If y’all popped in expecting a Twitter post, well, you’re only partly right.
In the latter part of last night, Game of Thrones Writer/Producer Bryan Cogman took to Twitter to opine about season 4’s opener, “Two Swords.” And it was good!
(Apparently as part of his own #GoT50 coverage, Bryan is going through his own personal top ten list of favorite episodes, tagging them #GoT_BC_TopTen. And I missed his tweets last week regarding his number 10 choice, Fire and Blood. Bad FaBio!)
His thoughts, in full, after the break. (And oh, yeah, follow @b_cogman if you know what’s good for ya!)
P.S. If you want to re-watch ep. 401 prior to reading this, be my guest. But I’m kind of guessing most of y’all know the parts he’s hittin’ here…
Ok! It’s time for #9 on my list of top ten personal fave #GoT episodes. In case you missed last week’s tweetfest of #FireandBlood… I’ll be counting down and tweeting (hopefully) fun facts while rematching my personal faves, leading up to our premiere of S6 in April.
Again, to remind, these are just MY PERSONAL FAVES. Not a definitive list, not a diss on any other episodes. And this fave list seems to change from year to year.
Ok, so here we go: #9. Season 4, Episode 1: ‘Two Swords’, directed by D&D, written by D&D.
In truth, these #9/10 slots were the hardest to fill — considered quite a few: KILL THE BOY, THE WATCHERS ON THE WALL, A GOLDEN CROWN… but I went with this one as I think it’s probably our strongest premiere episode. They are VERY tricky to get right.
Axey: A Golden Crown is definitely in my personal top 10. Alas, poor Baelor got edged out of my list after this past season. Felt guilty doing it too!
I think this one arguably does the best job at reacquainting, teeing up new plot lines, and being all around entertaining.
Starting with this cold open. The Stark sword ‘Ice’ being melted down into the two Lannister blades. One of @GRRMspeaking‘s inspired beats and a great way to reset after the bloodbath of Season 3. Ramin beautifully weaves together the Stark and Lannister themes here.
That’s Tommy Dunne our chief weapon master/armorer as the smith melting ‘Ice’ down. He must have a twin brother who serves at a barber in Winterfell cuz he sure looks like that guy who shaved Robb, Theon, and Jon in ep 101!
S4 was a lot of fun to write. Particularly the King’s Landing scenes, as it was the 1st time all the Lannisters lived under the same roof.
Ah, Oberyn. @PedroPascal1 is missed by all of us. A gentleman and an amazing talent.
The hope was (for viewers who hadn’t read the books) was that he would make a huge impression. That people would expect him to stick around for years to come. It worked! When he was killed in 408, my wife (who didn’t know the story) screamed and punched me in the arm in anger.
Axey: My wife had the same reaction when it happened in the book (since I was the one who recommended the series to her), and then refused to watch the Red Viper’s death episode once she fell in love with Pedro, so I totally get this reaction.
I think, with a lesser actor, Oberyn could have been cartoony. But Pedro underplays so well, plays each moment with such specificity.
This intro to Oberyn was intended as a nod to Tyrion’s intro in 101 (rogue member of the family doesn’t show up as expected, finds his way to the nearest brothel.)
We decided to streamline the tale a bit and make the big rivalry between houses Martell and Lannister (as opposed to Martell vs Tyrell)… mainly because there was so much backstory to get out in this episode about the death of Oberyn’s sister and her kids. Thankfully… Pedro and Peter make this heavily expository dialogue (no disrespect to my bosses!) highly entertaining!
Ah, Croatia. One of these days I’ll see it. Maybe I’ll take the GoT Locations Variety Tour when this all over! Think I’ll get a discount?
We killed a lot of goats in Season Four! Not real goats, of course. None were harmed.
Or is that a sheep the dragons roast in this first scene? Can’t tell…
The trick with these scenes (especially in a premiere) is tracking where all the characters are emotionally without burdening the scenes with “as you know when such and such happened” kind of dialogue. It’s an easy trap to fall into in a show like this with so much story… so many characters, etc.
One thing that strikes me, watching this one back, is how the Lannisters largely became the protagonists of Season Four.
Ha! Uh oh, I just lost two followers. Someone doesn’t like this!
Axey: Lannister haters, clearly. Best family in the series.
Anton Lesser is a personal fave of mine. He originally read for Maester Luwin way back when. When Qyburn came along he was our 1st choice This first wildling scene was shot in Iceland. It was HOT that day. Felt horrible for everyone in all dem furs.
We were happy to get Owen Teale back as Ser Alliser. We’d originally planned to have him appear in King’s Landing in S2, reporting about the wight that attacked Mormont. But there was a scheduling conflict, so we couldn’t use him (ended up having Mormont send a raven to the small council instead). But he was a huge part of the success of Season Four’s Wall storyline, imho.
Season Four, was in many ways, the final act of the first ‘phase’ of GoT.
Love this line of Diana’s to Gwen: “Aren’t you just marvelous?! Absolutely singular.” I’ll say that to @lovegwendoline when next I see her.
This Joffrey/Jaime/Meryn scene was written later in the process. We realized Joff had no major scenes before his final episode!
All this stuff with the Kingsguard book was originally in my episode, #Oathkeeper, but D&D stole it for this scene. Fiends!
Axey: For whatever reason I read that with my inner John Cleese voice.
“Fiends! I’ll tear them apart!”
Season Four was the hardest season to map out, at that point. We were essentially adapting the final third of a book. A bunch of climaxes. But we had to structure it as it’s own TV season with its own beginning, middle, end…
Oof. A hundred and sixty-three crucified kids. This show is fucked up.
Ah, now we come to my fave part of the ep (I suspect most people’s): Arya and the Hound.
Their season was modeled on westerns. And, oddly, enough, on the classic movie ‘Paper Moon’! As I have mentioned before, for S4, I was assigned a few storylines to ‘break’ on my own before we met in the room. Arya’s was one of them. The ‘farmer’ sequence in ep 403 was a riff on ‘Shane’. If Shane, instead of saving the family, beats and robs them.
Axey: I sniggered.
And this scene, without a doubt, in writing, staging, editing, performance — a classic western showdown.
In my original outline, this bar fight didn’t happen til later in the season. The opening sequence I conceived involved Hound/Arya encountering a Frey patrol, getting into a scrape, & Arya managing to steal her own horse (after complaining she didn’t have one). But D&D very wisely said that it was a stronger choice to open the season with this fight, revenge for Lommy, and the retrieval of Needle.
“What the fuck’s a Lommy?” one of my favorite lines in GoT history.
Axey: It went over well on Twitter too.
The Hound sort of sneaks up on the viewer as a main character over the course of the first four seasons. This was Rory’s showcase.
D&D knocked it out of the park with this scene, as directors. It’s one of the best fights in the series, very kinetic.
We made the choice to slow down Arya’s journey to being a ‘killing machine’ as compared to the books — her final scene in S3 and this one were designed to launch her into the next act, so to speak.
Again, this entire season storyline was born from our having adapting almost all of Arya’s ‘Storm of Swords’ storyline in Season 3 this season, I believe is just one, maybe two chapters in the book. So we were able to have fun and develop the Hound/Arya relationship.
God, I love @Maisie_Williams. We she slowly drives that sword into the dude, then looks up, ready for the next kill. GOLD!
Hm. It occurs to me we should have called this ‘Three Swords’ since this last scene is all about Needle.
What’s wonderful about @Maisie_Williams, is that she ‘got’ Arya’s dark side from the beginning. Rewatch ‘The Kingsroad’ from S1, the scene where she has the sword pointed at Joffrey. The look in her eyes in that scene. Huge foreshadowing! Love her.
This Hound/Arya storyline in S4 also gave us the opportunity to show how the war affected the poor folk and the countryside. Starting w/ this last shot, then continuing w/ the Farmer story in 403 and the old dying man in 407. We had one or two scenes planned for seasons 2 & 3 which showed some of the ravaged Riverlands but we had to lose them in prep, so I was happy to explore some of it in S4.
Ok, that’s it for #TwoSwords! Hope you enjoyed. I’ll be back in a few days with my #8 pick.
Love it! This is sorta like have a bonus-bonus commentary on the Blu-Ray.
We’ll stay tuned, Bryan!
Hodor
And nice re-use of Omar’s “Man’s got to have a code. ” đ
“The âfarmerâ sequence in ep 403 was a riff on âShaneâ. If Shane, instead of saving the family, beats and robs them.”
Is it wrong to giggle at this đ
This Cogman fellow is marvelous. Absolutely singular!
I wonder if he’ll put his own episodes on the list. Maybe he doesn’t want to appear arrogant for doing so, but at least 3 of his eps belong in TOP 10, if you ask me: 2×03 What Is Dead May Never Die, 3×05 Kissed by Fire and 4×06 The Laws of Gods and Men.
Great episode, great thoughts. I really appreciated the Western touches in the Arya and Hound story line, and the Shane comparison is real nice.
I’m not one to nitpick, but the ‘I’m not a thief’ is off. We see the Hound rob that poor salt pork guy in ‘Rains of Castamere’.
Fun read – thanks Mr Cogman! And also good to see someone located the rock FaBio was hiding under and woke him from his annual between-seasons hibernation. In a perfect world, you guys would team up for the Twitter recaps! (I suggest under the nickname “FaBulous Cogs”)
Very fun, Axey please keep us up to date on the Cogman for us non-twitter people! I have a crush on both of you !
Two Swords is certainly the best episode 1, need to rewatch it….
cosca,
To be fair the Hound planned on that guy being dead once he was through with him. ‘Dead men don’t need silver’, one of those loopholes đ
Love Cogman doing this. Shame some of the purists can’t help themselves on Twitter.
I hope that this season BCogs uses his block function judiciously. đ Not that people who critique the show don’t have the right to their opinions, but JFC there is something about TEH INTERNETZ (especially twitter, tumblr, etc) that makes people lose their ability to filter and forget that there are other humans on the other side of the screen…
Cogman is one of my top 10 Game of Thrones gems, for sure.
These are great!
Bryan Cogman is a gift to us all.
Loved Cogmans taughts on the episode.
Even more hilarious is the purists raging even at one of the best episodes in the series! That shows just how delusional they truly are.
EDIT; Just realized that this Jon conn red beard, is the same person who told me that I’m ”to stupid, to understand the complexity of AFFC”.
I love this, and I love BCog!
Great read, can’t wait for the rest of Mr Cogmans list.
Great stuff. Plus, Two Swords is truly the best of the premieres. It’s just a killer episode, start to finish.
This was a treat. Bryan Cogman is such a smart and thoughtful guy, in addition to being a great writer. I really enjoyed his insights, especially as related to Oberyn, Alliser Thorne, and Arya. His previous recap of “Fire and Blood” was great as well.
I’m looking forward to seeing what episodes comprise the rest of his list, and getting his commentary on them. Thanks for recapping, Axey!
Far less enjoyable was seeing one of the westeros.org Rant & Rave regulars, someone who I blissfully had not seen or heard from since the last time I visited that website over a year ago, screaming bloody nonsense at him in all caps (and trust me, it was nonsense). I did not appreciate being reminded that person exists.
I feel worse for Cogman, however, because he’s trying to engage with the fans and probably has to deal with this crap every single day.
Really enjoying Mr. Cogman’s own Memory Lane posts. Thank you Bryan!
The Hound/Arya tavern sequence reminded me of Quentin Tarantino-style Western, talky and violent. It’s Hateful Eight, the GoT version. đ
My opinion, Tywin melting down Ice (and burning Ice’s wolf pelt sheath) was the moment he doomed House Lannister.
I’d rank “Winter Is Coming” and “Two Swords” as GoT‘s best episode 1s – well-paced and self-contained stories from start to finish.
I disagree with him on the Three Swords… for me, the two swords of the episode are Ice and Needle already.
Also, Ice being reforged into two swords, sure, but in both ways, I feel like it’s way more “Two” than “Three”.
Otherwise, amazing reading, looking forward to his next recap !
Arkash,
Yeah, I agree. I always took the title as having two distinct meanings depending on which perspective you take (which is why it works so well).
If you look at it from the Lannister perspective, the two swords are Oathkeeper and Widow’s Wail, both of which have been forged from Ned’s melted greatsword, Ice. The birth of two new Valyrian steel swords into the world signifies the dawning of a new era in Westeros post-RW/Wot5K. It’s an era that Tywin believes will be a golden age for his house, one created from the ruin of his enemies. Of course, it won’t prove to be quite that simple.
If you look at it from the Stark perspective, the two swords are Ice and Needle. The former, a greatsword of Valyrian steel, was melted down and destroyed, signifying the fall of House Stark as a major power. The latter, a scrappy blade of regular castle-forged steel, was believed to be lost, but now has been found. This signifies that the Starks are not gone, but that the surviving members of the family are slowly but surely finding their way in the world.
Plus, “Two Swords” just sounds better than “Three Swords”, for some reason. đ
1. David Benioff
2. Nina Gold
3. Ramin Djawadi
4. B-Cog
5. Deborah Riley
6. Michele Clapton
7. Pixomondo
8. David J. Peterson
9. The locationscouting department..
10. The roster of amazing directors. Lower on the list as they’re not as tied to the show as a whole, rather than their own few episodes. But as a group deserve the recognition.
Oh, I just dislike Dan.. and George would be on the list, but he’s apparently busy finishing Winds and I don’t want to disturb him..
HBO please allow this man to make a Robert’s Rebellion series.
I was lucky enough to see Two Swords on the big screen in an early S4 premier. The crowd was so on board and watching this great ep the first time was such a thrill! Thnx to the excellent Mssrs Cogman and Fabiloso for this fun write up
All this talk of two and three swords just reminded me of a completely unrelated line of dialogue: Understanding is a three-edged sword.
Vorlon wisdom never ceases to impress! đ
That cold open is just dripping in atmosphere. The complete lack of dialogue, the amazing music, the dark visuals of Tywin’s triumph. And then the transition into the opening credits/theme… So damn good.
Jared,
The thing that is funny with these people is that they’re obsessed with the show; they actively search for interviews and remarks that they can twist to meet their narrative, and write long rambling and incoherent essays. Look, fair enough not everyone is ever going to like a TV program, but to be that obsessed to follow something you hate (indeed they follow news on the show more than even a lot of the hardcore fans on this site), no I don’t get it. I mean, get a girlfriend.
It’s these sort of people that make you realise why creators do not engage with fans online. I deeply respect all the people involved in GoT, but I can totally understand why they would steer away from social media. Kudos to Cogman for rising above it, despite the vitriol. Sadly, I imagine the vitriol would be even worse if D&D tried to engage with fans online. It is people like this that stop us having nice things.
I don’t know whether to feel pity for them or just to laugh at their stupidity. They’re going to get a big shock when TWOW comes out.
Al Swearengen,
yes please, (assuming D&D want to move on)
Neat to learn they originally planned to have Thorne appear in KL in S2 but scheduling got them.
Also never knew the swordmaster also played the barber.
Feel S3 could have lost a scene or two with Talisa, Robb & Karstark and dedicated it to the plight of the common people as he says was planned, but it worked well here in S4.
Really, really interesting, thank you for posting. I assume his posts on his number 10 pick are easy to find, I’ll take a look.
I found this comment quite interesting: “We made the choice to slow down Aryaâs journey to being a âkilling machineâ as compared to the books”
So is this the journey she is definitely on? I know that’s what we would assume (and some might argue – perhaps Brian Cogman included I don’t know – that she is already there) but it’s interesting to hear one of the writers say this. I guess there’s part of me that hopes Arya will move away from the killing machine / assassin trope…. I find it a little bit cheesy (in both book and show). Anyway, interesting stuff thanks.
Al Swearengen,
George has consistently responded to fans that he would not do a Robert’s Rebellion prequel series. I think ‘Dunk And Egg’ and ‘The Dance Of The Dragons’ are the two most likely.
Now, I wonder who that could be? Lindaaa – The “Valaryian Doom Queen” perhaps đ
A great recap btw by Bryan Cogman
Knight of the Walkers (Formerly Jeb),
It’s poison, pure and simple. Once upon a time, I attempted to provide a rational voice over there (and on other book-centric sites) to balance out some of the hardliners, but it’s a losing battle. And I was lucky – I was never treated poorly and didn’t run afoul of the mods. Then again, I also stuck exclusively to the saner show-only threads like Casting & Speculation, and didn’t directly engage the most vitriolic posters. I had also mostly stopped visiting the site by the time Season 5 started, at which point things reached a new low. Better to cede that corner of the Internet to them, and hope they don’t emerge.
I have never, ever understood the concept of hate-watching something. There is too much good TV (and film and books and hell, fresh air) to waste so much as a second on something I don’t like. I have a slight but genuine respect for people who swear they’re done with something and then actually manage to follow through. Of course, they lose that respect when they proceed to read second-hand coverage of the show and offer their opinions anyway.
Staying off Twitter may be the single smartest decision that Benioff and Weiss have made in their adult lives. Cogman is a brave soul for putting himself out there (and I believe he’s already quit Twitter once, only to come back).
Tyrion Pimpslap,
And they would both make better prequels. GoT will just include too much information/content associated with Robert’s Rebellion, so there wouldn’t be much point. The other two have a lot more potential, although they will never live up to GoT.
Black Raven,
It wasn’t her – Mihnea named the poster in question. I’ve managed to steer clear of the one you speak of, thank God.
Here’s one thing Cogman and I can agree on.
FaBulous that WotW decided to do this! I have read his tweets this morning and I was pleased. Two things he mentioned that I found interesting:
– the riff on “Shane” ending visually – I never thought of it but the moment I read his comment I felt like hitting my forehead and saying: “Duh”
And this:
LOL! I considered Arya’s journey a highlight throughout GoT and I never thought it was too fast or too quick in ASoIaF either, but it is fascinating to see that HE thought the books went through her transition fast. Most readers I know complained that Martin wrote that too slow!
Huh, that’s not bad, Flora! not bad at all *applause*. Tavern scene could definitely resemble a Western type brawl with a bit of Tarantino graphic. And it doesn’t take of from the “Shane walking off into the sunset” when they rode off from the farmer.
#WesternsFTW
This is awesome. I’m looking forward to the rest of his countdown.
It’s nice to know Thorne’s scene from Season 2 was cut because of a scheduling conflict and not for any other reason. It always bothered me. I guess because the actor playing Thorne does such a good job. I would have loved to see him show up with the wight’s hand and interact with Tyrion and the small council.
I bet the same thing happened with Pentos last season. It bugged me that Illyio wasn’t there but it was probably another scheduling conflict and instead of recasting the role they just wrote him out of the script. Good choice.
I agree 100% with this. It was always how I interpreted the title. The two Stark blades bookending the episode. One is lost, and one is found.
Tyrion Pimpslap,
Does George even have a say? Don’t HBO own the rights now?
Jared,
omg I saw one, all caps rudeness stuff
and then he starts having a convo with someone and one of his comments was something like how can you enjoy a show that’s all SHOCK SHOCK TWIST with no real story — my response was “stop watching….”
I don’t get it. why do people insist on watching if they are not enjoying it, and then complaining ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL day.
i know its OT and i dont wanna go there, I just feel bad for Cogman, because he has social media, he gets attacked all the time.
Making prosthetics for season 6 đ
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/inside-game-of-thrones-prosthetics
TormundsWoman,
Thank you! Westerns are one of the most unique genres ever. Oh, and just wanted to add Sam Peckinpah as another reminder in the tavern sequence – he definitely knew how to deliver bloody mayhem in a Western. đ
Good to know that đ
I found the person Mihnea mentioned and the all caps tweet to Cogman full of vitriol! I just find it incredible how book purists expect HBO’s GoT to follow ASOIAF verbatim with budget and time restrictions imposed.
It will be interesting to see what the purists say about S6? WoW still isn’t finished and they will have no reference to the ‘books as a source’ to whinge about now đ
Great idea to condense all of his tweets in a single post, thanks for doing that.
I absolutely loved Two Swords and it would definitely be in my top 10 as well.
Looking forward to the remaining 8 Twitter commentaries.
Oh, that’s easy to predict. Just look at their reaction regarding Shireen’s death and Stannis’s death. They’ll whine that “GRRM would’ve never done that!” and even when it’s revealed that GRRM told the producers it would happen, “He would’ve not done it that way!”
It won’t get better. It’ll only get worse, especially if GoT S6 is as jaw-droppingly awesome as we think it will, and becomes even more popular. That’ll only piss them off even more. Just look at their vitriol when GoT S5 won a record number of Emmys and Best Overall Drama.
I’ve been wondering about this:
…Cogman says Mormont sent a raven to the small council instead. Instead of what? Instead of sending Alliser? I kept imagining Alliser laying that torn off hand at Joffrey’s feet at court. Anyway, I thought Mormont already sent Alliser to King’s Landing. He couldn’t exactly call him back, could he?
Loved the Arya line about nothing not being better or worse than any other thing – nothing is just nothing…paraphrasing. What the heck is she talking about.
But, no matter what Bryan writes, his best and most fervent line will always be “Fuck off”.
Deesensfan,
So they can be victims of the GoT show, perhaps? If only victims desire revenge, in this equation, because watching is voluntary, victimhood isn’t legitimate. That leaves only a desire for revenge with no impetus. And revenge isn’t revenge without impetus; it’s just plain ‘ole aggression.
…
Mihnea,
The pattern of hairs growing around my neighbor’s dogs anus is complex, but I don’t spend my afternoons studying it, and tweeting about it.
And I don’t know if writing is complex – our minds are engineered by evolution to make meaning out of things, spinning out so-called complexity where intrinsically there was none. Sort of the way I’m doing with that person’s comments to you.
I read some of the comments on Bryan Cogman’s Twitter thread. All I can say is … The saltiness of book purists amuses me greatly.
While GoT isn’t without its minor mishaps (the staging of the Jamie / Cersei “non-rape that was actually a rape,” for example) , it is still overall a superbly written and adapted series. And it’s not like the source material itself doesn’t have its own series of mishaps (Brienne’s endless wandering, the whole arc of Quentyn Martell, the “Which was worse: Dorne or Iron Islands?” debate, et al). As far as I’m concerned, Season 5 (and parts of Season 4) did a great job in brutally separating the wheat from the chaff, even if it was not 100% successful (alas, the much-maligned Dorne storyline), and was vastly more entertaining than “A Feast of Crows / A Dance of Dragons” was.
Or, to paraphrase the Hound, “Fuck the Meereenese Knot.”
I used to post a little on westeros.org. There are some good posters, but there is a contingency of the book fan base that is obsessed with picking apart the TV show over every little detail. They even have a “rant and rave” thread which features non stop complaining and where the posters take personal shots at the writers, actors and anybody involved with the production. I’ve read some of the poster in questions posts, and it’s appropriate that his avatar is that of cartoon adolescent because that’s how most of his posts come across. Same goes for many of the group involved in bashing the show, they all come across like spoiled little children who didn’t get what they wanted.
Wonderfully insightful! As a Tarantino fan and counting The Hound as one of my favourite characters, I enjoyed this parallel. *clapping*
I can definitely see the parallels to Western movie tropes. The Hound/Arya bickering has a Butch-and-Sundance vibe to it at times.
Let me add my voice to ladywolfsbane: For those of us who eschew Twitter, please keep passing on these wonderful posts of BCog’s. The insight into the possible scenarios and the decision-making process on what gets adapted and changed is fascinating. Also, it should permanently shut the gobs of those who scream about bad adaptation choices when they have no idea how many variables (actor availability, other adaptation choices, future plans for a character, etc.) that go into each choice (I say “should permanently” fully realizing the folly of such a declaration). And the insights into their thinking when making adaptations, paying homage to classics–perhaps that explains the nearly-universal appeal of GoT: there’s something for everyone to love! Future cinema classes will be studying these episodes.
I hope BCog still occasionally lurks here for some friendly voices when he’s feeling attacked by The Others. *shivers*
Ahem…
His comment about the Arya/Nymeria/Joff/Sansa scene in The Kingsroad? That’s why I was one of few who voted it best episode of season 1. Something about that scene is just incredible. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t pick it just FOR that scene, the rest of the episode was great also. But that scene just edged it. That’s when I knew Arya was my favourite.
I really, really like that episode, and can’t understand why it is generally voted well down in the series. The final scenes, with Arya, Joffrey and Sansa through to the end of the episode with the killing of Lady are excellently conveyed from the book IMO.