Pycelle - why murder him separately?

[NutBurz]

Pycelle would suspect Cersei´s absence. Even Margaery does, and the likelihood of him knowing something about the wildfire is very high.

[DreadedNorwegian]

Dunno, but cercie sure did a good job of cealing the house. No opposition now.

[Future Null Infinity]

the big problem with Pycelle for me is not his death but who will pay the prostitute now?

[Frimmel]

Pycelle is just up in the morning and on his way to the Trial when diverted by Qyburn's agent. He had to go for any number of "cleaning house of the old regime" reasons. Pycelle also counseled Tommen not to upset the High Sparrow thus turning her son against her. 

Plus she just hated him. She's always hated him. I'm pretty sure the first scene ever of them together make that perfectly clear. 

[Ludo Kressh]

7 hours ago, NutBurz said:

Pycelle would suspect Cersei´s absence. Even Margaery does, and the likelihood of him knowing something about the wildfire is very high.

Yeah, if he had gotten to the Sept and realized like Margery did that Cersei wasn't coming to her trial he could have told everyone about the wildfire threat and perhaps the people would have been able to escape. Cersei wasn't going to let this happen, she needed to tie up loose ends.

[MtnLion]

Cersei had lost control over Tommen.  Reflect that Tommen had succumbed to the silver tongued devil, the High Sparrow.  Also, reflect that Pycelle was always nearby to Tommen, when Cersei saw him.  He advised Tommen the day that Trial by Combat was abolished.  He was advising Tomme on other occasions when Cersei was denied access to Tommen.  It had been building for a long time, the hostility that Cersei felt towards Pycelle. 

[W1NT3RF3LL]

They are following the books except who is getting killed and who is doing the killing.  Vary's killed Kevan in the books in this same manner.  Pycele was also killed in the books by Vary's as well.

[MoonWoman]

I saw this episode as one where Cersei gets rid of a lot of people in her way - High Sparrow, Margaery, Kevan, and Pycelle. Qyburn does not like Pycelle and Cersei hates him so I saw it as on her orders. 

BUT, my biggest gripe with this episode was why have a bunch of little kids do it? Sure they are "little birds" but having kids spy is one thing, having them savagely murder a man is another - Qyburn could of done it himself or any other number of ways. Why have a bunch of small children do it? Shock value? Lame.

[Frimmel]

Just now, MoonWoman said:

I saw this episode as one where Cersei gets rid of a lot of people in her way - High Sparrow, Margaery, Kevan, and Pycelle. Qyburn does not like Pycelle and Cersei hates him so I saw it as on her orders. 

BUT, my biggest gripe with this episode was why have a bunch of little kids do it? Sure they are "little birds" but having kids spy is one thing, having them savagely murder a man is another - Qyburn could of done it himself or any other number of ways. Why have a bunch of small children do it? Shock value? Lame.

Shock value plus it show how far down the dark path those two have really travelled. All Cersei really needed was her new Sith name marking that her journey to the dark side is complete. Darth Sansa? pfffttt. Darth Cersei. 

[lancerman]

Throwback to the books. Giving an actor and longstanding character a better death. 

[YOVMO]

12 hours ago, Lady Barbrey said:

I might have to rewatch because maybe I missed something?  Why was Pycelle murdered?  Varys in the books had a reason for killing Kevan and Pycelle.  Why would Cersei/Qyburn murder him separately from everyone else?  

a better question is why risk the whole blowing up of the great sept plan (despite the fact that it was a bat shit stupid plan in the first place) by letting lancel crawl towards the candle? I mean, he was one second away from basically stopping the whole plan because why? just for lulz?

 

This show is just awful.

[YOVMO]

8 hours ago, The Lord of the Waters said:

Shock Value.*

(*the only reason they ever do anything ever on this stupid show.)

sad....true...sad....

[Hangover of the Morning]

RIP another one of my favourite piece of dialogue. "Don't make me rue the day I raped your mother" died with Roose Bolton and now Cersei will never call Pycelle "witless cretin". 

To the OP: Pycelle dies the same way in the books (though Varys is behind it) so why change it. It's a terrific scene. It also serves as an introduction of the little birds and their methods (might be important later again). Pycelle needed to be removed for Qyburn to gain more power and for Cersei to be able to get away with the 9/11 at the Sept. They could have put his character into the Sept but the actor deserved better and his death served as an ominous foreboding for the massacre to come. 

The show hinted at a conflict between Cersei and Pycelle early on in season 4 but they seemed to have mostly dropped it later on but for a few small hints. 

[Masha]

I actually thought that Cersei didn't care about Pycelle that much as long as he died and he was going to be in Sept anyways, so I assumed it was Qyburn little gift for himself.

[Hangover of the Morning]

16 minutes ago, YOVMO said:

a better question is why risk the whole blowing up of the great sept plan (despite the fact that it was a bat shit stupid plan in the first place) by letting lancel crawl towards the candle? I mean, he was one second away from basically stopping the whole plan because why? just for lulz?

 

This show is just awful.

Isn't it much more logical that the kid wasn't trying to lure Lancel to the wildfyre but was just accidentally spotted by Lancel who decided for some reason to follow a random kid instead of fetching the queen like he was ordered to? The kid just tried to get rid of his pursuers by going through dark tunnels that Lancel would be unfamiliar with. The kid then paralysed Lancel and left him to die. Lancel was still very far from the candles and barely able to move. The chances of him sabotaging the blast was minimal. There were three candles, not just one, and it might not even have been the only corridor that was lit. 

[Fez]

Lots of practical, outside-the-show reasons given, but there's an in-show reason too: Pycelle moves so slowly, at least in public, that Cersei and Qyburn were probably concerned he wouldn't reach the Sept until after it already blew up.

I also like the in-show reasons given upthread, that he wasn't actually going to the Sept or that Qyburn did bear him ill will and wanted to make it more personal.

[Lockjaw of House Boltagon]

28 minutes ago, lancerman said:

Throwback to the books. Giving an actor and longstanding character a better death. 

This. I think Julian Glover said in an interview years ago that he wanted a better death scene in the show or something like that. 

I'm gonna miss Pycelle, he never failed to make me laugh. 

[Terekhov]

Better question - why in the world *wouldn't* you murder Pycelle?

[YOVMO]

18 minutes ago, Hangover of the Morning said:

Isn't it much more logical that the kid wasn't trying to lure Lancel to the wildfyre but was just accidentally spotted by Lancel who decided for some reason to follow a random kid instead of fetching the queen like he was ordered to? The kid just tried to get rid of his pursuers by going through dark tunnels that Lancel would be unfamiliar with. The kid then paralysed Lancel and left him to die. Lancel was still very far from the candles and barely able to move. The chances of him sabotaging the blast was minimal. There were three candles, not just one, and it might not even have been the only corridor that was lit. 

perfectly logical. But, after the first stab when lancel goes down...maybe a second stab? why leave him there? Also, why run that way. I assume the little bird has intimate knowledge of those underground areas. That is their entire value. It isn't like he ran into ground zero of the big plan without knowing where he was and, again, fine. I will totally buy that the kid wasn't trying to lure lancel (though it kinda looked that way to me) but even so why lead him right there instead of, ya know, any other place in the city and, once there and stabbed and 80% incapacitated, why not stick the knife in once more?

[Hangover of the Morning]

9 minutes ago, YOVMO said:

perfectly logical. But, after the first stab when lancel goes down...maybe a second stab? why leave him there? Also, why run that way. I assume the little bird has intimate knowledge of those underground areas. That is their entire value. It isn't like he ran into ground zero of the big plan without knowing where he was and, again, fine. I will totally buy that the kid wasn't trying to lure lancel (though it kinda looked that way to me) but even so why lead him right there instead of, ya know, any other place in the city and, once there and stabbed and 80% incapacitated, why not stick the knife in once more?

I haven't seen the blueprints so maybe there is just one tunnel and maybe the kid had to go there to actually check the candles or even lit them. Anyway, it's just a kid and you can't expect him to think through all the possibilities. He might not have even been completely aware of what was going on or how much was at stake. He probably just had a simple task that he was following. Maybe the kid simply didn't expect that Lancel would manage (or be willing) to follow him that far into the tunnels. IIRC, he lingered a little bit after stabbing Lancel into the spine, and only once Lancel seemed to be incapacitated did he ran away. 

It is possible that the kid lured him there too, though I think it's less likely. Maybe Cersei or Qyburn foresaw that the HS might send someone after the Queen and the kid (or kids) had instructions to distract anyone who leaves the sept and keep them on the premises.