[KcMizzou]

Grantland's got some great writers. This is just the part about the trial. But the whole thing is worth a read.

Just a few weeks removed from Joffrey’s despicable wedding entertainment, here was another dwarf forced to submit himself to a high-society farce. Everyone played his or her role to perfection, from Oberyn’s crowd-baiting grins to Margaery’s disturbed glances. And it was quite rich, all the well-fed hypocrites hubbub-ing in the aisles, pretending to be shocked by stories of things they themselves dream of doing every night. And Pycelle with his laundry list of poisons! As if the most dangerous venom in King’s Landing were stored in a bottle and not in the Queen Regent’s veins. Yet what stung the most was the cold, Law & Order–like logic of the actual trial. Tyrion wasn’t hoisted on his own petard, he was spit-roasted on it. Every word used to damn him emerged from his mouth over the course of the series, context be damned. (Cersei’s impressive wine consumption clearly has had no ill effect on her memory and uncanny ear for dialogue.)

Jaime’s self-sacrifice was moving — one Kingslayer laying down his life for another — but it was also a trap. The speed with which Tywin agreed to Jaime’s proposal, and the ease with which he referred to the actual parentage of his grandsons (“you’ll … father children named Lannister”), made it plain that once again the Hand of the King was holding all the cards. Instead of killing a son he didn’t love, he gained the son he always wanted. It would have been almost beautiful if it weren’t so cruel. (Also cruel? The instant dismissal of Lancel Lannister, the Frank Stallone of Casterly Rock. Let a dude live!) Like Daenerys, Tywin leaned on the word “justice” like a crutch, a prop to lift himself up even as he stoops into the muck.

It all almost worked, too. Tywin was moments away from having Tyrion banished to the North and Jaime exiled to eHarmony.com when someone overplayed their hand. At first it wasn’t clear whether Shae had returned of her own volition, but soon, as the bitterness flew from her mouth like daggers, it was plain that she was there only to hurt Tyrion as much as he had hurt her. In the end, it wasn’t hard. With his heart separated from his body, the Imp no longer cared much for the fate of his head. And in that moment, instead of making a joke, he chose to make himself heard.

Littlefinger was right when he said that everyone in King’s Landing is a liar, but, for a single glorious moment, there was one man in the center of the throne room speaking nothing but the truth. Yes, he wanted Joffrey dead. At Blackwater Bay, Tyrion had saved a vile city unworthy of his largesse. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again, just as he won’t give the backstabbers and social climbers the pleasure of his continued humiliation. If he must face the noose, he’ll take it into his own hands. A trial by combat isn’t about defending your past, it’s about fighting for your life. (Whether Tyrion will actually pick up a sword this time or once again tag out in favor of a more skilled champion — Bronn? Left-handed Jaime? — remains to be seen. I’m hoping for the former.)

The final moments of the episode zoomed in tight on the reactions of each Lannister with a drama bordering on the operatic. (I’m sure someone with more Internet-ability than me will be able to rescore the scene with its rightful music.) It was a stirring finale to one of the best episodes of Game of Thrones to date, and an appropriate one. In a flash, a global conflict was reduced to a domestic squabble. It made sense. Only family can establish a dynasty; only family can destroy one.

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...-recap-tyrion/