#this reminds me of when jack gleeson got insulted because of joffrey when joffrey WAS ONLY THE CHARACTER HE WAS PLAYING

[norringtondeservestheworld]

I hate people.

[bmclassahan]

Game of Thrones Rewatch- Melt Open and Split (Seasons 3 and 4)

I’ve been recapping Game of Thrones in a casual fashion—revisiting the premiere, penultimate, and finale episodes. Last week I touched on season 2 and part of 3 (http://bmclassahan.tumblr.com/post/183803250175/got-rewatch-you-say-wildfire-i-say-hellfire), and two weeks ago I waxed nostalgic on honorable Ned Stark (http://bmclassahan.tumblr.com/post/183636909109/game-of-thrones-mini-rewatch-recap-season-1). This week I continue on with season 3 and explore season 4, so buckle up and get your Iron Coin of the Faceless Man handy, for a boy has a lot to write about:

“We do not kneel.” -Mance Rayder

Season 3, Episode 7: “The Bear and the Maiden Faire”

Out of a desire to delay the Red Wedding for a tad more time, I deviated a bit from my plan to catch this solid near-the-end-of-the-season episode. The scene in which Jamie dives into the bear pit to save Brienne still holds up as one of my favorites in the series— there may be dragons and schemers and white walkers in this world to be wary of, but lest you forget, bears are still quite scary, especially when you’re trapped with one and no weapon to fend it off. I like how the bear too is something that’s not defeated, not serving as a Rancor-type beast, just as a vicious and primal force to escape from, a reminder that nature has its own considerable wild power that should be respected with utmost regard.

[fast forward to season 4 because I skipped “The Rains of Castamere”, still too painful, and ended up just using the slot for the season finale (“Mhysa”) recap as a vessel for my general complaints about the series (too violent in parts, too much Ramsey), which are better explained elsewhere by folks like Andy Greenwald and Emily Nussbaum.]

Season 4, Episode 1: “Two Swords”

If the season 3 finale left something to be desired for me in hindsight, the beginning of season 4 reminds why the show’s highs can pretty much melt away and obliterate its shortcomings. Here we get a dialogue-free sequence of Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) just watching a sword of Valyrian steel, which was once a Stark family heirloom, go into the fire and break down into some nice metal goo, all to be hardened and reforged again as two new blades of steel symbolizing the all-but rechristened Lannister might throughout the land. Dance is such a good actor I’m sure he could have this effect on his acting scene partners just by staring at them, which given some of the scenes in the series I’m surprised wasn’t more of an issue for the Game of Thrones cast and crew. Add in a subtle piece of music perfectly timed to the opening thunderous notes of the show’s theme and you have something close to perfection.

The episode is also noteworthy for introducing Prince Oberyn Martell to the fold. Although his ultimate fate seems to undermine his initial status as a fiery change agent, Oberyn does at least make things interesting. He is a paradox in some ways—representing both the hope that fleetingly appears in Westeros, and the tragedy that seems to inevitably follow from it.

Season 4, Episode 2: “The Lion and the Rose”

Let’s pour one out for Jack Gleeson shall we? What a fine job he did playing Joffrey Baratheon, one of the more hateful characters to ever grace the small screen (and like other events and characters in George R.R. Martin’s story, perhaps inspired by history: https://museumhack.com/joffrey-baratheon-games-of-thrones/). Besides the more grand gestures of cruelty, I was really struck by some of the smaller choices he made as an actor that gave his character some shades of human, no matter how slight. The “Blackwater” episode is a great instance of this, as we see him go from taunting Sansa about how he’s going to slay her brother, to denigrating his brother who is about to execute a plan that will help save the city, to wondering what the heck the plan is all about and belying obvious nervousness, to playing off any sign that his quick acceptance of an exit from the battle is anything but going home to his mommy. These latter moments, when he had to at least exact some minimal effort to be king, were ones I always wanted to laugh at for how terrible of a ruler and mess of a person he was, were it not for the complete heinousness of his being. He also had one of these types of displays in a planning session for the wedding, taunting his actual father as to his lack of achievements in the official record of the hands of the kings. Gleeson plays this moment so well, you can tell Joffrey is so proud of himself for insulting his supposed uncle this way, yet is so completely removed from reality that he has no idea how horrid and sad his own record will be, and how absurd his hypocrisy is. We see something similar play out in his final moments, with Joffrey slicing a big cake like he’s friggin Robert at the Trident, clamoring to the crowd for kingly approval mere moments after pouring wine on his uncle and laughing at the dwarves he had mock a recent war and series of executions.

Season 4, Episode 6: “Of Gods and Men”

The trial of Tyrion was definitely something I was looking forward to rewatching upon starting all this. For one, it wasn’t something that was significant just for the death of someone or somebodies, but for the raw emotion pulsating at its core. In my recent improv foray, the idea of emotion has been something very critical to getting any sort of handle on my performance, as something very central to creating compelling characters and getting them off the ground. As such you’re always looking for strong emotions to play from and for me they’ve usually been the primary ones—happy, angry, sad— with a few variations stemming from these. Anyways, it’s all to say I’ve thought of Peter Dinklage’s tour de force of anger in this episode, and love how he is a slow simmer the whole time until the Shay testimony sets him off. In some ways it’s a rage percolating throughout his whole performance on the show so far, and is delivered here in the most exquisite way imaginable: “I wish I was the monster you think I am.” A-freaking-men.

Season 4, Episode 10: “The Children”

The season 4 finale is a stirring turning point for the series, a time when the show’s players are various forms of scattered, renewed, and broken. Among other things, it features maybe the best swordfight of the series, as the Hound and Brienne of Tarth, two wayward outcasts who have somehow come together in the foothills of the Eerie, duke it out a rocky mountainside. And what to make of Bran’s vision when he touches the tree and sees images of past and future all merged together? Is the shadow of the dragon flying over King’s Landing one from the days of the Mad King, or will it be of Daenerys Stormborn? And is Ned Stark all but locked in the past, or will he emerge from the shadows of memory?’