“The Wolf And The Lion”: WiC Remembers Season 1, episode 5

Here, five episodes in, Game Of Thrones becomes Game Of Thrones, dammit. With both fast-paced action and slow, meandering conversations, “The Wolf And The Lion” announces to both fantasy fans and television viewers that this is not the sort of story that it initially appeared to be.

First, the action sequence with the surprising end. For five episodes, we’ve seen Jaime Lannister antagonize our heroes. He has smirked and sauntered across the screen, trading barbs with Ned Stark, fucking his sister, shoving a boy out a window, and threatening to declare war on the king. He is the villain of the piece in every apparent fashion and, in having Ned’s guards killed, he reveals his true cruelty.

Jaime faces our hero, Ned Stark, in a duel….

Everything we’ve seen about Ned sets him up as the good guy. He’s kind to his family, loyal to his country, honorable, opposes the murder of children, and unlike Jaime, only kills when it’s necessary. Also unlike Jaime, Ned has declared that he doesn’t fight unless it’s for real. In drawing his sword to face the Kingslayer, he shows that this combat is for real.

And so here we have the inevitable duel between hero and villain, between good and evil, between the wolf and the lion, between the avatars two sides of the story. And so they fight. Ned in his dirty, well-worn leathers, Jaime in his gleaming armor. Ned fights with direct honest, Jaime fights with flair. Ned has lost his men and is the underdog in the fight, Jaime it doing this only to prove his power and skill. And in the end…we get nothing. No story catharsis. Just a lone Lannister guardsman, stepping out of bounds, stabbing Ned, and getting sucker punched by the Kingslayer for ruining the Lannister’s fun.

Game Of Thrones suggests a story of heroes and villains. But as soon as it has the opportunity to undercut that, as soon as it moves from the realm of whispers and lies into outright confrontation, it says “No. That’s not actually the story.” Or, as Varys and Illyrio discuss, “This is no longer a game for two players.” “It never was.” As we’ll see quickly, the conflict isn’t between Ned and Jaime, and over the long-term, it stops even being between Stark and Lannister. George R.R. Martin’s story is bigger, more complicated, and less immediately satisfying. (How satisfying that complexity will be in the end is, of course, still up in the air, but I think the story has found alternate methods of catharsis along the way.)

The other critical element of “The Wolf And The Lion” in establishing the show that Game Of Thrones has come to be involves its continued use of non-book scenes to flesh out the characters. It’s consistent with the pattern we’ve already seen: characters who don’t have point of view chapters in the novels, but who are still important in the grand scheme of things, get these extra scenes. Varys and Littlefinger, Cersei and Robert, Loras and Renly, all of them get their chance.

But in this episode, the net effect is that the setting of almost all of these scenes—King’s Landing—becomes the near-total focal point of the episode. After all, the bulk of these important characters are concentrated in the capital, and they will, with a few exceptions, either stay there or be replaced by others. King’s Landing loses Renly, but gains Margaery. Robert dies, Tyrion and Bronn show up. The logistics of shooting a television series with specific sets combines with the deliberate choice to build up non-POV characters and also the show’s introduction to mean that the settings, not the characters, are the focal points by which Game Of Thrones is divided. And from here on, King’s Landing is the most important and consistently interesting of those settings. Game Of Thrones certainly doesn’t ignore the other regions, but it always maintains its focus on the capital.

It also helps that the show has started to realize what it’s good at. In quiet, one-on-one conversations, like Varys and Littlefinger sparring, Game Of Thrones shines. We learn more about the characters, we get the tension undercut with cleverness, and the layers of intrigue end up seeming more real. “We’re friends, aren’t we, Lord Varys? I’d like to think we are.” And, as the final scene demonstrates, Game Of Thrones also excels at scenes of confrontation and shock. Jaime Lannister suddenly putting a dagger in Jory Cassel’s eye is, in the grand scheme of things, a minor moment. But it’s important because that kind of shock is so minor. Both Bran’s fall and Lady’s killing were constructed across their entire episode. Jory’s death feels like a minor consequence of, well, the story having consequences.

There’s one other major element of Game Of Thrones that shines through “The Wolf And The Lion”, and it occurs in the part that doesn’t take place in King’s Landing, as Cat takes Tyrion to the Eyrie. Tyrion has been a good and important character in the show so far, and Peter Dinklage has played him well, but with this episode, he starts on his path of becoming the standout star of the series. Stress, apparently, suits Dinklage’s acting style well, as does the opportunity to play off of Michelle Fairley and Jerome Flynn—both of whom could join Dinklage for a fine buddy comedy. “What sort of imbecile arms an assassin with his own blade?” “Shall I gag him?” “Why? Am I starting to make sense?”

On the other hand, while Game Of Thrones excels at the small-scale scenes and the important ones, it struggles with the scenes in-between at times. One of the downsides of making King’s Landing feel like the “real” story is that the parts of the story that take place in other areas feel slightly inauthentic. Game Of Thrones compounds this by turning some of the more fantastical settings into almost metaphorical portions of the setting. Perhaps the egregious example of this was the fourth season’s use of Craster’s Keep as a horror movie setting, but it’s also been seen with The Wall when the Wildlings cross it, Qarth, and here in the Eyrie. Lysa and Robin Arrys seem like they’re out of a more conventional fantasy series, not the seemingly naturalistic low fantasy Game Of Thrones has generally portrayed thus far. It may be an accurate representation of the novels, but those are grounded in character perspective, while the show centers on its settings.

But while the Eyrie feels like a minor misstep, it doesn’t get in the way of “The Wolf And The Lion” being the best episode so far. As I discussed last week, the main thing that Game Of Thrones needed to break free of its confusing backstory was to create its own history. With Ned and Robert butting heads, and the fight between the (ex-)Hand and the Kingslayer, it’s doing so, and doing so in style.

Notes and Quotes:

• One aspect of King’s Landing that’s given short shrift is the tournament, which was one of my favorite parts of the book. It introduced a lot of the political depth and personal tension between the characters, and the idea of knighthood-as-celebrity in a much stronger fashion than just seeing the Mountain/Loras fight.
• “I thought being king meant I could do whatever I wanted.” Mark Addy is fantastic all throughout this episode, to be honest.
• More Tyrion buddy comedy banter. “Your first? You need a woman. Nothing like a woman after a fight.” “Well I’m willing if she is.”
• Bran and Theon were in this episode. I forgot this as I was writing most of this review.
• “Honor? I’ve got Seven Kingdoms to rule! One king, Seven Kingdoms! D’you think honor keeps ‘em in line?”
• “Yet we who presume to rule must sometimes do vile things, for the good of the realm.” I like how clear it is that Varys is playing several different games, from the very beginning.
• “The Robert I grew up with didn’t tremble at the shadow of an unborn child.”

• The weakest of the new scenes is probably Loras and Renly, and not just because of the overloud slurping noises. It feels little too casually modern. “Stannis has the personality of a lobster.”
• “I’m sorry your marriage to Ned Stark didn’t work out. You seemed so good together.” And that’s how you make an entrance, Lena Headey.
• “It’s a neat little trick you do. You move your lips and your father’s voice comes out.” I believe that this is the first episode where both Stannis and Tywin–two of the most politically important characters in Westeros–are mentioned. Their potential presence hangs over the season’s story for people who know, while being a minor aside for those who don’t. It’s a fascinating narrative decision for both the book and the show.
• “Sometimes I don’t know what holds it together.” “Our marriage.” “Hhahahahahaha!” This scene is just so damn good.
• “Was it ever possible for us? Was there ever a time, ever a moment?” “No. Does that make you feel better or worse?” “Doesn’t make me feel anything.” 

• Published on 09/24/2014 at 11:34 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:40 PM CDT