Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things

"Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"
Game of Thrones episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 4
Directed by	Brian Kirk
Written by	Bryan Cogman
Featured music	Ramin Djawadi
Cinematography by	Marco Pontecorvo
Editing by	Frances Parker
Production code	104
Original air date	May 8, 2011 (2011-05-08)
Running time	56 minutes
Guest stars
Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin Conleth Hill as Lord Varys Jerome Flynn as Bronn Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne Jamie Sives as Jory Cassel Ron Donachie as Rodrik Cassel Francis Magee as Yoren Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy Dominic Carter as Janos Slynt Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle Gethin Anthony as Lord Renly Baratheon Emun Elliot as Marillion Susan Brown as Septa Mordane Margaret John as Old Nan John Bradley as Samwell Tarly Mark Stanley as Grenn Josef Altin as Pyp Luke McEwan as Rast Conan Stevens as Gregor Clegane Amrita Acharia as Irri Roxanne McKee as Doreah Kristian Nairn as Hodor Jefferson Hall as Hugh of the Vale Joe Dempsie as Gendry Andrew Wilde as Tohbo Mott Callum Wharry as Tommen Baratheon Aimee Richardson as Myrcella Baratheon Kevin Keenan as Bracken Knight Ryan McKenna as Whent Knight Patrick Ryan as Frey Knight Suzie Kelly as Masha Heddle
Episode chronology
← Previous "Lord Snow" Next → "The Wolf and the Lion"
Game of Thrones (season 1) List of Game of Thrones episodes

"Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" is the fourth episode of the HBO medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones, first aired on May 8, 2011. It was written by Bryan Cogman and directed by Brian Kirk.^[1]

The plot revolves around Eddard Stark's investigation into the sudden death of his predecessor as Hand of the King. Meanwhile, Jon Snow defends a new recruit at the Wall and Viserys feels increasingly frustrated after the Dothraki horde arrives at Vaes Dothrak.

The title comes from a quote from the original book, spoken by Tyrion Lannister after he unexpectedly helps Bran Stark by providing a saddle design that will allow him to ride despite his paraplegia: "I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things".

Plot

At King's Landing

Lord Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) begins his covert inquiry into the death of the previous Hand. Questioning Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover), who tended him in his final days, he learns that Jon Arryn's last words were "the seed is strong" and that he was reading a book titled "The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms".

Helped by Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen) and his net of informers, he follows up on two more clues regarding the last days of his predecessor. He questions a smith's apprentice that Jon Arryn had visited in his last days and, due to his resemblance to King Robert, he deduces that the boy is the late king's bastard son. He also tries to obtain information from Jon's former squire, but the now-knighted former squire is killed while jousting at the tourney held in Eddard's honor. The knight responsible for this is Ser Gregor Clegane (Conan Stevens), also known as "the Mountain" due to his towering size. He is a Lannister bannerman and the Hound Sandor Clegane's brother.

Across the Narrow Sea

The Dothraki horde arrives at the city of Vaes Dothrak. Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) is upset that Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) has still not given him command of an army to conquer the Seven Kingdoms as was agreed upon when Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) married Drogo. When he misinterprets the summons of his sister as an order, he becomes angry and strikes her. For the first time, Daenerys fights back and threatens her brother that the next time he raises a hand against her will be the last time he has hands. Later, the exiled knight Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) tells her that Viserys' inexperience would not make him a good leader to invade Westeros and bring them home, and despite what Viserys believes, the people of the Seven Kingdoms do not care who rules them as long as their life is good.

At the Wall

The Night's Watch receives Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), a new recruit who rapidly becomes the center of bullying of the master-at-arms Ser Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale). Sam is fat, cowardly and clumsy, but was forced by his father to take the Black and forsake his inheritance because he considered him unworthy; else, his father would kill him and pass his death off as a hunting accident. Jon Snow (Kit Harington) defends Sam and convinces the rest of the recruits not to harm him, much to Alliser's rage. Alliser defends his treatment as life north of the Wall is very harsh especially during Winter, and warns Jon and Sam to toughen up or they will have no chance of survival.

In the North

Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) stops at Winterfell as he is returning to King's Landing after his visit to the Wall. But he gets a cold welcoming by the acting Lord Robb Stark (Richard Madden), who suspects the Lannisters are behind his younger brother's fall and subsequent murder attempt. Despite the cold reception, Tyrion shows the now crippled Bran an act of kindness by giving him blueprints for a saddle that will allow him to ride again despite his paralysis. Before he leaves Winterfell, Tyrion has a talk with Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) a ward of House Stark, and mocks him on how his family and their land, the Iron Islands attempted a rebellion but failed and the fact Theon is now a "hostage" to the Stark family.

Further south, Tyrion and his small retinue stop to spend the night at the Inn at the Crossroads. There he recognizes Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) in disguise. With her cover blown, she requests the help of her father's bannermen present at the inn to seize Tyrion, and to face a trial.

Production

Writing

"Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" is the first episode of the series that was not written by the show creators and executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The script was authored by writer Bryan Cogman, based on George R. R. Martin's original work.

"Thankfully, when the opportunity came for a script to be written, the guys said, well, no one knows these characters better than Bryan—lets give him a try! I thought it was just an exercise when David came up and asked if I wanted to take a crack for episode four, I said, "Oh! Well, that's nice, trying to give me something to do."

We were doing post-production on the pilot then and I didn't have quite as much to do around that time, so I thought it was a nice gesture. So I went home and wrote it and turned it in and then they said, "Well, that's it, that's episode 4."

— Bryan Cogman, interviewed by Westeros.org^[2]

According to his interview with Elio Garcia posted at Westeros.org, Cogman worked on Game of Thrones's pilot as a writing assistant and was contracted for the full series as script-editor and the unofficial "keeper of the mythos" for the show, entrusted with the task of writing the series bible outlining character and background information, and making sure that the world-building remained consistent. In this capacity, he was approached by Benioff and Weiss, who asked him to write a treatment for the fourth episode. Believing it was only an exercise that would be completely rewritten by another professional writer, he completed the script that ended up being episode 4.^[2]

The chapters of the book covered in this episode are Bran IV (less the first few pages that were included in the previous episode), Eddard V, Jon IV, Eddard VI, Catelyn V, Sansa II, Daenerys IV (chapters 25-30 and 37). Among the scenes created for the show, there are the conversations between Theon and Tyrion, Sansa and Septa Mordane, Doreah and Viserys, Jory Cassel and Jaime, Jon and Samwell and Eddard Stark and Cersei. The character of Alliser Thorne is given some more depth by justifying his harshness towards the new recruits, and a more subdued version of Bran's dream is included.^[3]

Casting

This episode introduces the character of Samwell Tarly, the new recruit of the Night's Watch, self-described as a coward. The part was cast with John Bradley, as the actor's first professional casting after graduating from the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre. The scene used in the auditions belonged to "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things", with Sam explaining to Jon how his father forced him to take the black. According to author and executive producer George R. R. Martin, Bradley delivered "a heartbreaking performance".^[4]

Australian actor Conan Stevens, whose official website lists his height as 214 cm (7' 1/4" ft),^[5] first appears as the gigantic knight Gregor Clegane, known as "the Mountain". Conan Stevens had sought to join the production since HBO started developing Game of Thrones. Since the character of Gregor Clegane, the role he believed he was most fitted for, did not appear in the pilot he auditioned for the role of Khal Drogo instead in the hopes of getting noticed by the casting team. Indeed, although Khal Drogo's role went to Jason Momoa, Stevens was ultimately chosen for the part of the oldest Clegane brother.^[6]

Other recurring roles making their first appearance in the episode include Dominic Carter as Janos Slynt, Jerome Flynn as sellsword Bronn, and Joe Dempsie as the smith's apprentice Gendry. The character of Gendry was made older for the series than he appears in the books.^[7]

Filming locations

The scenes of the Tourney of the Hand were filmed at the grounds of Shane's Castle.

The episode was shot at Belfast's studio The Paint Hall and on location through Northern Ireland: The scenes taking place at the grounds of Castle Black continued to be filmed at the large exterior set built on the abandoned quarry of Magheramorne, the grounds of the ruined Shane's Castle were used as the location of the tournament, and the area known as the Sandy Brae, at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, was used for the entrance to Vaes Dothrak.^[8]

Other

During the scene in the bathtub where Viserys recalls the old Targaryen dragons, he lists names taken from the books (Balerion, Meraxes and Vhagar) and others invented for the show. Among them a dragon called Vermithrax is mentioned, which is an homage to Vermithrax Pejorative from the 1981 film Dragonslayer.^[9] Author George R. R. Martin once ranked the film the fifth best fantasy movie of all time, and called Vermithrax "the best dragon ever put on film", and the one with "the coolest dragon name as well".^[10]

Reception

Ratings

"Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"'s first airing was seen by 2.5 million viewers, a slight increase from the previous episode's 2.4 million. Including the repeat, the night's viewers totalled 3.1 million, which was also in line with the previous week's ratings.^[11]

In the UK, the viewership increased significantly, rising to 628,000 viewers from 510,000 the previous week.^[12]

Critical response

"Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" was received positively by critics. Todd VanDerWerff from the A.V. Club gave it an A-,^[13] and Maureen Ryan from AOL TV rated it with a 70 out of 100.^[14]

VanDerWerff stated this was his favorite episode of the show so far, "an hour that simultaneously feels more propulsive and more relaxed than the last three". He admitted that the better part of it was given to exposition, with many monologues by the characters to expose their motivations and background. In his opinion, though, it was done skillfully and efficiently.^[13] IGN's Matt Fowler wrote that it was another great, exposition-heavy episode and that the best, most unexpected scene, happened between Viserys and Doreah in the bath was not in the novel. ^[15]

Out of the different storylines, many critics singled out the scenes on the Wall as the best. Myles McNutt from Cultural Learnings wrote that "Jon Snow’s time at the Wall is maybe my favorite central location of those introduced early in the series, and it is in large part due to the work done in this episode", ^[16] and Maureen Ryan stated that "they're exceptionally well acted and written. John Bradley is a great addition as Samwell Tarley, and I continue to be very impressed with Kit Harington's quietly charismatic performance as Jon."^[17] Besides the acting and the writing, both agreed that one of the reasons the Night's Watch scenes worked for them is that it was easy to connect with the story of a group of raw recruits bonding under a hard-nosed trainer who tries to prepare them to face great danger.

The closing scene was praised by HitFix's Alan Sepinwall, highlighting Michelle Fairley's acting as Catelyn gathers new allies to arrest Tyrion.^[18]

References

1. ^ "Episode Guide". Winter is Coming.net. http://winter-is-coming.net/features/episode-guide/. Retrieved May 5, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Garcia, Elio (March 31, 2011). "Interview with Bryan Cogman". Westeros.org. http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/4971/. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
3. ^ Garcia, Elio. "EP104: Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things". Westeros.org. http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Episodes/Entry/Cripples_Bastards_and_Broken_Things/Book_Spoilers/. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
4. ^ Martin, George R.R.. "Two For the Watch". Not a Blog. http://grrm.livejournal.com/161485.html. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
5. ^ Stevens, Conan. "Conan Stevens Biography". conanstevens.com. http://www.conanstevens.com/biography.html. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
6. ^ Stevens, Conan. "Ser Gregor Clegane I Am". conanstevens.com. http://www.conanstevens.com/acting-movies-tv-film/tall-actor-blog/ser-gregor-clegane-i-am.html. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
7. ^ Martin, George R.R.. "Take a Bow". Not a Blog. http://grrm.livejournal.com/173074.html. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
8. ^ "FAQ". Winter is Coming.net. http://winter-is-coming.net/features/faq/. Retrieved May 11, 2011. 
9. ^ Garcia, Elio. "Easter Eggs for the Fans". Suvudu. http://suvudu.com/2011/05/easter-eggs-for-the-fans.html?ref=twt_Suvudu_stream. Retrieved June 24, 2011. 
10. ^ "George R.R. Martin's Top 10 Fantasy Films". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/04/11/george-rr-martin-game-of-thrones-writers-top-10-fantasy-films.html. Retrieved June 24, 2011. 
11. ^ Hibberd, James. "'Game of Thrones' ratings rise again". Enterntainment Weekly. http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/10/game-of-thrones-ratings-rise-again/. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 
12. ^ Laughlin, Andrew. "TV ratings roundups". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a318691/strangeways-locks-up-55m-on-itv1.html/. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 
13. ^ ^{a b} VanDerWerff, Todd. "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things". A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/cripples-bastards-and-broken-things,55721/. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 
14. ^ Ryan, Maureen. "Review: With 'Game of Thrones,' HBO Attempts to Live the Fantasy". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/04/13/game-of-thrones-hbo-attempts-fantasy-review/. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 
15. ^ Fowler, Matt. "Game of Thrones: "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/116/1165400p1.html. Retrieved May 8, 2011. 
16. ^ McNutt, Myles. "Game of Thrones – "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"". Cultural Learnings. http://cultural-learnings.com/2011/05/08/game-of-thrones-cripples-bastards-and-broken-things/. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 
17. ^ Ryan, Maureen. "'Game of Thrones,' Season 1, Episode 4 Recap". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/05/08/game-of-thrones-season-1-episode-4-recap/. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 
18. ^ Sepinwall, Alan. "Review: 'Game of Thrones' - 'Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things': Wall stories". HitFix. http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/game-of-thrones-cripples-bastards-and-broken-wall-stories. Retrieved May 10, 2011. 

External links

• "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" at TV.com