Summary: Ned arrives in King's Landing and meets with everyone there, including Varys, Renly and Littlefinger. Catelyn arrives after and is taken in by Littlefinger, who identifies the dagger as Tyrion's. Catelyn trusts Littlefinger who offers to help her and Ned find out the truth behind whatever the Lannisters are doing. Jon arrives at The Wall and discovers that the Night's Watch are a struggling force of very poor fighters who are mostly criminals and disappointments. Dany settles into her role as Khaleesi and gains more power than Viserys. She is pregnant. Bran has amnesia and has been paralyzed.
The Good: This episode gave us loads of exposition and world-building as two of our main characters both went to new parts of Westeros that we haven't seen before and we were introduced to new concepts and characters all at once. While it's a bit crazy (see: The Bad), I am still enjoying the way the world is being fleshed out. Ned's story had some very interesting developments. Significantly, we have learned that the kingdom is indebted to the Lannisters, which puts them in a position of high power which could be a potential obstacle. Furthermore, Robert continues to waste all of the money which can't possibly help things. It adds detail that Robert's reign can't have been a particularly good one and I'm uncertain that he is loved by his people which can be a big plot point in a series like this one. Also, we had a fantastic scene between Ned and Jaime which furthered their conflict with each other while also offering the insight I had wanted on the death of The Mad King, which we learned a ton about in this episode. Jon's story at The Wall was really good too. His relationship with Tyrion bloomed nicely as Tyrion mentors him about the real way of the world in the way nobody has before. Jon has only been told about great things and being better than everyone but Tyrion gives him a more human lesson about the reality of the world, explaining how things really are. By the end of the episode Jon has changed his opinion of the Night's Watch, which makes for a good character arc which also serves to let us understand what the Night's Watch is and how The Wall functions. I do have a few questions about The Wall (see: The Unknown), but I think the exposition was overall given out well. I enjoyed the white walker story that Old Nan told Bran. The world's mysteries and history are still fascinating to me, so to learn about things like The Long Night and White Walkers is really exciting for me as it helps me invest and become a part of this world. I liked the one scene with Joffrey and Cersei as it helped to explain why Joffrey is such an awful person. Cersei's parenting has been less than stellar and Joffrey has just grown up to become an entitled fool. Clearly he doesn't care at all for Sansa so hopefully she can figure out his true ways before she gets caught in a genuinely awful marriage. The Bad: Bran getting amnesia is way too convenient for the plot and I really don't like it. There needed to be a less clichéd reason as to why he wouldn't remember what he saw. There are too many new characters now. While some interest me, there are so many characters to the point that I can hardly remember a lot of them. It's also harder when there are two new storylines being explored in the same episode. Dany's story got the short end of the stick in this episode and her story felt a bit rushed. Just last episode she started to take advantage of her position, but now she is already in control and gets a big moment over Viserys already, and this is after just one episode of development. It's too quick and I would have much preferred to see more of her adjusting to her new role in life. The show has an issue with engaging emotions. So far we have had three episodes of introduction and exposition without any real conflict or drama of any sort to make me really connect with the story. While the show has been fine so far, it is missing that spark and there needs to be more for the show to hit the level of greatness it is close to reaching. The Unknown: What is Catelyn and Littlefinger's history? Littlefinger revealed some interesting details in his introduction. Varys interests me a lot as he seems to be able to find information easily. I'm excited to learn more about his motives and who he serves since he is certainly a useful person. Did Tyrion actually try to kill Bran? I doubt it. More interestingly, did Littlefinger lie about the dagger or did Tyrion lose it to somebody else? Or is it that Cersei/Jaime used Tyrion's dagger to cover up their tracks? Is there anything significant with Dany being pregnant? It felt like a major reveal? Also why did Jorah react so much to it? He said he is going to Qohor, what is he doing there? Who made The Wall and why? When and how did they acquire the necessary material to build it? Why is The Night's Watch so poor? What is the purpose of it anyways if nobody takes it seriously? Best Moment: I really enjoyed Robert reflecting with Barristan and Jaime about war and their first kills. It gave us some great backstory on the characters, while also developing more about the history of Westeros. Character of the Episode: Jon. Conclusion: This was another solid episode which I enjoyed. The show is still dishing out exposition rapidly, but it remains enjoyable. Score: 62
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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