Breaker of Chains Episode Guide

[Cold Hands warm heart]

Soon I shall be able to say that I have heard everything here, soon. Remember ALL views are subjective and many of those are transparent.

[Mr Fixit]

Don't recall, was the crowd surfing with the strong white superiority undertones heavily emphasized in the books?

Well, I guess people from countries with colonial past have more issues with it. I suppose it's understandable.

[Rashtibram]

I always got the sense that the 'Mhysa' scene was supposed to have that nagging, uncomfortable undertone. The white savior vibe is hit a little too hard on the nose for it to be entirely coincidental. I think the underlying purpose of that scene is to emphasize the "colonialism" aspect of Dany's S3 arc in a subtle – albeit resonating – way. Sure, the slaves all love her now – she just freed them from their oppressive masters – but there's something about that final shot (which gradually also encompasses her vast army as it pans outwards) that suggests a slight turning point in her storyline, and is intended, IMO, to make people reflect on the notion that not all cases of people acting as "white saviors" have worked out well in the past. I realize that the showrunners haven't exactly reflected this viewpoint in their "inside the episode" videos, but those should IMO be taken with a grain of salt, and I stand by my interpretation. The scene remains – from my POV – one of the best and most loaded on the show so far. It was the perfect ending to season 3.

[boojam]

I always got the sense that the 'Mhysa' scene was supposed to have that nagging, uncomfortable undertone. The white savior vibe is hit a little too hard on the nose for it to be entirely coincidental. I think the underlying purpose of that scene is to emphasize the "colonialism" aspect of Dany's S3 arc in a subtle – albeit resonating – way. Sure, the slaves all love her now – she just freed them from their oppressive masters – but there's something about that final shot (which gradually also encompasses her vast army as it pans outwards) that suggests a slight turning point in her storyline, and is intended, IMO, to make people reflect on the notion that not all cases of people acting as "white saviors" have worked out well in the past. I realize that the showrunners haven't exactly reflected this viewpoint in their "inside the episode" videos, but those should IMO be taken with a grain of salt, and I stand by my interpretation. The scene remains – from my POV – one of the best and most loaded on the show so far. It was the perfect ending to season 3.

This "colonialism" aspect sure seems an odd way to characterize it. Unlike , say, the European conquests or our history that turned into occupation and placing military on foreign soil with its exploitation, maintenance, acquisition she also has no invading population to dominate the indigenous population.

It's like saying Abraham Lincoln 'colonized' the Confederate states. Yes I know that Reconstruction was not all a purely benign thing.

The absolutists of the Union were 99% white, did the black slave population resent them as 'colonists'?

(That characterization could be saved for the Native American population.)

I am not sure what model from our history George was using. For instance just who were repressed, surely not all the people who were not slaves in Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen were not slave masters , merchants and artisans , GRRM never mentions them or if they felt oppressed by Daenerys conquests. Maybe that is implied with the Meereen troubles, but it is sure murky on the page. Plus she does not seem to do a very good job of setting up a local no-slaving government at her conquests which has disastrous results.

Would everybody have been less critical if she had done as in the book, ride her Silver into the crowd where she got the same treatment as in the show but no crowd surfing? (Frankly I thought that the show's imagery was a little silly too.)

[Good Guy Garlan]

Such a random comment, but Elio, where did you get that awesome Tyrell shirt? Is it from the HBO store?

[Dragonstoned]

Everyone stop debating the extras' ethnicity in the Mhysa scene and just listen to the music score for it on loop instead because it is epic.

[Ran]

Jon,

Indeed!

[Le Cygne]

Good points about the Hound in the video, I agree, he's being used as an Arya prop.

[PatrickStormborn]

I always got the sense that the 'Mhysa' scene was supposed to have that nagging, uncomfortable undertone. The white savior vibe is hit a little too hard on the nose for it to be entirely coincidental. I think the underlying purpose of that scene is to emphasize the "colonialism" aspect of Dany's S3 arc in a subtle – albeit resonating – way. Sure, the slaves all love her now – she just freed them from their oppressive masters – but there's something about that final shot (which gradually also encompasses her vast army as it pans outwards) that suggests a slight turning point in her storyline, and is intended, IMO, to make people reflect on the notion that not all cases of people acting as "white saviors" have worked out well in the past. I realize that the showrunners haven't exactly reflected this viewpoint in their "inside the episode" videos, but those should IMO be taken with a grain of salt, and I stand by my interpretation. The scene remains – from my POV – one of the best and most loaded on the show so far. It was the perfect ending to season 3.

That is not how anyone affiliated with the show has chosen to discuss the scene, so I don't think it's an accurate interpretation.

The fact is that obviously Moroccan extras are going to be mostly people of colour. But there were plenty of white extras in Astapor (mostly playing slave masters... hmm...), so it's not a very good excuse. They should have considered the colonial connotations of the scene and either specifically searched for ethnically diverse extras, or changed the set-up of the scene so that a white woman isn't deliberately contrasted to hundreds of thousands of people of colour... and for that they could have honestly just followed the book; the freed slaves parting before her as she rides her Silver into Yunkai would have been a more appropriate image to end the scene.

(I mean, as a side-note, this also wouldn't be as much of a problem if they had stuck to book-canon previously. It would have been a different image if Dany had been wearing her Dothraki clothing and stood with an entourage almost entirely comprised of people of colour.)

[Beric175]

Also isn't it great that people on here have essentially decided that D&D are shitty PEOPLE (not storytellers mind you) despite noone here knowing them personally? Always classy, I see.

[The Dragon has three heads]

Also isn't it great that people on here have essentially decided that D&D are shitty PEOPLE (not storytellers mind you) despite noone here knowing them personally? Always classy, I see.

Thank you.

[ChaosImprisonateMe]

There's already been waaaay too much made of cersei's "rape" and this scene wasn't that bad or confronting, she mounted him, sorry, to me, that's consensual.

Not sure what to make of it. I don't think the intention was to make it a rape scene. I mean with the fact, Jaime is supposed to be on a path of redemption (and we are kind of seeing it until that particular show) and Cersei was supposed to show how more heartless she has become by abandoning Jaime. That particular scene didn't reach any of those objectives. Not sure if HBO wanted a different look to it, or they had a different look at what that was supposed to be.

[CantHearYou]

Thank you.

Shitty storytellers. Couldn't describe their personalities cuz I don't know them but they can't be very smart if they say, for example, they consider Stannis a villain.

[DornishWhino]

Shitty storytellers. Couldn't describe their personalities cuz I don't know them but they can't be very smart if they say, for example, they consider Stannis a villain.

It's all about a little thing called perspecitve dude. They know things that we do not, they see this whole show and the story behind it in a light that we can never see it in. I would be willing to bet that them calling Stannis a villian is subjective...maybe the quote was taken out of context?? Doesn't matter really. The more they do for us, the fans, the better and if they want to say that Stannis is a villian or Podrick is a purple headed yogurt flinger then who cares...just keep giving us the content

[Old Man River]

Such a random comment, but Elio, where did you get that awesome Tyrell shirt? Is it from the HBO store?

How did you get your title to read "up jumped schemer" because that's awesome.