‘Game of Thrones’ season 4, episode 4 reaction: Writer on Olenna reveal, Jaime and Brienne

“Game of Thrones” does not employ an extensive staff of writers, so you start to know the feel and the style of the ones they do employ. For example, Bryan Cogman is great at character moments, and after that bathtub scene last season and the ones tonight, he may very well be the master of the Jaime / Brienne dynamic.

Speaking about the send-off of Brienne to hunt for Sansa Stark (which may or may not be the last time we see her alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s character), Cogman tells The Hollywood Reporter that it was “not lost” on Jaime that he was gifting her a sword with a personal connection to Ned Stark while she was seeking out his daughter. This was also a sign of his deep affection for her; while he was sending her away, he was doing so with some of the best gifts any fighter could receive. (It was certainly a better Jaime than what we had last week.)

Cogman also opened up about the big surprise of the episode that Lady Olenna was involved in the conspiracy to kill Joffrey, even if she was not the only player:

“She realizes that not so long ago, she was Margaery, and that having her granddaughter married to Joffrey would have been an untenable situation. Olenna is teaching Margaery  how to play the game, and if they succeed, Margaery will become the next Ollena, and it will be her teaching the next Tyrell woman.”

As for what Cogman cannot talk about, it is that scene at the very end of the episode with the White Walker and the baby, which is hugely significant in that it offers up some sort of information that has not even been in the books about the characters yet.

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Photo: HBO