I seriously thought Arya was going to kill Sansa in the penultimate episode. Then, I seriously thought Sansa was going to kill Arya in the final episode.
Was the tension between the two all an act? (If so, why?) If I recall correctly, they were alone in the bedroom where Arya had the knife, so it makes me think the animosity wasn't just an act.
I don’t think that the tension was an act.
It’s just what siblings from close-knit families often do: They fight, sometimes hard, they struggle, but eventually they come to terms.
They don’t kill each other.
Of course, in this case, it was also very helpful that there’s another sibling, namely a brother who knew who’s the real bad guy here.
And btw, when Arya handed over the dagger after her "I could kill you and take your face" speech, I think it was her way of saying that Sansa can actually trust her. Arya's variation of that old "If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already" line.
All of the above, plus the fact that Arya does NOT want to run Winterfell or rule the North.
Because I was pretty damn sure about that, the whole sequence if growing tension between them lacked suspense for me.
Really? That was probably one of the must suspenseful scenes from this season for me. That and Dany's dragon turned zombie.
shareNo, really, the growing tension lacked suspense, because I was really sure that Arya didn't want to take over. No rebellious teen wants a job that demanding!
LF's trial, on the other hand, gripping!!!
I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that it was an act, since we're never told when Bran may have informed his sisters about Littlefinger's past. Sansa's insistence to stay in Winterfell, and send Brienne to King's Landing to represent her, may have come with LF's execution in mind. I'm sure that once she found out that LF was also responsible for Jon Arryn's, and her father's deaths, that she made a calculated decision to end him; and it wouldn't surprise me at all if she was given that information before Brienne left for King's Landing.
Littlefinger had to believe that his plan was working, and for the plan to work he had to believe that Sansa feared Arya (and needed LF's council on the matter). It's an assumption, but I think Arya knew that she was being watched when she found the letter, or at least realized that she was "gifted" the incriminating letter - If LF placed the letter with the intent that Arya find it, then it's not crazy to think that Arya may have been aware that the letter was intended for her to read. After the matter, I think it's obvious that LF intended for Arya to read that letter, and he had to do a little bit of acting himself (with the messenger) to draw Arya's attention to the letter. He then stuck around to see if it worked.
Now, I don't think that Arya was totally cool with the content of that letter, but (with her training) I believe that she was aware that she sprung a trap. I believe that Arya - just like most of the audience - would calculate that Sansa was forced to write that letter, and would accept the unfortunate circumstance in which it was written. Sansa genuinely believed that writing that letter would save lives, and Arya has become a human lie detector. It also helps that Bran is there to confirm facts, and if Bran told his sisters about LF beforehand, it would make even more sense why Arya would even be curious about some anonymous letter that was delivered to LF
(cont)
Like, why was she trailing him to begin with?
Little finger obviously wasn't aware of Bran's powers, or else he would have left Winterfell immediately, but Bran's sisters must have been aware of them. I think the moment that Littlefinger gave the knife to Bran, and Bran recited LF's own "chaos is a ladder" quote, is the moment that Bran started to look into LF. It wouldn't be long after that Bran would have damning information on LF, and between the three of them, started a plan to end LF.
Just like LF was acting to veer Arya's attention towards the letter, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Sansa and Arya were acting to make LF believe that his plan was working - you never know when LF might be listening, and they may have calculated that. I mean, they were clearly acting in the hall up until the very moment that Sansa pulled the rug from under LF's feet, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they were acting the entire time.
Nah, there would have been no reason for Sansa and Arya to maintain their "act" when they were just interacting with each other. Such as when Arya confronted Sansa when she was going through her bags and found the faces. Sansa even pointed out that their being divided would be exactly what Cersei would want. She was obviously not clued in at that time that the whole thing was being orchestrated by Littlefinger.
It makes perfect sense why Arya would have been spying on Littlefinger. It's not like she was unaware of who he was and wouldn't know that he was not to be trusted. Not only is she familiar with him from King's Landing, but also the time when she served as Tywin Lannister's servant girl at Harrenhal and LF paid Tywin a visit to propose a scheme allying the Lannisters with the Tyrells that would make him the new Lord of Harrenhal.
I thought it was pretty clear that everything through episode 6 was not an act, and everything in episode 7 was an act, primarily "acted" by Sansa to lure LF into thinking his plan was working. Sometime between episodes 6 and 7 they got together to connect the dots while Bran filled them in on the missing pieces of the puzzle. It was then they decided to set the trap for LF.
Oh, at least some of the arguing between the sisters was genuine, because they're very different personalities and don't agree on everything, they'll have plenty to argue about as long as they're both alive. And Arya adores Jon and doesn't always get on with Sansa, so her worries about Sansa taking charge rather than supporting Jon ring true. What didn't ring true is the idea that their arguments would escalate to the point or murder, or that Arya would try to take over Sansa's job. Arya doesn't want that job, or any job.
However, she does want the job of ruling the North done in a way that doesn't offend her sensibilities. She's quite right that the letter from King's Landing could cause a lot of trouble for Sansa, I wonder if she turned that over when the show trial was over, or if she's saving it for the next argument?
Same here. I thought their whole quarrel might have been a ruse, but it looks like it was legit up to the point where LF gave her the "assume the worst" game. But more importantly, it was never life or death until LF got involved. Her instincts tell her Arya would never try to kill her, but LF was introducing some doubt about Arya not wanting to be lady of Winterfell. Sending Brienne away would make it easier to deal with multiple scenarios where she might try to intervene. She also knew LF was not to be trusted, but she took that risk and put herself in a vulnerable position. The scene where Arya gave her the dagger was when she realized Sansa was not conspiring with LF, and had changed since season 1. In the "assume the worst" scene, she assumed the worst about Arya, but she also did the same for LF. The other side of that game is to determine if the assumptions are reasonable. For Arya it didn't fit, but for LF it did because he has a history of turning family members against each other, so that's when she knew for sure LF had to go.
The reason it didn't fit for Arya goes back to what Ned said to them in season 1 when they were fighting. And in their scenes this season, they talk about memories of their father, so Sansa knew Arya remembered the things their father said to her, and would never turn against family.