Examples Of Exposition Done Well (and Badly)

[Asha—Not Yara!]

This show had a HUGE challenge with so many characters and back history. They had to find a way to introduce all these things in a visual medium and communicate it, so people who haven't read the books could grasp it and follow it along. Over all, I thought they did a good enough job, but not perfect. There's of course the infamous "sexposition" scenes and I think they did go that well a bit too much in the show.

My question is what expositions scenes do you feel were really well done and which ones do you feel were clunky? What are good examples of exposition that was introduced without sex (or likewise examples of poorly done exposition without the sex).

For me I thought a good example of exposition was when Tyrion and Theon had that exchange in front of the whorehouse. It was a good way I thought of showing viewers who he was and how he was regarded and despite it being in front of a whorehouse, no sex! (By the way what episode was that? "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things." The clunkiest exposition to me was the LF scene with the whores. I don't dislike it as much as some people did, but I do think that scene could have been done better and seemed over the top to me.

What are yours?

[you wouldn't know me]

The best exposition scene for me was the the the first scene between Tywin and Jamie Lannister. Tywin skinning the Stag was creepy enough that it kept thing interesting and in a couple of minutes you got that Tywin was more bothered about the family name than anything else including Tyrion.

[Sega AM2]

Exposition scenes....at least try to list them if you make a thread.

Off the top of my head here are the ones added to the show that aren't in the book:

- Sansa and Septa Mordane talking history in the throne room

- Jaime and Jory talking about the Greyjoy rebellion

- Tyrion and Theon talking about the Greyjoy rebellion (and Ros)

- Littlefinger's infamous "play with her arse" scene

- Ros and Theon talking about Theon being a hostage

- Jorah talking with the Dothraki about armor and weapons

- Littlefinger and Varys's two scenes where they talk about each other

- Robert and Cersei talking about their marriage

- Robert, Jaime, and Arstan talking about their first kills and last words

- Renly and Loras shaving each other

- Ros and Pycelle including Pycelle's dick aerobics

- Jorah talking about Aegon and his dragons and how he doesn't believe that dragons actually existed

- Jaime and Cersei in the first episode near Jon Arryn's body

- Ros and Tyrion...any Ros scene is for added (s)exposition

Scenes slightly changed for the show:

- Maester Aemon revealing to Jon who he is

- King Robert's escort arriving was a full scene

- Robert doesn't mention that Jorah is a spy for him initially

- Jon Snow mentions Ros to Sam when she isn't a real character in the books

- Doreah lesbian scene with Dany is changed

Scenes greatly reduced or changed in the show:

- Bran explaining the crypts to Osha is cut to pieces

- Littlefinger stealing The Hound's lines about his burns

- almost all of Barristan's backstory isn't told

- Tyrion's Tysha reveal is dramatically changed on the show, no line of him paying with gold, revealed to Shae much earlier, revealed to Bronn later and in different location

Scenes removed from the books for the show:

- Tower of Joy

- Tyrion's reading of Aegon and dragons

- Bran's knowledge of the Age of Heroes

- Maester Luwin's talk of the Long Night, History of Westeros, Age of Heroes

- Maester Luwin giving Bran and Rickon dragonglass and talking about the Children of the Forest

- Waymar Royce's backstory in uknown

- Noyle, the Night's Watch blacksmith, he forged Robert's warhammer, does not even appear in the show as far as I know

Anyone want to add to (or subtract from) the list?

[howland_reed]

Favorite non-book exposition scenes:

- Theon + Osha + Maester Luwin, especially with Luwin's burn against Theon.

- Robert + Cersei's heart-to-heart

- Littlefinger + Varys verbal spars (at first I hated it cause I didn't buy that the characters would reveal so much to each other, but on repeat viewings, I love the spy vs. spy undertones between the two)

- Yoren + Tyrion + Benjen's scene at the Wall.

- Jon + Sam's conversation of Ros, where Jon reveals he really does know nothing.

[The Anti-Targ]

Exposition scenes....at least try to list them if you make a thread.

Off the top of my head here are the ones added to the show that aren't in the book:

...

add

- Doreah and Viserys bath scene.

The ONE sexposition scene I thought was good, and achieved something meaningful, was the Pycelle-Ros scene. It was a totally out of the blue reveal that Pycelle's public face is a total act. Funny that this reveal only happened after Ros left. But the scene while Ros was there was the set up, with post Ros being the punchline.

The problem with all the other Ros sexposition scenes were that they fleshed out (pun intended) to one degree or another what the audience pretty much already knew of the characters, so were they really that valuable a use of screen time (as opposed to some of the stuff that got cut from the book).

Renly-Loras was necessary, and generally well done, the only down side was the slurping at the end. Gave us good insight into both characters and their motiviations, that Renly is revealed as a pansy and not just in terms of sexual preference may be an annoyance from an adaptation perspective, but as a scene it did what it was required to do and it was well done; other than the slurping.

Cersei-Bob was very good, perhaps the best of the series. No slurping.

Jon-Sam was nice from a bromance perspective. And helped confirm their friendship. Again, no slurping.

Tyrion-Theon >>>>>>>>>>> Theon-Ros, 'nuff said.

[Asha—Not Yara!]

Sega AM2

I've never been great at making lists. Thank you so much for doing that! :) There's way more exposition scenes than I realized. Which ones did you like the most and which ones fell flat for you?

[mr. peasant]

Anyone want to add to (or subtract from) the list?

Old Nan's explanation of White Walkers and why people are so scared of long winters.

[Delta1212]

Old Nan's explanation of White Walkers and why people are so scared of long winters.

This scene gave me chills. I'm so sad that the actress passed away, because she was absolutely incredible.

[mr. peasant]

This scene gave me chills. I'm so sad that the actress passed away, because she was absolutely incredible.

Agreed. There's something about the Welsh accent that makes Welsh people really good at storytelling. And choir singing. But yeah, such a shame about Margaret John. She's a real riot. And in tribute, here's a fine moment of her immortalised on Youtube:

[estrellas]

I had no idea Margaret John died! Sad, because the way she told that story was amazing. :bowdown:

I'm really glad they put in the Theon scenes. I had not read the books before the show, and when I did read them, I was only aware of Theon's shadiness because of what I had seen in the show. They did not hint very well at it during the Game of Thrones book, other than mention him smiling and laughing at inappropriate times.

[Domenceus]

Tywin skinning the stag was my favorite. It let Dance do his exposition while communicating a great deal about what Tywin Lannister was like, all while indulging in some great symbolism. I heard that the stag was real, and that Dance was a champ in each take re-skinning the beast. It's tough to make an exposition scene not-boring, and it's even better if the scene can allow actors to communicate more depth in their characters.

Renly/Loras (or is that Loras/Renly?) seems to annoy a lot of people, but I saw it as the show tossing a bone to the fans feeling ignored after all the naked whore scenes. It's funny that people were generally annoyed at the slurping sounds here, but found Tyrion's introduction with slurps to be amusing. At least HBO was aiming to be equal-opportunity with their sexposition.

[mr. peasant]

Renly/Loras (or is that Loras/Renly?) seems to annoy a lot of people, but I saw it as the show tossing a bone to the fans feeling ignored after all the naked whore scenes. It's funny that people were generally annoyed at the slurping sounds here, but found Tyrion's introduction with slurps to be amusing. At least HBO was aiming to be equal-opportunity with their sexposition.

It's because the latter was played for laughs, with Tyrion drinking copiously while he was receiving oral sex; meaning, he had fluids going in AND fluids going out at the same time.

[Domenceus]

It's because the latter was played for laughs, with Tyrion drinking copiously while he was receiving oral sex; meaning, he had fluids going in AND fluids going out at the same time.

Perhaps, but that still doesn't explain how offended some people were at the R/L oral sex. Tyrion was getting serviced by a prostitute, but R/L happened in the context of a relationship (one of the few voluntary and affectionate ones in the show); seems to me that sex not being paid for would be less offensive.

[mr. peasant]

Perhaps, but that still doesn't explain how offended some people were at the R/L oral sex. Tyrion was getting serviced by a prostitute, but R/L happened in the context of a relationship (one of the few voluntary and affectionate ones in the show); seems to me that sex not being paid for would be less offensive.

That, unfortunately, is likely because Renly and Loras are gay. Due to social norms, etc, more people find depictions of homosexual relations uncomfortable than those who find heterosexual relations uncomfortable. And once you get past that, there is the male, stereotypical bias that goes along the lines of 'girl on girl is hot, guy on guy is not', which doesn't do the Renly/Loras scene any favours.

[CryFenril]

Actually, I think mr. peasant got it right here - Tyrion's scene was humorous, whereas Renly and Loras were talking about something very serious.

Slurpy wet sounds during a comedic break are okay - taking a major plot point (Renly's bid for kingship) and slurping through it is kind of icky.

I for one am very glad that Renly and Loras' relationship is being brought to light early on - it makes Loras's behavior down the road much more understandable. The fact that they're gay doesn't bother me in the least - in fact, as I have noted before, it's one of the few truly healthy, loving, reciprocal relationships in the whole series.

So to cheapen it with slurps is just wrong, imho.

[Howl and Read]

To be fair some might have been reacting to the characterisation of Renly and Loras though, not homosexuality. The slurping might have been the straw on the camel's back.

Also, because male homosexuality in the series is at this point represented by only one coupling, it stands to reason that the example might offend homosexuals who don't identify or care for either character (speculation on my part).

Personally I prefer at the least Renly's TV character to the book Renly, who was way to samey for my liking to King Robert.

[suhandfairley]

- almost all of Barristan's backstory isn't told

I just went by the show for AGoT and jumped into ACoK and am now on ASoS, but this is the only thing I haven't been filled in on for the most part. anyone want to?