Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

This week we were treated to a play in three acts that I like to call "Save Tyrion's Ass". Act I starts with Jaime chewing out his brother for throwing out the deal that he made for him. Tyrion was never really interested in that anyways, and took much more delight in ruining his father's long con. The act closes with Jaime confessing that he can't fight anymore and Tyrion is left hoping that the increasingly absent Bronn will help him out.

I like how Tyrion's scenes in this episode follow a three-act structure. It's just one example of the amazing skill that the writers have. They are often required to remind viewers who people are and remind them of past events that are about to be relevant to the story. This is often accomplished in the opening of the show, sometimes with semi-awkward scenes like when Dontos gave Sansa the necklace, but sometimes it's just done very subtly and elegantly.

The Hound and Arya have been having the best scenes of the season, and really this was the best one. Many props go to Rory McCann, who has not had a whole lot to say at times, but was amazing when he started talking about his brother. This piece of writing, delivered so well, accomplished two things. It was another step in the relationship between Arya and the Hound, but it also reminded the audience of The Mountain (his brother). Maybe I'm just a history fan, but I could listen to these characters tell stories about their past all day.

Anyway, back to "Save Tyrion's Ass", Act II. Bronn finally shows up, only to tell Tyrion that there's finally been a higher bidder. This is, regardless of the outcome, an excellent way for them to say goodbye to each other. It also follows the three act structure because it just gets worse for Tyrion, now that he actually has to just picture himself fighting the mountain.

Much to Tyrion's surprise, his third visitor is Oberyn Martell. Oberyn arrived in King's Landing seeking vengeance, and now it's as close as it's ever been. He volunteers to be Tyrion's champion, more for the chance to kill Gregor Clegane than because he wants to fight for Tyrion. It doesn't really matter to Tyrion, as he now has a chance, and that's all he was hoping for in the first place.

Game of Thrones excels at showing and developing relationships between characters. We've been blessed with several buddy comedies this season, perhaps lead by Arya & the Hound (Little Wolf & Big Dog?). My favorite relationship (this one is well established, think of the prequel opportunities), and perhaps best source of comedy, is between Davos and his Pirate friend Salladhor Saan. Their scene in the baths where Salladhor is telling a joke that everyone has heard before reminded me that the show has its lighter moments that are still meaningful to the story.

This is of course, is followed by a failed jailbreak of Theon, due in no small part that Reek (Reek, Reek, my name is Reek) did not want to go. Then we get right on to dragons having a nice goat lunch. Daenerys is presented with the charred bones from the farmer who now has nothing. The writers are quick to remind you that the show has a lot of darkness at its core.

There is both light and darkness in every character, some just have different ratios than others. It's not that the show is a dark show; it's that it's realistic. That point is driven home by the fact that the first scene of the episode took place at a bank. That's definitely a setting you don't often see in most fantasy, ok, other than Discworld.

Back in King’s Landing, we’re treated to our first small council meeting in quite some time. There are a few new faces, two of them basically opposites of each other. Mace Tyrell can’t stop brown-nosing Tywin Lannister and Prince Oberyn had a late night last night. He seems like the kind of person who has a lot of late nights. Hopefully we have many fun small council meetings in the future, as Oberyn seems to relish in making people uncomfortable and certainly does not follow anyone’s rules.

Finally, we are treated to Tyrion just losing his cool. He’s told, after a break in his trial, that he will be granted a chance to take the black if he pleads guilty and asks for mercy. Tyrion, of course, doesn’t trust this as the last person to take this offer wound up a head shorter (Ned Stark).

Back up a second and understand why Tyrion does wind up losing his cool. He never expected to receive a fair trial, but the parade of people telling lies and half-truths was laid on pretty thick. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the ultimate betrayal by Shae. She had been very hurt by his repeated attempts to dismiss him, though it had seemed that he got through finally and Bronn told him that she was on a ship. Clearly, this was not the case as she delivered the most damning testimony of the trial.

Shae’s testimony is basically the nail in the coffin and causes Tyrion to snap. In one of the best speeches of the entire show, he spits a lifetime of hate back into his father’s face and throws a wrench into everyone’s plans. By demanding Trial by Combat, he single handedly ruins all of his father’s current plans for the family. He’s either going to be exonerated by a victory, thus not forcing Jaime to leave the kings guard, or be killed and basically the same result happens for Jaime. Either way, Tyrion uses his wits to roll the dice one last time on his life and Tywin is left with no real prospects for the future of House Lannister.

It seems like we've had several "First of His Name" characters over the past season and a half. Most notably, of course, is Joffrey "Baratheon". This week it's his brother, Tommen. Tommen is a boy who, despite being spawned from the evil Cersei Lannister, really seems like a good kid. Maybe that's why he doesn't get a lot of screen time. He's boring, he's nice, he's what a king should be, really. In spite of (because of?) all this, a world like Game of Thrones will just chew him up and spit him out by the end of next episode.

Everything is very low key this time around. Tommen's coronation is a simple ceremony that takes place at Baelor's (I still can't get enough of that awesome set) and it seems that most things will be a very different tone now that Joffrey is gone. Tywin and Cersei, in discussing Tommen's probable marriage to Margaery Tyrell, mention that there will be no jousting dwarves, no 77-course meals and in doing so also provide a nice tip of the hat to book readers.

We meet up with everyone's favorite new character, Oberyn Martell, who is, of course, writing poetry out on the castle grounds. Must be nice to be a filthy rich renaissance man. Oberyn and Cersei then take a tour of the gardens, basically so she can butter up another judge. Cersei seems to do her best to cozy up to both judges, appealing to each judges' (Oberyn and Tywin) biggest source of pride. You can see that all of her drinking is starting to take a toll, as she's no longer a subtle manipulator anymore, but far too direct for her attempts to have any real effect. I do like that they take this opportunity to show us, once again, how beautiful Dubrovnik, Croatia is.

Michelle MacLaren (of Breaking Bad directing fame) directed this episode, as well as last week's "Oathkeeper". This week, we were treated to a great long distance shot in basically every single outdoor scene. The producers and HBO have really hit their stride in this show, churning out high quality episode one after another. Every episode has plenty of eye candy for everyone, from the sets to the costumes to the locations they shoot in.

The setting is fantastic, but it would be nothing without a great story. As we catch up with some, but not all of the other stories outside of Kings Landing, we're treated to yet another budding buddy comedy in Brienne and Podrick. Podrick is the same as he's always been, very aloof but loyal as hell and he tries as hard as anybody. He finally wins the respect of Brienne when he recounts the events of the Battle of the Blackwater when he saved Tyrion. Brienne's scenes in big camps and in the city are really sort of awkward, which seems in character. She's best on the road, and with her mission and her new sword, she is in her element.

First a little background: HBO's new dramatic series, The Leftovers, was created by Tom Perrotta (who wrote the novel The Leftovers upon which this series is based) and Damon Lindelof (of Lost fame among other TV and movie projects). In a nutshell, the series is about the daily goings-on of a modern day world that has been affected by the sudden disappearance of 2% of its population with no apparent conclusions that can be made based on the demographics of those people that have vanished. Having never read Perrotta's novel I am completely in the dark about the story-line here and where these characters and events may take us. Which is a good thing. I was an avid watcher of Lindelof's Lost, but I am glad that in this case The Leftovers is based (however loosely) on pre-existing source material.. so hopefully that means less smoke monster and a more well-defined story arc.

"Pilot" starts us off at a laundromat when the 'event' occurs and we play witness to one mother's perspective as her baby suddenly vanishes from the car seat she had just placed into the back seat of the car. This kind of vicious, rending emotional scene seems to be a theme for this episode, if not for the entire series. I do appreciate how we are introduced to the impact that this inexplicable phenomenon has made upon people not on a chaotic, global scale but in the smallest possible way. In one person's life. And as I mentioned previously, The Leftovers really succeeds in pushing all of the buttons available - squeezing out every last drop of grief, sentiment and sympathy from its characters and viewers alike. Perhaps this is a problem, though, because in order to appreciate the emotional depths to which this show wants to sink we should also tip the other side of the scale and add some lighter colors to the palette. Does this series need a Hurley? Maybe not, but hopefully we're treated to at least a glimmer of hope in the next few episodes!

Justin Theroux excels in his role as Kevin Garvey, the police chief in Mapleton, who seems to be in a great deal of emotional distress. If the events of the series premiere are any indication, the whole series will likely gravitate in some way around his family. Kevin currently lives with his daughter, Jil (played by relatively new actress Margaret Qualley), and we learn toward the end of the episode that his wife, Laurie, has at some point in the last 3 years become a member of the organization known as the Guilty Remnant. This cult-like group's members dress in all white clothing, constantly smoke cigarettes and travel around the local neighborhood in same-sex pairs, shadowing certain people that seem especially troubled and had members of their immediate family disappear in the big event that occurred on October 14th three years ago. There is also another organization somewhere nearby Mapleton in a secured compound that centers around someone called Wayne. In this episode, a congressman who has heard of Wayne's restorative or healing powers (or something of the like, we're not quite sure yet) pays a hefty sum of money to be taken to this compound and talk to Wayne. A very enigmatic character, surely a little more information will leak out each episode about Wayne and his abilities and purpose.

Kevin Garvey flashes back at one point to what appears to be an emotional breakdown that he had after the event on October 14th. Throughout "Pilot", Kevin is confronted with a stag: at one point he sees the stag in a row of bushes and then looks back to see that it has disappeared. Soon afterwards he has a strange dream featuring the same animal, and then at the end of the episode we see what appears to be that same stag again being devoured by a pack of wild dogs. At this point the strange character Dean (played by notable character actor Michael Gaston) who Kevin has been chasing after appears and says "These are not our dogs", a line that goes back to a scene at the very beginning of the episode where Dean pulls up and shoots a dog in front of Kevin, who screams "You cannot kill our fucking dogs!" after him as he pulls away in his truck. Is Kevin hallucinating the stag, or is he having a vision much like the one that Wayne from the compound has with his son in it earlier in the episode? These scenes allude to something much more interesting and larger than we can currently imagine. It appears that animals are going to play a large role here as imagery and in fact, the next episode is titled 'Penguin One, Us Zero'. Come on Damon, no penguins please!  

Beautifully directed by Peter Berg, "Pilot" is full of close shots and interesting perspectives that keep us attached to the characters and maintains the tense atmosphere from start to finish. Mapleton, the suburb in which all of this takes place, is written as a microcosm of the world so we can watch events unfold with a smaller perspective - but it also begs the question as to whether or not things like the Guilty Remnant and the compound with Wayne the prophet have a worldwide reach or if they exist only in a few small communities like Mapleton. In any case, this was a great series premiere that looks as though it will lead to a multi-season show with many story arcs. Although a little bleak to start, I'm confident that this show will paint with a larger emotional palette as we move on past the obligatory initial character development and the actors really slip into their character's skins.