The Lion and the Rose

"The Lion and the Rose"
Game of Thrones episode
The color of Joffrey Baratheon's face after his death led to his wedding being referred to as the "Purple Wedding".
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 2
Directed by	Alex Graves
Written by	George R. R. Martin
Featured music	Ramin Djawadi
Cinematography by	Anette Haellmigk
Editing by	Katie Weiland
Original air date	April 13, 2014 (2014-04-13)
Running time	52 minutes
Guest appearances
Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle Noah Taylor as Locke Tara Fitzgerald as Selyse Baratheon Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell Finn Jones as Loras Tyrell Thomas Brodie Sangster as Jojen Reed Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed Kristian Nairn as Hodor Dean-Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne Ian Beattie as Meryn Trant Tony Way as Dontos Hollard Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon Charlotte Hope as Myranda Paul Bentley as the High Septon Elizabeth Webster as Walda Bolton Pixie Le Knot as Kayla Jón Þór Birgisson as a Musician Orri Páll Dýrason as a Musician Georg Hólm as a Musician

"The Lion and the Rose" is the second episode of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 32nd overall. The episode was written by George R. R. Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels of which the series is an adaptation, and directed by Alex Graves. It aired on April 13, 2014.

The episode focuses principally on the long-awaited royal wedding between Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) and Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer). Other storylines include House Bolton's quest to retake the North, and Bran's continued journey north of The Wall.

The title of the episode refers to the sigils of the wedding couple's respective houses - a lion for Joffrey Baratheon, who is in truth a Lannister, and a rose for Margaery Tyrell.

Plot

At the Dreadfort

Ramsay Snow sadistically hunts a young girl in the woods, with the assistance of his servant, Reek (formerly Theon Greyjoy), and his bedwarmer Myranda. When Ramsay's father, Roose, arrives at the Dreadfort with his new wife, Walda (granddaughter of Walder Frey), he asks to see Reek and chastises Ramsay for having castrated and tortured him. Roose intended to trade Reek to the Ironborn in exchange for Moat Cailin, a fortification that is preventing the Bolton army from returning to the north, which forced Roose and his party to have to be smuggled back to their own keep. Ramsay, in an effort to prove how well he has broken him, has Reek shave his face. While doing so, Ramsay coaxes Reek into admitting to Roose that both Bran and Rickon Stark are alive, as he could not find them, and burned two farm boys in their place while holding Winterfell. Ramsay also spitefully tells Reek that Roose betrayed and murdered Robb Stark who had once been like a brother to Theon. Despite this, a visibly emotional Reek completes his shave without harming Ramsay, thus proving his trustworthiness. Roose dispatches Locke to find and kill Bran and Rickon, because while they are alive they pose a threat to his new position as Warden of the North. Ramsay suggests that they also find and eliminate Jon Snow, who has Stark blood in him and will also likely oppose the Boltons. Roose also orders Ramsay, along with Reek, to capture Moat Cailin, implying that he will reward Ramsay by legitimizing him as a true Bolton.

Beyond the Wall

Bran, while using his abilities as a warg, sees through the eyes of his direwolf, Summer, and kills a doe. Awoken by the voice of Hodor, he is then reminded to use the warg abilities sparingly by Jojen and Meera, as spending too much time as Summer will cut him off from his human body. After stopping at a weirwood, Bran has a vision of the three-eyed raven, his father, dragons flying over King's Landing, and his paralyzing fall at Winterfell. In the vision he hears, "Look for me, beneath the tree...north." Bran reveals that he knows where the group must go.

At Dragonstone

At night, Melisandre orders several of Stannis Baratheon's subjects burned at the stake, including Lady Selyse's brother Ser Axell Florent, as a tribute to the Lord of Light. At a private dinner with Stannis, his wife Selyse, and Melisandre, Selyse expresses her disgust towards her daughter, causing Stannis to angrily defend the girl. After dinner, Melisandre speaks to Shireen Baratheon, Stannis and Selyse's daughter, about the Lord of Light and how the Seven Gods are a lie. Despite her young age and sheltered life, Shireen appears somewhat suspicious of Melisandre and cautiously talks with her.

In King's Landing

Jaime reveals to Tyrion his embarrassment at the loss of his sword hand. Tyrion encourages him to train his left hand and arranges for clandestine lessons with Bronn, provided he is paid. On the way to the wedding breakfast, Lord Varys informs Tyrion that the Queen knows about Shae and will soon tell their father, Tywin. Lord Mace Tyrell presents King Joffrey with a large gold goblet, and Tyrion gives him a rare book, before he is presented with the second Valyrian steel sword that Tywin had forged. Joffrey uses the sword to slice through the large book. In his chambers, Tyrion tries in vain to get Shae to leave, but succeeds only when he lies that he could never love a whore. Bronn escorts the forlorn Shae to the boat and later assures Tyrion that she has indeed left for Essos and is out of harm's way.

Before the wedding, Tywin and Lady Olenna trade barbs at one another. Olenna reminds Tywin of the debt the Crown now owes to the Iron Bank of Braavos. Jaime threatens Ser Loras Tyrell by telling him that should he wed Cersei, she would likely kill him in his sleep, and Loras retorts with an implication that he knows of Jaime and Cersei's incestuous affair. Brienne of Tarth is confronted by Cersei, who accuses her of being in love with Jaime. Margaery announces that the leftovers from the feast will be given to the city's poorest residents, earning much acclaim. Cersei, bitter at her loss of power and disapproving of Joffrey's new queen, confronts Grand Maester Pycelle and threatens to execute him if he does not leave the wedding and command the feast chefs to give the leftovers to the royal hounds instead. Tywin and Cersei are later confronted by Prince Oberyn and his paramour, Ellaria Sand. The four share a tense conversation filled with veiled insults, where Oberyn reminds them that Cersei's daughter, Myrcella, is currently being held in Dorne.

The events are then interrupted by Joffrey, who presents a crude play with dwarves depicting the War of the Five Kings, to the amusement of some guests but to the disgust of many others. Loras leaves in anger when his relationship with Renly Baratheon is mocked by the play. Tyrion is infuriated at the distasteful spectacle. Sansa is nearly brought to tears by the depiction of her recently deceased brother, Robb. Joffrey tries to get Tyrion involved in the play due to his size, but Tyrion refuses, instead requesting Joffrey display his own talent with a sword. Humiliated, Joffrey orders Tyrion to be his cupbearer, toying with him by intentionally dropping and kicking the goblet.

Eventually, Tyrion fills the goblet and hands it to Joffrey, who repeatedly orders his uncle to kneel, but Tyrion is defiant. Margaery defuses the situation by drawing attention to the wedding pie. As Joffrey eats the cake that Margaery gives him and drinks wine from the goblet Tyrion gave him, he begins choking. While the emergency draws the crowd's attention, court fool Dontos implores Sansa to flee with him. As Lady Olenna yells for everyone to assist the king, he falls to the ground, and it becomes evident that he has been poisoned. Before dying, Joffrey points accusingly at Tyrion, who is examining the dropped goblet. Furious with grief, Cersei orders Tyrion arrested on charges of poisoning the king.

Production

Writing

"The Lion and the Rose" was scripted by the author of the original saga, George R. R. Martin.

The episode was written by George R. R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. This episode was his sole contribution to the series for the season. Chapters adapted from A Storm of Swords to the episode were part of chapter 9 (Bran I), and chapters 59 and 60 (Sansa IV and Tyrion VIII).

Casting

Members of Sigur Rós appeared in the episode.

The episode has the introduction of new recurring cast members Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden, and Elisabeth Webster as Walda Frey, Roose Bolton's fat young bride. Young actor Dean-Charles Chapman takes over the role of Tommen Baratheon as of this episode. In a cameo appearance, the Icelandic band Sigur Rós performed their rendition of "The Rains of Castamere" at King Joffrey's wedding, and again during the credits.

With this episode, Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Snow) is promoted to series regular. Contrary to earlier press reports, Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) remained credited solely as a guest star in the episode.

Reception

Ratings

"The Lion and the Rose" was watched by an estimated 6.31 million people during its first hour. In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 1.651 million viewers, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week. It also received 0.095 million timeshift viewers.

Critical reception

The episode received unanimous critical acclaim; according to Rotten Tomatoes all 35 reviews aggregated by the website were positive, with an average score of 9.5 out of 10.

James Poniewozik at Time called it "perhaps the best episode" of the series, singling out the protracted wedding sequence for particular praise. Writing for The A.V. Club, Todd VanDerWerff gave the episode an "A" grade, calling it "one of the best episodes of this show, and Joffrey’s wedding is one of the best sequences in the whole series." VanDerWerff praised Martin's script as well as the directing by Alex Graves, which he said "smartly creates a real sense of tension throughout the sequence, even when nothing particularly dramatic is going on." In his review for IGN, Matt Fowler gave the episode a 9.4/10 and noted that it "featured a shocking death that was actually an immense crowd-pleaser."

TVLine named Jack Gleeson the "Performer of the Week" for his performance in this episode. James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly named it the third best television episode of 2014.

Accolades

The episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series.

Due to her nomination, Lena Headey submitted this episode for consideration for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

George R. R. Martin was nominated for Best Episodic Drama at the 67th Writers Guild of America Awards for this episode.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2014	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister	Nominated
		Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell	Nominated
	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	Outstanding Costumes For A Series	Michele Clapton, Sheena Wichary, Alexander Fordham, and Nina Ayres	Won
		Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series	Anette Haellmigk	Nominated
		Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series	Kevin Alexander, Candice Banks, Rosalia Culora, Gary Machin, and Nicola Mount	Nominated
	Gold Derby TV Awards 2014	Best Drama Episode		Nominated
	1st MTV Fandom Awards	OMG Moment of the Year	Game of Thrones - The Purple Wedding	Won
2015	Writers Guild of America Awards	Episodic Drama	George R. R. Martin	Nominated

External links

• "The Lion and the Rose" at HBO.com
• "The Lion and the Rose" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode