Beware spoilers, obviously. If you haven’t yet seen Sunday night’s season premiere of “Game of Thrones,” look away now.
Just in time for Hillary Clinton’s run for the White House, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” came back to our screens Sunday night and put the girls’ team squarely on top.
The hit series, which mixes magic with something much like Europe’s Middle Ages, is famous for its bloodletting and plot twists as everyone competes for power. (In England, schoolboys call a long, twisting story with no real end a “shaggy dog story.” “Game of Thrones” by this logic is a “shaggy dragon story.”)
Yet even amid the entertaining chaos, there may be patterns.
In the season opener? The womens’ stars are rising — and the mens’ seem to be falling.
No, maybe this isn’t a bit of liberal media propaganda for Hillary like, oh, “Madam Secretary” or “Commander in Chief.” But it is what it is.
On “GoT,” totally badass women just took over the southern kingdom of Dorne from the weak and vacillating king, dispatching him, the crown prince and various guards with ruthless efficiency (including a spear punched clean through a head from the back — very nice. Never mess with a Dornish woman).
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Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) is now back in power in the capital city of King’s Landing, after securing her release from prison. (Memo to the High Sparrow, played by Jonathan Pryce: I think you’re going to be really, really sorry you let her out.)
Even Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), that annoying and perennial wet noodle, may finally be taking up her role as head of House Stark and leader of the northerners.
And she was able to do so after being rescued by the very, very badass Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), who proved once again she’s worth about 10 guys with swords.
OK, so not every female character is on top. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) is currently blind and begging in the far-off city of Braavos. The mysterious red priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten), having proven a busted flush, has suddenly been revealed behind her magic as an incredibly frail and elderly woman.
And Daenerys Targaryan (Emilia Clarke) is currently a captive of the bare-chested Dothraki horse riders (whose arrival may compensate female viewers for the loss of actor Kit Harington).
Daenerys has been told she’s destined to waste the rest of her days in the Dothraki temple. Hmmm. I don’t think so. What’s the over/under that she’s going to escape soon — presumably on the wings of one of her dragons?
Meanwhile, prominent men are on the way out.
Night’s Watch Lord Commander Jon Snow (Harington) is dead. Sorry folks. It doesn’t look like a Glenn head-fake.
Would-be king Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) is dead too.
King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) is doomed, according to a prophecy shared by Cersei.
Even Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) is on the way down. As his father pointed out, Sansa Stark’s escape leaves his own position precarious indeed.
But of course this is “Game of Thrones” — where nothing can be predicted and where everything changes in a moment. (Magic and supernatural apart, has any fictional program better depicted the brutality or chaos of the Middle Ages?)
So don’t blame me if it all gets turned upside-down shortly.
But for now, the women are on the way up, and their opponents are looking like a bunch of stupid, weak… er, short-fingered Valyrians.
Make of it what you will.
This article was originally published on Marketwatch.
