Arya and Gendry's Game of Thrones Sex Scene Was Totally Unnecessary
Game of Thrones gave Arya Stark a sex scene with Gendry in the second episode of Season eight. It really did that. And no one thought it wasn't weird. The White Walkers are approaching with their army of the dead, humanity itself is on the line, and Arya's plotline was to lose her virginity.
Arya and Gendry's sex scene felt out of place, likely because it was completely out of character for Arya and utterly unnecessary. Had her maturity not been proven during her tutelage under the Faceless Men or her long journey back to Winterfell? Didn't her knack for murdering creepy, terrible men or the wicked mind games she and Sansa played against Littlefinger in Season Seven show she was a grown up? Hadn't she shown Gendry who's boss when she chucked a bunch of knifes at a wall? But just like Game of Thrones threw that brothel scene in the season premiere, I guess just to prove the show still does nudity, it needed a new character to spice things up with a sex scene.
When Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, first read about her sex scene in the script, she thought it was a joke. “At first, I thought it was a prank,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh f—k!”
Of the scene, she said, "It was that moment where she says, ‘We’re probably going to die tomorrow, I want to know what this feels like before that happens.’ It’s interesting to see Arya be a bit more human, speak more normally about things people are scared of.”
Gendry actor Joe Dempsey said, "It’s obviously slightly strange for me because I’ve known Maisie since she was 11, 12 years old. At the same time, I don’t want to be patronizing toward Maisie—she’s a 20-year-old woman. So we just had a lot of fun with it."
Besides the last-minute hook-up, Gendry's connection to the Starks is an interesting one. He is the bastard son of Robert Baratheon. Melisandre harvested his blood for a spell that would bring about the death of Robb Stark. He's making dragonglass weapons at Winterfell now, including a deadly looking spear for Arya that will hopefully keep her alive through the upcoming battle. No one's paying much attention to him right now except for Arya, and even she didn't seem all that impressed by his Baratheon heritage.
Outside the blacksmith station, sparks were flying in Game of Thrones Episode Two. Theon Greyjoy returned and had a lovely reunion with his fellow House Bolton survivor, Sansa, followed by some prolonged eye contact over bowls of stew. Brienne is currently stuck verbally sparring with both Jaime Lannister and Tormund Giantsbane, with all the sexual tension that entails. This fan fiction writes itself.
Dany and Jon, are, well, probably no longer fucking. That's good; one uncomfortable sex scene per episode is more than enough.
This story originally appeared on Esquire.com. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.
