Review Roundup: Season 5, Episode 3 “High Sparrow”

Valar morghulis, readers. The critics mostly walked similar paths in their discussions of the quiet-but-intriguing “High Sparrow,” although there were still plenty of noteworthy conversations, especially about the episode’s divergences from the books. Let’s take a quick look at what was said.

On King’s Landing, or Red Keep Abbey:

Sadly for me, everyone was smitten with Natalie Dormer’s Margaery Tyrell, which made it difficult to get a real read on how peoples’ temperatures towards Cersei are changing. (It probably did not help that this was the first wedding on the show that did not end in bloodshed, a fact that went unnoticed by nobody.) Two people did explicitly mention Lena Headey’s performance in that remarkable showdown between her and Margaery. IGN’s Matt Fowler:

It’s an interesting feud that’s brewing here since one finds themselves rooting, a bit, for Cersei even though she’s one of the show’s top “villains.” Margaery’s being a passive-aggressive pill, yes, but really only to Cersei. It’s not like she treats everyone poorly. And to be fair, Cersei threatened to have her strangled in her sleep last season. The citizens love Margaery because the game she plays is one of peace and charity. Who knows what the future holds however. Do any of you see Margaery being kind to Tommen forever? I mean, hypothetical years from now? How long will her smiling veneer last?

Vulture’s Nina Shen Rastogi:

Is there anything scarier (or better) than Lena Headey’s fake-Cersei smile? It’s like she just pulls the edges of her mouth back and bares those chompers in order to distract you from her dead, cold, eyes. It’s a masterful face performance.

People also kind of dig the High Sparrow, though they are suspicious of his pious nature (and of the fundamentalist sect of the Faith of the Seven that has sprung up around him). People seem less suspicious of Cersei, but perhaps that’s because after more that four seasons of television we’ve at least become familiar with her methods. Either way, there’s a lot of material here that I’m sure the critics will be revisiting in the weeks to come, when Cersei’s storyline really hits the gas pedal.

On Arya, who just wants to be THE BEST. AROUND.

Frequently, storylines on Game of Thrones affect critics in the same way, which results in overlapping references in reviews. (For instance, anyone who commented on the scene in Qyburn’s laboratory noted its parallel to Frankenstein, which will totally come full circle when Qyburn drops wildfire on the body and throws his arms to the heavens screaming, “IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIIIIIIVE!” Trust me, it’s in the books.) This week, Arya’s storyline put everyone from James Hibberd to Julie Hammerle in the mind of The Karate Kid, which… is actually a pretty solid comparison. Unfortunately, I don’t think Game of Thrones will be as interested in committing to training montages set to cheesy rock anthems or ’80s film score, but maybe Arya and Jaqen will go to a prom or something, like in The Next Karate Kid. (Don’t judge me, Hilary Swank is awesome in that movie.)

Erik Adams made a completely left-field analogy to The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, though. It’s even more left-field for me because he opted for Tarin as a raccoon when I figured the more obvious comparison for Jaqen’s taunting would be that damned owl who all but tells you the true nature of the island before you even get to that mural near Face Shrine! I hate that stupid owl!

But I digress. Nina Shen Rastogi had a great description of Arya’s struggle to surrender Needle:

I loved the focus on Maisie Williams as she contemplates the sword; her face softening in and out of determination; the quiet little breath; her thumb gently caressing the hilt. You can see the character waver between childhood and adulthood, like the shifting reflections in the water. Eventually she strikes a compromise and hides Needle in a rock hollow, piling the stones back gently as if building a cairn.

And Alyssa Rosenberg echoes:

“Game of Thrones” has brought prominence to a number of tremendous young actors, but Williams may be the best. She doesn’t have to say a word for us to fathom the magnitude of her loss, and the way she’s finally reckoning with the tally now, after episode after episode of focusing on her fantasies of revenge and her basic, desperate struggle to survive.

Indeed, the whole scene of Arya letting go of her past identity was a hit for just about everybody this week, even if not everyone is thrilled with her plot stalling so early on in the season.

On Jon Snow, who knows how to get ahead:

Unsurprisingly, no one really quibbled with Jon’s decision to, in the paraphrased words of O-Ren Ishii, “collect [Janos Slynt]’s f***ing head.” More critics focused on comparing this scene to one of the very first scenes of the series, in which Ned Stark beheaded a Night’s Watch deserter. But there were a couple of comparisons to last week’s unfortunate decision by Daenerys to behead one of her own for betraying her wishes. Salon’s Libby Hill:

It’s an interesting point overall, as we watch Dany and Jon try to learn how to lead, each attempting to find some balance between honor and control, knowing well that being an honorable person doesn’t generally get you very far in the world of Westeros — not if the fate of Robb, Cat, and Ned Stark are any indication. Is believing in prevailing justice a deadly folly, or can Jon and Dany both subvert the trend?

This parallel of Jon and Dany learning how to lead is also present in A Dance With Dragons, so it’s nice to see the show finding ways to keep faith with the source material even if some of the details are different. But speaking of the source material…

On the North, Gwendoline Christie, and cosmic convergences:

There are already many conversations taking place about the changes to Sansa and Ramsay Bolton’s storylines in the show (far more than I can cover in one little section of one post), but James Hibberd had the most humorous summary of what happened this week:

This twist is arguably the biggest departure yet from the books. If HBO’s Game of Thrones was a car, and Martin’s novels were a road, the car has now veered off the road, drove into the ocean, and turned into a submarine.

Sounds about right. Of course, the larger worry for people here is that Sansa is once again set to marry an unrepentant sociopath, the difference this time being that she stands to gain politically. (In Sydney Bucksbaum’s words, “Anything that makes Littlefinger smile like that is not a good idea.”) It’s definitely a sign of change, though, that more people are worried about Sansa’s well-being than curious about what Littlefinger’s endgame is (or, as some wondered, why he hasn’t heard of Ramsay Snow’s flaying-man ways). Vox’s Kelsey McKinney seems bullish, though:

…marrying Bolton could give Sansa the agency she’s been missing for the past few seasons, and place her in Winterfell, her childhood home, where she could experience all sort of character-developing events.

And speaking of common pop cultural references, Carrie was brought up in the context of Brienne’s heartwrenching tale by both Tim Surette and Price Peterson. I like Price’s description of the scene better (the image really punctuates it too):

Basically, a long time ago she got Carrie’d! At a ball her father had thrown for her, all the boys pretended to be fighting over her until she realized they were all just kidding and made her feel like she was super heinous. But then Renly had stepped up and took her hand and protected her reputation that night, and she was forever grateful. Anyway, it was a really good story in context, and I mostly bring it up to say how terrific Gwendoline Christie is on this show. Just a really lovely performance. So good.

I feel the same way, Price.

On Tyrion, just another drunk dwarf in Volantis:

The biggest overlap here, other than the mass of critics commenting on the Mother of Dragons cosplayer in the brothel, was a focus on the ambiguity of Jorah’s final words: “I’m taking you to the queen.” It’s a rare moment this season where book-readers know more about what’s going to happen than show-watchers, but it’s still nice to leave off on a note of uncertainty, especially given that the words are paired with the rather shocking (but not unexpected) act of Tyrion being kidnapped—again.

Alan Sepinwall and Nina Shen Rastogi also bring up the red priestess preaching in the streets of Volantis as possibly the first East Asian face on the show, noteworthy given the show’s struggles to cast diversely. In case you’re interested, the actress is Rila Fukushima, who played Yukio in The Wolverine and has had a prominent role in the current season of The CW’s Arrow as well. (We’ll also soon be seeing Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand of the deadly Sand Snakes; she was the first East Asian actress to play the lead role in a British television series.)

Other Quotes of Note:

“Then again, given how often this series denies justice to the ones who deserve to take it, I imagine things are going to be much more complicated than Brienne getting a look at Stannis and Roose in the midst of the same battle, and having to choose which one to kill.” —Alan Sepinwall, HitFix, highlighting the complexity of the changes from book to screen for the North

“The High Septon, it seems, is part of the Old Guard network–hypocritical but powerful, devoted to protecting the status quo. (Pycelle, no stranger to brothels, believes “a man’s private affairs should stay private.”) But now that the Old Guard powers would just as soon relegate her to dowager-queen irrelevancy, Cersei sees her hope in allying with the disruptors–upstarts like the High Sparrow, and Qyburn the brilliant-but-disgraced maester.” —James Poniwozik, TIME

“– Creepmaester Creep is totally Frankenstein-ing The Mountain and we are NOT OKAY WITH IT.
– Like seriously what the shit is happening there?
– We are TERRIFIED!” —Alicia Lutes, Nerdist, giving Qyburn three separate bullet points just to emphasize the horror of that moment (also one of the only times anyone acknowledged that it might be The Mountain underneath that cloth)

• Published on 04/29/2015 at 11:45 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT