Introduction
I was not sure how to begin this recap as it was a great episode. Although it added scenes that did not take place, they were fantasic. The brilliant casting was showcased, how dangerous Kings Landing is, and why Ned is always stomping all over the place. The council of weasels and vipers seems to put him in worse mood, but wouldn't it put you in one? Since I am late, it will be a little shorter than usual.
There are several moments/scenes which were not in the book:
A. Renly is never confirmed as gay in the books. It is speculated, and he most certainly is never mentioned as a man who was afraid of blood or war. I actually thought he might be bisexual. He is the youngest of the Baratheon brothers, and Loras is correct when he says that he is extremely popular with the people. Watch Loras carefully, he is very clever, as he is part of the Tyrells. The Tyrells, as he said have tons of money! But his whole family is essential to the next few series. Keep your eyes on him!
Stannis is MIA, so to speak, but I won't say what he has been doing, but he is a brute of a man. Robert, was a huge, good looking brute of a man, but he had a personality and the toughness, that made him become King in the first place.
Renly is described as beautiful, popular, good with the sword etc.. Loras, is characterized in much the same way. Renly would not have been as popular if he hated to fight; it was part of the deal in those days. He does not have the respect, ie in war and fighting from his brothers, as he is in his early 20's, or something like that. I did however love how Loras says he is good at sword fighting because he practices; one thing Jaime Lannister does not have to do very much of at this point. I also like how he reiterates, as everyone else does, what a monster Joffrey is.
B. Cersei and Robert:
I do not believe for one minute that the conversation with Cersei and Robert was meant to be some bonding, blah blah blah moment. I am shocked that people, who know her well from the books, thought that.
I think many folks felt it was nice, because we get an interaction between two people that we hear about, some background, but never see as POV characters in this book. We also see a bit of the warrior Robert once, was as he describes the truth of a Dothraki army crossing the narrow sea. He might hate his life, but he's not an idiot.
I was surprised that her little story about their son, was true in the show, as I never remembered that from the books. REMEMBER PEOPLE: Cersei hates Robert. One of the main reasons is, as she says, he said the name Lyanna the first night they were together. But after you read all 4 books you see where her animosity stemmed from regarding the Starks and Robert.
Why Cersei Hates Robert & Ned:
1. Cersei, which I never knew until the last book, had thought she would be promised to Rhaegar, and was not. Robert, as we all know, was a political marriage. She was like most wealthy women, and was supposed to be placed into a political marriage. But she was not pleased with being jerked around. Cersei is supposed to be as beautiful, as Jaime is gorgeous; they are identical; well for not being same sex twins. Notice how gold, lion, blonde: all images that have a god-like connotation to them are associated with the Lannisters. Lord Tywin, hates Tyrion, as brilliant as he is, because his beloved wife died having him. Also, having a deformed child was considered to be a blight on the family. So Cersei, is of that same mind, but Jaime, is not.
2. The reason above on her first night of marriage. I think she did have a tiny bit of that Princess fantasy, but she wised up. Cersei is not one to be a woman scorned; you hear how people speak of her father.
3. She likes power, and as Robert says "that's a neat little trick you do when you open your mouth and your father's voice comes out.". This is exactly why she says what she did to Robert in tonight's episode, as it's true, she wants the power. She's been snooping around Ned; she needs to know if he knows about she and Jaime doing the wild thing.
4. She doesn't like Ned because he has Robert's ear,the Lyanna thing, and he's too honorable for her taste. He loved Jon Aryn and is part of the little Robert-Ned brother-father thing. She knows that Robert loves Ned most in the world, next to Jon Aryn. He might be a drunk, and a bad King, but he is not an idiot. Ned even says "If the King got what he wanted all the time, we'd still be fighting a damned rebellion.". Robert is just not interested in Cersei and ruling. Jon Aryn should have tried harder to rein him in, but it did not come to pass. I have always thought that Robert must have secretly known about the Jaime/Cersei thing, and didn't care. He tells her, he would never have loved her; and probably most men would have killed for her: she's a Lannister and gorgeous.
I loved when Robert said: "She (Lyanna) was the one thing I ever wanted and and someone took her from me, and the Seven Kingdoms couldn't fill the hole she left behind.", as it is never articulated quite as well in the books. It really reveals why fighting and hunting are a huge part of his life; thus Ned's quote above. It also shows how fighting was later replaced by booz and whoring, because he never got over Lyanna, and just didn't care. But he never really had her; she was idealized. That's a whole other conversation, and for the ASOIAF boards. Her "kidnapping" by Rhaegar, was never confirmed as truly that, or if she went willingly. But we do know it sent in motion a series of events that killed her brother, her father, it took her own life, and put a new King on the Throne.
5. Cersei is what she tells her son: "Everyone who isn't us, is an enemy". Nothing she does is unplanned, she is a master manipulator. She needed to know, were Ned and Robert really broken up? What will happen if Jaime does kill Ned Stark? He was not going to use men of the Kingsguard to have his fun. She needed to feel out the situation and see what the repercussions of Jaime's little tryst with Ned at the brothel would be. Plus, he brought Lannister men; look at their armor and capes; they are red. Men of the Kingsguard wear white capes.
C. Viserys and Baelish:
The next scene, and brilliantly done it was, the scene between our two weasels: Baelish and Viserys. Oh, it was magnificent listening to those two discuss "seeing" each other with their little spies. Best lines:
Varys: "When did we last see each other?"
Baelish: "You mean the last time I saw you or the last time you saw me?"
The writers are doing an excellent job with the adaptation of the POV's; again well done.
They also had a little chat about balls in boxes, and sexual inclinations, and some threats from both sides. Including, what our dear Arya heard, and saw being discussed in the catacombs with the infamous dragon skulls. Even better? Renly walking in, and being like whatever you weasels, my brother is coming to the council meeting. HMMM, and Varys turned around and said you haven't heard? The Targaryen girl is pregnant! wahoo!
Now to what was in the book:
Robert is on fire....and Ned is on fire, but in fear for his wife. Yoren of the Knightswatch stopped by to tell him that Catelyn took the Imp. So he, par usual, arrives sweaty, grumpy, and po'ed, and now even more po'ed, because now they will become child killers. I have always believed, and still do, that one of the main reasons for this is from the war. I believe it was Gregor Clegane, and Lannister's people who raped and killed her Rhaegar's wife, then stabbed one of the children to death, and threw the other against the wall. I think this is the reasoning for Ned's words, and why he insults Robert with the whole you're no better than the "Mad King"bit. Oh no he didn't! Oh yes he did. I think he also wants out ASAP,for the below reasons, and he's tired of war.
I will say this, as much as I love Dany, Robert is right. When he holds five fingers and a fist, he is dead on, with how he describes the aftermath of a Dothraki invasion. He is no fool, but he has no interest in ruling any longer. But he hates the Targaryen's: Rhaegar for taking away Lyanna, Aery's for killing Ned's brother and father amongst other things, so getting rid of the last 2, or 3, is no sweat off his back. In fact, he would probably become a lot more pleasant to be around if all of Targaryen's were gone.
So, as the slimy and weasel council tries to convince Ned...as they each say "an honorable man" to face what needs to be done; he just gets more and more sweaty and angry. He hates the job so this is the perfect time to quit! Meanwhile Robert is screaming a bunch of crap, which Ned and everyone else knows he will never do. Ned stomps off but he really quite because of Catelyn taking Tyrion, not just because they want to kill Dany and Viserys. He knew that his entire family was in danger of being accused of treason and the Lannister's were too powerful to escape. Oh Catelyn, if you only knew...
Catelyn, Tyrion, The Eyrie
Well all I can say is that Catelyn saw her sister with that boy, and looked mortified. She and Tyrion actually shared a look: like she's out of her freakin' mind. Catelyn meanwhile is like; crap Tyrion was right, I think that I screwed up. Thus the reason she says in her Queen voice, she does not want Tyrion harmed: she knows what that would mean for them all.
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| Sharing a look with Tyrion: "Crap, the imp was right." |
Yeah, like Cersei didn't know about the kidnapping. She could care less about Tyrion; she hates him for so many reasons. Cersei used the Tyrion thing as a reason to start a war, and possibly even kill Ned Stark. She calls Tyrion "the little beast". See how it works? It was no innocent conversation w/Robert. The Lannisters want the throne, as they see Robert as incompetent and Ned is in the way.
So, Jaime takes LANNISTER men, to have a scuffle with Ned, about his brother. I have always thought Baelish set Ned up, as he is a weasel, but here they seemed to have dumbed that down a bit. Cersei had already told Jaime that Ned is no longer the hand, and free game (now we are seeing more proof why she was chatting with Robert). Afterall Robert would love to kill her and Jaime if he had good reason too. But they; w/Robert's ignorance, and Baelish playing his cards right, have gotten the realm in debt TO the Lannisters. So they are already starting to rule, right?
Does Jaime really care about his brother? I always thought he had some kind of respect for him, but begrudgingly so, and it did not become apparent until later in the books. But he loves his sister; he pushed a 10 year old out the window for her, right? So, he was doing it again here: for her and his father's ambitions.
Ned had THREE men with him, not an honorable fight; but since he was no longer Hand of the King, all bets were off. Jaime, as they have shown very well here, hates Ned and the feeling is mutual. Why? Well in short, we've seen how Ned has reacted to Jaime, he thinks he's a rich prick, who cares nothing for honor, which is not true; although it is hard to believe at this stage in the game. As we saw in the conversation about the Mad King, Jaime never understood and says as much in another book, why he was not thanked for what he did; the King was insane. He burned people for fun; he was a psycho. Seriously, is it any wonder Viserys is such a wack job?
Ned also sees Jaime as an oath breaker, as Ned believed he wanted the kingdom for the Lannisters, not Robert. In the real version, it is Ned, who finds Jaime sitting on the throne after killing Aerys, but not because he wanted it, he just happened to land there.
Not to be so OT, but have you watched the Chronicles of Riddick? At the end of the movie, Riddick finally kills his enemy, and falls onto the throne, head in his hands, as someone he loved was also murdered right in front of him. But, the people start to bow down before him, and call him King. Then he looks up like wtf?....a great scene btw.
Anyway, Ned believed that Jaime wanted the throne for his family. It is why they stick that scene in when they meet in the throne room and Jaime is sitting at the foot of the throne. It was for the non-readers, to show why Ned has such disdain for Jaime. But in some ways, I have always thought Jaime begrudged Ned, for not being a Lannister, for being so honorable, even, dare I say, jealous. But again, for another series, and another conversation.
As I said before, watching Ned's father boil and Brandon strangle himself, is what changed Jaime's mind about keeping his oath, and it is why they stick it into his conversation with Ned. That whole scene was well written as it combined the flashback for the readers, but placed it in the present.
I love how Jaime always looks at Ned, cocks his head, and looks at him straight in the eyes:
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| I can't wait to fight you, it's been too long |
Many of you know that Jaime and Ned are the same age in the books; but Sean Bean is the perfect Ned. His tanned, lined, hottie face looking at Jaime with such hate, was perfection.
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| Bring it on on pretty boy...... |
So, this scene, where you see the disdain on Ned's face as he looks at Jaime, and he lies about having told Catelyn to take Tyrion (now that's love)is excellent. Personally, I loved the whole sexy, one shoulder slanted slightly, I hate you, look he's giving Jaime. Which, coincidentally, is very similar to the way the actor who plays Jon, stands at times. It's not on purpose, but hot on both sides. Jaime wanted to fight Ned, and he knew the way to provoke him, was to kill Jory; which he does on purpose because he looks at Ned straight in the eye when he does it.
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| Jaime is such a bastard. No, not Jory! |
But it was a great fight scene, and I was so ready for it to get even more awesome, but then Ned gets stabbed in the leg.
Jaime, knocked out the guard, as in his eyes he just ruined an honorable fight; which was ended dishonorably. Jaime's intent was NOT to kill him; he wanted a good fight. Ned? I'm on the fence on that one; he's not that stupid that he'd kill Jaime. On the other hand, it would definitely be a bonus, as he hates him, and seeing Jory die, just added to that feeling.
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| Let's finish by looking at the real Jaime Lannister: a smirk w/sword in hand. |
Well, at least we know Ned will be okay, but I am still sad about Jory.
But this week was a good one, see you for 1.06!
**Images and Quotes owned by "Game of Thrones"
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