BlackberryJam

Tyrion is the Master of Coin. So that makes him the guy in charge of the money. He can't leave. It's episode 1 and we've had Jaime's reunion conversations with Tywin and Cersei and a one minute scene involving him and Brienne discussing their oaths. Unless this entire episode was going to be dedicated to Brienne, Jaime and Sansa, I'm not sure what else people are wanting. I mean, I would watch the Brienne/Jaime/Arya/Hound bicker and killing hour, IF we could get Stannis doing an MST3K grammar correction every 3 minutes, but I'm not sure the rest of the viewing audience would be up for that. Jaime's current options are: 1. Kidnap Sansa. Set off for The Wall or The Vale (although he must know about Lysa Arryn being off her rocker since he would have known her in KL.) Tywin or Joffrey would send men after them, and probably send the Mountain for good measure. That is not a good option. 2. Hire some sellswords to help Brienne kidnap Sansa. Fake their deaths, maybe. Have them set off for the Vale and crazy Lysa or set off for the Wall and Jon Snow. Another risky plan. 3. Leave the Kingsguard, get married (to Brienne! because that wedding/bedding is comedy gold). Convince everyone (Tywin) to let him take Sansa away to Casterly Rock. Instead of heading West, head North to take her to the Wall. Of course, Tywin would put conditions on that like, "Sure, go to the Rock, once both Sansa and Brienne are pregnant with little Lannisters. I demand heirs. Get on that, you worthless idiots." Oh, and he has to manage that around Cersei's jealousy and Joffrey's desire to torture Sansa. And he was supposed to do all this in episode 1, while at the same time getting a new hand, getting healthy, getting a bath, getting a decent meal and, you know it's been a year, trying to get laid. Let's not forget that Sansa doesn't want to talk to people. When she does talk to people, other than Margery and Olenna, she's said things like, "Joffrey is the bestest ever and I love him." So they can't even trust her to do what's in her own best interest, which is to trust Brienne, a woman she doesn't know, and get the hell out of KL.

Constantinople, remove President and insert Hitler/Stalin/Pol Pot. Would we despise one of their personal guards for killing to prevent genocide? There are plenty of reasons to hate Jaime, but the killing of Aerys or thinking he lied about it aren't really some of of the good ones. Jaime isn't a white hat or a hero. He is just played by an actor who is killing it in every scene and making me want to root for the character. The same with the Hound. We all have our likes and dislikes. A character many seem to love and I just find trite is Dany. GAH. She's boring the crap out of me. Same with Sansa. I held a deep loathing for Jon Snow until the season 4 premiere when he actually didn't seem like an emo kid.

Charles Dance in that opening scene was utterly terrifying. Joffrey is just utterly horrid and Jack Gleeson is wonderful. All the Lannister scenes were wonderful. And Jaime and Brienne. I need more of that bicker. I would have loved a Tyron/Jaime scene, but you can't have everything. Oberyn doing a Luca Brasi in the brothel was a great introduction to character.

Just popping in to note that Gwen Christie has been cast in the latest Hunger Games. Thrilled for her.

Some of my favorites. Drinking and lust, no man can match me in these things. I am the god of tits and wine. - Tyrion Lannister There are no men like me. Only me. - Jaime Lannister Explain to me why it is more noble to kill 10,000 men in battle than a dozen at dinner. - Tywin Lannister I do love the Lannisters.

If a cop shoots and kills a man who she truly believes has a bomb strapped to his chest and he's about to walk into an elementary school and kill 500 children, but it turns out even though the man was a murderous psycho, it wasn't a real bomb at all but something that just looked like a bomb, are we to skewer her for making the best decision she could in a highly charged moment? Jaime's story about Aerys planning to burn King's Landing makes the most sense. At that point in his life, Jaime's only bad act was having sex with his unmarried sister. So, if it's not to stop the Mad King from enjoying his usual immolation, why would Jaime kill Aerys? 1. For the fun of it? Jaime has never been shown to enjoy murder for murders sake. 2. To save his family? This makes sense and Jaime admitted that one of his motivations was because Aerys had asked Jaime to bring him Tywin's head. If Jaime had done that, he would have broken his oath of loyalty to his family. So Jaime was in a no win situation right there. 3. In some intricate plot to make Cersei queen? At that point Robert was still betrothed to Lyanna. It wasn't until after Aerys's death that the betrothal of Robert and Cersei. Of course Jaime was wallowing in some self-pity in the bath. In the few days before that, he'd had his sword hand, his identity, cut off, he'd wallowed in the mud, he'd been tricked into drinking horsepiss and he had decided to die. I don't know any character who wouldn't have been experiencing some self-pity. He'd kept the secret of killing Aerys to himself, but in that moment, when he was broken, he wanted one person to know the truth of him. He didn't tell her to get something from her, but rather because he was tired of being seen as the oathbreaker, the kingslayer. Jaime hasn't yet had a chance to atone for Bran. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. But he's at the point in his story when he is making the internal change. His story isn't finished. As far as inflicting Joffrey on the realm, will we blame Ned Stark for inflicting Arya on the realm once she becomes a stealth assassin? Can we blame Aerys for inflicting Viserys on Essos? No parent knows how their child will turn out, and it was Robert and Cersei who raised Joffrey. But really, the blame for Joffrey being a horrible little shit lies with Joffrey.

I have to second the "Robb just looks like an idiot." My understanding of the books is that Robb married Jeyne out of honor, furthering the "People who are so tied to their honor suffer for it" theme. Having Robb marry useless character with no ties to any other family doesn't move the story along or create another thread in the tapestry of the show.

I haven't read the books, but instead have a friend who memorized them who tells me all of the book stuff, but I'll jump in. I kind of love Stannis, but only because of the "four fewer, not less" comment to Davos. Stannis is such a complete and utter tool in that scene that I decided to love him forever. Robb's wife sucked. Everything about her sucked. It's some huge deal that Brienne, a highborn maid, leaves her home to follow Renly to become a knight, but Talisa, a highborn maid, can leave her home to become a doctor/camp follower and it's no big deal. Talisa was self-righteous, sanctimonious and generally unlikable. Not sure why they made the change from the book, but it was a mistake. Theon/Reek. Torture-porn is a thing I guess. It was much more powerful to see Jaime get his hand cut off and then the screen go black rather than scene about scene of Theon in pain.

Just adding to the Brienne love. Gwendoline Christie is doing a fabulous job. She portrays innocence and vulnerability well. She was just glowing in the bathtub scene. I know that she isn't an ugly woman and Brienne is supposed to be ugly, but the way she holds her face provides such "ugly" expressions. Her goodbye scene in Harrenhal, she certainly wasn't ugly. I actually find the girl who plays Gilly (Jilly? The girl with the baby traveling with Sam) to be much less attractive.

Joffrey is a terrible little shit. His penchant for cruelty alone makes him a terrible king. His first kingly decision was to behead Ned Stark, ensuring a long and bloody war. The only reason the kingdom is functioning and Stannis hasn't taken the throne is because of Tyrion and Tywin. The only thing he has going for him is his concern for Dany and the dragons. Stannis, vagina smoke assassin babies are a problem. Terrible candidate. Dany, with her bubbling below the surface crazy and unassailable self-righteousness, is also a terrible candidate for the throne. I don't know if there is anyone currently with a claim to the throne that would be good at it. Tywin or Tyrion could run the kingdom, but I'm not sure either wants to be King. Being King is a lot of work. One of the Stark children, probably Sansa, could take the throne although they only seem to want the North. No to the Tullys, the Boltons, the Greyjoys. Margery wants to be Queen and she'd probably be damned good at it, but without a marriage, she has no claim. Westeros is an absolute political nightmare. That makes it so fun.

I can get behind Sansa/Sandor in theory, but she's supposed to be around 13*. Even if we age her up to 18, it's still a huge age difference, not to mention the maturity difference. It doesn't help that I dislike Sansa. I know she is doing her best in a world she doesn't understand, surrounded by people she does not trust. Whenever she is on screen, I'm bored. On the other hand, I'm loving the Hound. He deserves better than Sansa. *This is also why I can't ship Arya with anyone. She's 11. Romance with 6th graders doesn't work for me.

I'll own it. I find a good 60% of the male characters hot. Probably initially, I was all about Khal Drogo. And half the Dothraki army. Even Davos has a sexy to him. Tywin I adore, but he's a little too scary for fantasy material. Something about Dinklage is working for me as well. If I were to go down a list of the male characters, there would be way more "Yes," "I'd climb him like a tree," "I'll teach him something," and "you put in a sword in that man's hand and I'm his," than "No." Definite No for me is Old Daario. Can't explain it. No to Theon, but YES to Ramsey Bolton. Can't explain that one either. No to Joff. No to Robert. Not to Littlefinger. Not to Jojen, and well, all the little boys. No matter how much I adore Sean Bean, no to Ned Stark. No to Loras.

The Lannisters didn't have power because they were beloved. They had power because they were feared and had money. "A Lannister always pays his debts" cuts many ways, such as "fuck over a Lannister and we'll pay you back" and "if you're in it for the money, we have the most to give you." Tywin himself had turned on the Mad King because the Mad King was going to lose. Tywin didn't turn on Aerys because Aerys was a crazy ass motherfucker. I can see Tywin thinking, "Jaime killed Aerys because he knew Aerys was going to lose, knew the Lannisters didn't support him. Jaime was being a good Lannister. Oh, and new King Robert, don't fuck with my son even if you think he's an Oathbreaker." I cannot imagine a bathtub confessional scene between Tywin and Jaime. ...would it go like this? Jaime: I stabbed Aerys in the back because he was going to burn the people of King's Landing alive and I just couldn't let that happen. *shuddering* Tywin: Why do you care for the lives of sheep? You stabbed Aerys in the back so Lannister men wouldn't be lost when we sacked the city. That's the story and you're sticking to it, you worthless idiot. You've already failed to produce viable heirs for me. I'll not let you turn into a giant quivering twat. Shut up. ETA: Love that sigil comment.

The "could care less" and "could NOT care less" is one of my grammar pet peeves. (Call me Stannis!) I loved everything about that scene but it was a little ruined for me....on the other hand, if Jaime COULD care less, then he's admitting he does care. I parsed that scene mentally over and over. Charles Dance is just amazing as Tywin. I think almost every scene could be improved by adding Tywin glaring at someone in the background. I'm not sure if the writers missed the "not" in the dialogue, if it just got by editors or if English-As-A-Second-Language Coster-Waldau messed it up or if they meant to forget it. Or you know, Jaime is listening to his father explain yet again why he (Jaime) is such a disappointment while he (Tywin) is butchering a deer and just fumbled his words. Then again, I read it was a real dead deer that Dance was skinning in the scene, so they might have rushed through the whole thing because of how completely foul it had to have smelled.

Why would Tywin know what happened in the Throne Room? The only way he would know is if Jaime told him, and why would he? Jaime knew his father was going to sack the city. Tywin could reasonably assume that Jaime killed Aerys in support of the Lannister/Baratheon/Stark forces. Jaime knew his father wasn't going to support a Targaryen on the throne because Lannisters don't support the losing side. Tywin knew Jaime was going to have to choose between his vow to protect the King and his loyalty to his family. Tywin would of course believe that Jaime would choose to support House Lannister above all other oaths. If Jaime had gone to Tywin and told him about the wildfyre, why would Tywin care? His son was already a disappointment. Tywin had enough power to get Jaime named to the Baratheon Kingsguard, oathbreaker or not. Why not have a man who had already killed one king out of loyalty to the family, guarding the new king? Make Jaime's act a heroic one and Robert no longer has cause to fear Jaime. Jaime as Kingslayer gave Tywin just a little more power through fear.

There was absolutely no motivation for Jaime to lie about killing the King. It was him, alone in the bath with Brienne. He sent away the guards. He wasn't in love with her or trying to get her in the sack. He wasn't trying to get her to let him escape. He wasn't performing for an audience. If Jaime wanted to make up this elaborate lie, he would have done it years ago. He would have told it to Ned Stark in Season 1 in their confrontation in the Throne Room. If he wanted to manipulate Brienne, he would have told her during their canoe trip or when they were tromping through the woods. I simply cannot buy the very idea that Jaime would make up a massive lie to tell Brienne in the bathtub at Harrenhal. I mean, why? Does the Lion really care for the opinion of one lowly Sheep? Jaime will tell a well-placed lie to get what he wants, but he's more likely to tell a harsh truth and have people despise him. Didn't he answer a question about the last words of the first man he killed saying there were none, because he'd cut off the man's head? He was flip and snarky about it. The truth again being much worse than the lie. When he killed the Targaryen King, he was ...17 I think? The King had set Ned Stark's brother and father on fire in that Throne Room. He was called the "Mad King" for a reason. The idea that he'd want to burn the whole city rather than surrender it doesn't really seem that outlandish. The King also had ordered him to decapitate his own father. The King was, by all accounts, a freaking nutjob. The idea that Jaime would have been able to knock out the King, steal him away from the Pyromancer and the rest of the Kingsguard, hide him away until he saw reason, all while King's Landing is being sacked by Stark/Baratheon/Lannister forces is not reasonable. This also isn't a "modern" story where we expect police officers to only ever shoot criminals in the shoulder and not in the chest. I can see perfectly how Jaime knew he would NEVER win the moment Ned Stark road his horse into the Throne Room. Ned Stark. The man who beheaded someone in front of his ten year old son, never even considering that the man might have had a valid reason for deserting the Night's Watch, you know, from seeing the undead rise. Nope, he just lopped off that guy's head because no matter what, deserting the Night's Watch results in death. There were no shades of gray in Ned Stark. Jaime knew it. Why try?

Add me to TeamJaime. I loved him from the very moment he shoved Bran out the window. As I've not read the books, it was totally unexpected and it was done with such a level of...charm. That's NCW selling the character. He's been just amazing. He also has fantastic cheminstry with GC. I loved Dinklage in Season 1, but I also find his accent ...difficult. It's particularly awkward in his romantic scenes with Shae. I would love for NCW to get some more love for his role.