The episode begins with Two City Watchmen arriving at the caravan upon which Arya Stark is traveling. They reveal that they are looking for Gendry, one of King Robert’s illegitimate sons, who they intend upon killing. For some reason this week, these killings read like the murders of the first-born sons in the Hebrew Bible. Perhaps I’m reading into religious imagery too much.
Yoren convinces the men to leave when he threatens to cut off one of their genitals. Later Arya reveals to Gendry that she is indeed a Stark, after he tells her that he knows she’s a girl, in a pretty hilarious scene that involves conversation about peeing.
Meanwhile, Tyrion Lannister is continuing to prove how much of a badass he is, and just how much he will become the main character in this season; it’s no secret, Mr. Dinklage is listed first in the credits. He has two amazing scenes in this episode, one in which he dismisses Lord Janos Slynt as commander of the City Watch and replaces him with Bronn. In another later scene, Tyrion talks to Queen Cersei about his decision to remove Slynt and some of this episode’s most intense, well-written dialogue ensues. Cersei calls Tyrion funny and labels his greatest joke as his birth, which killed their mother.
The plot involving Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre is still at a point of development at which it’s difficult to ascertain everything that’s going on with them. Melisandre allegedly has some prophetic powers that give her some knowledge of future events, and she promises to give Stannis a son, if he relinquishes himself completely to the Lord of Light. As to who that guy is, I’m still pretty clueless, but it has something to do with the funeral pyre ceremony Melisandre conducted in the season’s first episode. The promise of a son prompts Stannis to not-so-gracefully mount Melisandre on top of what appears to be a battle map, causing pawn-like pieces to ironically fall to the floor.
Theon Greyjoy, the guy with the gap-teeth who runs around with Robb Stark, returns home to the Iron Islands. Here he rides to Pyke, the capital, with a woman he begins to charmingly molest with his hands. Upon arriving at his father’s castle, he realizes that this woman he hasn’t seen for a while is his sister Yara. Yikes, more incestuous stuff going on in this show. Theon’s father Balon reveals that he intends to use Yara to lead his fleet against Robb Stark.
Daenerys Targaryen is still stuck with the remnants of Drogo’s khalasar in the Red Waste. One of the riders she sent out to seek assistance for her people returns without a body, but only his head in a satchel attached to his horse. Daenerys is told that this is a warning from one of the other khans.
In the first episode of the season, it was revealed that Craster, the wildling with whom Jon Snow and the other men from the Wall are staying, has an incestuous relationship with his daughters and for some reason or other has no sons. In the cliffhanger at the end of this episode, the fate of Craster’s boys may be revealed.
Game of Thrones is such a dense show with a huge cast of characters that it is often hard to get into as the plot is being set up. This season begins similarly to the last in that there are a lot of pieces being positioned, and the viewer is left waiting for them to move around. The great thing about the cliffhanger in this episode is that it links one of the most interesting scenes early in season one with the fate of a main character of this season. I’ve already said too much.