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| Monday, May 23, 2011 03:22 PM |
| On the Viewer - Game of Thrones (Episode 5 - "The Wolf and the Lion") |
 by Fëanor |
As usual, beware the spoilers in their hundreds.
Ned wonders how it came to be that Ser Hugh was wearing a new suit of armor, and that he was facing the Mountain in the lists. Hmm... Plus, some fun banter between Ned and Ser Barristan.
Ser Lancel can't get King Robert's armor on, because he's too fat. Robert is classy about it as always: "Your mother was a dumb whore with a fat ass, did you know that?" And he continues to torture him by sending him off in search of a device for stretching chest plates, which does not exist.
Ned quickly talks Robert out of fighting in the tournament. I remember that taking a lot longer in the book, but I understand why they'd want to cut most of the argument out. Robert nearly walks out of his tent with his shirt half off, and when Ned stops him, he thinks it's hilarious. "An inspiring sight for the people. Come, bow before your King! Bow, you shits! Hahahaha!" Ned laughs, too, but rather politely. Good lord, Robert is a terrible King.
Time for the Mountain versus the Knight of Flowers! Ser Loras gives a rose to Sansa, but gives a meaningful look to Renly, who sort of pretends nothing happened. Hee hee. I didn't think the guy playing Renly was pretty enough, but the guy playing Ser Loras looks sort of like a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Well cast!
The Mountain's horse starts going crazy and Ser Loras smiles slyly. Heh.
Ser Loras' helmet is very impressive. Nice work, art department!
Petyr bets on the Mountain, and Renly takes the bet. Petyr wonders what he'll do with all his winnings. "You could even buy a friend," Renly suggests. Heh.
When the Mountain falls, Renly says, "Such a shame, Littlefinger. It would have been so nice for you to have a friend."
Petyr: "And tell me, Lord Renly, when will you be having your friend?" He gestures towards Ser Loras, and Renly looks uncomfortable. Oh my.
The enraged Mountain kills his own horse, then goes for Loras. The Hound intervenes, and the Cleganes fight. Finally Robert stops them.
Loras: "I owe you my life, ser."
Clegane: "I'm no ser."
Yes. Good scene.
On the road, Cat orders Tyrion unhooded. Tyrion makes it known loudly that a Lannister always pays his debts, and Bronn looks interested. Hmm! Tryion warns Cat that her sister has changed: "She was always touched, but now..."
Tyrion: "What sort of imbecile arms an assassin with his own blade?"
Rodrick: "Can I gag him?"
Tyrion: "Why, am I starting to make sense?"
Indeed!
During a sudden battle with the hill tribes, Bronn acquits himself well, and Tyrion saves Cat's life.
Bronn: "You need a woman. Nothing like a woman after a fight."
Tyrion, looking at Cat: "Well, I'm willing if she is."
The Maester quizzes Bran on the royal houses, their sigils, and their words - a clever way of teaching the audience. We also get to see Bran being all bitter about his mom being gone, and about his status as a cripple, but the Maester manages to cheer him up a bit.
Now there's an added scene between Theon and the infamous Roz that seems almost completely unnecessary. All we get out of it is that Theon is a prideful asshat, which we already knew, and that Tyrion is pretty good in bed, which we didn't really need to know.
Varys: "If the wrong ears heard what I'm about to tell you, off comes my head. And who would mourn poor Varys then? North or south they sing no songs for spiders. But there are things you must know. You are the King's Hand, and the King is a fool. Your friend, I know, but a fool. And doomed, unless you save him."
What a great speech.
Varys: "There are few men of honor in the capitol. You are one of them. I would like to believe I am another, strange as that may seem."
I'm not sure if that's true or not. I mean, it's certainly true of Ned, but whether it's true of Varys is a question. I've always really liked Ned, but reading the books again I've found Varys to be an even more interesting character than I thought at first, and somebody who always seems to be working for peace, or at least maintaining some sort of status quo which involves the least violence and death. He rarely makes huge, courageous moves in that pursuit, and sometimes does things that are quite terrible, but there you are.
Varys reveals what Ned already suspected: Arryn was poisoned, and Robert is in danger of the same fate. Ser Hugh was probably the assassin, but who paid him? And why? Varys knows the answer to the latter question, at least: "He started asking questions." If he thought telling Ned this would keep him from asking questions, he thought wrong.
While chasing cats, Arya stumbles upon the dragon skulls, and two men talking. She doesn't know that it's Varys and Illyrio, discussing how events are spiraling out of even their practiced ability to manipulate them, and that war is coming soon. This is a great and agonizing scene. Arya overhears so many important and tantalizing things, but she can't make sense of them, and later can't make her father understand how important they are.
An added scene features Varys and Petyr trading barbs, mostly involving genitals and perverted sexual acts. Then they get to the interesting stuff: Varys reveals that he knows Petyr helped convince the Starks that the Lannisters were responsible for Bran's fall, and Petyr reveals that he saw Varys with Illyrio. Varys is not at all pleased to hear that! This is an intriguing addition to the story. The scene ends with Varys managing to get a one-up on Petyr - he knows what the Small Council meeting is about, and why Robert is attending, and Petyr doesn't.
Arya finally finds her way home, after ripping a couple of guards new assholes. She tries to tell Ned what she heard, but it gets all jumbled, and he can't make sense of it. Argh!
Arya, of Ned: "You wouldn't let anyone kill him, would you?"
Jory: "No fear on that count, little lady."
Argh!
Yoren tells Ned the news: that Cat has taken Tyrion prisoner.
Cat gets a not-so-warm welcome to the Vale.
Tyrion: "The Eyrie. They say it's impregnable."
Bronn: "Give me ten good men and some climbing spikes, I'll impregnate the bitch."
Tyrion: "I like you."
Heh.
The Small Council meeting is about Daenerys' pregnancy. Robert wants her, her unborn child, and Viserys all dead. Ned is horrified.
Robert: "Honor? I've got seven kingdoms to rule! One king, seven kingdoms. Do you think honor keeps them in line? Do you think it's honor that's keeping the peace? It's fear, fear and blood."
A nasty thing to say, but true. Great bit of dialog, that.
Ned is not impressed when he hears where the information came from. He calls Mormont a traitor.
Petyr: "Mormont is a slaver, not a traitor. Small difference to a man of honor, I know."
You can really hear in that line how much Petyr resents Ned and his honor.
Ned: "I'll fear the Dothraki the day they teach their horses to run on water."
Varys: "We who presume to rule must sometimes do vile things for the good of the realm."
That should be his catchphrase.
Petyr: "When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, best close your eyes and get it over with."
Heh. Varys' reaction to this line is priceless. He practically slaps his face with his palm.
Ned, to Robert: "I followed you into war. Twice. Without doubts, without second thoughts. But I will not follow you now... I thought you were a better man."
He walks out while Robert is still yelling at him. Nice.
Ned's getting his household ready to leave, but Petyr slows him up by promising to take him to the last person Jon Arryn spoke with before he died. If only Ned had just taken off!
The show doesn't waste any time letting us know just how crazy Cat's sister is. The very first time we see her, she's raving like a crazy person with her grown son suckling at her bare teat. Hoo boy.
Lysa accuses Tyrion of murdering her husband.
Tyrion: "Did I kill him, too? I've been a very busy man."
Cat looks at Tyrion out of the corner of her eye. Clearly she's beginning to regret bringing him to the Eyrie. Next, Tyrion gets to experience the terrifying wall-less prison cells of the Eyrie firsthand. Yay!
Now an added scene of Ser Loras shaving Renly's chest and armpits, as apparently he prefers him that way. Oh my. We get to hear Renly complaining about how his brothers treat him, and pointing out that Robert won't really do anything to Ned, as he adores him. Most interesting is this little exchange:
Loras: "Do you know who should be King?"
Renly: "... Be serious."
Loras: "I am. My father could be your bank. I've never fought in a war before. But I'd fight for you."
Renly: "I'm fourth in line."
Loras: "And where's Robert in the line of royal succession? Joffrey is a monster. Tommen is eight."
Renly: "Stannis?"
Loras: "Stannis has the personality of a lobster."
Renly: "He's still my older brother."
Loras cuts him on purpose and makes him look at it, pointing out that if he's to be King he'll have to get used to seeing bloodshed.
Loras: "Where is it written that power is the sole province of the worst? That thrones are only made for the hated and the feared? You would be a wonderful King."
Aaaaaaand blowjob.
Having Ser Loras talk Lord Renly into the idea of declaring himself King is an interesting addition, I must say. It sort of works, although Renly is more weak, petulant, and indecisive here than he was in the book.
Another added scene now, between Robert and Cersei.
Cersei: "I'm sorry your marriage to Ned Stark didn't work out. You seemed so good together."
Heh.
Robert is expecting Cersei to lobby for her brother to get the job of Hand, but interestingly enough, she says no: "He's not serious enough. I'll say this for Ned Stark: he's serious enough. Is it really worth it? Losing him this way?"
It almost sounds like she's trying to convince Robert to keep Ned on, which doesn't make sense. Unless of course she's pretending to be on Ned's side, to keep him around because he's easily manipulated. That move seems too well thought out for her, though. She usually acts suddenly, out of passion, and if she hates someone she just hates them and can't abide doing something to help them, even if only in the short term.
Robert: "That's a neat little trick you do. You move your lips and your father's voice comes out."
Robert: "Our purpose died with the Mad King. Now we've got as many armies as there are men with gold in their purse, and everybody wants something different."
Robert says all the realm is anymore is backstabbing, and sometimes he doesn't know what holds it together.
Cersei: "Our marriage."
They both laugh heartily.
Robert: "How long can hate hold a thing together?"
Cersei: "Well, 17 years is quite a long time."
Robert: "Yes, it is."
Cersei: "Yes, it is."
They drink.
Cersei: "What harm could Lyanna Stark's ghost do to us that we haven't done to each other a hundred times over?"
Robert: "I only know she was the one thing I ever wanted. Someone took her away from me, and seven kingdoms couldn't fill the hole she left behind."
Cersei: "Was it ever possible for us? Was there ever a time, ever a moment?"
Robert: "No. Does that make you feel better or worse?"
Cersei: "It doesn't make me feel anything."
What an amazing scene. That was probably my favorite added scene yet. Like I said, I'm not sure I buy Cersei subtly arguing that Robert should take Ned back, but she didn't try very hard, and pretty much everything else felt very true to the characters. Plus the dialog was fantastic.
I'm just realizing we haven't seen a scene yet of Ned sitting on the Iron Throne, meting out justice in the King's name! We'll need at least one of those: when Ned sends Dondarrion to take care of Clegane. But that's later.
Ned visits the ex-whore who had another of Robert's bastards, and who's tragically and naively faithful to him. It's a pretty heart-breaking scene.
Petyr: "Brothels make a much better investment than ships, I've found. Whores rarely sink."
Such a great line.
Heh. Jory gets briefly distracted by one of Petyr's whores.
My reaction when the Lannister soldiers start surrounding Ned and Jory: "Oh, no, it's this scene now!" As my friend Neil pointed out to me in the context of these books, knowing what's coming actually makes it worse.
Jaime's come to confront Ned over the arrest of Tyrion by Catelyn. Ned takes responsibility for the act, and Jaime draws his sword. Petyr announces loudly that he's going to call the City Watch and quickly disappears.
Poor Jory. Jaime and Ned actually get to have a pretty bad-ass sword fight. When a Lannister soldier ends it by stabbing Ned in the back of the leg with a spear, Jaime punches the guy in the face. Heh.
Wow, great episode! I love that they're sometimes able to add extra scenes and have them feel like they were in between the pages you read in the book - just bits you never noticed and so never read before. Very nice. |
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