Metro column: Game of Thrones steps on the gas in “The Gift”
It’s safe that Season 5 of Game of Thrones has been more widely criticized than any other season of the show. The reasons for this are legion. The show is departing more from the books, the detour in Dorne has rubbed many the wrong way, and some fans are concerned that the plot has moved too slowly. Pacing wasn’t really an issue in “The Gift,” however, as the show finally started to pay off much of what it’d spent the first half-and-change of a season setting up. That’s the topic WiC tackles this week in it’s ongoing column for Metro, which might be available at a newspaper stand near you. For all you know, you’re reading it right now.
I’d agree that the first half of the season took its time. Then again, it had to, since Season 4 left it with a pile of dead characters and sent a whole score of others on new journeys. “The Gift,” however, kicked several plots into high gear. The Sparrows, for example, have been an amorphous presence for most of the season, but the High Sparrow’s talks with Olenna and Cersei gave the movement some much-needed shape, and Cersei’s arrest established them firmly as a real threat.
The show has struggled this year with letting us into Cersei’s head. This is easy to do in the books, since George R.R. Martin can just write out her thoughts, but Cersei is a character who wears a mask in public, so it’s difficult to get across her inner turmoil onscreen. That wasn’t a problem after she was arrested, though, as her mask fell off and we saw the deeply angry woman underneath. Things should only intensify as we march toward the finale.
The other big payoff from “The Gift” occurred when Tyrion and Daenerys met face to face. The moment arrived earlier than expected and even felt a bit rushed, but it was a watershed moment even so.
Peppering the episode with these big events kept us from feeling like the episode was stringing us along, even as it set the table for future goings-on at the Wall and Winterfell. With several big moments yet to come, it seems like the season has solved its pacing problem.
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