An all-female ‘Game of Thrones’ roundtable: The women were the real MVPs this season
LatestEvery week, the ladies of Fusion.net will join together to discuss the most recent episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. This week, political reporter Katie McDonough and culture reporters Tahirah Hairston and Kelsey McKinney tackle the season six finale, “Winds of the Winter.”
In this week’s episode (SPOILERS): Cersei becomes Queen of Westeros. Jon Snow becomes King of the North. We lose our favorite schemer. And, Daenerys Targaryen is on her way to conquer the Seven Kingdoms with the help of Yara Greyjoy, Grandma Tyrell, and the woman of Dorne.
Cersei was dressed to kill and conquer.
Katie: Ladies, the end is here. Goodbye, season six. Hello, Queen Cersei.
Kelsey: I will be honest. I normally dread the season finale’s of Game of Thrones because they often pale in comparison to the episode nines. But this year, I AM NOT DISAPPOINTED.
Tahirah: I realized that everyone who has sat on the iron throne so far has died. So, Cersei is next.
Katie: Cersei is definitely not long for this world. Fun question: who will kill her? So many people want to! Arya. Dany. Sansa. Even Jaime was giving her some ambiguous looks during her coronation.
Tahirah: I want it to be Arya. She was so, so mean to her. But, also Sansa because she was so rude to her too. But, then Margaery’s grandmother. Anyone could kill Cersei and I’d be happy.
Katie: Fuck, I am bummed about Margaery getting crisped up in that Wildfire. I wanted her to fight through the Faith Militant and get out with Ser Loras. We have lost a good schemer.
Tahirah: Happy the High Sparrow is gone though. He is dumb, lives in a fantasy world, and hasn’t touched a shower in ages.
Katie: Wildfire looked cheesy as hell though. Like when that green volcano came up under the High Sparrow’s butt? I was like, uh, did they make this on Windows 95?
Tahirah: Lmao, definitely iMovie. I did love every single shot until then though, with the music and Cersei not saying anything just drinking wine waiting for it all to fall down. See Kelsey this is why we keep the kids around…for murder.
Katie: Oh my god I forgot about the murder children. That was a bit much? Some Chucky shit. There is no reason that they all needed to knife that horny Maester Pycelle in unison. That man was like 200 years old. Maybe just push him over and wait.
Kelsey: Speaking of kids, RIP Tommen.
Katie: I actually thought that scene was the first and only moment Tommen had depth. His despair made him feel like a character, and suicide, tragically, may have been the first thing he did without consultation or manipulation from others.
Tahirah: Also, the costumes during these first scenes were also impeccable. Tommen’s necklace. And Cersei’s Balmain for GOT dress. Cersei got dressed in black like she was mourning, but then the silver shoulder plates and leather indicated she was getting ready for combat and gave her this look of dark power we haven’t seen yet.
Katie: They basically armored her up, adorned her with metal, and she is looking fascist chic.
Tahirah: She is a different character now. She did something that can not be undone, and she’s no longer a mother. She’s not fighting for anything anymore other than just pure power.
Katie: This is Cersei off the leash. The show has made it clear from the start that her love for her children was among her only human qualities, so she is, in the universe of Game of Thrones, as much of a monster as the Mountain. I think that season six has been, in its entirety, an arc of power for the women, but also an arc of villainy. Or at least darkness.
Kelsey: Yes Katie! I agree. The women are becoming more powerful, but they aren’t becoming good. The great thing about Cersei, though, in my opinion, is that her arc has always been one of darkness! Even from the very first episode, it was like “can you back a girl who fucks her brother” which I kind of love because it’s a complicated thing to parse. Is the show making the statement that all power is corrupting, and that by seeking it you have to do some nasty shit that will taint you forever, or is this a statement about these women in particular?
Tahirah: Very true. But before it was like she’s doing this for her kids and now she’s just doing it for herself. But, then again to be honest she has been doing it for herself all along. The children were just a decoy that humanized her a bit.
Lady Mormont should be the Queen of everything.
Katie: Jon Snow is the only sad sack who hasn’t gotten all power mad. If we are working toward the redemption of the Seven Kingdoms through a sad boi’s pure heart, I will barf. Please do not do this to us, Game of Thrones narc writer men.
Kelsey: I am starting to get really worried that Jon Snow is going to be the winner of this whole thing.
Tahirah: I think he’s content with being King of the North for now. But, I want Little Finger dead next. He makes me uncomfortable.
Katie: I kept hoping that Sansa was going to shank him during their scene by the tree. I was like knife him Sansa, you got this.
Kelsey: Sansa is cold now. She’s so calculated and bitter. If/when Sansa kills Littlefinger, it will be so much more brutal than a knife stabbing.
Tahirah: Girl needs a therapist.
Katie: Girl needs to be around more women. Bring Brienne back so she can get out from under Littlefinger’s shitfluence. Season six of Game of Thrones is an arc of villainy for me, too! I am a blood thirsty woman now.
Tahirah: Same, I have never wanted death so much as I want it now. I’m like routing for a murder. I’ve become a villian too.
Kelsey: I like that Sansa realized that if she became Queen of the North, she would have to spend too much time getting married/ trying to not get married.
Katie: Lyanna Mormont is sticking around, which I am pumped about. Maybe she can teach Sansa about sisterhood.
Tahirah: OMG LADY MARMONT. I think she is my favorite character this season. She speaks with such conviction, she can get me to do anything probably
Kelsey: I wanna be her when I grow up
Tahirah: Please can she write a book about how to be a great leader. I will read it. She saved Jon’s ass. Made all those dumb men listen by calling them out. Like BUT actually, you are trash, so you need to oblige.
It’s funny in restrospect how in season one Sansa was so thirsty to get married and now she’s like “sounds like a nice dream” but I gotta go. Bye.
Katie: The Miseducation of Sansa Stark.
Daenerys Targaryen had to break up with her boy toy because she has to conquer the world.
Katie: OK, so, Dany is going to King’s Landing. Grey Worm on a boat! I almost died. He looked good.
Kelsey: Wait wait! But Dany broke up with my boyfriend first before she got on the boat! I was so sad. But, also I HAVE A PREDICTION and it is that Dany and Tyrion end up together because it would be an EXCELLENT alliance of houses.
Tahirah: YES! I was like do I need to be single until I conquer the world? Probably.
Katie: Another scene to establish that these power-seeking women are cold as ice. Not that I mind, but the thesis of Game of Thrones seems to be that women can’t have it all.
Tyrion was giving Dany the look of love, which I did not like. Tyrion is so special and everyone falls in love with Dany.
Kelsey: Lannister-Targaryen. But it would be a political marriage. Seriously every episode though I am IMPRESSED by what Peter Dinklage does in his role. I actually got misty eyed while he was becoming the Hand of the Queen.
Katie: I want him to find a love somewhere else, and just be the master schemer that he is as her Hand of the Queen. Peter Dinklage is so fucking good
Tahirah: I don’t think Tyrion was giving her googly love eyes though. I think he was giving her the look of admiration and respect. I think him and Dany have a mutual respect, but not the chemistry of lovers.
Katie: I don’t know, I was picking up some serious love looks. But I am down to be proven wrong because I don’t really like it as a development.
Tahirah: I think it would be too cliche to make them fall in love. But, I guess we’ll see in seasons seven or eight. (if they both survive). I am also about Dany ruling the thrown and not having a husband.
Katie: So, Dany’s crew is basically the Kill Cersei Squad sailing to King’s Landing.
Tahirah: That last shot, I was in awe. I wanted to bow down to Dany right then.They should have played Beyonce in the back.
Kelsey: Okay dragons now lets get in formation.
Katie: Dude, yes. You have the Tyrell and the Martell flags flying on ships in the distance. You have my man Grey Worm with the Unsullied on one ship. Then you’ve got Dany, Missandei, and Tyrion up front. And the dragons? What chance does Cersei even stand. How are they going to make this interesting? It would be no contest.
Tahirah: I think the interesting part will be Cersei still not backing down. She’s gonna be like and?
Katie: Yes, totally. But then a dragon can be like breathes fire.
Tahirah: Cersei doesn’t have anyone in her corner. But she is going to think she has the people of Westeros because they fear her and then she’s going to learn a lesson about loyalty.
Katie: She is the queen of the Mountain and that weird Frankenstein doctor guy. That’s it. A kingdom of three.
But I’ll admit I was like yeah OK when she explained to the Faith Militant woman that she was going to torture her for the rest of her life. I was like that seems fair OK let’s do that.
This show has made me vicious, again. The “shame, shame” was very satisfying.
Tahirah: The shame line was oddly comical. I laughed.
Katie: Totally, a rare moment of lightness even though it was about some dark ass stuff.
Tahirah: I don’t ever want Grandma Tyrell to die. I need her to shade everyone on GOT first.
Katie: She has to live forever. Her and Lyanna Mormont.
Tahirah: I am happy that all these women are fighting on the same team. We’ve got Dany, Missandei, Yara, the women of Dorne, Grandma Tyrell.
Jon Snow’s real parents are exactly who we thought they were.
Kelsey: Speaking of Lyanna though. We FINALLY know for sure that Lyanna is Jon Snow’s mommy.
Tahirah: YES. But, who is the father?
Katie: Oh shit yes, we forgot about bb Jon Snow. Rhaegar Targaryen! The entire mythology behind the stark fam was that Lyanna was kidnapped by Rhaegar and raped. But this scene, and basically lots of heavy handed hints from the start, were like, “No, they were in love!” Like the Tower of Joy scene earlier this season when the men guarding it were Rhaegar’s best fighters. They were protecting his precious cargo, the woman he loved and his future heir!
Tahirah: Then she kept whispering to Ned Stark that they were going to kill her baby, so to protect him.
Katie: Yes, the Baratheons would kill him because they were slaughtering the Targaryen children.
Tahirah: So bb Jon is really Dany’s brother. Jon Stark-Tagarayan. Damn he has a lot of power in his blood and he doesn’t even know it.
Katie: Stargarayen. Tark.
Kelsey: God he’s gonna cry when he finds out isn’t he? He’s so weak.
Wait! ARYA. Arya creeping around with another woman’s face on and feeding Walder Frey his sons! And then giving him the same treatment he gave her mother! Vengeance!
Tahirah: My favorite scene in this episode was Arya because it was something I did not expect. She is still all about revenge. She just doesn’t want to be in a murder club.
Katie: It was so chilling. Like, “Where are my sons?” “They’re here, my lord.”
Kelsey: Walder Frey deserved it. That awful awful man
Katie: He totally did. He was such a fucker.
Tahirah: I snickered a little, because I’m a dark person. He was so terrible and he always talked like he had something stuck in his teeth.
Kelsey: This show, you are right Katie, has turned me into a blood thirsty villain this season. I want so many people dead.
The inevitable hottie of the season
Katie: So my final thoughts are obviously about the development of the main female characters. Like I said before, I think this has been a season in which they consolidated power and got more dynamic story lines, but were also hardened and caught the same power-mad thirst the dumb men in their lives are sick with.
Tahirah: I totally agree. It will be interesting to see Dany and Cersei battle it out for the Iron Throne. I think Cersei has reached a point where her scheming is not going to work because she doesn’t have any allies.
We have really gotten to watch Sanda grow up from like this little naive girl who just wanted to be Queen to this bad bitch who wants revenge and justice and isn’t easily swayed.
Okay so hottie of the week?
Katie: Hottie of the Season! The ultimate hottie
Tahirah: I think it’s Jon Snow even though I don’t want it to be. But he’s done some very hot things this season. He came back from the dead then became King of the north.
Kelsey: GDI Tahirah. FINE. Jon Snow can be hottie of the season, but he will never be hottie of my heart.
Katie: I am with you, Tahirah. I don’t love my love for Jon Snow’s hotness, it just is what it is.
Tahirah: I mean Tormund will ALWAYS be the hottie of my heart.
Kelsey: Praise u Tormund
Katie: Oh shit. Should it be Tormund?
Kelsey: Katie, no it’s Jon.
Katie: The Undead Hottie.
Tahirah: Jon Snow is the Drake of Game of Thrones. You hate that you like him, but you can’t lie to yourself. But wait, is it Tyrion?
Kelsey: We just desperately don’t want it to be Jon Snow but in the end, Jon Snow is the hottie. The hottie we love to hate.