Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
And from a big picture angle, it seemed to me that just because they are Lannister soldiers, it doesn't make them evil.
Arya is now a stone cold killer, but I don't think it would reflect very well if she just murdered everyone she didn't like. Her character needs to be at least somewhat sympathetic. Killing Meryn ####ing Trant wasn't a big deal and mudering the Frey's seem justified but if she kills everybody then it is hard to connect with her character anymore. She'd be no better than the Hound (or at least what the Hound used to be).
Outside of showing us something about Arya, I like the scene because it showed us yet another glimpse of how the regular folk are all just pawns in the game of thrones. Seeing how even the "evil" Lannister soldiers can be regular guys was a nice change of pace. Up to this point the show has generally portrayed all Lannister soldiers through the seasons as total scumbags who probably deserve killing.
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I think the scene also showed that the Lannisters were now recruiting family men instead of career soldiers to serve. It shows that their resources are being stretched thin. The gist of the conversation I got was that there was real poverty stretching through the region and people who wouldn't otherwise be soldiers were doing it to make ends meet. It also showed what life in King's Landing has become under Cersei's control. It sounds like the massacre of the faith of the seven has left a pretty large power vacuum, that Cersei hasn't bothered to fill.
Cersei is an excellent manipulator and competitor, but really looks to be clueless as an actual leader. She basically straight up tells Jaime she has no idea how to run the military or how to deal with her enemies in a geopolitical sense.