throne changes you. But you’re right, she seemed more hungry for power than anything else.

Kelsey: Also, this episode showed us Tommen, who somehow still sits on the Iron Throne, doing something that Khalessi has never done in her entire life: compromise.

Katie: I feel like Tommen isn’t even compromising, he’s just rolling over on his baby back and being like, OK, Margery, I love the High Sparrow now, too.

Tying up loose ends and ascending the Iron Throne of Hotness

Katie: Oh shit. We forgot about Sam and Sam’s mean-ass dad.

Kelsey: Omg! Sam, we forgot you!

Kelsey: You know what, Katie, I would like to nominate Sam as hottie of the week this week because he was so sweet to his lil’ wilding girlfriend and his mom and sister, and he refused to roll over on his back for his dad! I loved it when he stole the sword!

Katie: I respect that, but I have to overrule because Jamie looked so good with his medium amount of facial hair and anguished look after his dumb son sent him to Riverrun. But with Tahirah out (we miss you Tahirah), we are left with a tie. Let’s have them sit on the throne together, a lesson that everyone in this show could learn from.

Kelsey: I think you’re right. Sam, you will have your day. But today—on this holiday—we celebrate the blonde hottie Jamie Lannister!

Katie: Before we go, let’s touch on all of the little plot things that happened. This was like an appetizer plate of an episode. A sampler. Lots of little things going on: Jamie and Brienne will be reunited in Riverrun, but maybe it will be a bad reunion, because they are fighting for different sides.

Kelsey: Someone told me a good theory that maybe Bran is actually all of the new gods whispering through the fire to the red ladies.

Katie: Wow, that is like too much for me to parse this morning. Bran being the Lord of the Light smdh. Other loose ends: We got some Tullys back. Edmure Tully, whose wedding, you’ll remember, was the Red Wedding, is alive. And in Walder Frey’s dungeon. Walder Frey, while we’re on the topic, is also back in this episode. Shit is going to go down in Riverrun. Beyond that, I have no real final thoughts on this episode! Am I still in emotional shock from Hodor? Am I unable to process new information in a world without Hodor?

Kelsey: It was actually kind of nice, though a little boring, to get this plot update episode, because I needed the break. RIP still, Hodor.