[Re-Watch Project 5x09] The Dance of Dragons Discussion

This episode is always high on my list of most memorable and not just because it has the final scene that remains one of my all time favorites of the series. This episode, even though I've rewatched it quite a few times now, still to this day leaves me exceptionally raw afterwards because of how conflicted I feel about it.

They really poured it on thick with this one. Pushing the audience onto a ride we're as helpless to get off of as Shireen was tied to that stake.

One of the areas I have the hardest time watching is the very ending of Shireen's sacrifice scene. While in tears and sobbing over what I had previously denied they would not do to her, and her Mother's last minute breakdown (this is hard for anyone to watch let alone me an emotional Mom) ... the screams of dying Shireen transition in a completely jarring way to the cheers of the crowd in the amphitheater of Meereen. Not gonna lie I absolutely HATED this the first time I saw it. I mean wtf, here you are in tears over a little girl being burned to death and then sunny skies and cheering crowds?

But upon several rewatches I have learned to accept the horrific (and risky) choice the show writers took with this one. They were going for shock value for sure here, and it worked. To sit there wondering why they did it, you realize how opposite yet similar the two scenes bookended one another:

- In a bleak and dark snowstorm, starving/dying men stand silently and watch as a little girl is burned alive and you think "How can they stand there and watch this willingly?"
- Contrast with bright sunny skies and gaudily dressed people in the audience cheering for men who are killing one another and you think "How can they stand there and watch this willingly?"

It truly showcases how terrible the human species really can be to one another. It leaves you wide open and stunned.



But that unpleasant bit I still struggle with aside, the rest of the episode was great and of course I don't have to go on about how wonderful the ending was other than to say it's a moment I had waited to see since they first announced the show being adapted for television. There were always Daenerys moments I wanted to see on screen and this was one of them. They did it justice. That moment we hear Drogon's cry for Dany as he bursts into the arena in a ball of flame STILL brings my heart up into my throat and tears to my eyes. I'm a Targaryen/dragon fan so this was truly a great moment for me to watch.

Yes, some of the CGI was a little off in the flight scene with Dany, but I'm perfectly ok with forgiving that (and they improved it tenfold in Season 6) because of the great emotional moment of Dany's 'rescue' and first flight on Drogon.





So the two most emotional scenes aside, there were other scenes I enjoyed:

- That tense moment when Jon and the survivor wildlings approach the wall and Alliser Thorne watching from atop the wall was well done. A lot of emotional range here in Jon's face... worry, apprehension, resolve, relief.
- The scenes with Doran and Ellaria are actually quite good on rewatch. Dorne unfortunately gets thrown in the shit can because of the sandsnakes and I do understand that criticism. I still enjoyed what little we got of Doran.
- Arya in Braavos is still solid as it was all throughout Season 5 here... her going to assassinate the thin man and then seeing Trant instead... following him to the brothel, and learning of Trant's pedophilia was great and awkward and weird and still great because you know at this moment she's going to take him out!


Favorite quote this episode:



Why yes, Alliser Thorne, it's definitely going to get you killed one day ...