One of the most anticipated second seasons of a television series finally aired tonight, and it was chock-full of the fun and frivolity fans now expect from Game of Thrones.
SPOILERS AHEAD. (at least for those who haven’t read the books, and why haven’t you? They’re good!)
The episode begins with the kid that everyone loves to hate, King Joffrey. He is able to display equal parts brat and sociopath in every scene, and the celebration of his name day is no exception. Combatants battle each other in the hopes of entertaining him, and tortured Sansa Stark is forced to watch and pretend that she is having the time of her life, even when Joffrey sentences a man to death for simply being intoxicated.
Fan favorite Tyrion returns to King’s Landing to serve in his new role as Hand of the King, and Cersei is none too pleased to see her brother. She must tolerate him, however, since their father named Tyrion to serve in his stead. The best line of the night is when Tyrion tells Cersei: “You love your children. It’s your one redeeming quality. That and your cheekbones.”
We are treated to glimpses of some of the other characters so that no one is left out of this first episode of the season, but I can’t say that anything of major importance happened in these scenes, though the stage is obviously being set for major plot developments.
Bran is currently Lord of Winterfell in Robb’s absence, and he’s troubled by dreams he doesn’t understand.
Daenerys and Ser Jorah wander the wastelands with her people, and she sends three riders in search of cities and water after her horse falls. Her infant dragons are still in their cute stage, and Jorah warns her that enemies will take her dragons from her. In the tone of a mother whose babies are threatened, she declares that no one will take her dragons.
Jon Snow and his companions from the Wall meet Craster and his daughters as they seek shelter on their journey. Well, Craster’s wives. His daughters are his wives. (So much incest in this show!) Mormont essentially tells Jon that he needs to behave and quit standing in the corner glowering at people.
New characters Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon appear, though Stannis’ men aren’t entirely sure about the red priestess who serves the new gods. She produces the sword Lightbringer in a ceremony on a stretch of beach next to the roaring ocean, and Stannis retrieves it, readying himself to lay claim to the Iron Throne. But first Melisandre must deal with a man who has questioned their actions. When I first saw him, I said to myself, “It’s Sio Bibble!” (from The Phantom Menace). Indeed, it is the same actor, but his contract must have been for just this episode. “The night is dark and full of terrors,” Melisandre says as she stands over his poisoned body, “but the fire burns them all away.” She drank from the same poisoned cup but experience no ill effects.
Robb and his captive Jaime Lannister have a brief discussion in which Robb introduces Jaime to his direwolf. (I couldn’t help but think that the wolf looked a little like the ones in the Twilight saga, though). He later considers forging an alliance with Balon Greyjoy after a discussion with Theon, but Catelyn urges strongly against it.
Cersei speaks to Littlefinger in the hopes of gaining information about the missing Arya Stark, but Littlefinger stupidly hints at the fact that she and Jaime have been involved. In a display of power, she tells her men to kill him but then has them back off. She leaves him with the order to locate the girl, and we can well imagine he’s going to do his best, having come so close to death.
In a scene that will no doubt be viewed over and over again, Cersei slaps Joffrey. He asks her about Robert’s bastards and wants to know how many women Robert was with after he tired of Cersei. SLAP! And while a mother may slap her son, a subject should not slap her king, and Joffrey tells her what she did is punishable by death. I believe at this moment Cersei is beginning to suspect the kind of monster she has created in putting her child on the throne. He is not the puppet she thought him to be, though this should have been crystal clear after he had Eddard Stark beheaded at the Sept of Baelor.
No doubt at Joffrey’s command, the guards storm Littlefinger’s pleasure house in search of Robert’s infant bastard. They locate the baby and kill it as its heartbroken mother watches. Next, they go in search of the blacksmith Gendry, who is on the King’s Road with Arya as they travel to the Wall.
The pieces are being placed on the board, and we will have to watch as the season unfolds to find out where they will end up. Who will win the Game of Thrones?
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