What BEST Means: Installment  3.

The V Word.

The next segment of Connington's criteria is VIOLENCE. It's an ultraviolent show; there's no getting around that. Probably if you watch G.O.T. you're drawn to violent entertainment or you have found a way to make your peace with the way these characters inflict and endure grievous bodily harm. Maybe you hide your eyes during skirmishes or battles or wight-attacks. But it's clear that the pulpy fantasy genre and the swords-and-war aspect of the pseudo-medieval time period steer the show toward grievous, explicit, and inventive acts of dismemberment and torture. Any character deemed "best" will probably have some relationship toward violence.

The question is, do we take Violence as a theme or just a component of the show that provides some pulse-pounding gross-out thrills? Certainly in Martin's books we were invited to think about the savagery of the human soul and the violence seems not salacious but genuinely horrifying. For many characters, it is a thing to avoid if at all possible. Whether on the Wall or on the King's Road, the fear of physical violence is a great motivating force and many of the characters are really longing for safety more than anything. But this is not so dramatic, perhaps, for filmmakers. And even in the books there are plenty of characters who revel in the violence, who wield it as their stock in trade. The one time that Martin seems to go gratuitous and cheesy with the physical violence is with Ramsay's torture and mutilation of Theon, and the show follows suit.

In any case, for this category, Ole Connington looks at a given character and asks, does this character help the show explore its "Violence" theme in a dynamic way? We can't go through everyone but let's look at some examples. Does The Hound score a 10? Certainly for me he does, but not just because he is a "badass." (Which he is.) Sandor Clegane is a monster that was made. As a child, he had his face pushed into a fire by his even more brutal brother Gregor, and he was maimed for life. In his case, an act of violence begat the violence he dispenses, and he later tries to atone for it and escape it. He yearns for some kind of human connection outside violence--with Ian McShane's commune, with Sansa, with Dondarrion's Brotherhood--and so he is definitely a perfect 10, Violence-wise. There is nuance there, and complexity. But his brother the Mountain also scores a 10, absent nuance and complexity.

Not all characters have to be personally, physically brutal and savage to score high here. If we are scoring for body count in a single act of violence, Cersei probably wins the day for blowing up the Great Sept of Baelor along with everyone in it.  But it's not like she lit the fuse.  Due to her power she doesn't lift a finger to actually kill the people, she just orders it and smiles and watches and drinks wine. 10 out of 10. For similar reasons, her father is also a 10, as his wielding of violence as a military commander is braided elegantly with his cunning and his great aptitude for the Game.

It's worth mentioning Ned here as well. I don't see Ned winning this bracket but he should certainly score high in lots of categories, including this one. And not just because he is a great warrior, master swordsman, and all that. We are told that he is only good and not great at combat. He is no Robert Baratheon. With Ned, it's not his masterful ability to wield the greatsword Ice that makes him stand out, it's his willingness to wield it, and the way in which he wields it. The opening of the entire series, in book and on HBO, centers on Ned's sense of honor and duty as he grimly and without relish beheads a deserter of the Night's Watch. And later, of course, his own very public beheading punctuates his failed run at the Game. (Sorry for the spoiler, but if you are this deep into my analysis and you don't know that Ned loses his head, what are you doing here? Seriously, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??)

I have lots of 10-out-of-10's in the Violence category, and you probably will, too. It's that kind of show.