Fight Clip Club: Game of Thrones: The Viper and the Mountain

This is what happens when you get too cocky.

I confess to not really ever getting into Game of Thrones. I mean, I liked it fine—followed it idly from season 2 or so up until just before the final season that fans all hated. Nothing wrong with a few boobs and dragons to make for some calming TV in the evenings after a long day. And it put Peter Dinklage on the map—a fine actor and a fun character in this series too. But it was just too soap-opera-y for me, in general. It got too tiring to follow after a while. Also just a bit too far on the mean-spirited and/or rapey side of things, though my taste for nasty stuff like that was a bit more there in the 20-teens than certainly it is now. See my Musing about Sherlock for more reflections on that. 

Having said that, the fight scenes I have seen throughout Game of Thrones have all been pretty gosh darn decent to very good: I’m not a fan so I can’t really tell you more about the fights I’ve noticed than that they obviously have an armourer that knows his weaponry and is having fun with the fantasy setting, and for the most part the choreography is consistently fine to good. One thing I noticed about several of the fights, is that often there’s a considerable size difference between the characters. I’m thinking Brienne and Arya for one (which I may have to break a rule and revisit here in the future), and this fight below the paywall is another one that I feel like is not only well performed physically, but the acting is fantastic too. Let’s check it out together and I’ll tell you what I mean.