Jump to content

Cersei's Monologue - The Show Stealer


atonement

Recommended Posts

“Confess. Confess. Confess. Confess: It felt good, beating me. Starving me. Frightening me. Humiliating me. You didn’t do it because you cared about my atonement. You did it because it felt good. I understand. I do things because they feel good. I drink because it feels good. I killed my husband because it felt good to be rid of him. I fuckk my brother because it feels good to feel him inside me. I lie about fucking my brother because it feels good to keep our son safe from hateful hypocrites. I killed your High Sparrow and all his little sparrows, all his septons, all his septas. All his filthy soldiers. Because it felt good to watch them burn. It felt good to imagine their shock and their pain. No thought has ever given me greater joy. Even confessing feels good, under the right circumstances.”

That was the best scene of Season 6 in terms of acting. I am confused between love to hate her and hate to love her. She alone can make a dull scene interesting unlike the other female characters in the show. She is the only truly independent woman in Westeros without any male admirers and dragons. She is evil, no doubt about it but very interesting to watch. If it was not for her, I would had left the show after Tywin's death.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She just killed a whole bunch of innocent people in what was basically a terrorist attack simply because two people where somewhat, slightly in her way.

Forgive me if I don't feel like praising the soulless harpy.

Praising  her as a truly independent woman is like saying Ramsay was a prime example of a self-made man. After all he showed so much initiative and agency.

Of course the acting was good, Lena Heady is at least as good an actress as Iwan Rheon. Still doesn't give me anything if its wedged between her mass-murdering her own subjects and leaving Septa Unella to be Gregor's plaything (and we all know what Gregor does to women right?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You forgot to mention her walking out the door saying Shame shame shame. Lol. To me that was the best part.  But yeah I was definitly team Cersei for this episode only. With the exception of her reaction to Tommen's death I liked everything about her this episode. She outsmarted everyone (except Margaery). Of course I don't expect it to last. That's part of the reason I don't mind being team cersei for this episode. I fully expect her to be dead by the end of next season so i enjoyed her one triumphant moment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of no one, I think Arya's/Maisie might be another female character that can carry a scene occasionally, as can Sansa/Sophie and maybe Mel/Carice.

But not as consistently perhaps, so your point is taken on Cersei/Lena.  I prefer the book rendition of Cersei because she is often darker and more disturbing, but in this scene, show Cersei was all that and more.

Shame, shame, shame as she closes the door on Septa Unella being raped and probably having her eyes gouged out (Cersei saying she would be the last thing Unella would ever see) by un-Gregor.  That is seriously sick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Maxxine said:

You forgot to mention her walking out the door saying Shame shame shame. Lol. To me that was the best part.  But yeah I was definitly team Cersei for this episode only. With the exception of her reaction to Tommen's death I liked everything about her this episode. She outsmarted everyone (except Margaery). Of course I don't expect it to last. That's part of the reason I don't mind being team cersei for this episode. I fully expect her to be dead by the end of next season so i enjoyed her one triumphant moment. 

No sadly she outsmarted Margery too, or Margery wouldn't have gone to the Sept either that morning.  Instead Cersei was able to fool all her enemies to be in the same place at the same time.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Maxxine said:

You forgot to mention her walking out the door saying Shame shame shame. Lol. To me that was the best part.  But yeah I was definitly team Cersei for this episode only. With the exception of her reaction to Tommen's death I liked everything about her this episode. She outsmarted everyone (except Margaery). Of course I don't expect it to last. That's part of the reason I don't mind being team cersei for this episode. I fully expect her to be dead by the end of next season so i enjoyed her one triumphant moment. 

I read that (the reaction to dead Tommen) as her finally giving in fully to her madness. She's embracing it now. Any hint of compassion or love within her has been expunged, for good. She's got one goal now, and it's to bend the world to her will, until the valonquar comes. That look at Jaime at the end, from the Throne - that gave me the chills. I think she knows it's him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Orphalesion said:

She just killed a whole bunch of innocent people in what was basically a terrorist attack simply because two people where somewhat, slightly in her way.

Forgive me if I don't feel like praising the soulless harpy.

Praising  her as a truly independent woman is like saying Ramsay was a prime example of a self-made man. After all he showed so much initiative and agency.

Of course the acting was good, Lena Heady is at least as good an actress as Iwan Rheon. Still doesn't give me anything if its wedged between her mass-murdering her own subjects and leaving Septa Unella to be Gregor's plaything (and we all know what Gregor does to women right?)

Well said.

I'd also point out that Cersei has only dug her ditch deeper. Ironic considering that this is the one actually decent plan that she's pulled off (Robert's death doesn't count, too much reliance on luck). And the result is really a pyrrhic victory to where that crown of her's is going to get snatched off pretty quickly next season.

Let's do a headcount of how many people she's truly antagonized:

1) The Faith of the Seven by murdering the High Septon

2) The majority of the smallfolk since they liked the High Sparrows, Tyrells and despised the Lannisters

3) The Reach

4) The Citadel thanks to Pycelle's murder

5) Various other lords who had friends and family that died in that explosion

Add on to the fact that the Vale and the North are Allies; Euron is striking on his own; that Olenna, Dorne and Yara/Theon's fleet are allied with Danaerys and her army of Unsullied and Dothraki screamers; and the Long Night is on it's way...and all indicators show that Cersei is screwed.

Jamie strangling her to death would be mercy at this point, she should've taken Ned's offer and ran out of town when she had the chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Johnimus said:

I read that (the reaction to dead Tommen) as her finally giving in fully to her madness. She's embracing it now. Any hint of compassion or love within her has been expunged, for good. She's got one goal now, and it's to bend the world to her will, until the valonquar comes. That look at Jaime at the end, from the Throne - that gave me the chills. I think she knows it's him.

D&D said in the "Inside Episode" section that her children were the only only thing which humanized her. Now I am lost why would she want Iron Throne. All along I thought she was protecting her children but now when she crowned herself, I didn't get that a bit. She should have been screaming, yelling and crying because the prophecy was getting fulfilled bit by bit but instead she went to become a queen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, atonement said:

D&D said in the "Inside Episode" section that her children were the only only thing which humanized her. Now I am lost why would she want Iron Throne. All along I thought she was protecting her children but now when she crowned herself, I didn't get that a bit. She should have been screaming, yelling and crying because the prophecy was getting fulfilled bit by bit but instead she went to become a queen.

I think she knows the prophecy is real and can't be stopped. All that's left to her is to take the throne and wreak her vengeance upon the world - and that's fully what she intends to do.

As an aside, it was a nice touch, and I only noticed it on second viewing, that she pinned the queen's hand on Qyburn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Orphalesion said:

She just killed a whole bunch of innocent people in what was basically a terrorist attack simply because two people where somewhat, slightly in her way.

Forgive me if I don't feel like praising the soulless harpy.

Praising  her as a truly independent woman is like saying Ramsay was a prime example of a self-made man. After all he showed so much initiative and agency.

Of course the acting was good, Lena Heady is at least as good an actress as Iwan Rheon. Still doesn't give me anything if its wedged between her mass-murdering her own subjects and leaving Septa Unella to be Gregor's plaything (and we all know what Gregor does to women right?)

Somewhat? Slightly?

3 minutes ago, atonement said:

D&D said in the "Inside Episode" section that her children were the only only thing which humanized her. Now I am lost why would she want Iron Throne. All along I thought she was protecting her children but now when she crowned herself, I didn't get that a bit. She should have been screaming, yelling and crying because the prophecy was getting fulfilled bit by bit but instead she went to become a queen.

That's one reaction, the one she had to Joff's death.  She's been through some shit since then.  I think with Myrcella'a death, she has resigned herself to the inevitability of her children's deaths. Also, she and Tommen have been growing more distant in recent episodes and you could even argue that Tommen betrayed her.

Also,

Just now, Johnimus said:

I think she knows the prophecy is real and can't be stopped. All that's left to her is to take the throne and wreak her vengeance upon the world - and that's fully what she intends to do.

As an aside, it was a nice touch, and I only noticed it on second viewing, that she pinned the queen's hand on Qyburn.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Orphalesion said:

She just killed a whole bunch of innocent people in what was basically a terrorist attack simply because two people where somewhat, slightly in her way.

Forgive me if I don't feel like praising the soulless harpy.

Praising  her as a truly independent woman is like saying Ramsay was a prime example of a self-made man. After all he showed so much initiative and agency.

Of course the acting was good, Lena Heady is at least as good an actress as Iwan Rheon. Still doesn't give me anything if its wedged between her mass-murdering her own subjects and leaving Septa Unella to be Gregor's plaything (and we all know what Gregor does to women right?)

I am not saying that she has the most high moral fiber. I said she is interesting to watch. Considering all the other women, she faced more problems alone than anyone else can claim. She is arrogant and ruthless, no doubt in that and deserved to get punished but this is also true that she has faced many threats to the lives of her children. What had Catleyn Stark done to the wife of Walder Frey despite of knowing that she was innocent? A deranged mother can do anything. It is a pity that she had to see all her children die which was her biggest fear. I am not asking to feel sympathy for her but sometimes i think if she was not a daughter of Tywin, she could be better. Growing up without a mother, an insensitive father, an unusual love affair, and then forced to get married to someone else, she had to be a villain at the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Bazil said:

No sadly she outsmarted Margery too, or Margery wouldn't have gone to the Sept either that morning.  Instead Cersei was able to fool all her enemies to be in the same place at the same time.....

I see what you're saying, but if the Faith had allowed Margery and the others to leave when she told them to most of them would have made it out alive. There was time. Marg was prevented from leaving, which was her downfall. She did figure it out. 

Also yes, Cersei killed this ep (pun intended) and I appreciate how good she is at being purely evil, and I despise her entirely. She makes a compelling supervillain. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, atonement said:

That was the best scene of Season 6 in terms of acting.

Lena Headey has been acting on another level.  In Season 5, her walk scene, with zero dialogue, was the best acted scene in the season.  This scene was gripping and powerful and disturbing.  You come to see just how twisted she is and why, engaging sympathy for a moment for a despicable character.  The scene could have been campy and ludicrous, like her costume, if anyone else had handled it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Garse Ironjade Janacek said:

Lena Headey has been acting on another level.  In Season 5, her walk scene, with zero dialogue, was the best acted scene in the season.  This scene was gripping and powerful and disturbing.  You come to see just how twisted she is and why, engaging sympathy for a moment for a despicable character.  The scene could have been campy and ludicrous, like her costume, if anyone else had handled it.

I have no sympathy for Cersei, but she is interesting to watch.  Headey gave a great performance in the finale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...