Following the arrest of Ned Stark the Lannisters quickly move to solidify their hold on the throne. All those who support the Starks in King's Landing are quickly slain, his daughter Arya must flee for her life while Sansa's position suddenly changes; she is told that she can no longer expect to marry her beloved Joffrey and begs for mercy for her father. When news of these events reaches Winterfell Robb Stark summons his bannermen and prepares to wage war against the Lannisters.
Meanwhile on the Wall rangers return with the bodies of two men who went missing some time ago; Sam notes that they don't smell rotten as one might expect and later we learn why; they have become White Walkers. When they attack they aren't harmed by swords; only fire kills them.
Freed from the Eyrie, Tyrion and his companion Bronn, meet some members of the hill tribes; luckily for them even these barbarians can be bought with Lannister gold and they take Tyrion back to his father. Across the Narrow Sea Daenerys shows mercy to the women of a tribe the Dothraki have just defeated and plan to have their way with denying them their 'reward' may have lost her some of her support although Khal Drogo stands up to his men to protect her.
This was another fine episode that continues to set things up for the war between the Starks and the Lannisters which has now become inevitable. It is hard to see how Ned will survive and Arya's safety is very much in doubt for the first time she is forced to use her 'Needle' on a person. The opening scenes are fairly bloody and we see a few established characters die. The saddest of these is Arya's tutor, Syrio Forel, his actual death is off screen but before he falls he defeats several knights using only a wooden sword! Miltos Yerolemou was great in this roll; I'll miss his scenes with Maisie Williams' Arya. It was great to see Peter Dinklage giving another entertaining performance as Tyrion; his speech explaining how he hopes to die was hilarious. After several episodes where Daenerys' status among the Dothraki improved it was interesting to see her compassion set that status back somewhat; it will be interesting to see how it affects her in later episodes. Here we see it lead to one the Dothraki challenging Khal Drogo which leads to an impressive fight. The events at the wall were interesting as they showed us more of the White Walkers; a threat that will inevitable play an important part of the story at some point. Overall a fine episode that advanced the plot nicely and contained many great scenes.
Meanwhile on the Wall rangers return with the bodies of two men who went missing some time ago; Sam notes that they don't smell rotten as one might expect and later we learn why; they have become White Walkers. When they attack they aren't harmed by swords; only fire kills them.
Freed from the Eyrie, Tyrion and his companion Bronn, meet some members of the hill tribes; luckily for them even these barbarians can be bought with Lannister gold and they take Tyrion back to his father. Across the Narrow Sea Daenerys shows mercy to the women of a tribe the Dothraki have just defeated and plan to have their way with denying them their 'reward' may have lost her some of her support although Khal Drogo stands up to his men to protect her.
This was another fine episode that continues to set things up for the war between the Starks and the Lannisters which has now become inevitable. It is hard to see how Ned will survive and Arya's safety is very much in doubt for the first time she is forced to use her 'Needle' on a person. The opening scenes are fairly bloody and we see a few established characters die. The saddest of these is Arya's tutor, Syrio Forel, his actual death is off screen but before he falls he defeats several knights using only a wooden sword! Miltos Yerolemou was great in this roll; I'll miss his scenes with Maisie Williams' Arya. It was great to see Peter Dinklage giving another entertaining performance as Tyrion; his speech explaining how he hopes to die was hilarious. After several episodes where Daenerys' status among the Dothraki improved it was interesting to see her compassion set that status back somewhat; it will be interesting to see how it affects her in later episodes. Here we see it lead to one the Dothraki challenging Khal Drogo which leads to an impressive fight. The events at the wall were interesting as they showed us more of the White Walkers; a threat that will inevitable play an important part of the story at some point. Overall a fine episode that advanced the plot nicely and contained many great scenes.
