5 reactions to *THAT* scene from Sunday's "Game of Thrones"

Warning: spoilers are coming.
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I had originally intended for this week's post in my unofficial "Goodbye, Game of Thrones" series to be a countdown of the show's most bad-ass women characters, but after what went down in Poundtown in Season 8, Episode 2, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," I must focus on one bad-ass in particular: Arya Stark, aka A Girl Who Fucking Gets It.

Although I immediately started shipping these two after their forge-side reunion/flirtation in last week's season premiere, I didn't expect things to escalate so quickly. But considering the Army of the Dead's imminent arrival at Winterfell, there isn't really any time to fuck around if you're trying to fuck, so my girl took the bull (ha!) by the horns and went for it. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it, so let's jump right in.

Reaction #1. FUCK. YES. GET. IT. GIRL.
Any time a bad-ass woman takes charge of her sexual destiny with a tasty snack who also happens to be a decent human-being, it's a win in my book (you best believe I will be adding "Take off your own bloody pants" to my pillow talk arsenal). But on a show which has robbed women of their sexual agency time and time (and time) again, seeing Arya so confident and in control of the situation felt especially triumphant. Considering the limited amount of time left in the series, and how much of that will be taken up by death and destruction, this may be  one of the last "game of boners" scenes we get. Even if it's predicated on the assumption that they will both die the next day, I am super-thrilled that it's between two consenting adults who respect and care about each other, and are not fucking related.

Reaction #2. Everyone who is up in arms about it needs to calm their tits
As I type this, "Arya Stark age" and "Arya Stark actress age" are the #2 and #5 hits when you Google "Arya Stark." These searches started soon after Maisie Williams displayed some tasteful sideboob, as did a deluge of tweets and posts elucidating exactly how uncomfortable people were with Arya getting it on with Gendry. Which is a perfect microcosm of our culture's complicated, often hypocritical relationship to violence and sexuality (particularly female sexuality). Lest we forget, the Internet was downright stoked when Arya casually slit a man's throat at the end of Season 7 (even if that man totally had it coming). But now our girl wants to satisfy her curiosity about sex before facing almost certain death? 

Many people cited the fact that they still see Arya/Williams as the sassy little kid who greeted King Robert in an over-sized helmet in Episode 1 as the reason for their squeamishness, which points to another uncomfortable truth about sex in our society: people do NOT like to admit that cute, innocent kids have a tendency to grow up and wanna FUCK. Here's a truthbomb for you - with the exception of those who are asexual, every sweet, pure baby you know, including your brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, and cousin, will one day want to smash, and our refusal to acknowledge and accept that reality has manifested in some really problematic views and habits when it comes to human sexuality. The fact that many of the same Game of Thrones viewers cheered Arya's transformation into a deadly, face-swapping assassin drives home the point that we live in the Upside Down when it comes to violence and sex. If a once sweet-faced, innocent girl can go around slaying her enemies in increasingly brutal fashion, why can't she slay some dong as Death creeps ever closer? 

Reaction #3. Being a tomboy does not mean you can't be for dudes
For others, the discomfort with this scene came from the seemingly left-field appearance of Arya's sexuality, or how it disrupted preconceived ideas about her sexual preferences. While I won't argue that as the story has progressed and the pace quickened, character development has often gotten short shrift for expediency's sake, I don't feel like last night's deflowering was unearned because we didn't see Arya deal with the traditional pangs of teenage angst and awkwardness.
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Even if she didn't end up having such an, um, unconventional adolescence, I still can't see her pulling a Sansa and mooning over a boy or being squeamish about her first period. To paraphrase, that's not her. Given all that Arya's survived, and the confidence and ruthlessness in her decision-making that she was force to develop at a young age, I feel her approach to sex is justified and true to character.

As for the dissonance between Arya's presumed sexuality and her choice of sex partners...is it wrong for me to think it's more stereotypical to assume she was gay because she wears men's clothes and is more interested in sword-fighting than sewing? I'm not saying there would be anything wrong with her being a lesbian or bisexual (although she still technically could be - more on that in a sec). A storyline with her questioning her gender identity could have been interesting as well (although I wonder about the showrunners' ability to handle a topic like that with the nuance it deserves). But I also have no trouble believing that, despite carrying herself through the world like a man, Arya is attracted to men and chooses to have her first sexual experience with a man. As a hetero woman who often feels like she doesn't conform to traditional expectations of femininity enough to be attractive to men, it's encouraging to see a woman who does not dress or behave in a traditionally feminine way, but is still attracted to men. I know an Arya/Gendry relationship furthers a standard of heteronormative on-screen romances, but it feels slightly somewhat radical because we would not necessarily expect someone like Arya to express sexual desire for men.

We must also consider, from a storytelling perspective, that having Arya decide to have sex with Gendry makes a lot more narrative sense than say, a random Northern girl who's chilling at Winterfell waiting for the White Walkers to arrive. Outside of her family, Gendry is one of the few remaining people with whom Arya feels a real human connection, so when she chooses to participate in this very real human activity requiring trust and vulnerability, it's a no-brainer that he's the best man for the job (considering she doesn't seem to know about Podrick's considerable gifts). I think those who are arguing that this was not emotionally satisfying would have been far more disappointed if Arya banged someone with whom she (and the audience) had no emotional connection. It's also not necessarily a confirmation of her heterosexuality. If Arya is just coming into her sexual awakening, perhaps more experimentation is in her future (assuming she survives). 

In any event, Arya's choice to have sex, and have sex with Gendry feels right and logical because...

4. She's coming full circle and reconnecting with her humanity.
Much has been made about Bran's robot-like persona since he became the Three-Eyed Raven, but let's not forget that Arya excised significant portions of her humanity in her quest to become a Faceless Man. You can't be a face-swapping ninja assassin without becoming a little detached. We saw this play out last season when we wondered if she was so deep in Psycho Killer mode that she would shank Sansa in a Lady-of-Winterfell showdown. 

Her journey was also mostly a solitary one, perhaps moreso than any other character, so again, her desire for a human connection, with someone who's always been able to recognize and respect her for who she is, makes perfect sense at this particular moment, because...

5. Arya's most likely going to die in the Battle of Winterfell
I know, I know. I hate to say it, but I've got a sinking feeling that things are not going well for many people, including Arya, next week (especially if we're going by horror movie rules). Yes, she is a skilled fighter who has survived bad odds before, but as she said, she has not met this face of Death yet, and it's an extremely unforgiving one. There's also the matter of character arc to consider. This is what Arya's been training for - the moment to protect her family in a way that she couldn't when her father, mother and oldest brother were killed. What role might she play in a post-battle world? Will she be the one to kill Cersei wearing Jaime's face? Will she be a bodyguard to Sansa or another character? Will she travel throughout Westeros as an assassin-for-hire? All of these are possibilities, but they somehow feel less satisfying than her going out in a blaze of glory defending her family and home. 

So why not be happy that she had one of the healthiest, most consensual sexual encounters in the show's history? After all, a girl wished for a spear, and this girl gets what she wants.