A Cast of Kings - A Game of Thrones Podcast: The House of Black and White
April 21, 2015 12:39 PM - Subscribe
In this episode of “A Cast of Kings,” Joanna and David discuss the second episode of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, “The House of Black and White.”
But I thought the letter Jamie brought to Bronn was saying Lollys was being betrothed to someone else? If not, what did it say?
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:40 PM on April 21, 2015
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:40 PM on April 21, 2015
Jamie tells Bronn that Lollys is marrying someone else, and that Jamie will give him "a much better girl and a much better castle" in return for the Dorne quest.
But I read David + Joanna's confusion as thinking that Bronn was surprised when Lollys tells him "oh, we won't be living at Stokesworth" -- and interpreting that as Cersei reneging on last season's "don't fight for Tyrion" deal. Which clearly wasn't the case: Bronn knew full well going into that deal that Lollys was the younger sister and that he'd be murdering his way into the Stokesworth inheritance.
It did seem oddly out of character that Bronn was all OK-then-off-we-go with Jamie without nailing down a contract of exactly what he'd be paid; he's a sellsword after all.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:02 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
But I read David + Joanna's confusion as thinking that Bronn was surprised when Lollys tells him "oh, we won't be living at Stokesworth" -- and interpreting that as Cersei reneging on last season's "don't fight for Tyrion" deal. Which clearly wasn't the case: Bronn knew full well going into that deal that Lollys was the younger sister and that he'd be murdering his way into the Stokesworth inheritance.
It did seem oddly out of character that Bronn was all OK-then-off-we-go with Jamie without nailing down a contract of exactly what he'd be paid; he's a sellsword after all.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:02 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh, ok. That makes sense.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:09 PM on April 21, 2015
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:09 PM on April 21, 2015
(Also: "JoannaRobinsonOfVanityFair" is a thing now.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:23 PM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:23 PM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yes that's a _rare_ misreading for the two hosts, thanks for pointing that out.
Love love love how Chen is willing to say, "I found this scene puzzling/oblique/whatever" - the show is *supposed* to be a bit of a viewing challenge, anyways. If it weren't it wouldn't be working at that level we have come to expect from HBO and the GoT showrunners.
Note: Joanna remarks upon how funny it is that Lollys is immediately into Jaimie - I, too, found this hilarious, she's not able to disguise it - I guess as part of her "simple" characteristic.
Bronn's attempt to manipulate her is brilliantly pitched at her level: black and white - your sister is "mean", Lollys is "good". I think this is one of those 'stark contrast' things: we as the audience know that these characters - with perhaps the exception of Ned Stark - are much more complex. It's just a fancy but I think the writers are saying, "don't *you* do this, audience..."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:28 PM on April 21, 2015
Love love love how Chen is willing to say, "I found this scene puzzling/oblique/whatever" - the show is *supposed* to be a bit of a viewing challenge, anyways. If it weren't it wouldn't be working at that level we have come to expect from HBO and the GoT showrunners.
Note: Joanna remarks upon how funny it is that Lollys is immediately into Jaimie - I, too, found this hilarious, she's not able to disguise it - I guess as part of her "simple" characteristic.
Bronn's attempt to manipulate her is brilliantly pitched at her level: black and white - your sister is "mean", Lollys is "good". I think this is one of those 'stark contrast' things: we as the audience know that these characters - with perhaps the exception of Ned Stark - are much more complex. It's just a fancy but I think the writers are saying, "don't *you* do this, audience..."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:28 PM on April 21, 2015
(I didn't mean Ned Stark wasn't complex - I meant, he was read in a fairly straightforward "good guy" way.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:22 PM on April 21, 2015
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:22 PM on April 21, 2015
I agree that the shortened hit list is less cool. A long list would serve as a nice reminder of all the jerks from S1-S4 that still need to die.
I don't see why they were confused about JHagar; after harenhall the faceless man shows that he can take a different face. Why would we assume that the JH face is his real face and not one that other FM can do? Also, why was JH in the black cells despite being an ultimate badass? I assume because he was supposed to kill someone who was in the black cells (twist: Ned).
posted by a robot made out of meat at 3:50 PM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't see why they were confused about JHagar; after harenhall the faceless man shows that he can take a different face. Why would we assume that the JH face is his real face and not one that other FM can do? Also, why was JH in the black cells despite being an ultimate badass? I assume because he was supposed to kill someone who was in the black cells (twist: Ned).
posted by a robot made out of meat at 3:50 PM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
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Both David and -- rarely for her -- Joanna misunderstood Bronn's deal with the Lannisters: no, Bronn wasn't cheated out of "the nice castle" by Cersei. I thought it was pretty clear from his conversation with Tyrion last season that Bronn fully expects to inherit his way into the Stokesworth estate by arranging for the older sister to meet with an accident: "people die all the time." Bronn's hinting at that in his conversation with not-too-bright-Lollys: "your sister's a mean person", "people like your sister always get what's coming to them, eventually, one way or another."
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:20 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]