In Game Of Thrones town, everybody is challenging everybody else's perspective. In the very first scene, Papa Lannister tells Brother Fucker to take the long view: petty honor feuds with Ned Stark are risky and pointless, and what matters is the survival and health of the Lannister name at large and over time (and if his entreaty to look beyond matters of the moment isn't clear enough, we're supposed to listen to him while he guts and skins a huge animal for several minutes). Later, Last of the Mohicans shakes up Dany's view of what it means to have a "right" to the crown like her brother used to say; that their father was king doesn't mean shit--he took it from someone else and then it was taken from him. In turn, Dany shakes up Drogo's view of the world: How could it end at the Narrow Sea when she came from beyond it? And then Jon Snow gets a lousy assignment for the Night's Watch, but Fat Buddy persuades him to see the potential in serving as servant to an influential man. Hell, we even see Carcetti teaching his prostitutes to consider the male gaze while fingering each other, to better play to their audience (in a particularly bizarre, meta moment). Everybody is adjusting their lenses, like that weird part in the opening credits. The only person who refuses to adjust is Ned Stark.
His first opportunity to do some realpolitik bargaining comes from The Queen herself. She knows what Ned knows and offers him an out. Skip town and we'll let you live. Instead he (somewhat redundantly, probably) accuses her. She's been fucking her brother and fathering his incest babies. She had Jon Arryn killed and pushed Bonas Jonas out the window. The Queen is bracingly honest in her reply. Yes, duh, she's keeping her bloodline pure, as lots of ancient families did. It was easy: she only fucked the King when he was drunk so he wouldn't remember jizzing on her tits or in her mouth or in her butt instead of in her King-Z-Bake oven (I'm paraphrasing, but only a little). Ned: do you see that this is a lady who doesn't bluff? Do you see that caution should be fucking exercised?
And then King Meatsauce dies while trying to get some bacon, basically. Don't hunt Wild Boar while drunk, kids! Just go to the 24 hour deli! So yeah, whoa! On his death bed, the King signs a paper putting Ned in charge until Joffrey is of age. Ned changes the document to read "my rightful heir," (KING CHRIS!) but in what is becoming a trademark Game Of Thrones move, his subtle trickery at the King's bedside is invalidated minutes later when the Queen just rips it up. I can't decide if I like that storytelling technique or not.
But
before that happens the King's brother Renly, freshly shaved I am sure, propositions Ned (no homo): Strike the Lannisters now and install him as new King. Renly tells Ned that Queen Eyebrow is marshalling her forces and soon there will be nothing to be done, but Ned refuses to see it his way. This one is particularly frustrating, because putting Renly in charge at least approximates the honorable thing to do. (Plus, it'd be really progressive.) Instead it sounds like Ned is trying to contact the King's other brother because, I guess technically, the line of succession should pass the crown to him? But it is unclear how serious he even is about that; when he confronts the Queen moments later, he brings out Meatsauce's dying letter that puts
him in charge (if temporarily). Ned seems to be pursuing an ideal so abstract that he's still working out what it even is.
Which is a drag. Ned seemed willing to get into the game and play a little dirty last time, issuing an order that the King himself would never have given. But faced with the prospect of going deeper inside, he blinks. A lot of times, being honorable is really just a way to take yourself out of the game.
Nobody has been lying to him about anything. Nobody HINTED that if he didn't compromise the Lannisters would have him killed--they just outright TOLD HIM so, And Carcetti, who has been the most honest of all, turns on Ned in the least shocking, least upsetting betrayal of all time. Holding a knife to his throat and taking him into custody, Carcetti reminds Ned that he told him to never trust him. And he shouldn't have trusted him--instead, he should have listened.
To survive, you have to adapt. Everybody who agrees to shift their perspective (so far) is rewarded. Dany gets her trip home (it's a war party, sure, but still, for her it's basically a vacation). Jon Snow gets peace of mind about his career choices. The prostitutes get orgasms. Playing the Game Of Thrones isn't even very complicated, but Ned Stark can't hack it. So, I'm pretty sure the next episode isn't going to be much fun.
I haven't said specifically how much I like this show. I do. I love it. This episode was outstanding. I'm sure for some of you it has been a while since you saw it, but what did you think?
as a superfan of the books, the show took me a bit to warm up to. i'll be interested to see what you think after you read the book, because they make some choices on the show that are pretty different from the book. knowing that GRRM is involved with the show, and that he okays the changes, is VERY interesting to me. so, i like the show, as an alternate version of the book universe, which i am perhaps unhealthily attached to.
ReplyDeletei will say that i fucking haaaaate the harry potter movies because they don't coincide with my mental version of potterton, so the fact that i like the show at all is pretty impressive. also, the books are even more convoluted than the shows, and the shows do an admirable job of getting the important stuff across, while keeping the pace moving.
i really like your point about their changes in perspective. ned is probably the "best" dude in westeros, but that makes him fucking TERRIBLE at the GoT. the people who are good at it are, as you said, flexible as a mofo.