DZ-58: Game of Thrones - Character Exposition

Listen to understand why what a character *doesn't* say reveals more than exposition ever could.

In watching Season 7 (and the first three episodes of Season 8) of Game of Thrones, Stu noticed that there were lots of scenes where characters either met for the first time or were reunited after a long time apart. In these scenes, the audience knows (or thinks they know) more than either character. And so the fascination, power and subversion comes from what the characters choose to reveal... or not.

And yet... while we thought this episode would be an extension of our previous musings on exposition, in nearly every great scene we assessed, the characters basically said “screw talking about plot or backstory” and instead exposited about their own character: How it feels to be them; how they have, or have not, changed.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

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CHAPTERS

• 00:00:00 – Introduction
• 00:01:10 – Game of Thrones & Exposition
• 00:12:54 – Jamie & Cersei in the Map Room
• 00:28:23 – Arya & Hot Pie at the Cossroads
• 00:39:10 – Jon & The Brotherhood at Eastwatch
• 00:47:54 – Jon & Tyrion at Dragonstone
• 01:01:06 – Jon, Davos & Missandei at Dragonstone
• 01:07:05 – Arya & Sansa in the Crypt
• 01:18:46 – Bran, Arya & Sansa in the weirwood
• 01:27:14 – Arya & Jon in the weirwood
• 01:33:06 – Bran & Meera at Winterfell
• 01:37:14 – Wrap Up & Learnings
• 01:40:13 – Education & Thwarting

SHOWS

• GAME OF THRONES — (w) David Benioff, D B Weiss

LINKS

• Read: AV Club: As new spreads, Westeros reckons with the cumulative absurdity of Game of Thrones
• Listen: Terry Rossio on the On the Page Podcast

EPISODES IN THE EXPOSITION SERIES

• DZ-58: Game of Thrones - Character Exposition
• DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)
• DZ-38: Excelling at Exposition (Part 2)

RELATED EPISODES

• DZ-34: Game of Choices - Decision Making and Character Implications
• DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)
• DZ-38: Excelling at Exposition (Part 2)

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Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2019/dz-58/