And the WiCnet Award for Best Performance as a Politician in Season 4 goes to…

…Aidan Gillen, for his turn as Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish! Gillen’s victory has him join Maisie Williams, Iwan Rheon, Pedro Pascal, and Liam Cunningham as the winners in our acting sub-categories–look for the major acting categories to be voted on next week!

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting Gillen to win. His performance in Seasons 2 and 3 became one of the more controversial in the series, and I personally found his hoarse stage whisper an occasionally odd performance choice. But I also knew that these weren’t overall issues with Gillen–he was fantastic in The Wire and he could be fantastic again here. And in Season 4, he was.

The secret? Taking the character out of King’s Landing, and letting the actor use a more natural accent….

I remember reading tweets early in the season making fun of Littlefinger’s ever-changing accent, and yes, Gillen’s Irish stands out almost immediately when he shows up to guide Sansa Stark out of King’s Landing. It’s never explicitly stated, but I always interpreted the change as Littlefinger no longer having to try to fit in in the capital, and being able to use his natural accent as he returns to his homeland. Regardless, the change suits him, as he becomes a much better character at the point when he needs to be.

He needs to be great because now Littlefinger is leading. He heads to the Vale to marry Lysa Arryn, and then, when it becomes impossible to rule alongside her, he kills her. But as he steps forward, he also has to start taking responsibility for his actions, instead of merely conniving in the shadows. And Gillen is ready for it. When he sits in front of the Lords Declarant, he attempts to use his typical Littlefinger wordplay to get out of it–but they’re having it. So Gillen sits and squirms in from of them, and it’s great to watch. Even as we discover that has thus-far successful plot to take power in the Seven Kingdoms is longer-term and nastier than anyone knew, we also see him at his weakest, and Gillen pulls off both sides of the character.

As I mentioned in our Small Council votes, Game of Thrones loves to build up characters, make them seem like they’ve won, only to tear to them down. That’s true for Baelish as well as Tywin Lannister, but it becomes especially interesting in Baelish’s case as he interacts with Sansa Stark, who is both the object of his desire and his biggest potential rival. Thanks to Gillen’s great performance in Season 4, I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Check the results out below–and look for the Best Actress in Season 4 vote tomorrow!

[polldaddy poll=8466349]

• Published on 12/02/2014 at 5:35 PM CDT
• Last updated on 12/02/2014 at 5:35 PM CDT