You've got to take in to account that Jaime jumped at the chance to get out from under his father by getting inducted into the Kingsguard when he was just 17 -- and like Jon and the Night's Watch, that's a vow for life (and celibacy). But even that couldn't get him away from his family's orbit, what with his father maneuvering to get his sister married to Robert and taking up residence in Kingslanding.
And even when he manned up and did the right thing -- Aerys needed assassinating, the sooner the better -- he's paying for it for the rest of his life. "Kingslayer" is not an affectionate nickname, not in this culture, even if the Lannisters ended up on the winning side. Jaime's moral center has burned out long ago in a massive puff of PTSD and snuffed honor.
As for this episode -- I'm really pleased with how things are off to a good start, and that the pieces are in play on the board in a big way. I think we covered like a quarter of the book, which leaves us to get to the Good Parts sooner.
As someone who has not read the books, I was very confused by the end of the episode. Joffrey commanded that all babies(?) all bastard babies(?) all boys(?) be killed because any of them could be his half brother? Who was the kid at the end with the bull helmet? Had we seen him before?
Yes, he was somebody that Jon Arryn had investigated and Ned followed up on - one of Robert's bastards.
ETA: He was first in episode 4 of season 1.
The blacksmith's apprentice.
also one of the best characters from the UK show, Skins.
OK, I do remember the blacksmith's apprentice. What about the first half of my questions?
I think Cersei is killing all Robert's bastards because Joffrey reminded her they exist and are a threat. Robert was not discreet, so they can be pretty precise.
He ordered that all of his "father"'s bastards be killed, so no one else would realise how much he totally didn't look like them--so no one had the epiphany Ned did.
In the book, I always thought it was Cersei who ordered the killing.
