To the Defense of Ed Sheeran!

Published July 20, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

I just wanted to come in and defend the Ed Sheeran scene that everyone seems to hate. Before I start defending him, I will say that I’m not really a fan of his music, and to be honest I didn’t even notice that it was him until afterward when everyone was losing their shit about it. But I didn’t think it was out of place or beneath the show – he’s British and looks like any other ginger might look in a rag tag group of red cloaks. It’s not like it was Britney Spears or Snoop Dogg sitting there eating rabbit and promoting their latest album.

And the scene to me wasn’t a waste of time in the precious few episodes we have left. It was a good reminder of why Arya is doing what she’s doing. She’s become a super badass stone cold assassin, which is great and all. But when she asked the one soldier whose wife just had a baby why he hoped it was a girl, he replied: Because girls take care of their fathers. It was a poignant moment to remind us that Arya is doing all this for dad – Ned Stark, who she saw firsthand get killed by the Lannisters (side note: She also was there to see Catelyn and Rob get killed – I think the only Stark she hasn’t witnessed dying is Rickon). But for me the scene was a great moment of humanity for Arya, where we might otherwise be in danger of her losing her humanity and just being this badass killer. So were it not for Ed Sheeran’s angelic voice, she might have just kept on riding by.

For the watch,

(#Towel) Joe Panvini

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