The Small Council meetings further Game of Thrones' political intrigue and contains two of the most enigmatic and interesting characters in the series. I am talking of course of Varys and Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger), two of the most powerful men in Westeros, each with an army of spies at their command. While Littlefinger does begin to appear more prominently in the narrative of the books, Varys has remained something of a mystery. Neither of them are given their own chapters, but still hold a great influence over the kingdom. Yet we're still slightly unsure about to what end, even if both have seemingly been more up front with putting their motive cards on the table in the later books. While it works for the books, on television they need to appear to remain relevant and the writers found that the best way to do that would be to have them occasionally verbally spar with knowledge as the weapons. These sequences are brilliantly executed and performed with each man trying to outdo the other with information gathered by their informants. Their mutual respect, yet clear loathing of each other makes it impossible to look away when they're both on screen, and Conleth Hill and Aidan Gillen seem to give their best oily performances when confronted with one another.