I really liked the structure of this week's episode. With the exeption of Daenarys, our main storylines this week followed the Stark children and those raised by the Starks, such as Jon and Theon. That leaves no room for the Stannis camp this week.
We start off with Theon making good on his plan to take Winterfell. He may have thought he made his choice to be a true Greyjoy, but he's still warring within himself. The way he was raised by the Starks was a way of mercy, but when Ser Rodrik spits in his face his new followers demand the iron price. Theon once again decides to side with his birth and condemn Ser Rodrik to death. Rodrik did put Theon in a nice catch-22 before his death. Let Rodrik live and ironborn will lose respect, kill him and Winterfell will be harder to control. He was not paying attention to Ned Stark's beheading methods over the years because Ser Rodrik's death was nowhere near a clean one. The real punch to the gut, though, was when Bran asked him if he had hated the Starks the whole time. Theon has no answer for the little lord, but we know that not long ago he considered Robb a brother. Once again, Theon's arrogance gets the better of him, letting Osha hatch a plan to get Bran and Rockon out of Winterfell.
We move from one bad beheading to another. This time, though, Jon can't bring himself to behead a girl. The whole situation rang a little false, though. Why would Qhorin and the others just leave Jon and hope he catches up? They're deep in enemy territory in an inhospitable land, they should never separate. The chase was beautifully shot and I did enjoy Ygritte's 'movements' while trying to get comfortable. It's one of the few times condensing something from the books has created a logic problem. I should be happy they've done so well avoiding that to this point.
Arya in Harrenhal continues to be some of the best parts of the entire series. This time we get that amazingly tense scene with Littlefinger talking with Tywin. We know that Littlefinger would recognize her right away and she has to do everything she can not to be seen by him. The blocking in that scene was very well done, letting it get so close a few times. We're so worried about Arya being found out, we forget to listen to the fact that Littlefinger is trying to broker a alliance between the Tyrells and the Lannisters. I had to go back and watch it again to pick up on that. She may have concealed herself from Littlefinger, but her carelessness in swiping the letter about Robb leads to her having to use her second name on Amory Lorch. It's good to see the man that killed Yoren go down, but since it happens right in front of Tywin, he's gong to be on high alert now.
Sansa finds herself in a bad predicament on the way back to the castle after seeing Myrcella off to Dorne. She also gets another lesson in what it means to be part of the ruling class, some people may not like you. In this case, these particular people wanted to rape and kill her, all because she was part of the king's group. She's right that they had no idea who she was or if she had ever done anything to them. In that moment it didn't matter, she was one of them and needed to pay. Luckily, the Hound is there to save the day so she doesn't end up limbless like the High Septon. Joffrey once again makes us want to reach through the screen and strangle him. Thankfully, Tyrion gives him another slap for us. Tyrion, we know, has genuine concern for Sansa, but even appealing to the fact that his Uncle Jamie would die can't get Joffrey to send people to look for her. He is right on the nose about Joffrey being both a cruel and idiotic king.
Robb is finding out being a king seems to leave him with even less choices than before. While Joffrey rules under the approach of being the king means he can do whatever he wants, Robb finds his options limited. He can not got to Winterfell to retake his home from the traitor, Theon, because that would mean abandoning the war they are already fighting. He also can't fall in love with Talisa, the medic. Last season as a toll for letting his army cross the Twins, Robb agreed to wed one of Walder Frey's many, many daughters. Brienne may not be doing much so far, but her looming presence in the background of these scenes always gave me a smile.
Lastly, in Qarth, Danaerys finds her options just as limiting as Robb. To take Westeros she needs ships and an army, and at the moment all she has is baby dragons and promises. Promises are not an acceptable currency in Qarth, and she refuses to give up the dragons. Xaro tells her that she's trying to be too honorable, and that getting to the top takes some treachery. We've also seen first hand where honor took Ned Stark. And now, in the cliffhanger, she's lost the dragons. This is not something that happens in the books, so I'm just as in the dark as everyone else now, and I kind of like it.
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