4. Sexposition
You Win Or You Die | Season 1 | Episode 7 Whether the influence of this particular scene will turn out to be a positive one is open to debate, and it has been argued The Sopranos got there first, but 'sexposition' was a term coined specifically to describe a technique used in a scene from Game of Thrones. Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish is in his brothel, advising his prostitutes on how to pleasure their customers. He has the girls make love while he talks to them. As the scene progresses, the viewer slowly realises that when Littlefinger talks about manipulation, he is talking about himself as much as the girls in front of him, leading him eventually to disclose his motives, confirming our suspicions that it is him playing the role of puppet-master to Ned Stark. 'Sexposition' may be a term retrospectively applied to shows like The Sopranos and Deadwood, but it was applied for the first time to this scene. It has naturally caused controversy, not simply for its gratuitousness, but for what some deem an exploitative, overly self-conscious method of storytelling - some more cynical critics suggesting the writers have chosen to wrap up a long section of dialogue in a distracting sex scene so the viewer won't become bored. A further criticism is that exposition of this nature shouldn't really be appearing in a high-quality TV drama anyway, and that the audience should learn the story organically rather than being told it. Whatever your position, it's certainly a storytelling technique which became popular because of the show.