[This post is dark and full of SPOILERS!]
Wow, who knew two episodes into the final season of Game Of Thrones, this would be the most talked about scene??
The second installment of Season Eight was all about how everyone spends their final night before the coming Battle of Winterfell.
Arya Stark decides if she’s going to go out she’s going to do it with a bang not a whimper.
Related: Maisie Williams And Sophie Turner Talk That Scene
She tells Gendry, her hunky childhood traveling companion, with whom she recently reunited:
“We’re probably going to die soon. I want to know what it’s like before that happens.”
Then a girl proceeds to get her first kiss, followed immediately by stripping down and mounting the blacksmith.
You can see the whole uncut moment (below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF51aqeyL6w
Fans have been wildly varied in their reactions to the scene.
Obviously Arya/Gendry shippers were giddy at the consummation of a romance they’ve been clamoring for since Season Two.
But even some of them were upset that the scene kept going.
Tons of viewers took to social media to complain about it being, in their opinion, uncalled for, that they didn’t want to see that from Arya, that it was the show going TOO FAR.
This was largely because of the fact the show introduced the character at only 11 years old; fans had gotten to know her first as a child and weren’t ready to see her as an adult woman.
Related: Game Of Thrones Cast Then And Now
We’ve noticed many of these even refer to her as “my daughter” or “my little sister.”
Hilariously, for some people that sentiment wasn’t just fan adulation.
Maisie Williams responded bemusedly to the backlash on Twitter Tuesday, writing:
“if u feel uncomfortable just know that my mother and my step dad and my 2 sisters and my 4 brothers have all probably watched this too ahahakillmeehehe”
Ha!
We hadn’t even thought of that!
We understand where those made uncomfortable are coming from. It’s tough to get used to the idea of a child you’ve known for years suddenly being a full grown adult.
The problem is exacerbated for book readers.
See, in the book ALL the kids start out a touch younger than in the show AND they age slower, too. Over the course of five books only about three years have passed, and Arya is only 13 years old! But on TV they have that pesky thing where actors grow up IRL, so you can’t keep kids the same when time isn’t supposed to be moving…
Maisie Williams is 22 years old. On the show, Arya is 18. As such the showrunners decided as an adult woman she could make her own choice about when to lose her V-card.
That’s a decision many feminists have applauded. On a show where tons of characters’ first sexual experiences involved assault, obligation, or even torture, this was an incredibly healthy portrayal of a first time.
Apart from the fear of impending death obviously.
So where do YOU stand on the scene?
“You go girl?” or “Ew, no girl…”??
Let us know (below)!
[Image via Ivan Nikolov/WENN/HBO/YouTube.]
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