{"id":95,"date":"2014-05-12T12:42:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T16:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=95"},"modified":"2014-07-01T12:42:10","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T16:42:10","slug":"game-thrones-laws-gods-men-monster-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2014\/05\/12\/game-thrones-laws-gods-men-monster-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Game of Thrones – \u2018The Laws of Gods and Men\u2019 : The monster you think I am"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brought to you by our friends at Talk Thrones<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

What Westerosi cultural and karmic lesson was most reinforced in \u201cThe Laws of Gods and Men\u201d, the sixth episode of this fourth season of Game of Thrones? That no good deed goes unpunished.<\/p>\n

Examples? Temporarily rescue a princess from a sadistic psychopath and his pathetic, bloodthirsty bodyguard\u2014it\u2019s evidence against you for the murder of that psychopath. Crucify 163 slave masters in response to their crucifixion of 163 slave children\u2014be shamed for your hastiness and reliance on assumptions. Give the show\u2019s creators the benefit of the doubt that the whole Ramsay Snow\/Theon Greyjoy\/Reek story arc of disinterest and unlikeability will actually have a worthwhile payoff\u2014be \u201crewarded\u201d by a months-long sea voyage and rescue party ending with the Iron Islands\u2019 fearless daughter fleeing from a pack of dogs. Take your son out shepherding with you in a field above Slaver\u2019s Bay\u2014have your flock cooked, skewered, and consumed by a pack of dragons, then getting paid three times the value of the flock\u2014 okay \u2026 bad last example.<\/p>\n

With this lesson, manifested in Tyrion Lannister\u2019s trial for regicide, we find another wonderful episode of Game of Thrones\u2014of which a DVD should be on its way to the Emmy committee at this very moment, marked \u201cDinklage: Just give him the damn award right now\u201d. Amid a roomful of liars\u2014not just the witnesses spouting true but out-of-contexts encounters with Tyrion that support his guilt, but the peanut gallery reacting as they imagine Tywin would want them to react (as if they hadn\u2019t fantasized about giving Joffrey a live-action version of \u201cThe Choker\u201d)\u2014Tyrion eloquently shames the masses the way we only wish we could (you know, without the retaliatory death): \u201cI did not kill Joffrey. But I wish I had. Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand lying whores. I wish I was the monster you think I am. I wish I had enough poison for the whole pack of you. I would gladly give my life to watch you all swallow it!\u201d<\/p>\n

But the episode isn\u2019t without its faults. Yara has traveled for months by boat, fueled by rage at the enslavement and dismemberment of her brother, seeming to fear nothing on her path to bringing respect back to the Iron Islands. Yet, with the chance to annihilate Ramsay Snow in hand-to-hand combat, her and her soldiers submit to a disappointing case of cynophobia. I get the feeling the show\u2019s creators are aware how pointless the Ramsay arc is: it\u2019s likely no coincidence that the only two episodes in which Theon and Ramsay have appeared this season were offset by Joffrey\u2019s murder and Tyrion\u2019s trial for that murder, respectively. And, frustratingly, not a single witness (nor Tyrion himself, although at this point he\u2019d clearly submitted to what he thinks is his fate) notes that not a soul alive could have predicted Joffrey\u2019s tormenting of Tyrion minutes before the poisoning, which presented Tyrion with the opportunity that Cersei so staunchly believes her brother took advantage of (to be fair, this point is hardly registered in any episode, not just this one).<\/p>\n

Still there hasn\u2019t been, and likely won\u2019t be, a more raw and uplifting scene than we find at the end of this hour: Tyrion\u2019s speech (unless you want to include, as I do, Hodor\u2019s lifting\u2014and dropping\u2014of Locke last week, but that\u2019s a different sort of \u201craw\u201d and \u201cuplifting\u201d) that ends with his demand for a trial by combat, similar to how he escaped death in the Eyrie and how Bronn and his sharp sword and wit were gifted to us. It\u2019s not really been Game of Thrones\u2019 style to tuck characters away unnecessarily for several episodes at a time\u2014although characters have this done to them by outside forces, their story pushes on (Jon at The Wall; Jaime\u2019s being imprisoned)\u2014we find here it\u2019s at least worth the wait.<\/p>\n

Speaking of waiting\u2026. As has been the case for the closing minutes of each episode this season, viewers are presented with more questions about the succeeding episode than they are answers from the current one. Will Tyrion be able to have someone fight in his stead once again, as Bronn had in the Eyrie? If so, is Bronn even available? Last we heard of him, he\u2019s under investigation for being implicated with Tyrion. And who will fight for the kingdom (or, Cersei)? Will Jaime be asked to fight against the man who has been training him in left-handed battle, against his own will and the chances for his brother\u2019s survival? Or, as a result of either Bronn\u2019s absence or sheer belief in his brother, will Tyrion ask Jaime to fight for him? And in that case, against whom? If one were to believe Ser Gregor Clegane (which has proven to be a shaky choice, at best), Jaime should have no trouble discarding Meryn Trant off-handed and as drunk as Cersei.<\/p>\n

MORE NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n