S05.E06: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

[Mya Stone]

Episode Synopsis: 

 

 

Arya trains. Jorah and Tyrion run into slavers. Trystane and Myrcella make plans. Jaime and Bronn reach their destination. The Sand Snakes attack.

 

Reminder: There is open air book talk here. If you are just watching the TV show and you don't want to stumble into a potential spoiler you should leave now. Book Talk assumes you have read all the books to date. Any information from unpublished books, such as preview chapters should be in spoiler tags.

[WatchrTina]

First impressions:

 

Bronn got cut -- the dagger was probably poisoned.  I'm going to be so pissed if he dies.

 

Man those "Kingsguard" are useless if they just let the Militant Faithful take their Queen into custody.  And Tommen?  He's useless too.

 

Ramsey & Sansa's wedding night.  Damn.  I was afraid it was going to go that way. 

Edited May 18, 2015 by WatchrTina

[Straycat80]

I wish Sansa would find a backbone and use it!

[elzin]

And what narrative purpose did it serve? To show us the Boltons are horrible? Ugh, fuck this show. I might be out.

[Tryangle]

This episode appeared to meandering down a relatively tame slope (despite the much appreciated appearance of Dianna Rigg)...

 

Then, they WENT THERE. With Sansa.

 

 

I'm still stunned, really. The show's really pushing the envelope. I wager several people are going to be quite infuriated by this very real development in Sansa's story.

[lovetowrite73]

I'm pissed at that final scene.

[Mya Stone]

What an uplifting ending. 

 

Okay...to the rest of the episode: 

1. HOLY BOOK CONFIRMATION, BATMAN! That Faceless chamber was giving me Return to Oz in Mombi's chamber realness. 

 

2. Nice to have confirmation that Arya cares about the Hound. 

3. I like Tyrion telling Jorah about his father. I also like that we now have a direct shot to Mereen. This is how you cut the Mereenese knot. 

4. LF...what a shit. What a nasty, twisted, shit. 
5. Welcome back, Diana Rigg. I've missed you. Cersei, the Queen of Tarts indeed. 

6. Loras' trial and Margaery's arrest. Wow. 

I need time to digest the WF plot. 

[magdalene]

Well, they went there with Sansa and Ramsay.  Should I be grateful that I only had to listen to her suffer  and being used by Ramsay?

 

The Sand Snakes are pretty lame and are dragging down this Dorne story line.

[ihartcoffee]

OMG, that ending was brutal! Poor freaking Sansa!

[Avaleigh]

I thought the King's Landing stuff was great. It was awesome to see Olenna call Cersei a tart and not take it back when asked to do so. 

 

Tommen doesn't try? 

 

Poor Loras having to deny Renly. He definitely felt bad about it.

[lovetowrite73]

No, I'm really pissed. Don't turn me of from this show, writers.

Cercei really thinks she's outsmarting everyone. Makes me look forward to the walk of shame.

[Mya Stone]

Okay, taking a breath. 

I think the narrative purpose is the same - Sansa and Theon need to leave WF. Why would she leave if she was married to a great guy? Her screams, though? That will haunt me. 
 

The wedding was macabre and beautiful, though. And I did like that she spoke kindly of Tyrion. But man...to have her stand up to Myranda only to be torn down by Ramsey... :( 

 

It was incredibly demeaning. That word isn't as strong as I want it to be. 

[benteen]

Well, that was going great until that ending.  Of course D and D had to go there.  I can't wait to hear their lame justification for this.  They've made Sansa a bigger victim now than ever and I didn't think that was possible.

 

Otherwise, I enjoyed the episode.  Arya's storyline, Tyrion and Jorah are gold together on the show and I'm liking Jorah getting the gladiator storyline (complete with reference to him winning the tournament against Jaime).  Jaime, Bronn, and Areo were fun at Dorne.  Olenna made very welcome return and the trial went surprisingly well.

 

Littlefinger is playing an extremely dangerous and high stakes game.

Edited May 18, 2015 by benteen

[AlliMo]

I was okay with the changes from the book right up until this season. I an understand why they felt the need to change some things with such slow progress on the books, but they have good source material to work with, and very few of this season's changes are an improvement by any means.

[InsertWordHere]

This is so unnecessary, Even if Stannis wins and the Boltons suffer horribly, it won't take away what was done in this episode. 

[enlightenedbum]

Do these assholes have a fucking rape fetish?  God that scene was gross and disgusting and fuck them for deciding it was necessary.

 

The rest of the episode was pretty terrible too.  Only Maisie Williams and Peter Dinklage saved any part of it.  The showrunners have no idea what they're doing without Martin to guide them.

[SilverShadow]

URGH. I was so hoping Sansa would be able to play Ramsey, so at least the wedding night would be easier for her. It was so simple to write it to that too. When Ramsey all blah blah honesty Sansa should have chimed in, "Well if we're being honest, your little friend Myranda came to me today. She told me you did XYZ. I think she was trying to scare me."

 

"So you didn't believe her?"

 

"I believed every word. It just didn't scare me. " Then she could have spun a story about everything she went through in King's Landing and lied that she was the one who killed Joffrey and deliberately framed Tyrion for it.

 

She could still have had the revelation that she needed to GTFO without the wedding night being so traumatic.

[magdalene]

The Sansa scene was awful but could have been much worse. Theon's face said more than enough and so did Sansa's screams.  I think the Sansa actors age played a role in making the scene less explicit than it would have otherwise been.

 

I am looking forward to the moment when Ramsay gets his. And that moment better come eventually.

[MarquisDeCarabas]

Well considering what happened to Jeyne poole it could be worse.  But yeah I'm not thrilled they went there.  If I understand Baelish's plan it's basically let Stannis and Bolton break each other then come in  with the knights of the vale and take the west and the east.  Then take those forces and take over kings landing?

 

They really are setting Cersei up big here. I can't believe she doesn't think Lancel is a danger to her.  The Main difference between the books and this section though is that they reveal it was false tesitmony against Margery and Loras, so what will the High Sparrow do?  Keep them there or what?

 

URGH. I was so hoping Sansa would be able to play Ramsey, so at least the wedding night would be easier for her. It was so simple to write it to that too. When Ramsey all blah blah honesty Sansa should have chimed in, "Well if we're being honest, your little friend Myranda came to me today. She told me you did XYZ. I think she was trying to scare me."

    "So you didn't believe her?"

    "I believed every word. It just didn't scare me. " Then she could have spun a story about everything she went through in King's Landing and lied that she was the one who killed Joffrey and deliberately framed Tyrion for it.

    She could still have had the revelation that she needed to GTFO without the wedding night being so traumatic.

 

I hate to say it but the point of that scene wasn't meant  for Sansa it was meant for Theon, to give him the impetus to break free of Ramsey's control.

 

And yeah using a woman's rape and pain to inspire the man is a bad trope and it really really sucks, but Martinb did it too, if i remember correctly it's was his treatment of Jeyne that got Theon to escape. 

 

I just hope they don't break Sansa  like Jeyne was.

Edited May 18, 2015 by MarquisDeCarabas

[WatchrTina]

 

The Sand Snakes are pretty lame

 

You know that courtyard/garden where the Sand Snakes went after Myrcella?  Isn't it overlooked by a by a gallery of balconies all around it?  I'm no ninja but it seems to me that a courtyard surrounding by balconies in broad daylight seems a pretty crappy place to try to stage a kidnapping.  So yeah -- lame.

[screamin]

Okay, HATE. Just, hate. I hate the fucking showrunners.

 

I was worried they'd put Sansa in the Jeyne Poole position...but they were even more on the nose with their wholesale substitution of Sansa for Jeyne than I expected them to be. Hate. The showrunners weighed Sansa's storyline against Theon's and decided Theon's empowerment through redemption by rescuing a helpless damsel was more important than Sansa's storyline of learning her own strengths and using them - so they sacrificed Sansa's storyline and turned her into the helpless damsel. Hate. And step by step to this scene they show her spinelessly agreeing to go through with everything - refusing to call Littlefinger on his offer to turn around and take them back to the Vale and going along with his scheme without a murmur, meekly going through with everything without questioning a single option, making her a helpless puppet. Motherfucking hate.

[Avaleigh]

I continue to think that Ellaria Sand is an idiot.

 

Jaime didn't handle the situation that well either as far as telling Myrcella 'I came all this way because I need to tell you something incredibly important.' Myrcella for her part probably should have wondered if anything is wrong with either Tommen or Cersei. 

 

I liked the Littlefinger scene even if it didn't necessarily make sense. It was nice to have somebody call Cersei to her face about her hypocrisy. 

[nksarmi]

I want Ramsey feed to Aryas wolf and Cersei's walk of shame stat. And now I want grandma to engineer Cersei downfall.

[Stardancer Supreme]

You know that courtyard/garden where the Sand Snakes went after Myrcella?  Isn't it overlooked by a by a gallery of balconies all around it?  I'm no ninja but it seems to me that a courtyard surrounding by balconies in broad daylight seems a pretty crappy place to try to stage a kidnapping.  So yeah -- lame.

 

Plus the time it took for Doran's main goon to come break up the party.  So Ellaria only has 3 Sand Snakes?  Wasn't there more of them? The better plan would have been for one of them to just snatch Myrcella while her sisters engaged Trystane and whoever happened to be around.  

[jjjmoss]

And yeah using a woman's rape and pain to inspire the man is a bad trope and it really really sucks.

 

I was thinking about how using being raped as a device for personal character development is an awful trope, but I suppose that one is possibly worse.

[Spartan Girl]

As much as I hate what happened to Sansa, I'm not shocked. She's the most victimized character on this show. All of us knew this would happen sooner or later.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Spartan Girl

[enlightenedbum]

I was at least suspecting that as we saw Sansa's face terrified in anticipation you'd get blood splattered all over it as Theon stabbed fucking Ramsay in the fucking back.  That's still bad gender politics wise and I hoping there was a knife in those cuffs, but it wouldn't have been as bad as this.

 

They've also fucking butchered everything interesting about the Dorne plot.  Which I actually really like and Doran is one of my favorite characters in the whole series.

[benteen]

Arya seeing the faces...I always pictured that scene taking place in a smaller room and being creepier, with the faces all bunched together on the walls.  I have to say though I was impressed with the scale.

 

Iain Glen did a great job with the scene where Jorah learns what happened to his dad.  Once again proving it sucks to be Ser Jorah.

 

In fairness to D and D (this is the only time I'm going to say this) the scene depicted here tonight was from GRRM's book and WAS less graphic than its counterpart.  But they are the ones who decided to put Sansa there and they were the ones who decided to make her more of a victim than ever.  They are also the ones who decided to have Dany, Ceresi, AND Sansa raped on this show at one point or another.

[WatchrTina]

 

They sacrificed Sansa's storyline and turned her into the helpless damsel.

I don't think you can say that since at this point the show is ahead of the books in terms of Sansa's storyline.  I agree it seems clear that Sansa has been substituted for Book!Jeyne but we really don't know where Book!Sansa would be at this point.

 

I'm sorry about the way Sansa's wedding night went down but it is true to the nature of Ramsey that we know from the book.  And it's not all that different from Daenerys' wedding night -- Drogo simply didn't have a witness looking on.  I don't meant to suggest that Sansa will come to love Ramsey (not in a million years) they way Daenerys came to love Drogo but we may see her relationship with Ramsey change even after such an awful start to their marriage.  She may learn how to manipulate him somewhat.  I'm just afraid that the tool she will have to resort to is pandering to his "preferences."

Edited May 19, 2015 by WatchrTina

[nksarmi]

Ok the thing about the wedding night was that it was never going to be nice for stansa which is why i hated LF for arranging it. But they could have had theon outside the door at least.

I dont want theon redeamed and I dont want him to save sansa. I want him to tell her her brothers are alive and then he can die. I want sansa or brie or stannis to save sansa.

And some boltons better die in the next four episodes. If ser barrister can so can ramsey and roose.

[Malaprop cocktail]

The water gardens scene, holy crap. I was cringing in secondhand embarrassment for everyone involved. Between that and "look how traumatic Sansa's rape is for Theon" I really want to just wish this whole episode into the cornfield.

[SilverShadow]

I hate to say it but the point of that scene wasn't meant  for Sansa it was meant for Theon, to give him the impetus to break free of Ramsey's control.

 

And yeah using a woman's rape and pain to inspire the man is a bad trope and it really really sucks, but Martinb did it too, if i remember correctly it's was his treatment of Jeyne that got Theon to escape. 

 

I just hope they don't break Sansa  like Jeyne was.

 

But again, if the writers really wanted to, they could have done it without Sansa actually having to be physically brutalized. They could have Ramsey gleefully telling Theon his plans before he acts and Theon warning Sansa.THere was nothing that said they had to take this route.

[Winnief]

As much as I hate what happened to Sansa, I'm not socked. She's the most victimized character on this show. All of us knew this would happen sooner or

 

Seriously.  What makes them think viewers want or need to see any more of this shit?!?

 

I was at least suspecting that as we saw Sansa's face terrified in anticipation you'd get blood splattered all over it as Theon stabbed fucking Ramsay in the fucking back.  That's still bad gender politics wise and I hoping there was a knife in those cuffs, but it wouldn't have been as bad as this.

 

When a cheap clichéd device would have been infinitely preferable to the real thing you know there's a problem.  In between this and the infamous Sept scene I'm really starting to wonder about D&D here. 

[benteen]

The water gardens scene, holy crap. I was cringing in secondhand embarrassment for everyone involved. Between that and "look how traumatic Sansa's rape is for Theon" I really want to just wish this whole episode into the cornfield.

 

That fight was a train wreck.

[Advance35]

Such an intense episode.   I was horrified for Sansa but I don't think this derails her storyline, or at least I won't be able to say such until we get the books.   GRRM COULD substitute Ramsay for Harry the Heir for all we know.    I will say that the scenes were VERY well acted.   Sansa looked beautiful and Ramsay looked deviantly menacing.   The actors have a very good rapport with each other in terms of screen partners.

 

Her scene with Myranda was equally tense and chilling.

 

And LF outed Sansa's whereabouts to Cersei making it seem like Sansa is getting shelter from House Bolton alone.  WHOA.  That stunned me.  I thought Sansa was the one person in the game he wasn't willing to destroy.   He's all but promised Sansa's head on a spike.  I can't wait to see what he's up to long term.

 

Cersei v. House Tyrell round 1 to her.   LOL  Her scene with Olenna was great.    And House Tyrell was dealt a HUGE blow.   They've had it easy with their frills and flowers.   Now that their isn't anyone else for House Lannister to be toxic to, it's their turn.

 

The Sand Snakes were ok.   I actually liked their fight scene.

 

Everything else bored me.

[MadMouse]

I don't even have the words for how terrible this episode was. The Stepford Snakes are embarrassing, that for Oberyn line. The fight scene looked like a bunch of ten year olds play fighting. Littlefinger's plans are a joke. He has this incredible powerful rallying cry in Sansa and he rats her out to everyone. Our weekly reminder Loras is gay. Its amazing the three Tyrell brothers have distilled into one stereotype. Oh and Sansa gets raped and abused. At least we didn't get the warm her up Reek part. 

[Mya Stone]

I understand this episode will have a lot of you raging, but KINDLY rage about the show, not about how other people viewed the events going down. 

 

[Funzlerks]

I can't even with Sansa's storyline, so to change subjects to another colossal book-to-show fuck up: Dorne. It felt totally like a different show than GoT. NCW has a certain debonair delivery with those outside his family and Bronn's actor also has one and it feels like Rudolph Valentino meets Laurel and Hardy. Maisie Williams looks like The Hulk compared to the 87-lb Sand Snakes. They just aren't threatening. Myrcella looks brolic next to them. I don't believe in the stakes and I don't see how this will be a setting in which Jaime can finally get over himself or that it will get me to care about Myrcella. I feel like it is fan fiction-esque.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Funzlerks

[screamin]

I don't think you can say that since at this point the show is ahead of the books in terms of Sansa's storyline.  I agree it seems clear that Sansa has been substituted for Book!Jeyne but we really don't know where Book!Sansa would be at this point.

 

Judging from the first chapter we got of Sansa/Alayne in TWOW fairly safe in the Vale, making friends and influencing people and winning over her intended betrothed who was snooty about her 'bastard' status but has no breath of reputation as an abuser, I feel fairly safe in guessing that at the point in the books that the showrunners have gotten to, Sansa is not being buggered by a sadist who flays people for a hobby while his whipping boy is forced to watch. Sansa is learning to use her power in the book, the showrunners have utterly disempowered her. To me, that's a sacrifice of her book storyline.

[Pogojoco]

I'm rather pissed. I know Jeyne Poole serves a purpose in the novel- this happens to her and it drives Theon to break free. It was terrible, but it happens for a reason.  

 

I'm not sure I can reconcile this happening to Sansa, someone we are far more attached to, both in show and novel.

 

Why do the show runners feel the need to threaten her for two plus seasons with Joffrey/Cersei and be near raped by a mob, to remove her finally and expand her horizons, only to have her raped and terrorized after all? 

 

To give Theon agency? What? 

 

I suspected they were going this way when Sansa showed up at Winterfell, and they did. 

[WatchrTina]

 

He's all but promised Sansa's head on a spike.  I can't wait to see what he's up to long term.

Oh I feel certain that if LF and the soldiers of the Vale are actually successful in wresting Winterfell from whoever is left standing after the Stannis/Roose battle, then LF will be overcome with the need to marry the newly widowed Sansa.  And in comparison to the to the sick MoFo she just married, LF is going to look like a good option.

[CherryMalotte]

I know it was awful, and I so don't like that they went there...but it's not surprising.  I think this is just going to add to Brianne getting Sansa away.  

 

They could run a whole show on Arya and I'd slurp it up like a popsicle on a 100 degree day.  Nice to have a break from Daenerys, I think the only think keeping me in that story are the dragons. 

 

Oh I feel certain that if LF and the soldiers of the Vale are actually successful in wresting Winterfell from whoever is left standing after the Stannis/Roose battle, then LF will be overcome with the need to marry the newly widowed Sansa.

 

Oh yeah, that's totally the vibe I'm getting.  One way or another he wants to have Sansa to himself.  

[MarquisDeCarabas]

I don't remember how Roose reacted in the book, but I can't imagine he'll be pleased about this.  He's hideous and cruel, but he's more practical, I don't think Walda's ever been abused

 

But again, if the writers really wanted to, they could have done it without Sansa actually having to be physically brutalized. They could have Ramsey gleefully telling Theon his plans before he acts and Theon warning Sansa.THere was nothing that said they had to take this route.

 

 

Given how badly Theon's been broken I don't see Theon turning on Ramsay really for anything less then what we've seen.  After all the torture a harsh word

 

I really wish they hadn't gone this way, but if they really had too, this is is really the only way they could break Theon's Stockholm syndrome

 

Such an intense episode.   I was horrified for Sansa but I don't think this derails her storyline, or at least I won't be able to say such until we get the books.   GRRM COULD substitute Ramsay for Harry the Heir for all we know.    I will say that the scenes were VERY well acted.   Sansa looked beautiful and Ramsay looked deviantly menacing.   The actors have a very good rapport with each other in terms of screen partners.

 

Her scene with Myranda was equally tense and chilling.

 

And LF outed Sansa's whereabouts to Cersei making it seem like Sansa is getting shelter from House Bolton alone.  WHOA.  That stunned me.  I thought Sansa was the one person in the game he wasn't willing to destroy.   He's all but promised Sansa's head on a spike.  I can't wait to see what he's up to long term.

 

He has promised but he doesn't need to deliver really, I'm assuming he feels he can trick her somehow or that by the time  he's got the vale and the north all linked he doesn;t have anything to be afraid of

[rollacoaster]

Sansa to Myranda:  "I'm Sansa Stark, BITCH."  

 

She was back to her original beautiful red color, which, to me, was like a return to her former vulnerable state.

 

Up until the moment that THAT happened, I just knew (hoped) that there would be some kind of dramatic intervention.  Brienne, Theon, a servant, someone.  Of all the horrible things that have happened on this show, somehow, this feels like one of the vilest. :(

Just before it happened, my friend reminded me that anything could happen to anyone at any time on this show.  Damn.

 

The Sand Snakes indeed are lame.  The fight scenes look so labored, and Ellaria should be ashamed to have sent those girls out to stage a kidnapping in broad daylight in full view of anyone who cared to see.    

 

Bronn and Jaime aren't much better.  What was their brilliant plan exactly? Sneak into Dorne and spirit the young lassie away without anyone noticing?

 

Much love for Tyrion and his gift of gab.  

 

[HeySandyStrange]

Ugh, that last scene. I saw it coming, of course, the evil shit Ramsey was never going to be much more then a civilized bastard. I spent the whole wedding scene hoping for some plot bunny to swoop in and save the day, be it Brienne and Pod or Drogon or a freaking white walker hoard to come and carry off every last Bolton, but alas I had to sit through that. One thing I have to say, they didn't try to pretend it was anything but what it was, pure brutality, and they conveyed it without resorting to titillation. Poor Sansa, this better at vleast spurn her into plotting the Boltons' downfall and I better see some progress by the end of the season or I don't know if I can stand to watch much more victimization.

[Avaleigh]

Agreed that Littlefinger thinks he'll be able to marry Sansa upon his return and ousting House Bolton. It's harder for me to see how something similar would work itself out in WoW though. 

Cersei v. House Tyrell round 1 to her.   LOL  Her scene with Olenna was great.    And House Tyrell was dealt a HUGE blow.   They've had it easy with their frills and flowers.   Now that their isn't anyone else for House Lannister to be toxic to, it's their turn.

I love the way Cersei tries to imitate Tywin in that scene only of course she isn't nearly as effective. 

[Tim Thomason]

"Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" really doesn't apply to Sansa in this episode. I get that she was a naive, spoiled teenager before, and her victimization made some sense storywise. But they've been building her up as Littlefinger's protege, supposedly ready to finesse her way out of dangerous situations. In the same episode that gave us Jorah and Tyrion talking their new slavemasters into giving them a free boat ride to their original destination, we couldn't get Sansa refusing to deal with Reek or coming up with a legitimate excuse to delay the wedding or at least the bedding.

 

She's the Lady of Winterfell now. Surely she should have some ability to affect others and do things on her own terms. 

[WatchrTina]

 

 

Sansa to Myranda:  "I'm Sansa Stark, BITCH." 

She was back to her original beautiful red color, which, to me, was like a return to her former vulnerable state.

Loved Sansa's strength in that scene but was anyone else slightly creeped out by the way Myranda's ministrations to Sansa mirrored those of Arya to various corpses?

 

 

They've been building [sansa] up as Littlefinger's protege, supposedly ready to finesse her way out of dangerous situations.

They have, but remember that young Littlefinger was nearly gutted by Brandon Stark when he was about Sansa's age.  His craftiness was fired in the crucible of that disappointment and injury.  The suffering that Sansa is going through now may similarly harden and strengthen her.

Edited May 18, 2015 by WatchrTina

[Estelindis]

What happened to Jeyne Poole is worse than what happened to Sansa.  I doubt anyone would argue that.  But why did the showmakers have it happen to Sansa?  What is the purpose of this in her character arc?  She had some time to get settled in, to get a feeling for the relationships between the Boltons and those who serve them, but she hasn't yet acted.  She didn't even try to say anything to Ramsay that might have led to an easier wedding night.  Why?  Is it all about waiting for the right time to strike?  When will that time be?  

 

I'm just so tired of Sansa being a victim.

[areca]

Oh yeah, that's totally the vibe I'm getting.  One way or another he wants to have Sansa to himself.  

What's more, he wanted the Sansa who'd been abused by Joffrey and Ramsey and who he 'nurtured and trained and 'saved' from Lysa'.  She will be his most loyal servant when he's done with her life experience shaping.