What I’m Watching: Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 4 “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” (B)

It’s so interesting to see all of these plotlines playing out separately while a few of them come together and others are alluded to by those who have yet to interact. Among the episode’s most moving moments are two scenes involving Lord Snow. The first displays an unsurprising but still stirring sensitivity regarding his attitude towards prostitutes and fathering a child, determined not to subject his offspring to the same challenges he endured growing up as a “bastard of the north.” Just moments later, he is interrupted by his trainer, who comes in to chastise him and Tarly and tell them of the horror that he has experienced after being subjected to the harsh, six-month-long winter years earlier. This universe is being well-established with all these tales of such things. As with last episode, Arya Stark proves to be one of the best characters, telling her father that she does not wish to marry rich and instead wants to forge her own life for herself. The continued bickering between Viserys and Daenerys is reaching a boiling point, and it looks like Daenerys may well have won the latest round as she threatens to have her brother’s hands cut off if he ever lays a hand on her again. It’s clear that people play for keeps in this world, as evidenced by Lady Stark’s rather impression efforts to elude apprehension by Tyrion and instead turn the tables on her pursuer, leaving Tyrion with a considerable number of blades at his neck as we fade to black.