Review Roundup: Season 5, Episode 2 “The House of Black and White”

The second episode of season 5 was driven almost entirely by the leading ladies of the show, so it’s no surprise that their storylines take up the majority of the digital ink this week. Let’s take a look at what the critics are saying about “The House of Black and White.”

On Cersei and Daenerys

The two reigning queens of the show are facing the consequences of reaching for power this week, and reviewers regularly drew parallels between the two. In discussing Dany’s story, Myles McNutt highlights that while Dany and Cersei are in similar positions of power, Cersei is in a more stable environment. (Indeed, Dany’s occupation of Meereen as an allegory for America’s occupation of Iraq came up more than once, and Vanity Fair also revisited the racial implications of Dany’s storyline in light of this episode.) At the Atlantic, Amy Sullivan notes:

…just as you start cheering on Uncle Kevan for calling her out, the sound dies in your throat as you realize that once again, a man is cutting Cersei down to size simply because she’s a woman. It doesn’t matter how powerful or cunning or ambitious she is. In her world, Cersei will always be less-than.

Myles echoes the sentiment in his bullet points: “…on the one hand, Kevan’s objections are totally sound given Cersei’s scheming, but the objection is framed in inherently sexist terms, which serve as fuel for Cersei and work to complicate her position on the hero/villain spectrum.” And Laura Hudson at Wired, telling it like it is:

Cersei might not actually be very good at leading, but this is absolutely, 100 percent sexism. No one would ever question Jaime this way if he’d decided to sit down at the table instead. Hasn’t there always been some old man in Cersei’s way, trying to tell her she couldn’t didn’t do the things she wanted because she didn’t have the right parts? If Jaime had been born a girl, would he have been any more patient?

But while people continue to wrestle with their feelings about Cersei (the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Calia pits her against Ellaria, Daenerys, and Margaery in turn, while Libby Hill has a more sympathetic understanding of her plight) and cover their eyes while Daenerys makes bad decisions in the name of justice, one scene from Meereen was tragically overlooked by almost everyone. Alan Sepinwall: “…the combination of Daario and Grey Worm isn’t brand-new, but positioning Daario for a few moments as Sherlock Holmes to Grey Worm’s Watson was still amusing.” I mean, I understand the desire to see Bronn on another bromance road-trip, but Daario and Grey Worm are just as much fun to watch for me.

There was also some discussion about the final scene with Dany and Drogon, though no one really seems to know how to interpret it yet. Erik Adams mentions the dragons being in “full-on teen mode” as was discussed last week. For my part, the scene reminded me of the final scene of the second Hobbit film, though that’s probably an unintentional parallel.

On Arya, Braavos, and a man’s return:

Everyone was excited to have Arya back. Her story forms the backbone of many reviews, whether interpreting it through the lens of loneliness (as Alyssa Rosenberg and Nina Shen Rastogi did), power (as was TVLine’s Kimberly Roots’ perogative) or vengeance (the subject of Todd VanDerWerff’s recap, particularly as the subject relates to compromise, and which was also on James Poniewozik’s mind over at Time). I think the fact that there are so many ways to view Arya’s story is a reflection both on how well-written the character is and on how beloved she is by both readers and show-viewers.

In any case, Alyssa Rosenberg and Nina Shen Rastogi both made smart, parallel insights worth mentioning here, since they serve both as reflections on Arya’s journey this season as well as descriptions of the the journey the show is on as it ventures into new territory. Rosenberg:

That promise of travel and independence were immensely appealing to Arya when she was a great man’s daughter, trapped in dresses and sneaking her boyish pleasures on the side. But Arya knows now that freedom has dangers of its own. You can lose yourself if you journey too far from the established road, and you might not be able to find your way back.

Rastogi:

Eventually, Arya’s reaction to running out of script is to toss the script — in the form of Jaqen’s coin — into the water and walk off. And I wonder if this is the real test she needed to pass in order to gain admission to Faceless Man HQ: to give up, to surrender, to abandon the very notion of a path.

Price Peterson and Alan Sepinwall both compare Braavos to Venice, which is perfect because that’s also how I envisioned Braavos when I read the books. I can also see why Deborah Riley was really excited about working on this location this year. People were also excited about Jaqen’s return, though bemused by the manner of his return. WashPo’s David Malitz compares his face-swiping reveal to that of a Buzzfeed listicle, while Erik Adams and Tim Surette both explicitly mention Scooby-Doo villains. (And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling critics!)

On Brienne and a long-awaited party(?):

Partly because it never happens in the books, partly because it’s just so damn exciting, the Brienne/Pod/Sansa/Littlefinger scene at the Crossroads Inn drew a lot of exclamation points. The main point seemed to be that Brienne’s journey is in question; if Pod is right, and Brienne’s vow to Catelyn is now fulfilled, what’s left for her to do? The answer is succinctly summed up by (again) Nina Shen Rastogi, whose views are echoed by most critics in some form or another:

But then, what is a knight without a vow? What would Brienne even do without the Stark girls charting her course? Brienne’s debut on the show saw her winning a tournament to enter Renly’s Kingsguard; her entire life is shaped by service. Would she open a tavern? Become a professional bear-fighter? Her only option, it seems, is to stick to the original script.

Erik Adams also mentions how the action-packed horse-chase sequence resembled the speeder bike chase scene from Return of the Jedi, which crossed my mind as well. (It’s also quite fitting considering Gwendoline Christie has recently entered into that world as well.)

On Jon Snow, who also did things (but still knows nothing):

Jon Snow was finally elected leader of the Night’s Watch in one of the last lingering threads left unadapted from A Storm of Swords. Given that the election was all of one scene, it’s understandable that some ranked it as an Important Event while others relegated it as a side-note. Book-readers such as Christopher Orr on the Atlantic’s roundtable mostly lamented the material that was cut. Orr:

Happy as I’ve been about some of the compressions and omissions we’ve already seen from the sprawl of GRRM’s later novels, I did miss one bit that didn’t make it into this episode. In the books, Jon gets elected 998th commander of the Night’s Watch as the result of some delightful subterfuge conducted by Samwell Tarly, who plays the other candidates off one another with Varys-like cunning. I was sorry this was cut: Sam’s not afforded very many opportunities to be a hero, and this was among his best.

I agree wholeheartedly. On the other hand, Matt Fowler at IGN is having a blast at the Wall this year, something not every critic can say with his level of passion. He writes:

So Jon went from having to turn down the title of “Jon Stark of Winterfell” to accepting the title of “998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.” Not that it wasn’t a close election but – one of the show’s heroes finally got recognized for all the heroic things he’s done! It’s like what we’ve also/always wanted to happen with Tyrion (even though Varys appreciates him). It’s that whole “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” connection.

Admittedly, from a book-reader’s perspective, it’s harder to get excited for Jon knowing what’s to come. But that’s how I’ve felt about Dany’s storyline from “Dracarys” onward: it doesn’t necessarily negate the high points of the story, it’s just kind of dreadful waiting for all the shoes to drop.

Other Quotes of Note:

“…Did every Thrones leader make a crappy decision this week? Dany clearly blundered. Cersei is wrecking her Small Council. And Jon … well, that one’s a tougher call. The only ruler who clearly seemed like they had great judgement was the bummed-out prince in Dorne. ” –James Hibberd, EW

“Ellaria Sand has invoked the Sand Snakes. May the New Gods have mercy on us all.” –Libby Hill, Salon

“And then it occurred to me that Littlefinger would simply twitch his mustache and order his men to kill the behemoth woman and Pod because they’re in on his most powerful secret: He has Sansa Stark, the key to the North, in his possession. If I were a character in George R.R. Martin’s books, I wouldn’t live past Chapter 2.” –Tim Surette, ever the optimist, at TV.com

• Published on 04/22/2015 at 12:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT