37 replies to this topic

[Teren_Kanan]

In the finale there was a scene with Pycell and Roz. When she left he did some quick exercises, walking perfectly straight to the door, then hunched over and began breathing heavy again intentionally. I can't remember anything like this with the Maester in the books. Am I just forgetting something?

[Nearly Headless Ned]

I don't think so.Not explicitly. But he does seem to lay it on a bit thick in the books now I come to think about it. Rather amusing scene.

[CryFenril]

In the books, there's a scene where he's talking with Ned about Jon Arryn, and we are given subtle hints that Pycelle is not as frail as he makes himself out to be (something to do with his eyes, though I don't remember the exact passage). Then there's the surprise when Tyrion and Shagga find him with a young serving girl in bed, when Tyrion toddles off to "question" him about the message to Dorne. There are likely others that I have not brought to mind yet also.

The idea may have been to take those subtle hints and wrap them up into one not-so-subtle one - that being, Pycelle uses his "advanced age" to mask the fact that he is in fact a player as well. He is not as frail as he makes himself out to be, and uses this to remain in a position of power without seeming to be a threat. Much like Littlefinger, come to think of it...

[3rd Grunt from the Right]

And hadn't he taken off his Maester's chain? I thought that a Maester never took his chain off. But then if Pycelle is going to break his vow of celibacy (to father no children) I doubt he'd care.

[Tywin's bastard]

3rd Grunt from the Right, on 22 June 2011 - 06:53 AM, said:

And hadn't he taken off his Maester's chain? I thought that a Maester never took his chain off. But then if Pycelle is going to break his vow of celibacy (to father no children) I doubt he'd care.

I don't think that particular aspect of the chain has to be a factor in the show since they have already altered the look of it. It's a nice bit of fluff but it doesn't make any crucial point.

[Gnomestress]

I always got the impression that Pycelle slept with younger women because he thought it kept him young (no real evidence, just my opinion)  The little round of exercises he did fit into that particular scene to me.  My only complaint was that his robe was too see through and the light behind him was too bright.  Some things can't be unseen.

[D_Richard]

It was a nice scene to spell out the Grand Maester's guise (tool for survival). Such things are necessary for television.

Some thought it wasn't subtle enough and that it went on too long. For others it was too subtle because they missed the point of the scene entirely.

I thought it was just right.

[Anomandaris86]

Gnomestress, on 22 June 2011 - 12:05 PM, said:

I always got the impression that Pycelle slept with younger women because he thought it kept him young (no real evidence, just my opinion)  The little round of exercises he did fit into that particular scene to me.  My only complaint was that his robe was too see through and the light behind him was too bright.  Some things can't be unseen.

That would be nothing compared to his arrest scene if they do it like the books. I was thinking for sure that they wouldn't do it that way, but now after seeing this last scene there's the faintest chance that it will be like the book. I hope so.  

[Bowl o' Brown]

Gnomestress, on 22 June 2011 - 12:05 PM, said:

I always got the impression that Pycelle slept with younger women because he thought it kept him young (no real evidence, just my opinion)

Making him feel younger. Sure. But I don't think a Maester would believe it would make him physically younger. I doubt it would even be good exercise for him, since it seems he kept up his pretenses during the sex and let Ros do all the work. Ros who looked thoroughly unenthused, and unsatisfied.

Maester Pycell's servant girl in the books was young. I remember Eddard making a comment about it. Way younger than Ros in the TV show. Which is consistent with HBO's attempt to age the pedophilia out of the books.

In the books, I always assumed he liked them young simply because they were smoking hot nubiles, and he is a dirty pedophile!! If he had some practical reasons, I'd venture it would have to be the fact that the young ones are less likely to have horrible diseases down bellow, or maybe he is just a dirty pedophile!!

Random thought: Is there a "sexy" ring in a Maester's chain? What metal is it made of?

[Lion of Venice]

I have no idea what that scene was about, it confused me and changed the tone of the episode quite a lot.
Random Roz and her sexposition strikes again.

[D_Richard]

Bowl o, on 22 June 2011 - 03:04 PM, said:

I doubt it would even be good exercise for him, since it seems he kept up his pretenses during the sex and let Ros do all the work. Ros who looked thoroughly unenthused, and unsatisfied.

Random thought: Is there a "sexy" ring in a Maester's chain? What metal is it made of?

She definitely gave off that vibe... which is the effect Pycelle was going for we suppose. The look on her face was pretty priceless when his rambling about Aerys, Robert and Joffrey had strayed away from his initial point and he trailed off.

Quote

I have no idea what that scene was about, it confused me and changed the tone of the episode quite a lot.
Random Roz and her sexposition strikes again.

Way to read the thread, chief.

Edited by D_Richard, 22 June 2011 - 04:42 PM.

[Merentha]

Lion of Venice, on 22 June 2011 - 04:09 PM, said:

I have no idea what that scene was about, it confused me and changed the tone of the episode quite a lot.
Random Roz and her sexposition strikes again.

At this point, I'm hoping that Roz will be revealed to be Varys' spy the entire time.  She'll at least serve more of a purpose then.  Pycelle, however, had me laughing once I realized what he was up to.  At first, the scene seemed really strangely paced and pointless, but once he looked at the door all straight and proud, then sank down into his normal doddering walk, I just had to laugh.  It never occurred to me in the books that Pycelle was ever really a cunning person, but I suppose he'd have to be to still be in power.

edit:  All I could think of was "you clever bastard..." once I saw his game.  Good move, HBO.

Edited by Merentha, 22 June 2011 - 05:32 PM.

[Envie]

I felt like the only reason they threw this strange Pycelle scene in there (which wasn't in the book at all) was to remind watchers of the corruption going on with the three main characters on the 'small council' so the watcher better understands the job Tyrion has ahead of him to clean up the mess that's being made. There's also the throne room verbal sparring between Littlefinger and Varys (again) to further aid the watcher in understanding how these people are all vying for power within their own little circle around the throne and some of them, even Pycelle, are hiding their true intentions and whose 'side' (if there is one) they are on.

At first I thought "was this scene really necessary?" - but then I realized, without reading the entire first or second book, you probably wouldn't understand at all how immensely complicated and corrupt things are. Everyone probably assumes Pycelle is this ancient old fool whose blind to everything going on when in fact he's quite the opposite. Maybe this goofy scene with Roz is a tool to convey a hint at the drama to come in season 2 once Tyrion arrives to take charge as the Hand.

[Lion of Venice]

D_Richard, on 22 June 2011 - 04:42 PM, said:

Way to read the thread, chief.

I'm sorry, what's your problem?

[Anomandaris86]

Imagine this as a job for a CGI artist:

You have to map a stream of piss to the slinging of an old man's dick.

[Ser Warpechowski]

Gnomestress, on 22 June 2011 - 12:05 PM, said:

I always got the impression that Pycelle slept with younger women because he thought it kept him young (no real evidence, just my opinion)  The little round of exercises he did fit into that particular scene to me.  My only complaint was that his robe was too see through and the light behind him was too bright.  Some things can't be unseen.

No matter what age you are, if youre a man you want to sleep with young woman.

Being in a powerfull position as his makes it easy to get women.

[Gnomestress]

Ser Warpechowski, on 23 June 2011 - 04:00 AM, said:

No matter what age you are, if youre a man you want to sleep with young woman.

Being in a powerfull position as his makes it easy to get women.

Agreed!

In another thread someone mentioned that an older Tyrion wouldn't be attracted to Book Shae but instead was more suited to Show Shae.  He said something along the lines of how an older Tyrion would want someone more mature and less girlish.

I replied by suggesting he look at Hugh Heffner...now that I think about it though, this could also apply to Donald Trump, Nicholas Cage, and good old Ronald Reagan (although Nancy was only 10 years his junior).

Don't worry, Cercei.  Cougars need love too!

[Emo Targaryen]

I think apart from the enjoyments of sex, this scene also had a different purpose for GM Pycelle: He knows Roz is a spy for Littlefinger (but LF does not know GMP knows - or at least GMP thinks so) and by doing the "senile old man" act even in her presence (when most men show their true self), he hopes to give LF the impression that he is in fact only an old man, of no danger to everyone.

I'm curious whether Roz will get some real character development in the second season or whether she will continue to serve as a tool for other people's character development - a job she's doing fine.

[Delta1212]

I don't know if it was just my own imagination or what, but I always thought Pycelle was characterized as being a lot sharper and more involved than he pretended he was.

I remember when I read the conversation between him and Ned about the cause of Jon Arryn's death, my reading of him in that went something along the lines of "He knows Jon Arryn was murdered and is trying to dissuade Ned from that line of thinking without being too obvious about it." and then when Ned suggests poison as a woman's weapon "He knows Cersei was behind it and wants to try throwing suspicion off of her and onto Vary."

Actually, I haven't really thought critically about that scene since the first time I read it. Now I'm wondering whether or not he really did know the truth about Jon Arryn's death...

Edited by Delta1212, 24 June 2011 - 02:44 PM.

[Aoife]

I don't think he knew the full truth. I think he tried to lead Ned at least a little towards the conclusion he (P) had drawn, while also seeding other plausible ideas, but I think he would have been surprised at the actual killer.

Spoiler

Plus I really don't think he would have predicted the mover behind the killer, either; he would have assumed they were the same person.

I think that he probably had a strong belief that Cersei was behind it, and thus Pycelle deliberately didn't purge Jon Arryn because he thought she wanted Arryn dead.