Game of Thrones’ Bryan Cogman dives into “Baelor” and “Kissed by Fire”

Next, Cogman takes us into Season 3’s “Kissed by Fire,” aka “The One Where Jon and Ygritte Get It On.” Cogman wrote this one himself.

So this one’s personal for Cogman. I like how invested he gets in his work.

It’s nice to get insight into why the scenes Cogman mentions—Yara’s raid on the Dreadfort, the fight at the Water Gardens—feel so thin. I’d love more details, but at least the producers are aware that those bits weren’t the best.

Yeah, it was definitely a better decision to end the episode before with Daenerys sacking Astapor. That’s one the show’s great sequences.

But did you?

And now, fun with sets!

So the cave where Beric Dondarrion fights the Hound is the same one where Jon and Ygritte consummate their forbidden, just dressed differently. Hollywood magic!

Watching Game of Thrones in a coffee shop? That was never going to end well.

“Kissed by Fire.” Wait, is that a pun? Like Ygritte is fire and Jon gets kissed by her? Or is it just a way to tie together Beric’s flaming sword with Ygritte? Whatever. Neat title!

And he’s still kicking around the Red Keep, doing lord knows what to corpses and stuff.

Nice job, though! I remember enjoying Tyrion trying to quibble about the cost of the wedding. I wonder how Cogman settled on all the numbers Olenna threw out.

Shippers will see things how they wanna see ’em.

Dean Charles-Chapman played Martin Lannister before getting cast as Tommen. Karstark kills him in this episode.

What he said. Cogman also notes that his script was clear that Robb, unlike Theon, decapitated his prisoner with one stroke.

Next, Cogman talks about the scene between Arya and Beric Dondarrion, after the latter has been raised from the dead.

I’m guessing the original script had more about how Dondarrion comes back a little less human than he was before. I’d have liked to see that, but the moment when Arya wonders if Thoros could bring back Ned is sweet, so I guess it evens out.

Cogman gives a very detailed, and interesting, account of introducing Selyse and Shireen. Before they all knew that Game of Thrones was going to be big hit, the producers had to be a little choosier about which characters they focused on, since they weren’t sure if they’d have a chance to follow through of their arcs. Therefore, they made a decision to leave Selyse and Shireen in the background in Season 2. When it came time to introduce them, the task fell to Cogman.

Geez, I don’t think you have to embellish much when your starting point is someone who keeps the severed hands of stillborn babies in jars.

The scene did kick rather a lot of ass, so congratulations all around.

I thought that moment worked well—Jaime was out of it enough to speak his innermost thoughts aloud.

Yeah, that was a smart move, and the writers were able to make more use of the Davos-Shireen relationship later on, before Shireen’s death in Season 5. Sorry you couldn’t get on the show, though, Cogman. Maybe you can play Maester Kerwin in the future?

I know some fans get down on Loras for sleeping with Olyvar, but I always thought something along these lines was happening. It would help if the show made more of a point of it, though.

You may remember it as the creepiest ending to any Game of Thrones episode.

And that’s it! We’ll stay tuned for Cogman’s insights into the final three episodes!