Sansa and Arya Stark: Episode 2

     Let's get back to Ginger and soon-to-be Scary Stark.

     Hello Tiny Adorable Arya, who has yet to become Tiny Adorable Terrifying Child Assassin Arya. Miss Arya is packing to leave for Kings Landing (she, like all the other Starks except Sansa, is ambivalent about the trip). She's wearing the same dress she wore at the beginning of episode 1, a dress which is very (very) similar to the dresses her mother and Sansa wore to the feast in the previous episode. Note the color and also the detailing at the collar. There is, however, much more wear and tear on this dress than there is on her sister's. 

A sword?!

     And, as we said before: lacing on the back and shoulders mimics the lacing on leather armor. Arya is a warrior (with adorable pigtail braids).   

     Jon Snow presents Arya with a sword of her own, and she jumps up to hug him and it's just really goddamn adorable.

     Lannister cousins, crazy-braiding each others' hair, and (presumably) making bitchy comments about Sansa.

Sweet Sansa dresses impeccably, even just for the purpose of walking around the muddy encampment. 

This dress is notable for a few reasons. For one thing, we think this dress is new. While Sansa, as the daughter of a noble house, would have a larger wardrobe than most women in the seven kingdoms (and therefore some dresses that we, the viewers, have not seen her wear yet) this dress looks new to our eyes. We tend to think that Sansa probably had it made especially for her trip south to King's Landing. Both the cut and color of the dress exist at almost the exact midpoint between northern and southern styles. It's in the sky blue that we are starting to thing of as Sansa's signature color, more Tully than Stark. And while the detailing at the neck harkens back to the dresses she, Cat and Arya wore at Winterfell, it is designed to look like a wreath of flowers. The bell sleeves and full skirt are right out of the Cersei Lannister Southern Fashion playbook. Sansa is already making an effort to dress and act like a proper southern lady, probably hoping to endear herself to Prince Joffrey.

 
She interacts with two unsettling men: Ilyn Payne (I initially typed that as "Ilyn Pain") the mute royal executioner, and The Hound, who serves as Joffrey's personal muscle. The Hound has burn scars and dresses starkly (pun only sort of intended) in a black cloak and armor. But not to worry, because here comes Sansa's handsome prince to send the hound on his way.

Oh Lady,  you're the sweetest direwolf of all time.

     
     Sansa is in light, airy blue and Joffrey in head-to-toe red leather. Joff's outfit is actually oddly similar to something you might expect to see a Targaryen wearing. (Or maybe it's not that odd, considering the similarities between Joffrey and Viserys.) These clashing outfits tell you pretty much everything you need to know about their personalities as well as the future of their relationship.

People give Sansa a lot of shit for liking Joffrey in the first season, but honestly, the kid can be charming when he wants to be.

The lacing on Arya's blue dress is functional as well as fashionable: she removes the sleeves for physical activity on a hot day.

     This is the first appearance of Sansa's butterfly ring (at least we think it's supposed to be a butterfly, though it looks more like a moth) and dragonfly necklace. Also Cersei calls her "little bird." Are we sensing a "delicate winged creatures" motif?

      Joffrey finds Arya and Mycah sparring with sticks and attacks adorable redheaded Mycah with his actual sword. Because he (Joffrey, not Mycah) is the actual worst.

     But Arya is not one to suffer fools: she, with help from her beloved direwolf Nymeria, administers the ass-kicking Joffrey so richly deserves and throws his sword in the river before running off with Nymeria.  

Seriously Arya, just do us all a favor and stab him in his smarmy face.

     Because everyone's being terrible today, Arya is pulled in for questioning all alone in front of the entire court. Ned is understandably upset about this, but not enough to turn around and go home.

 

     It's Sansa's turn next: caught between betraying her sister and mini-treason in the eyes of her future in-laws, Sansa does the only thing she can do, and claims that she doesn't recall.

     Arya does not agree with this tactic, and because she is a little spitfire, ATTACKS. Arya never really trusts Sansa after this - they are rarely dressed alike again, and their state of tension is reflected in their completely opposite types of clothing. But Arya still defends her against Sansa's next punishment, when Cersei decrees that some dog must die for the sins of another, and chooses Sansa's sweet-tempered innocent dog Lady for execution.

 

     So Ned Stark heads off to a remote part of camp to take the life of his daughter's innocent dog. And because poor Ned Stark is too dumb and politically unsavvy to fake Lady's death with one of the literally thousands of wolf pelts hanging everywhere, Sansa loses the last friend she'll have for a very long time.