The Small Council: Who was your pick for Best Sidekick?

Our Small Council question this week is simple: we asked the panel who their vote was for this week’s installment of the WiCnet Awards. Who did you choose for Best Performance As A Sidekick In Season 4?

Rebecca Pahle: This was a tough decision for me. Granted, I think the WiCnet Awards will be entirely full of tough decisions, particularly when it comes to the character-based polls. But the reason for that is that GRRM’s created such a vast roster of amazing characters, so I guess I can deal. Daniel Portman, John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, and Kristian Nairn were all in my top five, and it was really hard not to vote for all of them….

Podrick being the physical embodiment of the flower crown! Sam’s “But really, let’s talk about this whole ‘vow of celibacy’ deal” conversation and basically every other thing he did in “The Watchers on the Wall”! TEAM DRAGONSTONE! Nairn, who has all of one line ever yet still managed to get across Hodor’s mental anguish at Bran taking over his brain and using him to kill people.

But every time my finger hovered over that “vote” button, Ellie Kendrick’s Meera Reed came to me, speaking words of wisdom:  “You remember that time skeletons attacked my little brother and I lost my shit?” “The Children” was an amazing episode generally speaking (the lack of [spoiler]Lady Stoneheart[/spoiler] aside), but for some reason I just really responded to Meera in that scene, how she went into beast mode as soon as Jojen was in danger and her shellshocked expression after she was unable to save him. Meera’s not the flashiest, but I really love the characters who toil in the background being competent and having heads on their shoulders (“Bran, maybe don’t warg so much. Bran, there’s clearly something wrong with the men at Craster’s Keep, maybe we should GTFO”) while others engage in more dramatic but ultimately less smart behavior (Daenerys). Plus, we curly-haired girls have to stick together.

Ani Bundel: It’s hard to choose Best Sidekick without going for the obvious answer of Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne. Pod started out in the sidekick position for Tyrion and Bronn in earlier seasons, where his loyalty turned out to be only his second greatest asset. But working with Tyrion and Bronn kept Pod in the “sidekick’s sidekick” position, playing third fiddle to Bronn and his touching, if entirely based on money, friendship with the Imp.

This season Pod was allowed to break out from that and promoted him to Head Sidekick for Brienne. His loyalty to Tyrion earned him that promotion, as Tyrion’s returned loyalty meant that Pod was given to Brienne as a squire in order to get both of them out of King’s Landing. It says a lot of how much Pod meant to his posse not only that they sent him away, but that Bronn even bestowed upon him a parting gift.

Perhaps Pod wasn’t so keen on Brienne of Tarth and her non-conformist ways. But he prides himself on his sidekick abilities, and he was determined to step up to the plate. But it takes two to tango, and Brienne has been a fantastic lead to Pod’s supporting role. Her prickliness at being given a squire in the first place forced Pod to prove himself. And though he’s had to learn more than one job on the fly–being the sidekick to the sidekick meant he never had to cook before–his paranoid yin to Brienne’s less fearful yang made them a great team. It’s just too bad he didn’t keep an eye on Arya during Brienne’s fight to the death with the Hound, but hey, no sidekick is perfect. I look forward to where the roads lead Bri and Pod on their adventures next season.

Rowan Kaiser: For three seasons now, Liam Cunningham has had one of the toughest jobs on Game Of Thrones. As Ser Davos Seaworth, he’s had to single-handedly make many of the Stannis-based scenes of the show in some way charming or likable. Stannis himself is supposed to be rigid and impossible to like; and the other major character on Dragonstone is the dangerous, inscrutable priestess Melisandre–and both Stephan Dillane and Carice van Houten succeed in playing their parts. Cunningham himself brings humanity to the near-alien walls of Dragonstone, and has been great at it.

Two things made Season 4 special for Davos and Cunningham. First, his continued relationship with Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram) consistently allowed his role to be more avuncular and charming, instead of his usual mode of loyal disbelief when dealing with his lord. Second, his scene with Mark Gatiss at the Iron Bank in “The Laws Of God And Men” was a character highlight. Instead of acting primarily in an oppositional role to Dillane, as he had for almost a season and a half prior, Cunningham finally got to demonstrate the effectiveness of his complex but unyielding loyalty. In a single, gruff speech, he laid out the reasoning behind why Stannis wasn’t just the rightful heir, but the wise political choice. And not only did Cunningham sell it–he also got to do a rare comedic scene with Salladhor Saan (Lucian Msamati) to celebrate.

Andrea Towers: The fact that I spent about ten minutes waffling between at least three different choices for this category should be proof enough that George R.R. Martin develops characters who–even in sidekick form–can make an impact. But it’s hard for me not to think about sidekicks and not talk about Jerome Flynn’s Bronn, the cunning sellsword. Bronn’s a simple character, and one that could have easily been shoved to the side given that he doesn’t seem to require anything more from life than drinks and girls. Though Bronn starts out on the periphery, brought in by Cat in order to help her arrest Tyrion for the attempted murder of Bran, he soon evolves into a formidable presence, thanks to his participation in Tyrion’s first trial (a worthy scene indeed.)

His genuine apathy towards The Hound and his dry, wisecracking sense of humor set him apart in terms of personality. But it’s when Tyrion returns to Kings Landing–Bronn in tow–that the sellswordsman begins to prove himself worthy of just more than a roadtrip buddy. It helps that Tyrion doesn’t look at Bronn as a bodyguard, rather, he looks at him as a partner and an equal, with Bronn doing the same. All of this helps bring Bronn’s journey into perspective when, in Season 4, we see him reject Tyrion before another trial. Suddenly, we’re not watching an employer and his “prize,” we’re watching two friends who are trying to figure out ways to survive in this cutthroat world. And sure, Bronn had been corrupted by Cersei at this point, but you sense that Bronn really does value his friendship with Tyrion despite his betrayal. Jerome Flynn, who’s brought both depth and humor to the role, outdid himself in this particular scene. He sold every moment, and laid out the truth with about as much honesty as you’d expect: “it’s not that I don’t like you, I just like myself more.”

Remember, there’s only a day left before the polls close. Cast your vote!

[polldaddy poll=8316119]

• Published on 09/23/2014 at 5:25 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:40 PM CDT