# Game of Thrones 4.08 "The Mountain and the Viper" 6/1/14 \[no spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-4-08-the-mountain-and-the-viper-6-1-14-no-spoilers/689809 "2014-06-02T03:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 51
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-4-08-the-mountain-and-the-viper-6-1-14-no-spoilers/689809/51 "2014-06-02T14:20:02Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Are we to think that Sansa and Baelish… well, did it? I didn’t think about it at the time because I was in ‘when are they going to get to the fireworks factory?’ mode, but yes. At the end of her scene with Littlefinger, he asks something like “Do you know what I want?” > [@](#): > > The duel was good, but predictable–and the Inigo Montoya jokes are just bolstered by his repetition of his mantra during the fight. The resemblance to Inigo is intentional, and I see it as a take on what happens when a character’s desire for revenge goes beyond the bounds of good sense. I couldn’t help thinking of this, from the thread for the last episode: > [@Game of Thrones 4.07 "Mockingbird" 5/18/14 \[no spoilers\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-4-07-mockingbird-5-18-14-no-spoilers/688683/179): > > Martin doesn’t kill people because they are good, he kills people because they make stupid decisions and put themselves into positions where most people would die. We are just used to most writers saving good guys from those situations. This is just a straight up fight between two people, one of whom looks incredibly tough and the other we do not know too much about. Oberyn wasn’t stupid to get into a fight with the Mountain since he enough skill to win without a scratch on him. But he turned his back on a wounded but still living opponent to make a speech, and it got him killed. You could call that stupid, but anyway it’s an obvious mistake that people often get away with in stories like this. > [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > What happens if both combatants die. I thought that might’ve happened. Of course there’s no instant replay in Westeros. > [@](#): > > I assume the opening with the whore burping the song was the show winking at the audience. They named the only two songs that exist in Westeros. …both of which kind of suck. > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > He’s always been portrayed as a pure brute comprised of rage and muscle without a trace of cunning or self-control This is mostly what people have said about him. We haven’t seen him fight much: he chopped the head off his horse and killed a couple of terrified prisoners, but none of that proves he lacks cunning. Anyway, his plan was “when he isn’t looking I’ll trip him.” It’s not the most complicated plot we’ve ever seen. > [@](#): > > however after being stabbed with the spear, falling down and being stabbed through what looked like his crotch, he suddenly decides to play possum and lie perfectly still, not even twitching, while Oberyn starts monologing and stops paying attention to him. Oberyn knew he was alive. The whole point of the exercise was that he wanted the Mountain to confess to murdering his sister and admit that Tywin was behind it. > [@](#): > > Beyond that, it’s only an effective strategy if he knew Oberyn would all of a sudden get careless rather than continuing to turn him into a pincushion while he was on the ground. He’d been hamstrung and run through the chest with a spear. I’m not seeing what his other options were. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-4-08-the-mountain-and-the-viper-6-1-14-no-spoilers/689809)._