Bookshelf Battle

Hey 3.5 Readers.

I’d like to go on a rant.  Come with me, will you?

Let’s talk about tonight’s episode – Season 5, Episode 9, “The Dance of Dragons.”

I tend to be a zealous defender of free speech.  I may disagree with you but I’ll defend your right to say it.  And if you don’t like a TV show, I’ve always felt the better option is to change the channel rather than demand the show be shut down or changed to suit your opinions.

I never thought it was possible but there were some moments tonight where GOT made me think about changing the channel.

George RR Martin is a great writer.  He’s a man who doesn’t just embrace his nerdyness but rather, allows his nerd freak flag to fly freely.

While other writers try to fit their works into commercially viable packages, GRRM dared to write a fantasy series geared toward adults even though the genre is historically for younger folks.

He’s the King of the fakeout with an uncanny ability to make you look left while the right hook is coming, even when he’s done it to you, the reader, several times before.  Thus, the series is fabulous because there are real consequences.

There’s never a moment where you’re left thinking, “Well, that character’s safe because he/she is too important to the series.”  Nope.  Any character could buy the farm at any time and thus the stakes are high.

Many critics have said that HBO diverting from GRRM’s books would be a good thing, but allow me to defend my favorite sailor hat wearing writer but noting that Martin didn’t write either of tonight’s cross the line moments.

SPOILER ALERT.

It wasn’t a good night to be a kid on tonight’s episode.

First, Princess Shireen, much to my shock and dismay, was burned at the stake, a sacrifice that Lady Melisandre aka “The Red Woman” advises Stannis is necessary to appease the Lord of Light and lead Stannis’ army to victory.

I’m sorry, but when I’m looking for some Sunday night entertainment, the last thing I need to witness is a kid getting dragged to a pyre where she’s fried to a crisp.  Anyone who finds that entertaining is a big time weirdo.

Moreover, the scene just didn’t make sense.  Stannis had steadfastly denied the Red Woman’s demands for a sacrifice and up until tonight, had been Shireen’s champion, standing up for her when others called for her to be exiled when she contracted “Greyscale,” a loathsome lizard skin disease.

George RR Martin didn’t write that.  In fact, there’s already a meme going around pointing out that Martin had Stannis demanding that should he die, his army is to go on in pursuit of the Iron Throne and if successful, to name Shireen Queen of Westeros.

Secondly, we learn that the dastardly Ser Meryn Trant is a horrendous pedophile.  In a scene in a brothel, he rejects various offered ladies of the evening, demanding that a younger alternative be brought to him.

Additionally, Arya goes on a recognizance mission, spying on Trant while posing as a clam vendor.  Everyone’s clothed but a) that a kid was actually brought out to appease Trant and b) just seeing the young Arya walking around in a brothel scene….it all disgusted me.

GRRM didn’t write that either as far as I know.

I get it.  The show portrays a brutal and horrific setting where bad things happen, as they did during Earth’s own ancient times.  Portraying Trant as a piece of human garbage will make the audience cheer that much more when he inevitably bites the dust.  Meanwhile, the audience will likely rally around Ser Davos Seaworth as I’d be surprised he’d continue in Stannis’ service after what happened to Shireen.  Pitting Seaworth’s loyalty to Stannis against his loyalty to Shireen (she taught him how to read and he clearly viewed her as the daughter he never had) will make for good drama.

Even so, and again in my opinion, as a society we need to protect kids and we just don’t need scenes like these on television.

The show ended on a high note with an epic scene in which Drogon the Dragon comes to the Khaleesi’s defense, protecting his mother from an attack by the Sons of the Harpy.  Dany flies her dragon to safety, notably leaving her friends to fend for themselves but they’ll be fine.  Tyrion will kick some ass.

I don’t know.  I know this is all make-believe but the scenes with the kids just did not sit well with this reviewer at all.

EDIT:  I’m hearing talk that GRRM apparently planned the Shireen being burned scene for the next book, Winds of Winter and the show just put the scene out tonight rather than wait for the book to come out.  There’s even discussion that the show’s creators were surprised by GRRM’s decision but went with it.

Sigh.  So much for my defense of GRRM.