One thing I try very hard to do is to see beyond my privileges as a white male, and beyond what society expects of me and everyone else on the gender spectrum. When raised in normal society with abnormal personality qualities – that is to say, when you find yourself to be a geek – you tend to view those not in your half of the world with suspicion and awe, thinking them something stranger and greater than you… Not something which encourages equality or Feminist views. It took me a long time to realise how warped and unhealthy such a reliance upon the privileges and societal expectations was.
Sad to say, Westeros is barely in a state where the words ‘gender roles’ could be uttered without you being laughed at. Such a thing is highly representative of the way medieval society was at the time – and, if you follow the startling @EverydaySexism, frankly you’ll realise it’s dangerously close to modern society – but it makes for strange viewing when an episode basically revolves around it. Every scene bar one is about the roles of men and women in the societies it represents.
We open with the Hound as the Protector and Arya as the Daughter, as Arya is told that she will be kept safe until she’s reunited with her mother and brother at The Twins.
The Titan’s bastard, leader of a pack of mercenaries hired to fight the Mother of Dragons called the Second Sons, aggressively dominates Daenerys and Missandei during , with one standing firm and the other withdrawing with repulsion. In the same scene is the first introduction of Daario, the Seducer. As a side note, his casting is well-done, I feel.
Gendry is brought by Melisandre to Dragonstone and set up somewhere safe and warm, a Temptress of sorts (which is then further confirmed when she goes to see him). Stannis does not understand why he would be treated so well when he is to be sacrificed but Melisandre says likens Gendry to a slaughtered lamb, whose meat would spoil if it knew it were to be killed. This leads to pretty much the only scene which doesn’t involve both women as Stannis goes to see Davos down in his prison and frees the man, seeing that without Davos’ guidance his own lust for Melisandre is blinding him as he is ill at ease with the prospect of human sacrifice.
Back at their camp, the three captains of the Second Sons discuss women. Specifically, they discuss a whore the Titan has hired and Daenerys. They realise they cannot beat the Unsullied in combat, and so decide to send one of their own into her camp and kill her before any battle. They draw lots to determine who will go and Daario, who has said he wants merely to kill men who want to kill him and fuck women who want to fuck him, draws the Braavosi coin.
We then cut across to what feels like the lion-share (if you’ll excuse the pun) of the episode with Tyrion and Sansa’s wedding. This rather extended scene gives us the chance to see the reluctant bride and groom in private, and for Tyrion to falteringly attempt to make some connection of reach some understanding with his wife to be. At the Great Sept, where they are to be wed, Cersei again shows how startlingly daft she can be by explaining to Margaerey Tyrell what the Rains of Castemere really means (as though the entire realm didn’t understand the point of the song) and demand she keep her distance. A brilliant idea, all said. The wedding itself shows how Husband and Bride work in Westeros, with the husband expected to wrap a cloak around his spouse to signify how he will protect her. Joffrey’s cruelty ensures that even more of a mockery is made of this notion when Tyrion cannot reach Sansa’s shoulders and she must kneel to allow him.
Back in Dragonstone, the Temptress Melisandre meets her prey and seduces Gendry, who apparently doesn’t have an ounce of sense as he lets her strip him and fuck him. Because powerful women love to buy random young men and ship them across the world. Melisandre discusses her role as the Priestess before, the proof that the Red God is the one true God, and ties him up during before putting three leeches on the naked boy. The placement of one in particular is rather cruel. Davos and Stannis enter the room then and the leeches are removed, tossed into a fire by Stannis as Melisandre’s behest. As they burn, Stannis says three usurpers’ names; Robb Stark, Joffrey Baratheon and Balon Greyjoy.
The wedding returns and Tyrion is drunk. Very drunk. The Queen of Thorns is on form as she discusses how this and the impending marriages will make the relationships between the Tyrells and Lannisters very unusual. Tywin approaches his drunken son and orders him to follow through on the real purpose of the wedding; to consummate the wedding and put a Lannister child in Sansa, she now being little more than a baby receptacle, a bargaining chip. Sansa herself is accosted by Joffrey who threatens to rape her, being the absolute cock that he is, again showing how the man in power claims the woman.
With his appetite for cruelty whetted, Joffrey then demands that a Bedding Ceremony, in which both bride and groom as undressed by the guests and taken to their bridal bed, takes place. Tyrion refuses but Joffrey insists, leading the drunken Tyrion to threaten to cut his nephew down to size. Tywin saves the Imp from a place on the battlements, as does his own quick-thinking (and quick-drinking) and he leads Sansa away to their marital bed… where he cannot go through with his order, cannot bed a mere fourteen year old against her will. Westeros expects him, as the man, to sleep with a child. It also expects Sansa to sleep with her enemy, which she is dutifully ready to do but Tyrion says he will not make her sleep with him, will only do so when she wants to. The question of what happens if she never wants to hangs as Tyrion goes and falls asleep. Shae, the Mistress, is delighted when she checks the bed the next morning and finds it free of blood; no hymen was broken, no sex had occurred.
Daario then sneaks into Daenerys’ camp, catching her being bathed by Missandei. As a side-note, no-one should ever allow their army to have face-covering helmets and doing so is an open invitation to assassination. Daario takes Missandei hostage and tells Daenerys that he was sent to kill her but instead chose to murder his captains, whose heads he brought for her. He says he has fallen for her, that her beauty has caught him in its snare, and he swears the Second Sons to her service. The Seducer wins his prize.
Finally, we see Gilly and Samwell Tarly as they continue south with Gilly’s boy. The baby does a good job of representing the ‘female’ role between the two, remaining with Gilly whilst Sam decides on a place to stay but held by Sam when he cannot build a basic fire, which Gilly goes and does. They discuss names for the child but then realise there are dozens of crows nearby, that a White Walker is near. It has come for the child. Gilly holds it and Sam tries to fight, having his sword destroyed in the process. The only weapon he has is the Dragonglass dagger… which, when stabbed into the White Walker, turns it into ice and makes it crumble.
Couples, the two broadly-defined sexes, are the main theme and we see how narrow and restricting the roles are… and how ridiculous. The Song of Fire and Ice series has been criticised for its portrayal of male and female characters, the brutality and horror that particularly the females endure due to their gender, but again I feel it is representative of society as it was and a warning to society as it is. It did make for strange viewing in this episode, clubbing the obvious scenes together, but I guess it had to be done. The shame is that one of the best characters for defying stereotype in Brienne of Tarth was not present… but I’m sure we’ll see more of her next episode, as the weddings draw near.
