Today on our countdown to the season 6 premiere, we have a notable Game of Thrones turning-point episode on our plates: “You Win or You Die,” written by D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, and directed by Daniel Minahan. In addition to featuring the key scene when Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister face off with honesty (leading to a downfall from which Ned never recovers), the episode is balanced by the death of one critical male power player and the introduction of another.
And yes, this is the episode when Cersei says the thing!
She said the thing! I love it when they say the thing.
While this episode is often more remembered for its explicit Littlefinger-micromanaged sex scene (more on that later), “You Win or You Die” depicts the critical moment in King’s Landing that we’ve been waiting for throughout season 1. The tensions between the Starks and the Lannisters have escalated since the premiere. With the suspiciously sudden death of King Robert Baratheon, jostling for control of the Iron Throne pushes that conflict into open warfare.
Rewatching the episode, Ned doesn’t seem as entirely foolish as fans sometimes make him out to be. He does make a solid attempt at strategizing and dealing with the Lannister situation. Ned’s problem though is that he gives Cersei a heads up in their private conversation, out of kindness to Cersei’s children whom he knows will suffer as a result of their parentage becoming public. Their lives may well be on the line, since they’d be considered abominations by most. It’s an admirable gesture on Ned’s part, and no, not very careful of him to show his hand, but with his plans in the works, it must have seemed like a small enough risk to him. In addition to having honor, Ned Stark is simply a good man. For some people, taking on risk to do the right thing is worth it.
He also underestimated the depth of Littlefinger’s ambitions and capacity for holding a grudge over an incident from twenty years before.
Definitely the face of a man we can trust.
Clearly he was wrong about a few things, and outplayed by experienced King’s Landing manipulators. It doesn’t help that Littlefinger was there all along waiting for the long-delayed chance at payback.
Most people share their intimate ruminations with their closest friends. Since he doesn’t have those, Petyr Baelish shares his thoughts on his scheming in “You Win or You Die” with two women auditioning to join his brothel. Okay then.
On a show as complex as Game of Thrones, with so many back-stories to unload in the first season especially, it’s not unexpected there would be some lengthy exposition scenes. GoT had several of them in season 1, and it so happened that a few of these scenes included sex or nudity. The internet took notice, because well, it’s the internet.
And “sexposition” was born.
The term became popularized after TV critic Myles McNutt included it in one of his recaps at his Cultural-Learnings blog. I don’t blame people for latching onto the term. It is catchy.
Game of Thrones has always presented a bluntly realistic take on a fantasy world, with sexuality sewn into the fabric of it. The question with these sex and nudity scenes was, did they exist because the show didn’t think fans would sit through exposition dialogue without jiggling breasts to distract them? Were they just symptomatic of too much exposition on the whole in the first two seasons? Or were people making too big a deal out of the scenes?
It’s a subject where you’ll find not a lot of agreement. As always, Game of Thrones inspires debate and analysis, with many coming to completely different interpretations about the same minute of footage.
As for the scene in this episode, Littlefinger’s pointed monologue does actually involve the metaphor of seduction and sex, so it’s not an unreasonable connection. However, when the moaning and sexual theatrics gets so loud you can’t understand some pieces of dialogue very well, you do start to wonder.
That we got personal confessions and “What we don’t know is usually what gets us killed” in the same scene as Littlefinger rasping “Play with her ass” made this a very interesting episode.
Whatever people decide, sexposition entered the cultural lexicon thanks to Game of Thrones and the conversations around this episode.
In other notable moments from “You Win or You Die,” we said goodbye to King Robert of the House Baratheon, after a Very Bad No-Good Hunting Trip. But just in time, a new player is introduced, and his presence immediately casts a new light on characters we already know.
Tywin Lannister is presented to us none-too-subtly skinning a stag. The moment we meet Tywin, we’re shown a whole new Jaime Lannister. The arrogant Kingslayer is brought down a peg, and it’s easy to see why Tywin has been feared for so long by his enemies and by family. It’s something we’ll see with all his children in time. Charles Dance was an extraordinary addition to Game of Thrones, and stole virtually every scene he was in until the end of his run in season 4.
Introductions: Brian Fortune plays the Senior Night’s Watch Officer leading Jon and Sam in their vow-taking. He’ll pop up again in “The Pointy End” and then resurface in season 4, finally named as Othell Yarwyck (the First Builder). Ros’s fellow auditioner Armeca, played by Sahara Knite, turned up in the show’s brothel throughout season 2. And of course, this is Tywin’s first episode.
Deaths: King Robert, played by the fantastic Mark Addy. It’s odd- we spent so much time waiting for the show to happen, discovering the casting announcements, waiting for the first glimpses of characters- it seemed like a long road. And then that quickly, King Robert was gone from the show. Addy wasn’t the most popular initial choice for the role- fans were more familiar with his comedic work, and he lacked the impression of brawn that people expected in Robert. But Addy won everyone over with his gruff, horny, and hot-tempered gone-to-fat soldier king.
Big Moments: After Robert’s death, Joffrey is placed on the Iron Throne. Jon Snow and Samwell take their Night’s Watch vows before a heart tree. Benjen’s horse returns to Castle Black without him. Drogo decides to invade Westeros after an assassin targets Daenerys.
Gif-able Moments: Cersei turning Robert’s last written words into shreds fit for the litter box.
Samwell expressing his deepest secret wish. And then Jon laughs in his face.
Creative Fandom:
King Robert’s death by boar, cleverly depicted by Robert M. Ball in the Beautiful Death series:
Jon Snow, in Night’s Watch Vows, from DavidDeb on Deviantart:
You Win or You Die by Nikittysan
A meme from Tywin’s memorable introduction plays on the Lannister unofficial motto. Though perhaps given the scene, “flays” would have been a better word choice.
From Arrested Westeros:
Yes. You really did.
Join us tomorrow as Nate takes us down Memory Lane, back to the George R.R. Martin-penned classic episode, “The Pointy End!”
The post Game of Thrones Memory Lane 107: You Win or You Die appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
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