The Small Council: A final look at “The House of Black and White”

We’re officially into the thick of Game of Thrones’ fifth season. In this week’s edition of The Small Council, we delve into the strengths and weaknesses of “The House of Black and White.” What did we like? What didn’t we like? Where does the episode fit into the overall scheme of the season? The show? The universe? Read on.

DAN: To me, this episode could have been titled, “The Wars to Come: Part 2.” Many of the plots that were being set up last week were still being set up this week. Tyrion and Varys are still on their way to Meereen. Sansa and Littlefinger are still on their way to parts unknown. Meanwhile, the new threads are just getting started. Arya got admitted to the House of Black and White, but we didn’t get to see inside. We were introduced to a few characters from Dorne, but they didn’t make any moves.

That’s not to say there was no forward momentum. Maybe my naive belief that the show would stay at least nominally true to the books got the better of me, but I was shocked when Brienne spoke to Sansa face-to-face. I thought the resulting three-way confrontation was terrific. As ham-handed as it was, I understood why Brienne would walk up and baldly declare herself like that, just as I understood why Littlefinger would try to undermine her and why Sansa would reject her offer of service. The following action scene (is that the first horseback chase the show has had?) was also a treat.

On the flipside, I’m already a little worried that the Meereen story is going to drag. Again, my book-reader knowledge seeped into my viewing and colored my interpretation of the whole Mossador mess. In A Dance with Dragons, Dany never had many problems with the freed slaves, only with their former masters. I don’t see Benioff and Weiss adding more wrinkles to what’s already a complicated story, so I have a feeling that the slave’s displeasure will be forgotten in a couple episode’s time. That means that the Mossador story was just a way to pad out Dany’s misadventures in ruling. Hopefully I’m wrong,

Also, I think I was so looking forward to getting a look at Dorne that I had forgotten to get excited about Braavos. The production team did an incredible job bringing that city to life.

What did you guys think of “The House of Black and White?”

KATIE: On my first viewing of the episode, I was also thrown by the Sansa/Brienne interaction, but for different reasons. For those of you who have read my Unsullied recap, you’ll know I was sort of turned off by Sansa’s reaction because I felt something about it was out of character, or at least it didn’t fit into her overall character development. But now I want to clear that up, because after rewatching and hearing others’ takes on the scene, I’ve changed my tune: Once again we see Sansa assessing her situation and taking control of it, sticking with the route that will take her to whatever her end game is, all the while keeping innocent bystanders at bay. Sansa isn’t swerving off this beeline, and again I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that this will get her somewhere.

Other than my usual Sansa fervor, I was really excited to see the goings-on in Dorne, however short-lived the scene was. It seems that Ellaria has assumed Oberyn’s role as the Vengeful Soul of the South, and she’s not taking Doran’s inaction sitting down—she’s going to fight him on it, but the question for the Unsullied viewers (and perhaps the Sullied, but I’m not sure if or how much the show is deviating from the books here) is: What’s Ellaria’s plan here? Indira Varma and Alexander Siddig have got a great dynamic going, and I’m looking forward to how that plays out with their characters, and what it will mean for the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. I’m simultaneously nervous and excited, so I’m sure I’ll have my fingernails thoroughly gnawed before this is through.

On the subject of new locations, I’m also pretty stoked to be in Braavos, mostly because I want to see Arya learn the ways of the Zen Buddhist assassin and cross some names of that list of hers. (I mean, I know the Faceless Men & Co. aren’t actually Zen Buddhists, but Jaqen certainly has that vibe about him.)

So, by the time Drogon flies off into the night and the credits barge on screen, much like last week I’m on the edge of my seat. But then, I don’t think D&D could make an episode long enough to quench my “What’s next??” thirst.

CAMERON: I liked this episode more than “The Wars to Come” if only because I felt like there was an implicit theme here that jumped out at me. In this case, it’s characters aspiring to or fighting against something greater than themselves, whether it’s a prophecy, an agenda, or a moral ideal like “justice” or “good leadership” (or even “boxes”). I’m a fan of George R.R. Martin’s comment that good drama comes from characters being at war with their own hearts (read: desires), and I think this episode was very much in that vein. It was less action-packed, but no less compelling, than the premiere.

I also want to reiterate how cool Braavos looks. I knew Dorne would look good (and in its brief appearance here, it does), but Deborah Riley’s comments about how excited she was to work on Braavos piqued my interest, and indeed, the show wears the city’s Venice influence proudly. I look forward to Arya’s adventures this season largely because of that–but also because it’s Arya and Arya is a pretty cool character.

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DAVID (RAZOR): Meereen never held any interest for me, in the books, and it continues to bore me in the show. I firmly hold to the idea that Dany’s execution of Mossador was a mistake. 1. Because she just lost the support of her freed people (as evidenced by their hissing), and 2. Because the royal houses of Mereen still do not love her…she gained absolutely nothing.

I loved seeing Drogon. Drogon, Drogon, Drogon. Seriously…Drogon. Knowing how things play out in the books, I still have a secret wish that D&D will allow Drogon to bust his siblings out of the pit that they are in, so the three will go on a homicidal rampage. I do hope that, much like in the books, some event will occur that will allow Rhaegal and Viserion to escape their confinement, thus allowing them to find various royal pyramids to to invade while burning and eating the people inside, much like a displaced hive of wasps will make the eaves of a house their nest, stinging its occupants like a bunch of buzzing assholes.

As for what’s going on in King’s Landing, I’d like to give props to Kevan Lannister for telling Cersei to go f%&* herself. Sadly, I think that it may ultimately come back to haunt him later this season, as I’m convinced that Qyburn has taken Varys’ place in all things, and will be the one to stab uncle Kev. You know…daggers in the dark and all.

I find myself rather enjoying Brienne and Pod’s story at the moment. With the nearly unforgivable exclusion of Lady Stoneheart, Brienne needs another story-arc. With Pod providing comic relief, the un-dynamic duo are actually tolerable on-screen. HOWEVER, I am not okay with Brienne blundering her way past both Stark girls…even though it’s clear she is going to follow Sansa and Littlefinger.

As for Arya and the House of Black and White, I did enjoy her story in this episode. While it is most definitely a departure from the books, I like that she had to earn her way behind that door. It was a nice way to re-introduce Jaqen H’ghar no one.

Finally, I’m none too pleased by the rushed choosing of the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, but the very tiny and quickly dwindling rational part of my brain understands that, in a 10-episode season, spending untold days filled with masterful political maneuvering on Sam’s part just does not make sense. Or maybe once Game of Thrones is finished, Benioff and Weiss will make like Peter Jackson with the extended Lord of the Rings editions and release extended Blu-rays with, like, 6-hour episodes, chock full of the stuff we book readers crave…hey, a man can dream.

ANI: David, here’s my problem with Kevan Lannister telling Cersei to take her small council and shove it. He sneers at her that she is merely “the queen mother.” We know that one of Cersei’s biggest problems in life is the deeply ingrained sexism of Westeros. Her father wrote her off because she was a woman. Her husband never treated her like an equal because she was female. Most of their toadies did the same. This makes her assume that everyone who writes her off is doing so because of her sex. One of the biggest tragedies of Ned’s death was that he was treating her (in his own way) like a powerful equal—and she assumed he was going after her because she was female.

And now here’s Kevan Lannister, sneering at her that she is nothing but “The Queen Mother.” A woman. Clearly unfit to rule.

Now, here’s the irony of it—Cersei is not fit to rule. But it has nothing to do with her gender. She’s unfit to rule because she’s paranoid, arrogant, impulsively rude and dismissive, and above all, she is a terrible player of the game. One has only to look at her dealings with Margaery—remember Cersei telling Margaery that she’d have her strangled instead of smiling sweetly and measuring Margaery’s back for the knife—to remind oneself of that. Kevan Lannister is 100% right to walk out on her. But the moment he brought up her sex, he undermined his entire argument. Because all Cersei heard was “Disrespecting you because female.” Tragic, really.

• Published on 04/24/2015 at 11:20 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT