Things are looking dangerous for Ned Stark and his daughters as news that his wife has taken Tyrion Lannister prisoner reach King's Landing. If that weren't bad enough Arya overhears two men plotting against her father then Ned loses his most important ally, the King, when he refuses to back the king's plan to have Daenerys Targaryen murdered before she gives birth. Away from the capital Catelyn Stark takes Tyrion to her sister's castle; the Eyrie.
We may not visit The Wall or travel over the Narrow Sea in this episode but that doesn't matter as there is so much going on in King's Landing; everybody seems to be scheming and trying to determine who their allies will be not easy when alliances are based on picking who you think will come out on top rather than trust or friendship. The episode is top and tailed by some fine action sequences; both of which include shocking moments; including the decapitation of a horse and a man getting a sword thrust through his head! The cast continues to excel; here Sean Bean does particularly well demonstrating he can do action as well as subtle emotion. He has a couple of great scenes with Mark Addy's King Robert; firstly a humorous one where he mocks his friends inability to fit into his armour then the more serious one where we see that friendship has its limits and the King is furious that The Hand won't back his murderous plan. This episode proved to be an interesting introduction to Catelyn's sister; she is clearly one of the maddest characters yet; she is still breast feeding her son who appears to be eight or nine! Other scenes worthy of not include a frank talk between the king and his wife, an talk between Lords Baelish and Varys and an amusing scene between Arya and a couple of guards. Overall a top notch episode that hints at things to come; there is a fair amount of violence, swearing, sex and nudity but I suspect anybody put off by that would have dropped the series by now!
We may not visit The Wall or travel over the Narrow Sea in this episode but that doesn't matter as there is so much going on in King's Landing; everybody seems to be scheming and trying to determine who their allies will be not easy when alliances are based on picking who you think will come out on top rather than trust or friendship. The episode is top and tailed by some fine action sequences; both of which include shocking moments; including the decapitation of a horse and a man getting a sword thrust through his head! The cast continues to excel; here Sean Bean does particularly well demonstrating he can do action as well as subtle emotion. He has a couple of great scenes with Mark Addy's King Robert; firstly a humorous one where he mocks his friends inability to fit into his armour then the more serious one where we see that friendship has its limits and the King is furious that The Hand won't back his murderous plan. This episode proved to be an interesting introduction to Catelyn's sister; she is clearly one of the maddest characters yet; she is still breast feeding her son who appears to be eight or nine! Other scenes worthy of not include a frank talk between the king and his wife, an talk between Lords Baelish and Varys and an amusing scene between Arya and a couple of guards. Overall a top notch episode that hints at things to come; there is a fair amount of violence, swearing, sex and nudity but I suspect anybody put off by that would have dropped the series by now!