We’ve also seen him be spiteful and acutely self-conscious, such as the scene in which Cersei slaps him. One minute, he’s full of arrogance and vanity, the next, he gets slapped and his first reaction is a look of shame and spite at the bystanders in the room who caught the slap. There’s a lot of energy in there, and what’s even more fascinating is how the rest of the scene unfolds, as you see him transition from shame to his usual arrogance as he tries to rebuild his kingly persona. At the end, everything is back to normal – the man threatened his own mother with a death sentence and makes the whole transition seem perfectly normal. Wow. This guy would make the Robb-Talisa romance believable.
What has impressed me most, however, is how subtly he can play such a one-note character when he wants to. I’m mainly thinking of Blackwater here, during that last scene with Tyrion and Lancel, as he prepares to answer his mother’s summons. Now, everyone brought their A-game during Blackwater, and as a result, Gleeson’s performance is often overlooked in favour of Headey’s, Turner’s or Dinklage’s. That’s a shame, because he absolutely nailed that scene and thoroughly impressed me. Once Lancel comes in and tells him that his mother has summoned him back to the Red Keep, you can see him torn apart.
To untrained eyes – ones that do not know the series and his character – it might look like the script is calling for hesitation between the safety of the castle and the satisfaction of riding with his soldiers, helping them win the battle with his own two hands. That is, of course, absolutely not the case: he’s actually weighing the safety of the keep with the own loathing he would have for himself, knowing that his men would see him run away, back to his mother’s skirts. Amazingly, this is exactly what Gleeson was gunning for, and even as he accepts Lancel’s proposition and turns tail, you can see just how ashamed he is of his own cowardice. He looks about to cry; he suddenly loses all the radiance he normally projects; he refuses to look anyone squarely in the eyes and just reverts back to a teenager running away, afraid. That is some seriously impressive acting.
What’s nice, also, is that Gleeson is apparently a really nice guy in real life, which makes his portrayal all the more chilling. It’s just a shame that Gleeson is portraying such a one-note character – give him anything else and I’m convinced he’d do wonders with it. I guess it’s a blessing, though, that we got such a terrific actor playing Joffrey.
Else, the brat would be truly unbearable.
Best scene: That scene with Lancel and Tyrion in Blackwater, as he runs back to the Red Keep and his mother.
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When you have nothing to say, quote yourself ~ Solfadore