Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman live-tweets his favorite episodes
By Dan Selcke
Bryan Cogman, Game of Thrones writer and the man responsible for making sure the show’s mythology is consistent, has been live-tweeting his favorite episodes of the show during the lead-up to Season 6. He’s already done “Fire and Blood,” the Season 1 finale, and “Two Swords,” the Season 4 premiere. Now, he’s talking us through his #8 and #7 pics: Season 3’s “And Now His Watch Is Ended” (the one where Daenerys sacks Astapor) and Season 2’s “What Is Dead May Never Die,” which introduces us to Margaery, Loras, and Brienne. Let’s dive into Cogman’s appraisal of “And Now His Watch Is Ended.”
So Jaime Lannister Phase 1 officially begins when he gets his hand chopped off. Makes sense.
Graves went on to be one of the show’s rockstars in Season 4, directing episodes like “The Lion and the Rose,” “The Mountain and the Viper,” and “The Children.” Unfortunately, he hasn’t been back since.
I always thought it was odd how, in “Blackwater,” Varys brings up the story of how he got cut, and then basically says “I’ll tell you later.” In any case, had he told the story there, we wouldn’t have gotten the wizard-in-a-box moments, which is nice.
Yeah, that place is better off burned to the ground.
RIP Jojen Reed.
If I recall correctly, this the scene where Joffrey is showing Margaery around the Great Sept of Baelor and gleefully recounting all the horrible people who are buried there. It was a fun scene, and gave us a primer on some of the Targaryens of old.
Next, Cogman got into the scenes with Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon)—this is the episode where Theon thinks he’s escaped wherever it was he was being tortured, spills the beans about not really killing Bran and Rickon, and then gets led right back to the dungeons.
Indeed.
Next, Cogman goes wide, and talked about the conception of the show changed a bit around Season 3, once the producers realized they actually had the momentum to complete the show.
I like these big picture looks into the thought process behind the show. I do wonder something, though: I know the writers want to create material for their actors, but if there’s not as much material for a character in the books, there’s always the option to downplay that character for a while. Creating new material for characters worked well in Season 3, but not quite as well in Season 5. Sometimes, letting a character recede into the background might be the best thing for them.
David Benioff and Dan Weiss, those crafty showrunners…
Just wait until Season 6.
I’ll just let Cogman go off on the final scene of the episode, which is still one of the best sequences the show has done.