A weekly feature in which we spotlight shining stars
THE PERFORMER | Jack Gleeson
THE SHOW | Game of Thrones
THE EPISODE | “The Lion and the Rose“
THE AIRDATE | April 13, 2014
THE PERFORMANCE | Thrones fans, stop for a minute and try to tally up every single time you’ve wanted Joffrey to get what’s coming to him, every time you’ve wanted to smack that insolent grin off his ferrety face, every time you’ve wanted him dead.
And now that he has shuffled off to spend time with the old gods and the new (if they’ll have him), think about what masterful work Gleeson did in making you hate a fictional character so much.
In Sunday’s episode, Gleeson played the boy king to the hilt, turning every puerile move into a moment of bad-mannered glory. Joffrey’s terrible demeanor and lack of sympathy for any other human could’ve easily become old over the years, but Gleeson always imbued his character with such a joy for churlishness that his bad behavior was a treat to watch.
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And the wedding feast offered so many opportunities for Gleeson to play up Joff’s worst qualities. He chopped Tyrion’s wedding gift in half, exploited dwarves in an insulting mockery of the war he “won” and demeaned his uncle in front of the entire crowd — Gleeson filling all of these actions with his character’s bone-deep assurance that they were his right.
Gleeson’s skill at making us abhor his character also made Joff’s death a moment for celebration for anyone with a heart and/or conscience. If Gleeson hadn’t been so good, we wouldn’t have cared so much. So let’s hoist a flagon of Arbor gold to the actor who unrepentantly played the brat we loved to hate, keeping him insufferable and unsympathetic to the very end.
HONORABLE MENTION | As White House liaison Jonah Ryan, Veep’s Timothy Simons has hysterically crafted a character we love to despise, all the while making us feel a little sorry for him. This week, after getting fired from the White House for managing a D.C. gossip site, Jonah decided to embrace his inner sensational journalist and launch Ryantology, a website that aimed to expose Washington’s biggest secrets. Although it’s never been easy to take Jonah seriously, Simons brought a newfound ruthlessness and determination to the character, while delivering such hilarious one-liners as, “I am gonna be updating more than I’m actually dating. Which is a s—toad.” Of course, Jonah’s endeavor didn’t quite go as planned. As soon as he landed a gig with MSNBC, Dan threatened to ruin him if he said a single bad thing about the Veep, and, with that, Jonah folded like a house of cards. But each time Simons was on screen, he brought a new facet of the hapless Jonah to life, and we couldn’t get enough.
Which performances rocked your TV set this week? Sound off below and let us know!
Yes!! This weeks episode was amazing :)
Julianna Margulies and Mae Whitman were both incredible this week.
YES. Julianna Marguiles was brilliant. Also best supporting appearance from Chris Noth. That scene in the kitchen was stellar.
LONG LIVE THE KING!
Eamonn Walker from Chicago Fire was amazing this week. He showed it all, rage, sadness, guilt, relief, happiness. As much as I love the purple wedding, Eamonn was the man this week.
Agreed, he was fantastic.
Michael Emerson. He was fantastic this week.
Yes! Michael Emerson was wonderful!
Julianna Margulies blew me away this week. Incredible.
Agree! Jack has been doing a great job from start to finish. ! I would have liked a mention this week to Colin O’Donoghue or Michael Emerson.
1000% agree with this week choice. Even if I knew it was coming, I found Joffrey death even more satisfactory and rewarding than the book’s… I’ll really miss Jack Gleeson excellent portrayal
Same here.
So well deserved. Gleeson was excellent throughout the series.
Darren criss was great in glee this week but I agree with jack getting the honorable mention
That’s funny.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH
Ray Romano in Parenthood’s season finale
The Parenthood women were incredible Mae Whitman, Monica Potter, Sarah Ramos!
Well deserved, Gleeson adapted Joffrey’s death perfectly as possible, and he took what could of been a scene that just caused joy in the audience and caused shock instead just like on the book he in his death showed that while Joffrey was a monster he was still a child. While I will not miss Joffrey, I will miss Gleeson’s presence on the show.
Well deserved Jack Gleeson! Genuine feels of repulsion, pity and hate for that character throughout each season. Such a performance delivered by Gleeson. I wish him well in his next endeavors outwith acting.
Tony Goldwyn in scandal
Agreed.
Jack Gleeson was perfectly cast in the role of King Joffrey. From start to finish, he gave that role life. I can’t imagine anyone else doing such a stand-up job. He deserves POTW and an Emmy nod.
I’m glad to see Gleeson get attention. If you think about it, about 1/2 of Thrones’ cast is made up of child actors—and not one of them is bad. That’s pretty amazing.
I agree very much. The child actors on GOT all good. It is quite rare when all the child actors on show do an exceptionally well job.
Very well deserved. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m gonna miss seeing Geoffrey on GoT (not much, just a little bit)
*i meant Joffrey
Well struck. Well struck.
Yes m’Lord it was well struck.
Here Here! I raise my goblet of (hopefully) poison-free wine to the young actor. It was a great performance that took a personal toll from what I can tell. But he did the job and he did it so well he became an international phenomena.
So thank you Jack for providing us a villain we could all boo-hiss at and yet was not remotely campy. We know it’s not the real you and hope that if you decide to come back to acting someone give you a roll full of ice cream and puppies – you deserve a little fan love.
Nice,he’s been kinda under appreciated since the beginning.
Jack Gleeson is simply brilliant. I will miss Joffrey because of him.
Wow, you mean that guys can be performer of the week too?
Ha, there HAVE been a lot of women lately. Though I remember at one time people were complaining there were too many men…
Totally agreed that Jack Gleeson was the performer of the week, but I think you totally missed the reason WHY! Yes, Joffrey was a horrible horrible person, and getting this comeuppance was absolutely deserved. But what made Gleeson’s portrayal of his death SO astonishing was that, at the end, he managed to show this monster as the scared little boy he really was–all with just the look in his eyes as he looked to his mother. It was absolutely haunting and astonishing.
Jack Gleeson is awesome. I will miss the evil young King Joffrey.
Michael Emerson was phenomenal in this weeks Person of Interest. The moral gray area Finch was caught in and his insistence that no one be killed b/c of the machine (even a scumbag like that Congressman) was awesome. The look on Finchs face at the end, staring at the camera was so sad.
Martin Freeman was great in Fargo. Awesome performance.
Well deserved. I hated his character so much it was hard to even recognize how well Jack Gleeson was playing him. He was even a jerk while choking on poison, pointing his finger at Tyrion.
I have to agree with those who mentioned Margulies and Noth too. The scene in the kitchen was long awaited and done well.
Jack Gleeson was amazing. Well deserved. I also agree with Erika. Martin Freeman, as Lester Nygaard in Fargo, was awesome, and he deserves an honorable mention.
Tony Goldwyn in Scandal. Julianna Marguilles in The Good Wife was amazing. Martin Freeman in Fargo and yes I would have to say even though he gets a bad rap for being a bad actor but Darren Criss really sold it in that scene with Chrus Colfer on Glee. Best acting he’s done on the show.
Oh and Ana Faris in Mom along with Allison Janey and the actress who plays her daughter were amazing this week. Here’s hoping Ana Faris gets some Emmy love. She deserves it
The entire cast of Veep is terrific. There’s not a weak link to be found….great ensemble.
Gotta watch out for those s-toads…
No comments about Jonah? Love that tall scrotus
I love Jonah. After just seeing the first two episodes of the season’s Veep, I’m already rooting for Timothy Simons to get the Emmy nomination for comedy supporting actor.
completely agree for both performers
Jack is amazing for such a young actor
and Jonah is such a tragic loser
Amazing ep, amazing acting. Deserved for Gleeson.
Oh gosh, I was just thinking this week that Jonah is quickly becoming the funniest character on that show. Glad to see I’m not the only one who appreciates him. I really hope they can find organic ways to keep him on Veep now that he’s been fired from the White House.
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And for Gleeson…you’ve got to hand it to him for making that character so despicable. He really went for it. Held nothing back.
Half expected the performer of the week award to go to all the douche-nozzles who spoiled the GoT ep online the moment it aired, all hiding behind “they are already books” as they’re reason istead of just being honest about wanting to spoil it for the rest of us who record, live in the UK, don’t have sky atlantic – you get the point.
Rant about them aside, Gleeson is a tremendous actor, looking forward to what the future brings – be nice to see him as a good guy after all that.
Jack Gleeson really is a great actor for making me actually hate a fictional character. I love to hate Cersei, but completely hated Joffrey. He played the part perfectly.
I would give JACK GLEESON all the awards!!!