What BEST means:  Installment 2.

Acting the Part

Category 2 is Acting. This is the time to take account of the performer’s gifts and the performer’s art. Of course, this category could not exist if we were discussing the novels. But it’s a TV show, and once upon a time these real human people were cast in these roles, and each of them had to figure out what to do with the lines, and how to behave as the fake people with weird names they’d been hired to portray.

This is another crucial category because even if a character is the “best” character in the pages of the book or the pages of the script, that means BUPKUS on this bracket if you don’t like the actor. So to play this bracket game like a Connington, give each actor a point value on a scale of 1-10.  If you’re like me, your mind will toggle through the faces of these performers, and the creative choices they made over the years, and you’ll reflect that this show was remarkably well-cast. But, if you’re like me, you’ll also wince and cringe and grit your teeth at the weak links in the cast.

For instance, I know people who simply CAN. NOT. DEAL. with Peter Dinklage’s warbling, quasi-English accent. These people will ask: if all of the actors playing Stark progeny worked so hard to mimic Sean Bean/Eddard Stark’s Northern England accent, why couldn’t Dinklage do the technical work necessary to speak with the impeccable clipped tones of the estimable Charles Dance’s Tywin Lannister? Lena Headey’s Cersei offers a fair approximation, but her accent work is, to me, among the least of her gifts. Ole Connington maintains Dinklage is still great. And Headey has been under-served by the writing, over-exposed on camera, and hers will be one of the more compelling post-Thrones careers. Before we move on from accents let’s pause to throw some shade on Aiden Gillen‘s laughable, ever-changing pronunciations as Petyr Baelish. Let’s also frown and shake our heads in disapproval at his lazy, vacant line readings--especially towards the end of his character’s run.

So this category is big but it isn’t everything. As I write this late in the evening on May 6, I have seen Davos Seaworth surge in today’s bracket analytics. Do you think that’s because the character has had a lot of complexity and growth, and Davos has been a really crucial and dynamic character? Can’t be, because he’s not that complex, crucial, or dynamic. It’s got to be the gravitas and charisma of Irish actor Liam Cunningham. That’s the kind of thing that can’t be taught or coached. Sure, Cunningham has training and great technical prowess, but he’s also got a special kind of undeniable onscreen appeal. This is different from those who are gifted with boundless handsomeness (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime) or divinely sculpted cheekbones (Headey), or a remarkable ability to snarl and pout in the same moment (Jack Gleeson as Joffrey.) All this to say that Cunningham’s Davos is appealing as hell but he ain’t going to the big dance.

Okay—they all get a rating, but who’s the best? It’s not one actor, it’s two. Hint: they played a married couple. By now you’ve realized I’m talking about Sean Bean, and about Michelle Fairley, who played Catelyn Stark. They are hands-down the very best actors that have passed through the show --- unless you count Maisie Williams’ portrait of Arya Stark --- which of course you must. Bean and Fairley are great but Williams is even better. True, Williams got more moments, more scenes, and more screen time with which to paint her portrait, but best is best and she was (is) the best. That said, the North remembers Bean and Fairley. Was there ever a more G.O.T. bit of acting than Bean’s grim visage when it hits him that his refusal to play the Game will cost him everything? It’s tied with Catelyn’s anguished rasp as she pleads with her son Robb to honor his promises.

For the record, Dinklage scored a 10 on my sheet, even given his “accent,” and so did Sophie Turner. Nines included Christie, Hivju, Flynn, Cunningham, and Hill. The complete list of my Acting 10’s is: Dance, Dinklage, Bean, Turner, Headey, Rigg, Williams, and Fairley. Don’t @ me.