on rising
Manila, 21 April—Happy Easter greetings! How did your long-ish weekend go? Holy Week has always been a big vacation, even during my newspaper days—Good Friday and Black Saturday were the only days in the year where we did not publish a newspaper, so that meant everybody had a couple of days off, even if they belonged to editorial. A long time ago, this meant we could organize brief beach trips at work. Those were crazier days full of 10-hour-plus van rides to beaches in the middle of the Holy Week exodus traffic. It was always exhausting, and although we always came back with sunburnt faces and achy backs, we always did with huge smiles on our faces.
I’ve since slowed down, and now Holy Week usually means staying in the city with loved ones. Last year, we were in the middle of moving; this year, it’s a bit more chill. I had family over and we spent the quietest days in the metro holed up in an air-conditioned room, catching up with Game of Thrones.
Sobrang sulit kasama ni Dad sa resto—most of them won’t honor discount cards on holidays, BUT the senior citizen discount card is ALWAYS in effect hahaha.
Spent Black Saturday catching up with old colleagues, and for the first time in my life, I was blessed enough to share a pool with a dog. It was a magnificent experience. Afterwards, we dropped by the University of the Philippines campus in Los Baños, where Rocco the dog had a great time running across the field alongside other dogs and families on a late afternoon picnic.
Speaking of Game of Thrones (SPOILER WARNING)
The first episode of GOT S8 has dropped! Oh man. How did people do this week-on-week vigil for the past seven seasons?! The hype is real, and it’s kind of thrilling to be watching the same show and awaiting the same developments as millions of other viewers worldwide.
Getting ready for episode 2? Here’s something I enjoyed reading: An over-analysis of the first episode courtesy of Inquirer Super and Ruey de Vera.
While we’re at it: Is it just me or are all the women completely being monsterized in this show (Daenerys, Cersei, Sansa) while the men are being redeemed (Jaime, Theon, Tyrion, the Hound even)?
I mean sure, these women currently at the helm of their respective groups right now have had tremendous character development: They’ve gone from being sold to husbands or married off for political alliances (Khal Drogo, Robert Baratheon, Joffrey Lannister) to commanding entire armies and being ultimately in charge of their people’s welfare. They’ve survived the murder of their closest kin, rape and abuse, being held against their will, various sorts of emotional and physical torture, kowtowing to men, etc etc and now they’re basically Head Bitches In Charge where they’re at.
But this show has not empowered them, not really; it has fashioned them into monsters. Cersei is basically the Human Big Bad counterpart of the Night King (god, they even found a way to humanize these brutal and murderous wights by giving them a backstory); Daenerys’ hunger for power has become somewhat exhausting and flat in its consistency; Sansa is inexplicably cunning and cold.
And yet throughout we root for them each and every time they strike a win because oh god the abuse they have had to endure all this time. Remember where Cersei was before she blew up the sept? Yes, that’s right, paraded through an angry mob naked at the instruction of a right wing fundamentalist religious group! Or where Daenerys was before she immolated an entire hut of Dothraki leaders? Yes, that’s right, held captive, marched through the desert on foot, and then derided and threatened with various forms of rape! At her face! Remember where Sansa was before she ordered the execution of Baelish? Oh god, where do I even start with Sansa? Maybe with her marriage to Ramsay Bolton and the constant marital rape right in their Winterfell home?
Hell, even male and female bastards have it different: Head bastard Jon Snow is no longer a bastard, for starters, while Gendry the Baratheon bastard is now chief weapons maker vs the Army of the Dead. Meanwhile, all of Oberyn’s Sand Snakes from Dorne, flat as they were, are now all dead.
Don’t even get me started about how all the women have been written to automatically hate each other—even the Stark sisters, which was so damn weird. It’s almost like they have no idea that women can sometimes be supportive of each other, and that is also a valid, interesting, and complex characterization. An exception, however, must be made with the sexually fluid Ellaria Sand and Yara Greyjoy—but remember that they promptly got murdered and kidnapped, respectively, the moment they started trying to express their fondness for each other. Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile: For all their stupid decisions in life, the men are still alive. (My theory is that if Jon’s character were a woman making the same decisions, she’d be written as naive instead of selfless; careless instead of heroic.) After seasons of winning and losing, being downtrodden and tortured, the men are now on their way back up—not even for power, but for what is right—justice, peace, freedom, life, etc etc. Daenerys used to have this arc, but then the White Messiah visual became very strong, and from there, there was no unseeing it.
I’m not sure if we can still pull off a redemption arc in the last five episodes—I mean, Jaime’s redemption arc has been in place for a loooong time, and I still can’t explain to myself how, even after Jaime raped Cersei right beside a kin’s corpse, Jaime still gets away to be the more likeable character after all this time.
Anyway. Sorry that got quite lengthy LOL, but if, like me, you’re also looking for well-written, multi-layered, complex women characters, check out Killing Eve, for a fantastic serial killer lead who is complicated, murderous and quite charming.
Related reading
GoT Death watch via Vox
GoT-themed Vegas betting odds via Variety
They actually burned people to get those scenes with burning people. Fascinating behind the scenes look on this dazzling GoT stunt via YouTube