In honor of the faith of the Seven, and to pass the interminable wait for the conclusive episodes of Game Of Thrones, and not at all to scratch a compulsive itch that wouldn't go away once the idea occurred to me, I have decided to list my seven favorite moments from each of the first seven seasons. Videos will be embedded in the headings. Anyway, without further ado...
The S4 premiere heralded the
arrival of a new swinging dick in King's Landing, Oberyn “The Red Viper” Martell. In short order, a single sequence establishes his suave,
omnivorous sexuality, his exorbitant wealth, his unparalleled badass
credentials, and his righteous, Inigo-Montoya-esque quest for revenge (and we
haven’t even gotten to his mastery of poisons and poetry yet). Pedro Pascal deploys some superhuman charisma
to make him seem almost plausible as a person, and of course GRR Martin knew
exactly what he was setting us up for when he created this ridiculous Mary Sue
character. And he knew that in this
brutal milieu he had created, we would be desperate enough for someone to serve
justice to the Mountains and Tywins of this world that we would embrace such an
idealized characterization even less critically than we might in other circumstances. Which we did.
It should have been obvious from
the start that Oberyn was going to love us and leave us. But it was also clear from the start that he
was going to show us a really, really good time before he left.
Even before the long-overdue
comeuppance of perhaps the most loathsome character in all of fictional
history, this sequence is a literal feast.
It’s impossible to pick the best small moment from the festivities. Jaime birddogging Loras? Oberyn/Ellaria and Tywin/Cersei? Varys’s face when the dwarf performer bops the back of his head? Brienne and Cersei? Joffrey sputtering wine all over himself,
laughing at his own joke? The Dornish
checking out Loras and the contortionist?
For the broad sweep of the show,
and its dozens of schemers, warriors, ladies, monsters, and fools, we rarely
get to see so many of them come together in one place outside a
battlefield. The Small Council scenes are
microcosmic versions of it, but it’s not until the big parlay in the Dragonpit in
the S7 finale that we get so many different factions bouncing off each other in
a single sequence. It’s a rare treat,
even before we get to the delicious dessert.
I love Cersei, obviously. Which is what allows this scene to edge out the many other contenders from Oberyn. His powwows with Varys, with Tywin, with the Small Council, with Tyrion in jail, these are all great scenes that others may prefer. The quieter, more reactive mode he is in here does not showcase the roguish charm that defined the character, but the fact that he can be thoughtful and reserved when it suits his purposes does a lot to establish him as a GOT triple threat - not just a famous name and a sharp spear, but a keen mind that can spar with the schemers as nimbly as he can outdance the Mountain.
Headey is so great in scenes like this. You
know that she is playing an angle.
Oberyn does too, for that matter, since he tells Tyrion as much later on. But her ploy is simple and not even
particularly devious; just to show him the genuinely grieving mother that
Joffrey’s murder has left behind. It’s
the closest she can get to a charm offensive, and it’s pretty damn glum for all
that. But it would be one thing if she
were just feeding him a line. None of
the sentiment she expresses here is anything but true. She is suppressing her distaste for the Martells,
certainly, but she has to do that. Not
just because she wants the judge at the upcoming trial to look favorably upon
her case, but also because her beloved daughter remains in their power. And while Oberyn means it when he says that
they (currently) intend her no harm, Cersei is correct that there is
no such thing as a place where girls are truly safe. And events will prove that Dorne is absolutely not excluded from that.
Game Of Thrones is not a funny show. Sure, any story that
has the slightest sense for how humans behave is going to strike upon the
occasional amusing moment, but on the whole it is defined by its singularly
grim and gritty approach to the fantasy milieu. This means that that a few of the
dozens and dozens of characters really pop against the unremittingly grim tone
just for having a discernible sense of humor - Tyrion, Bronn, Tormund, Olenna,
Davos, and of course Arya. Lysa Arryn’s death represented a rather
momentous shift in the power dynamics of the kingdoms, but she was such an
infrequent and one-dimensional a character that we didn’t really feel it as a
huge deal the way we did with various, less politically significant deaths.
And the show doesn’t ask us to, but rather leans right into the bleak joke of
the Hound spending all season dragging Arya across the country to ransom her to
another relative that turns up dead at the last second. And Maisie
Williams’ laughter is just the right shade of black; it’s the only way they
could have played it, but no less perfect for that.
Shocking. Exciting. Graphic. Satisfying,
then even more horrifying in turn. This is the quintessential Game Of
Thrones sequence, delivering an action sequence as visceral and exhilarating
as any in the series, with enormous stakes for Tyrion as well as the combatants
themselves, and then delivering a sucker-punch every bit as vicious as Ned’s
execution. And it is a plot turn that has repercussions throughout the
ensuing seasons, sending Tyrion, the entire kingdom of Dorne, and the Mountain
in very different directions than I was expecting. How many subsequent
“Previously On” segments feature Ellaria’s horrified scream?
It’s everything, and along with the Red
Wedding and the birth of the dragons, one of the indelible moments that people
think of immediately when the show comes up in conversation.
Grenn was never a major character, but he was a
likeable and loyal friend to Jon. And in
a show where many more central heroes die frequently and badly, he went out
like a bigger boss than any of them, facing down a goddamn giant, and rallying
his less seasoned comrades with a forceful recitation of their vows. We don’t get to see the fight itself, but in
the aftermath it is clear that both Mag the Mighty and Grenn of A Farm
acquitted themselves heroically.
Season 4 really upped the show’s game in
terms of action. I have 2 big fight scenes on this shortlist, and the attack on
the mutineers at Crasters probably would have made it if I hadn’t just talked
about a similar near miss/warging action sequence with Jon and Bran in the last
entry. The entirety of “Watchers On The
Wall” set a new standard for spectacle.
There are many great moments – the watchman getting speared by the giant
arrow, Edd taking the Wall and dropping the Scythe, Thorne showing genuine
chops, Jon dueling the Magnar of Thenn and Ygritte’s death
- but this is the one that stands out most in my memory.
Gwendoline Christie has been perhaps the
show’s greatest find, bringing soul and grit to the very difficult character of
Brienne. Each year she gets a big
showcase fight - Loras and then Stark men in S2, Jaime in S3, the Hound in S4,
Littlefinger’s men in S5, Bolton search party in S6, Arya in S7. This one is the best. A full blown slobberknocker with an opponent that has been established as at least as deadly a fighter as her, and a prominent
enough character in his own right that it felt entirely plausible that he could kill her –
particularly fresh off the (ahem) crushing turnout of the Mountain vs Viper. But even when the suspense of the outcome is
removed, the choreography remains as good as any fight in the series, or about
any other cinematic swordfight I can think of.
And the scenery painfully gorgeous.
But it’s also just important to savor when the good guys (even if our
feelings about the Hound are as conflicted as Arya’s at this point, we’re
certainly not rooting for him) win a round.
Even if Brienne doesn’t recover a Stark girl as she intended, her walking
away alive and with a world-class notch on her belt was a welcome relief after
the knee to the balls that ended 4.08.
Bonus points for how good Maisie Williams is
in the lead up to the fight, and the aftermath with the dying Hound.
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