The lords and ladies, knights and whores of Westeros are back for an as-always highly anticipated season of Game of Thrones. While a few main characters and plot threads weren’t present-notably Bran, Stannis, and Theon-the others were back in the full swing of things.
The Lannisters have taken center stage in this drama, befitting the family currently on the throne. The most charismatic character of the bunch, Jamie, is dealing both with his return to King’s Landing as well as his new life as a one-handed knight. Every scene from this episode put him in his (new) place. His father wants him to go back to their homeland to rule, and even gives him a new sword made of Valyrian steel (one of two made from melting down Ned Stark’s weapon.) Jamie refuses, wanting to be near his sister/lover Cersei, but she’s done with him, too. She’s endured too much pain in his absence and refuses to let things go back to the good old incestuous days. Even Joffrey derides Jamie as being a worthless bodyguard in his current form. Everyone suffers in King’s Landing, and Jamie is no exception.
Speaking of Joffrey, his big wedding is on the horizon, with Margaery set to become queen as the Lannisters and Tyrells are joined together by holy matrimony. Visitors are arriving, including a very dangerous Oberyn Martell, the fiercest warrior of this family allied with the Tyrells. He has a big appetite for sex and violence. In the course of few minutes during a visit to a brothel, he found a female partner for his female paramour, and a boy toy for himself, as well as initiated a fight with two Lannisters, stabbing one through the wrist. During a “real talk” moment with Tyrion, he confessed that his hatred for that family is deep and not likely to abate any time soon. During the last dynasty, his sister was made queen, and during the overthrow, not only were her children killed, but she herself was raped and cut in half by the Mountain, Gregor Clegane. The Martells believe Tywin Lannister ordered this abominable himself, and Oberyn would love pay back that debt.
Across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen approaches her next target, the slave city of Meereen. The mother of dragons cum abolitionist has freed one large group of slaves and will now use them to free more. This task will be harder, and she got her first glimpse as to how hard. While marching to their destination, a gruesome discovery is made: mile markers have been set up, each with a dead slave pointing the way each of 163 clicks. A sick joke that only hardens her resolve.
Last season’s most gut-wrenching moment, the Red Wedding, continues to reverberate. Sansa is destroyed by it, knowing how brutally her mother and brother were murdered. Her now-husband Tyrion can do nothing to comfort her. He has his own problem, with his mistress Shea continuing to push him for sexual engagement as he tries to negotiate the thin line between secret love and being found out. With another servant overhearing their squabble, the latter might be in the offing soon. As for Sansa, she is still in danger and Brienne reminds Jamie of his oath to her mother to protect the young girl. Her protection may come from another, more-unlikely source. The former knight and now drunken fool Ser Dontos thanks Sansa for helping to spare his life in the past and appears to be one of the few in King’s Landing in her corner.
Up north, conflict keeps building at the Wall. The Wildlings that made it over with Jon are regrouping and have been joined by a terrifying group called the Thenns, cannibals that scare even their allies. Jon is healing up now that he’s back as part of the Night’s Watch, but some doubt his loyalty. As he tells his story, the new commander wants him excecuted, but the old blind maester saves his skin. For now.
The episode ended on a much-loved character and with some much-needed violence. Up to this point the entire enterprise had been about kicking off the multitudinous plots this season will be comprised of. Now was time for some classic Game of Thrones payoff.
The Hound is still in possession of little Arya Stark and is on a mission to deliver her to her aunt Lysa in exchange for a large sum of money. During the journey, they run into trouble in the form of Polliver. He is one of the people on Arya’s hit list. A sadistic torturer who killed one of her friends will a queasy ease, Polliver is one of the King’s men who dotted Arya’s escape north with large doses of tragedy. She forces the Hound into a pub that Polliver and his men are currently terrorizing. The Hound eventually takes them all on after a couple of judicious uses of the “C” word. He does well, but Arya joins the fray near its conclusion. She dispatches one wounded man, then takes care of Polliver making sure to reenact his own murder of the young boy, making sure he knew who she was before her blade slipped all-too-smoothly into his neck, creating a blood-gurgling expulsion from his mouth with an attendant death rattle. She’s leaves more like a partner to the Hound, riding off with him on her own horse.
From almost the beginning, this series has been chiefly concerned with the multiple men vying for the Iron Throne. With two of them dead and Stannis absent from this episode, that plot arc seems to be have been pushed to the back burner. At this point in the story the numerous wounds-both physical and emotional-the characters have experienced have taken over. The hurt and the hurtful will continue to dance, and more pain is surely on the way. There’s no rest for the people of Westeros, and sometimes pain is the only constant.