Breaker of Chains
"Breaker of Chains" is the third episode of the fourth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones.
The episode received critical praise overall, but triggered a public controversy due to a scene that shows Jaime raping Cersei Lannister.
In the Sept of Baelor, as Joffrey lies in state, Tywin questions Tommen about the qualities that make a good king.
The wildlings raid a village and Styr forces a young boy, Olly, to run to Castle Black and tell the Night's Watch what they have done.
"Breaker of Chains" was written by executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, based upon the source material, Martin's A Storm of Swords.
[6][8][9] Other content came from chapters Sansa V, Tyrion IX and Daenerys V.[6][8] Linguist David Peterson, who created the languages High Valyrian and Dothraki for the show, hid an easter egg in the episode's translations.
The site's critical consensus reads: "While 'Breaker of Chains' is a letdown after the Purple Wedding, the episode expertly weaves together a number of necessary plot points -- and still manages to deliver a very memorable scene.
In the source novel, however, Cersei initially rejects Jaime's advances but changes her mind, saying "yes",[4][16] though some readers interpret it as implying rape.
"[18] Sandy Hingston of Philadelphia wrote that the scene had outraged many viewers, but had led others to make "tentative attempts in comments sections to explain why maybe actually this wasn't rape.
Club,[4] Megan Gibson of Time,[20] Amanda Marcotte of Slate,[21] Maureen Ryan of HuffPost,[22] and Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post, also viewed the scene as rape.
[24] In another interview with HitFix, Graves said "it becomes consensual by the end, because anything for [Jaime and Cersei] ultimately results in a turn-on, especially a power struggle.
"[18] In an interview with Vulture, Graves further elaborated: "The consensual part of it was that she wraps her legs around him, and she's holding on to the table, clearly not to escape but to get some grounding in what's going on.
Graves stated that it was important for him and others involved with filming the scene to indicate to viewers that the sexual encounter was not completely one-sided, and that he hoped this aspect would not be overlooked.
David Benioff, who co-wrote the episode and serves as showrunner with D. B. Weiss, described the interaction of the two siblings as "a really kind of horrifying scene, because you see, obviously, Joffrey's body right there, and you see that Cersei is resisting this.
He stated that while the setting is the same, "neither character is in the same place as in the books" and that he surmises this "may be why Dan [Weiss] & David [Benioff] played the sept out differently."
"[27] Lena Headey, who portrays Cersei, declined to comment about whether she interpreted the sex as consensual, but said that "it's a very complicated moment for many reasons ...
[19] Laura Hudson of Wired described the scene and its appraisal by its director as "one that encourages the most dangerous thinking about rape imaginable: that when a woman is held down on the ground, screaming for the man to stop, that deep down inside her she might still really want it."
