Mostly a table setting episode, but a good one none the less. Dany and Jon get a scene each, but most things are focused in Westeros proper and even more focused are the scenes gearing up for the climatic battle of Stannis trying to take King's Landing.
Beyond the Wall, Jon is given to Rattleshirt, the Lord of Bones, and Ygritte convinces him not to kill Jon outright because he's the son of a Stark. It seems Ygritte may be slightly taken with Jon, or at least feels the need to pay him back for not killing her when he was ordered to. Qhorin Halfhand has been captured, as well, with the rest of the party being killed. Jon knows it's all his fault, but the Halfhand has decided that for him to redeem himself and for the others to not have died in vain, Jon needs to become a double agent within the Wildlings. I wasn't crazy about the logical problems with the changes to this story, but they've brought it back around enough that I think I'll be happy when we get to the end, we shall see. Meanwhile, at the Fist of the First Men, we get back to Sam, Grenn, and Edd and they've found a bag of obviously going to be important later items. Most notably, dragonglass.
In Qarth, we get a very quick scene of Daenerys convincing Jorah that they need to go to the House of the Undying to retrieve her dragons. Jorah would mourn their loss, but they have a way out the city without the crazy multiplying, throat slitting warlock getting to them. Dany really does take to heart the term "Mother of Dragons" and sees them as her children which she can not leave behind. Her touching his cheek is a gesture which speaks volumes. Jorah is in love. Dany knows this and also knows that she does not return that love the way he wants her to. She doesn't want to lead him on, but knows that this is so important she has to give him something to spur him into action. For Jorah, after getting rebuked in the past for being too familiar, a hand to his face is enough.
In Winterfell, Theon is keeping his shaky hold on the seat of power in the North. Yara has come, as requested, but not with the 500 men Theon wanted. Yara may have put him down in the past, but she does not want to see her baby brother killed. She knows and understands why he set out to do this, but she also knows that being hundreds of miles inland is a bad place for an Iron Born to be. At the end of the episode, we get one of the least surprising revelations ever, that Bran, Rickon, Osha, and Hodor (hodor!) are alive and hiding out in the tombs below Winterfell. Their fate was left ambiguous at the end of last week, but while we know the show would be willing to kill them off (they killed a baby in the premiere), having it happen offscreen after Bran had said they shouldn't go to the farm would not have made sense. Theon may have done something heinous, but he still wants to try and pay off the parents of the boys he murdered. It's an act that once again illustrates how he is stuck between two ideologies. The Stark way would not have killed innocent boys, but now that it's done they should have some recompense. The Greyjoy way would have just had the parents killed, too. Dagmer says as much when Theon brings up the idea.
Luckily, Catelyn did not ask for Brienne's sword to kill Jamie, but to set him free. Jamie is, of course, deserving of death, but he's such a fun character to watch he would be sorely missed. Putting him with Brienne can only bring great things because of how polar opposite their natures are. Jamie is a knight of the Kingsguard and holds no virtue in the honor that position supposedly has. Brienne, being a woman, can never be a knight, but embodies all that honor that Jamie is suppose to have. Robb can not believe that his mother would do such a traitorous thing, and while she has some sound reasoning, it was not handled nearly as well as in the books. On the page, Catelyn has heard the news that Bran and Rickon had been murdered by Theon, and this could be her only hope of seeing all of her remaining living children again. It's an act of desperation from a mother, and while that same motivation was used here, it doesn't have the same weight when she thinks her two youngest are just captives. Robb, meanwhile, finally falls into the arms of Talisa after her moving story about her brother's near drowning. This was an inevitable plot point, but I think it's been handled well in its short amount of screentime. Oona Chaplin was very compelling while telling her tale.
Tywin talks of Stannis and Robb and has decided it's time to stop sitting around at Harrenhal and ride out to battle. Arya thinks that means he rides to take out Robb and desperately tries to find Jaqen to use her third name on Tywin. When she finds him after Tywin has left she devises a fiendishly clever way to get him to do as she wishes, even if it means killing more men then the one name she had left. She says Jaqen's name. Her shrug when he tells her she has no honor was a great moment in a series of great moments from Arya this season. Jaqen does as she wishes and she escapes Harrenhal with Gendry and Hot Pie from the Night's Watch caravan. Things were horrifying the last time the Mountain was in charge there, I imagine getting out now is the best course of action.
After being absent for a couple of episodes, we get the return of Stannis and Davos. A very expositional return as they head towards King's Landing. Stannis recounts the story of how Davos the smuggler became a knight by bringing food to the starving people under siege at Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion. While it's a little clunky to have Stannis tell Davos a story that Davos was there for, I'm giving it a pass because of the conviction of the actors. It also gave us some more insight into Stannis and how he was true to orders, even if he resented Renly gettting Storm's End after the war. Now that he is the rightful king, he is the one that can give out the orders.
How great is it to have Varys back? He's easily one of my favorite characters and it had been too long of stretch without seeing him. His first talk with Tyrion and Bronn about defending the city (I had to think some to remember that Bronn called Wildfire "pig shit" when they were in the dungeons) was good, especially the little touch about knowing the pronunciation of the author's name. It was his second conversation with Tyrion out on the battlements that really made me miss their interactions. The two of them talking about the game that needs to be played to stay alive in the capital usually produces great dialogue and this was no exception. It was also a nice touch to see the Red Keep in the background. King's landing is usually an interior space or a single street, it was great to get a little more scope.
While she may have shown some vulnerability to Tyrion last week, Cersei is back in full on conniving mode this week. A king should be out fighting with his troops to inspire them , but Cersei just sees it as a way for Tyrion to get Joffrey killed. She knows Joffrey is terrible, but her motherly love can not stand to see him harmed. She thinks she's found a way to get Tyrion, through his whore. The cycles of facial espressions that Tyrion displays in that scene were great. First trying to mask the horror of Cersei's words, then trying to mask the relief that it's not Shae, but Ros, who is captive. Finally, he shows true sympathy for the trouble Ros could be in. Outstanding work from Peter Dinklage, showing once again why he won that Emmy.
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