We have a major category for you all to vote on today: Best Dramatic Scene of season 4. There were dozens of nominees in the preliminary round for this award but the five strongest contenders were clear in the polling results.
Some of the nominated scenes could’ve been predicted by savvy ASOIAF readers, but the show also has surprised us with their own well-received twists on the story. We’re spoiled for choice, really.
And so, here are your five nominees for Best Dramatic Scene:
Oberyn visits Tyrion’s jail cell, and the Imp finds a champion.
Grenn & his Night’s Watch brothers say their vows as Mag the Mighty charges the gate
Tyrion goes on trial for his life
The Red Viper fights the Mountain
Joffrey dies at the Royal Wedding
You have one vote, so choose wisely! The poll will be open for 48 hours, until 9/30/14, at 3PM Eastern Time.
Arya (and the hound) from Episode 1?
Hodor!
Tyrion finding his champion. Easily better than his trial monologue (although that’s great as well), and the other three are more ‘best death’ contenders.
I can’t believe the Hound’s “death” didn’t make it on here…argghh! Twas a beautiful scene!
Deekan,
If you look at the polling results linked, you can see the Hound’s last scene came in sixth place. It was a close one.
The best scene didn’t make the finals (Hound from The Children).
Sue the Fury,
Awww, that’s SO close! Scene gave me manly tears!
I voted for the one that left me with the strongest feels. That was Tyrions trialspeech. I actually shook and sort of sniggered throughout most of it.
Had to vote for Grenn holds the gate seen as the Hound scene isn’t there.
Honestly of all those here Grenn’s hold the gate moment affected me the most but since i already voted for him at best death I am gonna go Oberyn
In the absence of any Hound/Arya scenes, I have to choose “Tyrion goes on trial for his life”, which was to be fair stonkingly good.
Oberyn and Tyrion jail cell conversation
Grenn’s scene at the gate was amazing, gave me chills, but I still gotta give it to Oberyn’s fight with the Mountain.
Yara’s campaign had more votes than Missandei and Grey Worm, YAS!
I am flabbergasted that the Missandei/Grey Worm scene from Oathkeeper got only 5 votes. I was one of them.
I have to choose the Oberyn/Tyrion visit. Powerful, moving scene.
Deekan,
Yeah, that’s fu**ed. And a sad commentary. Thanks Sue, for mentioning it fell out at #6.
I’m bouncing back and forth between the trial scene and the cell scene.
I’ll give it to the cell scene because I’ll be voting for Alfie and not Pedro in the supporting actor category, he still deserves a lot of love. But Dinklage in the trial was some of the most intense dialogue I’ve ever seen on TV
This is what GoT does best. Pedro’s first filmed scene (as reported before) floored me.
The Hound and Arya from “The Children” was the best dramatic scene. Period. Rory rocked the desperation, anger, regret and contempt. Maisie was a rock. Not a flicker of emotion. Just stunning stuff.
But from the above, gotta go with Grenn and the boys. I’m a sucker for The Oath any time I hear it. Nice writing on this one!
I picked Oberyn’s speech. For some reason, the part that really moved me wasn’t when he told Tyrion that he will be his champion, but when he said, “This is not a monster. It’s just a baby.” Of course, if Arya leaves the Hound had made it, I would have definitely voted for that.
I voted for Tyrion trial, but it is not just for his speech, it is for whole amazing sequence from the moment Shae entered till the end of the episode.
Oberyn in Tyrion’s cell. The others are great but I think this one relied more on the acting than the actual event taking place.
Oberyn and Tyrion in the cell here, even if Tyrion’s speech is very close.
And Grenn and the other Watchers too and also the Viper VS the Mountain UGH they’re all so beatifully done it’s hard to choose!
Seven Hells, I feel like each of the five nominees deserves my vote. Im probably in the minority but in the end I went for the duel between the Mountain and my sweet sweet Red Viper. I thought that was Pedro at his best, you can feel the pain and anger in his voice and him pointing at Tywin while screaming “Who gave you the order” sends shivers down my spine every time.
The conversation between Oberyn and Tyrion was the best scene of the show this year, in my opinion, so that gets my vote.
Tyrions trial speech was the best imo. All very good scenes
The Hounds final scene was the most dramatic.
PS all those who didn’t vote for the Hounds final scene can go suck their own.
Oberyn/Tyrion in the cell. Fantastic scene.
This was an easier choice than I expected, since my other favorites, Sandor’s “dying” scene and the Jon/Mance parley, did not make it.
ETA: A look at the preliminary results reminds me how many great dramatic scenes were there in season 4.
Show someone who has never seen the series (/read the books) these five scenes, and I’m sure which would be the one that makes them want to watch the entire thing… Tyrion’s trial scene all the way! (I thought it would be the clear-cut winner, but it isn’t so far going by the comments)
I had to go with Tyrion’s trial. Some of the scenes that made it were death and/or fight scenes. There was no violence or death in this scene but it punched me in the gut just as much as Ned’s death or the RW did. This scene should have gotten Peter Dinklage an Emmy and it will be the reason he’ll get my vote for best actor this season.
WeirwoodTreeHugger,
He was really good in the trial scene, but I was even more impressed by his acting in the Oberyn scene, particularly his facial expressions as he’s listening to Oberyn’s story.
Once again, and this might be my fav scene of the entire season :
“Grenn and Mag.
“Mag and Grenn.”
I voted for Oberyn Visits Tyrion’s Cell. He was fantastic in it, and so was the filming ( ray of light illuminating him as he says ‘I will be your champion’ )
Three affected me most: Oberyn’s scene with Tyrion, Tyrion’s trial, and Grenn’s men at the gate. Each one sent shivers down my spine, each one had me thinking about it long after the show. But this is what amazed me watching the scene again:
Annara Snow,
I didn’t notice his face when I first watched the scene, I was focusing more on Oberyn’s words. Seeing it this time, seeing the tears welling up, trying to hold it together – Yeah, I think thats it.
Joffrey’s death is fantastic. As I’ve said before, Jack Gleeson was a real gem for this show. So hateful and awful and yes, there’s one moment, where he looks at Margaery, where he plays it so perfect, because he realizes at that moment he’s done for, and he’s so terrified all at once because he can’t believe what’s happening to him, and you feel bad for the little jerk at that time. You do actually sort of feel bad! Just insane. It’s fifth place in this for me!
Then there’s Oberyn vs. the Mountain. Which is also so great. Some have issues with it as a fight scene, and I can see it a little (just a little) but it works so well as a dramatic showcase for Pedro Pascal, who elevates his repetition of “You raped her,” going louder each time, that you really get a sense of how he’s gone from toying with the Mountain to really, really pissed off. And then it all ends. Wow. Fourth Place. And I’ve put both these two scenes behind the sixth-place Arya leaving the Hound scene.
Tyrion’s trial is one super-powerful moment, because I’m a big fan any time the show manages to end an episode with a dramatic moment that doesn’t involve a random (or planned) act of violence. This one stands with “Kissed by Fire” as the best example of those – the two of them just glowering at each other is awesome. So much of this has been about this relationship (and heck with any of you who seem to think Tyrion didn’t have any motivation to kill his father).
And I’m always a sucker for recitations of the Night’s Watch vow. (In fact, the entire Qhorin Halfhand arc could have been saved with just one scene of him asking Jon to say the vows with him. I’m totally convinced of this.) Grenn and the brothers saying it as Mag the Mighty charges gets me every time.
But it isn’t my winner. (I voted for Grenn for best death instead.) My winner is the conversation. It’s a testament to the talents of D&D that they often make the most memorable moments of this show – Sansa’s confession, Robert & Cersei’s conversation, Davos and Shireen, Yoren and Arya, many of Bronn & Tyrion’s moments, Varys and Littlefinger – standoffs between two people or dialogues between two people. Oberyn and Tyrion’s talk does a great job of taking some of GRRM’s writing and shifting it to a quieter scene rather than a more bombastic moment (Oberyn saying this as an intro wouldn’t have worked), and then adding their own flourishes. Pascal’s great. Dinklage is great, almost all reactions. It’s my winner. (Any of my top 3 are worthy though.)
“I disagree. I’ve come to the perfect place.”
Did you ever post the results from the best one-liner prelim?
I voted for the Oberyn/Tyrion cell scene. It was just so beautifully acted from start to finish. Especially when Oberyn is describing the first time he met Tyrion. Maybe I’m biased because I loved the scene in the book, but it’s just so moving. Plus, they could have not picked more perfect actors to perform that scene. I’m tearing up just thinking about it.
Went with cell conversation.
Would’ve been kinda hard to decide this if I hadn’t voted for Grenn at best death already…
I voted for Grenn holding the gate. It should be either that or Tyrion and Oberyn talking. Those are far better than the other three.
The overlap with other categories is a little awkward, as others have noted, although it probably can’t be helped. I voted Grenn & Co for Best Death, part of me wants to vote that again so it wins at least once. But Oberyn visiting Tyrion in the cell is the best scene of these five, and a big reason Mockingbird was my favorite episode, so it gets my vote.
Hmm.. this was so hard. I wanted to go with the Viper’s duel, or Grenn’s last stand because those were so good. But they feel too short, to deserve “Best Dramatic Scene”.
So I went with Tyrion’s trial.
One of Pascal’s scenes, but which one?!
Since The Hound “dying” didn’t make the cut (the entire 8 minutes of the battle to “death” to Arya walking away was some of the best this show has ever produced), I went with Tyrion’s trial. PD was never better then he was in that moment.
I voted for the Purple Wedding, but am second guessing not choosing Oberyn and Tyrion in the cell. Damn, this was tough. I should have voted for the cell scene, which was my second favorite of the season(The Hound/Arya inn scene).
Tyrion on trial…no contest! Peter Dinklage knocks it out of the park every year!
i can’t believe there is no Jojen death scene OR Bran and bloodraven scene…