this is what happens when you binge-watch

I've been re-watching Game of Thrones, building up to the new season starting again on Sunday. The show is so intricate. Even when you know what's coming, there is so much going on, with so many characters, that some scenes seemed fresh, still surprised me.

Another funny thing happened while binge-watching. Certain minor characters that maybe I didn't pay as much attention to before stood out the second time around.

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Sir Loras (Finn Jones) — Everyone, except Sansa, is so mean to The Knight of Flowers.

Loras, "My father once told me... " 

Cersei, "Nobody cares what your father once told you."

But every once in a while he gets a chance to zing those snooty Lannisters of Kings Landing. It's hard to take sometimes, how snide everyone can be about Loras's sexual orientation. Even his grandmother (Diana Rigg) calls him a sword swallower. As much as some of the character's dialogue about him is offensive, Loras and Renly may be one of the few couples on the show that truly loved each other, and Loras's grief is genuine and heartfelt in its portrayal.

Jaime, "If you were to marry Cersei, she'd murder you in your sleep. If you somehow managed to put a child in her first, she'd murder him, too, long before he drew his first breath. Luckily for you, none of this will happen because you'll never marry her." 

Loras, "And neither will you."

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Ros (Esmé Bianco) — She is a prostitute with brains as well as beauty, who runs up against most of the male characters in the show — Tyrion, Theon, Littlefinger, and Joffrey — with dangerous results. She is also a controversial figure, a creation solely of the show, who appeared many times in "sex-plication" scenes - dialogue heavy scenes which helped move the plot along, aided by the scantily clad or completely nude Ros and her companions. She was also the recipient of violence, which raised the hackles of many. As disturbing as some of these scenes may be to some, it is undeniable that brutality exists in the world of Game of Thrones and in our own world as well.

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Theon (Alfie Allen) — The always out-of-his-league Theon is not exactly a minor character. He also has always been far from one of my favorites, in either the books or show ... except ... watching him in his transformation from Theon to Reek this time I could really see both the actor's and character's progression. There were seeds sewn in even the first episodes of the series of Theon's fate.

Such great storytelling — can't wait for Sunday.

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