GAME OF THRONES (S8E05) : "The Bells"

Summary
The episode contains the final resolution of the fight between Daenerys and Cersei for control of the Iron Throne and the leadership of the Seven Kingdoms. "The Bells" is the penultimate episode of the series and so a number of important characters meet their ends. The ones that come to mind are: Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Euron Greyjoy, Sandor Clegane, Gregor Clegane, Maester Qyburn, and Lord Varys.

The most prominent deaths of the episode are of the Lannister twins, Cersei and Jaime. Many, many viewers were very disappointed that the most villainous character in the story (Cersei) was killed not by another character, but by falling rocks. It was an interesting detail that Cersei's death did follow the prophecy that "the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." The valonqar is the younger sibling, which everyone (including Cersei) took to mean Tyrion, but in the end it was Jaime who had his hands around Cersei's throat as they were both crushed to death. Of course, ultimately it was Dany who killed them, by raking the Red Keep with so much fire that it collapsed, but it was a hollow death, since we didn't get to see any direct or indirect interaction between the two central characters.

The Lannisters' death came after Jaime had killed Euron Greyjoy, whose Iron Fleet had been completely destroyed by Drogon's fire. (Some people who watched the show were very annoyed that one episode after Rhaegal was killed by Qyburn's ballistas that suddenly the flying spears were completely unable to prevent Dany and her remaining dragon from dominating the airspace of King's Landing.) Regardless, the hand-to-hand combat between Euron and Jaime and the fact that they both were able to land fatal blows on each other was an important scene.

Meanwhile Dany was incredibly effective on Drogon, as she basically destroyed both the Iron Fleet and the Golden Company by herself, breaching the walls of King's Landing to allow her remaining troops (Dothraki and Unsullied led by Grey Worm and assembled forces of the North led by Jon Snow) to enter the city.

It's the scenes inside the city which make the episode so harrowing. Once they get inside and the defending Lannister forces realize that Dany can basically kill anyone from the sky they reluctantly surrender their weapons, but once the bells start to ring out and Dany continues her devastating fiery pillage of the city that animates Grey Worm who throws his spear directly at an unarmed Lannister killing him, that sets off the sack of King's Landing and the murder and rape of thousands of innocents. Jon slowly realizes that his attacking forces are committing horrible acts against the defensive forces and tries (unsuccessfully) to prevent the worst of the war crimes, going as far to kill a soldier from the North as he is attempting to rape a woman.

For much of the episode we (the audience) is following Arya, who tries to escape King's Landing while the two armies are battling each other and Dany is dropping dragon fire from the sky indiscriminately. Arya experiences the destruction of King's Landing from the perspective of the women and children of the city and it is terrifying, confusing and amazing. After all the important deaths (mentioned earlier) in the final scene of the episode we see Arya covered in grey ash with multiple injuries and improbably she finds a white horse nearby ready to be soothed and she uses it to ride out of the city to safety. How will she use the fact that she is alive and everyone on her kill list is dead? Only one episode left to find out!

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The best line of the episode is Lord Varys' heartfelt "I hope I deserved it. Truly, I do. I hope I'm wrong. " This is what he says right before he is executed by Drogon on Daenerys' command after Tyrion confesses to her that Varys doubts that she is the best person to sit on the Iron Throne.
• Another important quote in the episode was also done by Varys: "They say that every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath." The implication is that 50% of Targaryen's may be insane, which is problematic when Targaryens have been in the ruling class of the Seven Kingdoms.
• The direction by Miguel Sapochnik (who also directed the more controversial "The Long Night") was absolutely stunning.
• The aerial shots of King's Landing as the town was being devastated by Dany and her dragon were incredible. It's even more amazing that instead of filing in Dubrovnik as usual, the producers created a brand new set in Dublin just so they could destroy it!
• Cleganebowl!

Lowlights
The only lowlight of the episode was that we didn't get to see the face of Daenerys as she decimated King's Landing, thus we were provided any insight into her thought processes for killing so many people and destroying so much property after the bells rang out and (presumably) the city had surrendered. This result shocked a lot of people (not me) so hopefully we do get some kind of explanation in the series finale.

Grade: 10/10

GAME OF THRONES (S8E04) : "The Last of the Starks"

Summary
This episode begins with a funeral for all the dead who fell in the previous epic episode "The Long Night." We see all the survivors, looking sombre, about to set alight the pyres of their friends, lovers, brothers, sons, fathers, etc. However, afterwards, we see a huge feast occurring in the great hall of Winterfell, with everyone  (except Arya, who is called "the hero of Winterfell" in her absense) drinking and eating and making merry. Everyone in attendance is happy except for Dany, who notices how people seem to gravitate around her nephew/lover Jon Snow, even though an objective analysis would show that he did not acquit himself with much impact in last night's battle between the living and the dead. You can see the realization on her face that she could very well lose her claim to the Iron Throne to this guy. So she calls out Gendry Rivers, gets him to confirm in front of everyone that he is indeed Robert Barratheon's "bastard son" and declares that he is now Gendry Barratheon, Lord of Storm's End (the Barratheon homestead). It's a nice moment and everyone in the hall applauds the new Lord's good fortune. Lord Gendry, continues his search for Arya, who he finds alone, practicing her archery marksmanship. Being the silly dude he is, Gendry gets on one knee and asks Lady Arya Stark to marry him. She lets him down easy. "You will make a great Lord and you deserve to have the love of a great Lady. But I am not a lady. I never was, and I don't intend to be." Although we see the end of one couple in this episode we also see the consummation of the relationship between Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, two episodes after he knighted her in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."

The title of this week's episode is "The Last of the Starks," presumably because of the scene with Jon, Sansa, Arya and Bran (the four surviving Stark children) meeting in the Weirwood, where Jon defies Dany (as everyone knew he would) and reveals the secret that only 4 people in the world know: his real name is Aegon Targaryen, so in fact he is not their adopted brother, he is their cousin (the son of their father's sister Lyanna Stark). Before he tells them he makes them swear not to reveal what he is about to say and then he tells Bran "tell them everything." Curiously, the reveal happens off-screen, as does the second reveal when Sansa tells Tyrion, who has come to try and convince the Lady of Winterfell to trust in his judgment that the Dragon Queen will be a just ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. "What if there were someone else?" Sansa asks him.

This cuts to the first of two pivotal scenes where Tyrion and Varys debate who should be the ruler of Seven Kingdoms that would benefit the most number of people. Tyrion, as one would expect from the Hand of the Queen, makes his case for Daenerys, while Varys, who having reached the inner corridors of power without ceding his connection to the common folk, wonders aloud if it wouldn't be better to have someone sit on the Iron Throne who has to be convinced to do it, instead of someone who believes it is their (her!) birthright. It's an interesting philosophical question which has echoes of modern day politics.

However this is a brief respite from the mayhem of the rapidly approaching battle for the Iron Throne. Many of our heroes set off by ship and Dany and her dragons are flying above them. Suddenly they are ambushed by Euron's fleet of ships and we see huge flying spears whizzing through the air, barely missing Dany on Drogon and connecting with Rhaegal in the wing. Two more spears come by and they catch the dragon in the throat, and he falls into the ocean, suddenly dead. Could Drogon and Dany be next? Happily they survive but it means that Dany is now down to one dragon. The new weapons by Qyburn not only can take dragons out of the sky, they can blast ships from several hundred feet away as well. Tyrion and Grey Worm barely survive and it turns out that Missandei is captured by Euron's company.

The inevitable showdown between Dany, Varys, Grey Worm, Tyrion outside of the walls of King's Landing as they watch Cersei, Qyburn, Euron, and a captured Missandei occurs at the very end of the episode. Even though it was very clear there was no way she would survive the situation, it was still shocking to see Mountain chop her head off as her lover watched. The look on Dany's face as she stormed away from the scene where one of her closest confidants was murdered as she mourns the death of one of her children was enough for us to know that the penultimate episode of the season (and show) next week will be the epic battle for the Iron Throne we have been waiting for since the show debuted in 2011.

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The best line of the episode (and maybe the season so far!) is Tyrion's response to Varys as they debate who they think really would be the best ruler of the Seven Kingdoms: "I don't think a cock is a true qualification." 
• The second best line is probably Jaime's "I've never slept with a Knight before." Of course Brienne's response is "I've never slept with anyone before."
• Most valuable player of the episode is Tyrion, who risks his life by trying to speak directly with his sister, Queen Cersei, to attempt to reach some human compassion at her core in order to try and avoid the bloodshed and horror he knows will result if the two Queens of the Realm battle for supremacy. He fails (of course), but the attempt was valiant. I was quite surprised he survived the effort. A close second would probably be Qyburn, who of course designed the new weapons which were used to devastating effect by Euron's navy to not only kill half of Dany's surviving dragons, but also obliterated a significant fraction of her existing naval power as well.
• The love scene between Jaime and Brienne was great, because it was a payoff for a relationship that has been in existence for several seasons. However the sight of Brienne in tears, dressed only in a nightgown, begging Jaime not to give in to his "bad" side and return to his evil sister/lover was heartbreaking. 

Lowlights
The primary lowlight was the fact that Rhaegal was taken out of the game so abruptly and brutally. There's no question that 6 episodes is simply not enough time to wrap up a story as complex and complicated  as George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

Grade: 9/10.

GAME OF THRONES (S8E03): "The Long Night"

Summary
The third episode of Game of Thrones is called "The Long Night" and features the final battle between the Army of the Dead raised by the Night King and the assembled forces of humanity who have gathered around Winterfell. Speculation and anticipation before this episode was at a fever pitch and it did not disappoint in the level of drama and excitement.

Synopsis
The direction of this episode was very well done. The Army of the living seems huge: there's the Dothraki hordes, rows and rows of Unsullied, the assembled forces of the North, and Dany and Jon with their dragons watching from on high. We get a signal that things are not going to go well for the living when even though the Dothraki all have flaming curved swords (thanks to an assist by Melisandre!) they are routed by an enemy we can't even see.

When we finally do see the army of the dead they have overwhelming numbers and relatively quickly are able to use those numbers to breach the defenses of Winterfell, despite the clever use of fire by the good guys, both as deployed by Dany's dragons from the air and by Melisandre at important points in the battle.

Arya's fighting prowess is showed multiple times, but even she is almost killed due to the large numbers of undead wights that stream into Winterfell. Interestingly, after what seemed like the better part of an hour, one of the best sequences in "The Long Night" was when Arya was tiptoeing around a library infested with several undead creatures who suddenly appear to have superhuman sensitivity to sounds.

A quick word about Jon and Dany, who do not acquit themselves well. Dany abandons the plan of waiting for the Night King to appear and try to kill Bran once she sees the Dothraki massacred. This results in a thrilling (but also confusing) aerial dragon fight between Dany (and Jon) on Drogon and Rhaegar and the Night King on undead Viserion. She ends up putting herself (and Drogon) into mortal danger when she is stuck in the middle of the battleground after Drogon's fire appears to have no effect on the Night King despite sustained, direct application. Eventually Ser Jorah Mormont has to put forward a heroic performance to protect Dany from a multitude of wights, dying in the process.
Jon doesn't fare much better. He gets thrown from Rhaegal after a bout with the Night King atop Viserion and despite seeing two of his friends (Samwell Tarly in particular) in mortal danger, he continues forward into Winterfell to try to protect Bran and (presumably) kill the Night King. But Jon is thwarted repeatedly by the undead dragon Viserion, who is inside of Winterfell's main yard.

Of course the most important scene of the episode was the amazing (and surprising) death of the Night King at Arya's hand, who appeared to come out of nowhere, just as he was about to kill the Three-Eyed Raven (Bran) after dispatching Theon, by thrusting an obsidian dagger into him which effectively destroyed the entire army of the dead, including Viserion. Victory!

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The most memorable line of this episode was this exchange between Melisandre and Arya: "What do we say to the God of Death?" "Not today!"
• The second best line of the episode is also Melisandre's. As she approaches Winterfell, she says: "There's no need to execute me, Ser Davos, I'll be dead before the dawn." 
• Another memorable line is Bran's "Theon, you're a good man, thank you." This was said to Theon right before he redeems himself by charging the Night King and dying a noble death.
• Most valuable player of the episode is of course, Arya for killing the Night King and causing the concomitant destruction of the Army of the Dead. When it happened I stared at the screen with my mouth agape and then cheered. At that point, it didn't appear that the living were going to prevail and it really seemed like everyone we know and care about on the show (Jon, Tyrion, Dany, Sansa, Brienne, Grey Worm, etc) could possibly be dead soon.
• Another notable highlight of the episode was the way that Lady Lyanna Mormont died. Amazingly, as one of the smallest characters on the show, she was able to take out and destroy one of the biggest, an undead Giant, who she stabbed through the eye with dragonglass and then crushed her to death as it collapsed. 

Lowlights
The lowlights of the episode were

•  Although I didn't have a problem with the lighting of the episode I did have difficulty at times discerning what was happening at times during the more frenetic sections of the battle scenes. I saw the episode in HBO NOW using Spectrum wifi on a Roku-connected 55" plasma TV in a darkened room.
• What the heck was Bran (The Three-Eyed Raven) doing during the Battle for Winterfell? Warging into a raven? To what end?
• A slight lowlight is the fact that although there were deaths, none of them were of "top line" characters. The most significant is probably Theon's, since he was an adopted member of the Stark family, but the show has made him a bigger character than he is in the books. The other characters who died are: Lyanna Mormont, Jorah Mormont, Dolorous Edd, Melisandre, Beric Donddarion and The Night King.

Grade: 10/10.

GAME OF THRONES (S8E01): "Winterfell"

After a nearly two year hiatus, HBO's Game of Thrones returned with the first episode of the eighth season on Sunday April 14th. This is the final season and will consist of only six episodes. As expected after such a long gap between episodes, ratings were extremely high. The episode (S8E01) is titled "Winterfell" and like a lot of first episodes in previous seasons, it includes a lot of place-setting and character check-ins. However, this first episode of the last season was notable for its mirroring of the first episode of the first season in various aspects.

Here, for completeness are the first episodes of the seven previous seasons of the show

• Season 1: "Winter is Coming" (Characters are introduced; Jaime Lannister pushes Bran Stark out a tower window)
• Season 2: "The North Remembers" (Stannis Barratheon is introduced as another claimant to the Iron Throne while Robb Stark vows revenge for his father's murder by Joffrey)
• Season 3: "Valar Dohaeris" (The title means "all men must serve" and comes after the Season 2 finale of Valar Morghulis which means "all men must die.")
• Season 4: "Two Swords" (Tywin Lannister melts down a Valyrian steel sword to make two swords, 1 for Jaime and 1 for Joffrey)
• Season 5: "The Wars to Come" (Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night'sWatch, kills Mance Ryder of the Wildings)
• Season 6: "The Red Woman" (Melissandre is revealed to be more than just a priestess of R'hllor)
• Season 7: "Dragonstone" (Daenerys finally makes it to Westeros, arriving at Dragonstone the ancestral home of House Targaryen kings)

Summary
The episode finds a way to check-in on almost every important surviving character in the series, with almost everyone either located at Winterfell or King's Landing.  In the North we see an insanely long line of soldiers walking past a crowd of skeptical northerners (and a bemused Arya) that includes Grey Worm and  Missandei, Jon and Dany and many, many Unsullied warriors. This, of course, mirrors one of the very first scenes in Episode 1, Season 1 when a young Bran and Arya Stark witnessed the procession of King Robert Barratheon and the Kingsguard on the way into Winterfell to try and convince their father to serve as Hand of the King. We see Gendry and The Hound in the procession as well.

When we get to the interior of Winterfell we see Bran, Sansa, Davos, Varys, Tyrion among other familiars. The first meeting between Sansa and Dany is tense, although the Lady of Winterfell does her duty by saying "Winterfell is yours, your Grace" but she doesn't look like she means it or enjoys it. Another tense meeting between siblings that occurs is between Yara and Theon, who after Euron goes to King's Landing to (successfully) woo Queen Cersei Lannister leaves his ship unprotected and vulnerable to a sneak attack by Theon to rescue his sister, who promptly heads him in the nose and knocks him to the ground when she sees him. (Presumably for running away and leaving her with their psychopathic uncle after he attacked their ship last time we saw them.) There's no physical violence when Sansa and Jon (or when Sansa and Tyrion) meet in the episode, but Sansa has developed the skill of using her words as dangerous weapons and does so to memorable effect in both meetings.

Later, we see the reunion we have been waiting for a long time, Arya and Jon (in the Weirwood, no less) and he realizes that she still has the sword he gave her so many years ago (Needle). "Have you used it much?" he asks, revealing how little he knows about the deadly assassin his sibling has become since he last saw her. We also see a reunion between Arya and Gendry (who is busy working the forges of Winterfell to create deadly weapons out of dragonglass that Dany brought with her from Dragonstone).

Probably the most important scene of the episode was between Sam and Jon (occurring in the crypts of Winterfell). After Sam has discovered that Dany (and her dragons) were responsible for the death of his hated father (and his dickish brother) he asks Jon if he knew that Dany had killed them and would he have done the same thing. (Interestingly, Jon doesn't really answer either question clearly, although his body language seems to indciate that he might have known about the incident). It's in this context that Sam reveals to Jon that the truth that fans have been waiting decades for. Jon Snow isnot a bastard, he is the true heir to the Iron Throne, since he is the son of Lyanna Stark and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (who were married at the time). Jon's real name is Aegon Targaryen VI and as the eldest son of the eldest son of King Aegon Targaryen (the Mad King) he has a better claim to the throne than Daenerys as the youngest (female) child of the King. This also means that Dany is also Jon's aunt, which should make their next intimate conversation very interesting!

In the final scene of the episode we see a stranger disembark from a horse in Winterfell and take off his head covering to reveal Jaime Lannister, and then pan out to see Bran Stark sitting in his wheelchair looking straight at him was a great surprise. And then when we see Jaime realize who it is he is looking at (the kid he cruelly threw out of a tower window after discovering he had seem he and his sister together) is a great way to end episode 1. Only 5 episodes left!

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The best line of the episode is probably Dany's slightly annoyed response to Sansa's question "What do dragons eat?" which was "Anything they want." 
• The second best line is probably Dany's "We're here to discuss your surrender, not ours."
• Most valuable player of the episode is Drogon, the largest of Dany's dragons. The look he gives Jon when Dany is trying to encourage him to "keep [her] warm" is a definite highlight of the episode. I also liked the Dany and Jon ride dragons interlude, although I can also see how some fans of the show might have gotten impatient.
• Reunions between Arya and Jon, Arya and Gendry, Jon and Sam, Tyrion and Sansa and Theon and Yara. 

Lowlights
The only lowlight of the episode was that we didn't actually see any white walkers or the zombie dragon Viserion.

Grade: 8/10.

GAME OF THRONES: Official #GOTS7 Trailer Released, Immediately Goes Viral

The first official full trailer for the upcoming penultimate season of Game of Thrones has been released and immediately set records for viewership of a tailer for a television show, garnering well over 60 million views in 24 hours.. (Previously a teaser trailer had been released.)

Season 7 of the hit show will premiere on July 16th and there will only be 7 episodes, instead of the usual 10 and Season 8, the final season, will consist of only 6 episodes.

GAME OF THRONES: (S6E08) "No One"

Episode 8 of Season 6 (S6E04) of HBO's Game Of Thrones is titled "No One." This is clearly a reference to Arya and her attempts to join the guild of Faceless Men assassins in Braavos and become "no one" and give up her identity as a member of one of the key families in Westeros. But it is also a reference to identity and class, because in A Song of Ice and Fire, one's status in society is directly related to one's name, and so someone who is "No One" has no status, and if someone loses status (like Cersei has by losing her title of Queen, Queen Mother and Regent) then those people are being treated as "no one." And one of the key plot points is who gets to decide who has status and who does not, i.e. deciding who will become "no one."

Summary
One of the main themes of this episode was about honor and how people's sense of honor complicates their understanding of what "the right thing to do is." The Blackfish can't see past his sense of honor to survive the siege of Riverrun and escape with Brienne and would rather have an "honorable death" instead of helping his niece's daughter, Sansa regain her household home.

Catelyn Stark's brother, Lord Edmure Tully decides that it is better to surrender his ancestral home of Riverrun to the Lannister-Frey army and trust Jaime Lannister's honorable word that his wife and heir will not be harmed.

In King's Landing, the political intrigues continue with Cersei's son, King Tommen Barratheon outlawing trial by combat, which is the one thing that she was counting on saving her life in any trial that will be called by the High Septon to account for her crimes against the Faith. She has the reanimated Ser Gregor Clegane (The Mountain) to fight as her champion who can defeat any man in one-on-one combat, so the Septon outmaneuvers her to have the practice of trial by combat abolished by the King.

Meanwhile, Sandor Clegane is reunited with the Brotherhood without Banners, and he gets to see the murderous ruffians who slaughtered his friends in the previous episode "The Broken Man" (S6E07).
But he find out about "the real fight" against the white walkers from the North.

Back in Braavos, we finally get a showdown between the Waif and the Arya which turns into a thrilling Hollywood chase reminiscent of Jason Bourne. With corresponding Hollywood ending.

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The best line of the episode went to Jaime Lannister, "The things we do for love" (which is  also what he had previously said way back in Season 1, Episode 1 when he kicked Brandon Stark off the ledge at Winterfell)
• There were several other contenders for best line in this week's episode, starting with Cersei Lannister's "I choose violence," to Tyrion Lannister's "Most famous dwarf in the world" (line said to Varys), Bronn's "Do you think they're f***ing?" to Podrick Payne (talking about Brienne and Jaime) and Arya's "A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell and I'm going home!" 
• The most exciting moment of the episode was when Arya blew out the candle in her hovel as she faced the Waif, and you immediately realized that despite the fact that she was bruised, bleeding and battered, she had turned the tables and would probably be the one girl walking out of their encounter alive, which is not what we would have expected to happen just a few second before. 
• The second most exciting moment in the episode was the timely return of Daenerys to Mereen, just as the slavemasters of Essos have decided to burn the city down in spite of the pact they made with Tyrion to end hostilities over Daenery's abolition of slavery.

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

• Did we really need to se The Hound hack down four other people, replete with split heads and dripping human entrails?
• 
  

Grade: 9/10.

GAME OF THRONES (S6E06): "Blood of My Blood"

Episode 6 of Season 6 (S6E06) of HBO's Game Of Thrones is titled "Blood of my Blood." This is clearly a reference to family and kinship, which are often concepts around which alliances and betrayals occur in A Song of Ice and Fire.  This could also be a reference to the tangled relationship between Cersei and Jaime Lannister or between Cersei and Jaime and their son, King Tommen Barratheon. The specific family relationships we see in this episode involve the return of a long-lost relative, a disowned son's return to the family manse to his stern father's disapproval and a usually obedient son who breaks with his parents at the most inopportune time on what the best path forward to the future is.

Summary
I think the most significant of the examples I listed above is also the most surprising. For the entire series, Tommen has been a dutiful, obedient son interested in other things (Ser Pounce, comes to mind) so it is quite stunning when it is revealed that Tommen (and Margaery, I'm sure) have joined with the High Sparrow, who imprisoned and humiliated his mother (in S5E10 "Mother's Mercy") to form an alliance of Crown and Faith. This allows him to get his wife back safely under his protection, but completely counteracts the plans that a strategic alliance of the Tyrells and Lannisters have made to try and take out a threat to their dominance of King's Landing. It's still too early to tell who will be the winner in this contest but it does show that the High Sparrow is no pushover. I still think Margaery has some  tricks up her sleeve, and her brother, the future of House Tyrell is still in the High Sparrow's dungeons.

The return of Benjen Stark was a long time coming. Benjen is the brother of Lord Eddard Stark who we last saw in Season 1 talking with Jon Snow and going out ranging beyond The Wall. His name has often been on character's lips, for example, it was the (false) report that Benjen had returned to Castle Black that Jon Snow's assassins used to lure him out of his office before stabbing him to death. After the tragic events of (S6E05) "The Door" Brandon Stark and Meera Reed are stuck out in the snow far North of The Wall with out any food or shelter. Happily, just as the wights catch up with Bran and Meera a dark stranger on a  dark horse appears out of nowhere and using a flaming brazier is able to dispatch them all.  Afterwards he reveals that he was saved by the Children of the Forest from becoming a wight himself by plunging dragonglass into his heart (like Bran saw in his vision) and says that Bran is the "three-eyed raven now."

The heart of the episode is built around the return of Sam and Gilly to Horn Hill, the ancestral home of the Tarlys. Although Sam is the first-born son, because of his bookish and unathletic nature his father disowned him and told him to either join the Night's Watch or he wouldn't survive the next hunt he was forced to go on. However, Sam has been ordered by the Lord Commander to go to the Citadel to become a Maester. But Sam doesn't return home alone, he has Gilly and a little baby boy with him. However, Sam's father, Lord Randyll Tarly hates wildlings and during an incredibly tense dinner with Sam's family Gilly inadvertently lets the truth about her origins out of the bag. Of course, Lord Tarly thinks that Sam has picked a wildling bride just to spite him and belittles and denigrates him in front of the rest of the family and banishes from Horn Hill forever. Sam gets his revenge by changing his plan of leaving Gilly and babe with his family while he goes to the Citadel and instead all three of them sneak out of Horn Hill, and on his way out Sam pilfers Heartsbane, the Valyrian sword which has been in Tarly hands for over 500 years.

There are other important moments in the episode, but they are not completely aligned with the "blood" theme. A Girl With No Name Arya decides NOT to join the Faceless Men after all, instead she seems  enamored with the family of choice created by the cast of traveling mummers, deciding instead to save the person she was supposed to kill. She goes back and unearths Needle from its hiding place and waits for The Waif to come punish her for her disobedience.

In Essos, Drogon finally appears and is reunited with Dany, who implores the Dothraki to follow her over the Narrow Sea to conquer Westeros. Hard to argue with a Khaleesi on the back of a dragon!

Another scene that is setting up the major conflict for the season is the re-appearance of the odious Walder Frey. He is going to try to appeal to blood ties in order to ransom the life of Edmure Tully (the groom in the Red Wedding) in order to get the Blackfish (Ser Brynden Tully) to give up his hold over Riverrun.

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• For the first time Gilly probably has the best line of an episode when she tells Sam "You aren't what they think you are." A close second is from a multiple winner of the "best line" contest, which is Olenna Tyrell saying tartly "He's beaten us
• Gilly all cleaned up and dressed up for dinner at Horn Hill was most definitely a highlight.
• Drogon continues to look amazing. Now that the show appears to have a near-infinite visual effects budget, they are stinting no expense in the depiction of the dragons and it shows.
• Another episode with no Ramsay Bolton is always a highlight!

Lowlights
There was no low light in this week's episode.

Grade: 9/10.

Game of Thrones (S5E07): "The Gift"

Episode 7 of Season 5 of HBO's Game Of Thrones is titled "The Gift." As with most episode titles, "The Gift" could refer to many things in the episode, but the reference that most thrills me as a reader (and fan) of the books that the show is based on is the event at the very end of the episode where Tyrion Lannister is presented to Daenery Targaryen as a "gift" from Ser Jorah Mormont. In the books, Daenerys' storyline has not intersected with Tyrion's despite the two being two of the most important and compelling characters in the entire series.

Summary
It is clear that at least one meaning of the title is Tyrion Lannister (he does in fact waddle into the arena after Mormont has dispatched several fighting slaves and say "I am the gift!" after all)  but there are several others. For example, one of the Sand Snakes (Tyene Sand, daughter of Oberyn Martell) rehabilitates the entire misadventure which has been Season 5's foray into Dorne when she gives two gifts to Ser Bronn (the first gift is a pulse-rising striptease which activates the poison that she had cut him with during their fight in the previous episode; happily the second gift is the antidote to that same poison.)

In Winterfell, newlywed Ramsay Bolton has a gift for his bride, the former Sansa Stark. Since he's a disgusting psychopath, his "gift" is the flayed body of the old woman who had told Sansa that "The North Remembers" and gave her hope by telling her that if Sansa puts a candle in the highest window of the old tower then help will come to rescue her. Ramsay, like all abusers wants to extinguish hope in his victim and make them think that he has complete and absolute control over them. Things are not looking good for Sansa. (The slight glimmer of hope is that while Sansa was outside her quarters she seized the opportunity to grab something small and sharp and hide it in her clothes.)

At the Wall, two gifts are bestowed. Master Aemon (who was actually Aemon Targaryen, the youngest brother of the last Targaryen King of Westeros) is given the rare gift of a peaceful death. He died in his sleep surrounded by people who love him (Gilly and Sam) and after playing with baby Sam. Later, after getting the crap beaten out of him by two "brothers" of the Night's Watch for defending Gilly from an attempted rape, she gives him the gift of sexual awakening by gently having sex with him, finally consummating their relationship.

In King's Landing, Ser Petyr Baelish has a gift for Lady Olenna: "a handsome young man," which he describes as the same kind of gift that he had previously given Cersei Lannister. We know that Olyvar is a handsome young man, that he used to work for Littlefinger as a male whore and that he provided the evidence which resulted in Ser Loras Martell (Cersei's fiance!) from being arrested by the Faith Militant on charges of "buggery." How could Baelish's gift to Olenna be "the same thing" that he gave Cersei? Hopefully we will find out in the next episode (S5E08) "Hardhome."

Cersei Lannister brings a gift of food to Margaery Tyrell in prison. The bedraggled Margaery does not take her mother-in-law's dishonest protestation of charity well and their scene together ends with her shriek of "hateful bitch" and throwing the proffered plate of food violently to the ground.

The final gift is a gift to the viewers. After fifty-seven episodes of lying, scheming, adultering and smirking, Cersei finally gets the comeuppance we have been all waiting for. The High Sparrow reveals that Lancel Lannister has unburdened himself of his knowledge of his distant cousin's illegal exploits and they both watch impassively as the Silent Sisters drag Cersei to a cell awfully close to one where she had visited Margaery a little bit earlier in the episode.

Highlights
The best parts of the episode were:

• I already revealed the best line of the show (Tyrion's "I am the gift!") but a close second was Margaery's "You hateful bitch!"
• The look on Cersei's face as she finally realizes (way too late) that she might be in danger from the High Sparrow is priceless.
• The verbal badinage between Bronn and Tyene while both are imprisoned was a highlight, especially since it represents a significant departure from the story in the books.
• The beatdown that Ser Jorah gives the rest of the slaves in the fighting pit as he battles to impress his Khaleesi to hopefully get the opportunity to present his gift and hopefully win her forgiveness was very cool.

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

•  No specific lowlights, except that it was very depressing to see that Ramsay's grip on Theon is so string that even when Sansa begged him to help her by sending the rescue signal Reek went directly to his master instead. 

Grade: 9/10.

Game of Thrones (S4E08) : "The Mountain and the Viper"

Episode 8 of Season 4 of Game of Thrones is titled "The Mountain and The Viper." This episode was anticipated with much trepidation because of the trial by combat between Ser Oberyn Martell (also known as The Red Viper) and Ser Gregor Clegane (The Mountain) will decide the fate of the audience's favorite character, Tyrion Lannister (The Imp), who is accused of kingslaying and kinslaying in the poisoning of his nephew, King Joffrey Barratheon (the most hated character on the show who met his end in S4E02, "The Lion and the Rose."

I didn't make my self-imposed deadline of posting my thoughts about S4E08 before S4E09 aired, thanks to my travel schedule and short vacation. Because I'm outta town, my ability to see S4E09 and S4E10 will probably be time-shifted. (I may resort to HBOGO, we'll see!)

"The Mountain and the Viper" episode, like "The Lion an the Rose" episode, contains a grisly death of a key character, one that occurs in a completely shocking manner, mostly due to the element of surprise.
If you are reading this review, I must tell you know that there ARE spoilers below, so if you have not seen the episode yourself, I would recommend you stop now and return here when you have seen the episode.

Recap
Before we get to the climactic end of S4E08 we have a number of very important scenes that forward the plots in multiple ways. In Essos we see the beginning of  an attraction between Missandei (Dany's right-hand woman) and Grey Worm (The Commander of her Eunuch Army, the Unsullied). How can a guy with "no pillar or stones" be attracted to a naked girl? I guess we are going to find out in the future. Also in Essos we finally come to the point where Ser Jorah Mormont's past as a spy for Lord Varys is revealed to Dany and she angrily casts him out, not realizing she is doing exactly what Tywin Lannister wanted her to do, and is weakening herself by eliminating a useful source of wisdom and experience.
One of the less interesting sequences involves another example of House Bolton's insanity and cruely as they use Theon/Reek to gain Moat Cailin, the largest surviving castle in the North (now that Winterfell has been sacked and burned to the ground by Theon). Roose Bolton names Ramsey Snow his true heir, renaming him Ramsey Bolton in the process. There's a great sequence where Arya and The Hound (Sandor Clegane, Gregor's younger brother) reach The Eyrie at last, only to discover that Arya's Aunt Lysa, whom Sandor hoped to ransom Arya to for a fortune has died three days previously, which  means that all their treacherous travels for the last several weeks are for nought. Arya laughs hysterically, because what else is there to do at that point?

And then of course there is that battle between The Mountain and the Viper at the end...


Highlights
There were many highlights of this episode

• Beetle Crushing! Right before Tyrion is taken out to attend his Trial By Combat where The Mountain and The Viper will fight to "reveal" his innocence or guilt by the result the Gods ordain, the two Lannister brothers have a few moments if private conversation, and they spend these 5 minutes, not talking about how much they love each other or other practicalities one may think of when death is imminent but instead the subject is beetle crushing. By an imbecilic distant cousin of theirs whose only action in life was to repeatedly crush beetles. Tyrion was obsessed by this behavior and tried to explain it. I believe the point is that it can't be explained and that at some point, everyone is the beetle and "life" crushes everyone, or in the other tagline of the series, "Valar Morghulis" (All Men Must Die). The point of the story is that there is no order or design to the world and there's nothing that can be done to stop death. (Note this is completely in opposition to what the followers of the Lord of Light believe.)
• The Red Viper Strikes, The Mountain Rumbles. The fight between Oberyn Martell and Gregor Clegane was as impressive as it is in the books. In this depiction it is very clear that Oberyn HAD effectively won the fight with The Mountain, delivering a fatal blow. The problem is that killing the person who raped and killed his sister was only part of Oberyn's revenge. He wanted to get revenge on the person who gave the order for the atrocity to happen, presumably Tywin Lannister, and in trying to goad The Mountain to confess this Oberyn made the fatal mistake of stepping a little too close to the Clegane and ended up dead, in horrifying fashion, literally with his head exploded by the powerful hands of The Mountain.
• Sansa Is A Big Girl Now. The other highlight of the episode is Sansa Stark showing that she has learned from her association Littlefinger how to lie effectively with the best of them, spinning a tale about Lysa Arryn's death with enough truths and half-truths to protect Lord Baelish and herself from harm. The final transformation she makes to appear as the Lady of the House in a black dress resembling  a mockingbird, House Baelish's sigil, was very impressive.

Lowlights
Nothing is perfect; even this classic episode had some  flaws.  The only ones I think worth mentioning are:

• Beetle Crushing? The conversation between Jaime and Tyrion about their Cousin Orson who was "thick in the head" and sat around crushing beetles all day was both a highlight and a lowlight for me because even though I greatly enjoyed the interaction between the characters and the actors, I wish the writing was clearer. Plus, if the point of the beetle story is that "all life is misery" (that the gods will continue to bring death to anyone and everyone in a random fashion over which we have no control) then I believe the point could have been made in half the 5 minutes that the producers allotted for the sequence.
• Farewell, We Hardly Knew Ye. Another lowlight was the realization that there would be no more appearance of Oberyn Martell on the show, who was a breath of fresh air into the fetid swamp of intrigue that is King's Landing.

Grade: 9/10 (A).
Overall,  S4E08 contained one of the most horrifying sequences ever shown on television but was also incredibly affecting, which ultimately, is what we hope that excellent art can and will do, and does do here.

Game of Thrones (S4E04) : "Oathkeeper"

Episode 4 of Season 4 (S4E04) of Game of Thrones is titled "Oathkeeper." It aired last Sunday and  even though I was able to see it live unfortunately it has taken me almost a full week to find the time to blog my thoughts about it, similar to what happened with the previous episode, S4E03's"Breaker of Chains."

Oathkeeper ostensibly refers to the name of the new sword given to Ser Jaime Lannister by his father, which was created out of part of the Valyrian steel supplied when the Stark family sword "Ice" was melted down by Tywin Lannister at the very beginning of S4E01's "Two Swords."

Summary
S4E04 contains some very important scenes that  are important turning points in the overall story that Game of Thrones is telling. First, it is revealed almost immediately that Petyr Baelish, a.k.a Littlefinger was involved in the assassination of King Joffrey Barratheon. He basically confirms this fact when he is lecherously boasting to Sansa Stark about his new friends that will protect him from Lannister wrath. Cut immediately to the Queen of Thorns, Olenna Tyrell speaking with her granddaughter Margaery, tacitly confirming her complicity in regicide by saying how she would not have let Margaery "marry that little beast" and then adjusted the necklaces around Margaery's neck. A clue to those in the know that it was the necklace worn by Sansa to the Royal Wedding procured for her by Littlefinger that carried the poison that killed Joffrey.

But, since this is Game of Thrones, finding out who killed the King is not the most important moment in the episode. That would have tp be the capture of Bran Stark by the odious mutineers now raping and pillaging their brains out at Craster's Keep. The same location where Bran's half-brother Jon Snow is on his way to intercept his former colleagues in the Night's Watch before they can let the secret out about how understaffed and unprepared the Wall is for an attack by Mance Ryder's Wildling army. The fact that Jon and Bran might meet North of the Wall, something that does NOT happen in the books is a very interesting development, indicating the television adaptation is diverging from its source material in surprising (and important) ways.

Highlights
There were many highlights of this episode

• Promise Keepers? One of the little-noticed moments in (S4E02) "The Lion and the Rose" due to other more shocking events was the meeting between Brienne and Cersei that led to Brienne realizing she is in love with Jaime. Jaime is the most famous example of an Oathbreaker in the seven kingdoms, because as a member of the Kingsguard as a teenager, he killed the Mad King in order to prevent the slaughter of King's Landing. After Jaime is reminded of the oath that he made to Catelyn Stark to find and return her daughters in exchange for her saving his life and releasing him from captivity, he gives Brienne the sword his father gave him as well as his brother's squire, Podrick Payne and tasks her with fulfilling his oath to find and save Arya and Sansa. Brienne names the sword "Oathkeeper," which is how she sees Jaime and she would like him to see himself. It's a momentous scene and after all the time they spent together in Season 3, you get the impression these two do not expect to see each other again.
• Slaves Are People Too! The episode began with a scene between Grey Worm and Missandei, two former slaves talking about their pasts, as Daenerys' erstwhile translator tried to teach the head of Daeners' army of former slave soldiers, the Unsullied. Later in the episode we see a conversation between actual slaves of the City of Mereen as they consider whether the "Breaker of Chains" can really be the means to the end of their servitude, or is she just the catalyst for another failed slave revolt. 
• Pussy Galore. The scene where Margaery enters soon-to-be-king Tommen's bedroom and seduces/befriends the pre-pubescent boy with her feminine wiles was spellbinding. And we found out Tommen has a cat named Ser Pounce!
• WTF? The  final scene of the episode was one of the most controversial for people who have read the books like me. We discovered that the White Walkers have the ability to convert the human baby children that have been abandoned in the snow by the evil Craster into more un-dead, glowing-eyed zombies with the touch of a finger! This was quite an astonishing reveal.

Lowlights
The only flaw in this episode I can think of worth mentioning is:

• Enough Already! Did we really need to see that the former Night's Watch guys who mutinied and slit Lord Commander Mormont's throat raping Craster's wives? We know that they are bad bad guys. The gratuitous nudity and sexuality in the show is becoming ludicrous.

Grade: 9/10 (A-).
Overall,  S4E04 was quite an important episode. We are almost half-way through Season 4, and the events told in Books 3, 4 and 5 are starting to show up. In fact, some people are speculating that the final scene was something from Book 6. Only time will tell!

Game of Thrones (S4E03): "Breaker of Chains"

The third episode of Season 4 of HBO's Game of Thrones is titled "Breaker of Chains," which any serious observer recognizes as a reference to Daenerys Targaryen. However, although she does appear in the episode, there are a lot of other storylines that are advanced before we get to see Dany doing her thing on the far-away continent of Essos, as most of the story takes place in Westeros.

I won't do a full (or dull) recap of the entire events of the episode, but will summarize the highlights and lowlights.

Highlights
There were many highlights of this episode

• The King Is Dead! Long Live The King! Now that Joffrey is dead the patronymic right of succession leads to his younger brother Tommen becoming the next King of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. With that in mind, his grandpa, Tywin Lannister, the richest (and probably most powerful) man in the realm begins his tutelage of the soon-to-be King by educating Tommen on what makes a good king (and bad king). He makes it clear that Joffrey was not a good king. That he does this while he, his daughter and his grandson are all viewing Joffrey's body lying in state in the Great Sept is astonishing.
• Twice Married, Still A Maiden? The scene between Margaery Tyrell and her Aunt Olenna, Queen of Thorns was another highlight. However, if we were looking for clues into who killed Joffrey none were offered. However, it is curious that Olenna thinks that Margaery's future has gotten brighter since the second husband who was a king was murdered before they could consummate the wedding.
• The Hound and Arya Show. The television show is following more closely characters (and storylines) in the book that get shorter shrift. One of these is the odd couple journey of Arya Stark, the tomboy who has lost her family, and Sandor Clegane, known to most of Westeros as The Hound, the fearsome muscle behind most of King Joffrey's threats and atrocities. The two actors have great chemistry and Arya is one of my favorite characters, who if you have read the books, knows has some pretty dark days ahead of her.
• Once a Fool, Always a Fool. After following the erstwhile Ser Dontos (Joffrey's Fool) from the Purple Wedding back to the port and being rowed through murky fog to a waiting large ship, surely even Sansa Lannister nee Stark must have known something fishy was up. That the person on the boat to meet them is Littlefinger himself, the master of intrigues made that immediately clear. That his first act was to immediately kill Ser Dontos, after he successfully completed his mission of spiriting Sansa out of King's Landing alive and giving her the purple necklace that Littlefinger admitted he had had made for her, is indicative of just how dangerous a situation Sansa finds herself. Again.

Lowlights
There were several curious aspects of this episode. The most notable were:

• Paging Meryl Streep. What the heck is going on with Aiden Gillen's accent as Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish?  His accent has wobbled significantly between appearances in seasons but the voice coming out of his mouth sounded like something out of Christopher Nolan's Batman. This is not a compliment!
• Out of The Frying Pan Into The Fire. There was too much time spent on Gilly and Sam. It doesn't really make much sense to the audience why Sam would think Gilly and her very young baby would be safer down in the nearby town as opposed to surrounded by the men of the Night's Watch. It can't be a good sign when your landlady/employer says that you could make better money as a whore than doing a regular job.
• Bloody Savages! We understand the Wildings are bloodthirsty, but was it really necessary to show the bloody details and gore of their massacre of the people in the countryside near the Wall?

Grade: 9/10 (A-).
Overall,  S4E03 was a perfect example of the way in which David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have adapted George R.R. Martin's sprawling epic tale chock-full of characters and storylines into a multi-faceted television with multiple settings and nuanced characterizations.

Game of Thrones (S4E02) : "The Lion and the Rose"

Episode 2 of Season 4 of Game of Thrones is titled "The Lion and The Rose." It aired last Sunday and happily I was able to see it live, and even warned my readers that you might want to tune in as well. Similar to "The Rains of Castamere" (S3E09) from last season, which also featured an important wedding, "The Lion and the Rose" is one of the most memorable scenes in the entire series of books and becomes another example of must-see television, in fact some of the most gripping and affecting television scenes in living memory.

Many others observers have already posted their thoughts on this episode, with most expressing delight at what transpired. Generally, I have been using these posts to describe my reactions to the show and have been doing so in a way that is not spoiler free so I see no reason to start now!

"The Lion and the Rose" features the event fans of the book call "The Purple Wedding," which is something of a play on  the phrase "The Red Wedding," which is what the slaughter of the Starks is known as in the books. At the Purple Wedding, King Joffrey Baratheon, one of the key villains in the story is dispatched at his own wedding, clearly poisoned by persons unknown.

Recap
S4E02 begins with a horrendous scene where Ramsay is literally treating a woman as prey by hunting her with vicious, ravenous dogs with Reek (formerly Theon) in tow. We also get to spend
time with Bran, the Reeds and Hodor. Bran's scene is especially enlightening because we see that as soon as he touches a weirwood he has visions of the past, the future and the present (events happening very far away). Additionally, there were important scenes between Shae and Tyrion (where he finally was forced to humiliate the woman he loved in order to save her life), Cersei and Brienne (where in a few short seconds Cersei was able to get Brienne to realize that her feelings towards Jaime may be more than simply chivalrous) and Loras and Jaime (who had a very amusing pissing match over Cersei, whom one of them is engaged to marry but does not love while the other loves but is unable to marry). The other events that happened in this episode occurred at Dragonstone, where Stannis Baratheon (one of the Five Kings in the original "War of the Five Kings" from Seasons 1-3 of the show) is going along with Lady Melissandre's acts of burning people t the stake if they fail to renounce their religious beliefs in the seven gods instead of following her Lord of Light, R'hllor.

The Lion and the Rose refers to the sigils (symbols) of the great Houses being joined together by the marriage of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell. The Lannister sigil is a Golden Lion (on red background) and the Tyrell sigil is a Golden Rose (on a green background).

Highlights
There were many highlights of this episode

• Ding Dong The Witch King Is Dead! Joffrey's death scene was astonishing. For people who had not read the books and did not see it coming it must have been a horrendous (albeit welcome) surprise to witness King Joffrey's demise, on his wedding day no less.
• Family Drama. The tension between Joffrey and his uncle Tyrion was exquisite and excruciating at the same time. The Lannisters are one of the most dysfunctional families of all time. It is no surprise that as soon as Cersei sees her son take his last breath in her arms, she immediately turns her grief and rage towards the person she most hates in the world, who happens to be her brother Tyrion.
• Spare No Quarter. The production design was truly impressive. After all, what is more elaborate than a royal wedding? The actual wedding took place in the show's greatest set: the Sept of Baelor and the scale of the post wedding festivities was truly awe-inspiring.

Lowlights
Nothing is perfect; even this classic episode had some  flaws.  The only one I think worth mentioning is:

• It Reeks. The entire thread between Ramsay and Reek/Theon is entirely distasteful. At least it has evolved from straight-up "torture-porn" from Season 3 to merely over-the-top and disgusting

Grade: 10/10 (A).
Overall,  S4E02 was one of the most cathartic episodes of television of all time. After three full seasons  of hating Joffrey Baratheon the audience finally was able to see him get his comeuppance and it was well worth it!

Game of Thrones (S4E01): "Two Swords"

Episode 1 of Season 4 of Game of Thrones is titled "Two Swords." It aired last Sunday while I was in Washington, D.C. for a business trip so I didn't get to see the episode until Wednesday night and since I was out of town I was extra busy at work for the rest of the week when I returned. So it has taken me this long to blog about my thoughts about the return of my favorite television show for its fourth season. Many others have already posted their thoughts, with this episode universally getting high marks as the best "first" episode of the show's first four seasons. I will endeavor to be more disciplined in blogging my thoughts about the other nine remaining episodes of this season, starting with tomorrow's "The Lion and the Rose."

Recap
S4E01 is titled "Two Swords" and the episode is framed by our view of two swords of great significance to the story. The first sword we see is the destruction of the Stark clan's famous sword "Ice" being melted down for its priceless Valyrian steel by Tywin Lannister, sealing what he thinks is the ultimate victory of The Lion over The Wolf. The last sword we see is Arya Stark regaining her weapon "Needle" after a murderous and bloody fight in a tavern somewhere in the Riverlands with The Hound, who is ostensibly her kidnaper but also appears to be becoming a kind of substitute father figure, or at the very least someone whose behavior she is starting to emulate.

In between these two important scenes, we become reacquainted with most of the major characters in this vast cast, from Cersei and Jaime Lannister (siblings and incestuous lovers), Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Lannister nee Stark, Joffrey Barratheon and his fiancee Margaery Tyrell, her grandmother Lady Olenna Tyrell and Brienne of Tarth. In the North by the Wall we see Jon Snow and his friend Samwell Tarly and the Wildings Ygritte and Tormund Giantsbane with a gathering of cannibalistic mountain dudes called Thenns. Far off on the continent of Essos we see Dany Targaryen with her army of eunuchs and now pony-sized dragons trying to fend off the flirtations of Daario Naharis.

The most important event which happens in this episode is the introduction of a new character, Ser Oberyn Martell, who we learn through some artful exposition masquerading as typical dialogue, is the second son of the King of Highgarden (the Royal Seat of Dorne, one of the seven Kingdoms of Westeros). Oberyn is introduced interviewing potential bedmates for him and his paramour at Littlefinger's whorehouse and his bisexuality is revealed quite matter-of-factly. Another important aspect of Oberyn, his all-consuming hatred of Lannisters, especially Tywin Lannister is also demonstrated in the brothel when he verbally spars and tortures to unnamed Lannisters. The Lannister second son (Tyrion) and the Martell second son (Oberyn) have an important meeting that clarifies how they will relate to each other in the future.

Highlights
There were many highlights of this episode

• Jaime's Got A New Look. Jaime Lannister is beginning to cope with the reality of having his dominant right hand removed, and he has a gold prosthetic attached. However, the highlight is really his new haircut, which makes Nikolai Coster-Waldau look even hotter.
• Oh Oberyn! As people who have read the books know, Oberyn Martell is a very important figure, especially to Tyrion, and it is exciting to see him on stage. It's funny that Bronn (and others) joke about the curious sexual habits of Dornishmen (How many Dornishmen does it take to f*** a goat?) in the same episode we see the Dornish Prince basically buy a male and female whore for his entertainment.
• The Hound Is Hungry. The droll way that Sandor Clegane (The Hound) provokes the idiot in the tavern by telling him that he wants him to bring him a chicken (then two chickens) was scary and funny at the same time. 
• Tywin Is A Bad Daddy. Charles Dance is doing Emmy-award winning work on this show but has yet to be recognized. His last line to Jaime "A one-handed man with no family needs all the help he can get" could be interpreted as a critique of Jaime's curious bachelorhood at age 40 and as a disinheritance.
• There Be Dragons! The special effects on the dragons are incredible. In the short scene we see that they will snap at each other and their "mother" when distracted by food. After all, they are wild animals. But they look incredible.

Lowlights
Not very many low-lights in this episode.  The only one I think worth mentioning is:

• New Daario SameAs The Old Daario. Daario is supposed to be one of the most handsome men on the continent of Essos and incredibly attractive to Dany. Even though they have now re-cast the character, it seems to me that they still have not quite successfully embodied the character as I remember it from the books.

Grade: 8/10 (B).
Overall, I thought S4E01 was pretty good start to Season 4, which may even surpass Season 3 for epic moments that occur in the ongoing adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.