What I’m Watching: Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 5 “First of His Name” (B)

I feel like we’ve lately had the opportunity to spend extended time with characters who aren’t always as featured, while some who usually occupy a greater percentage of the allotted screen time – namely Tyrion and Jaime Lannister – have hardly been featured. Instead, Cersei took center stage, moving on from the loss of her son as she seemed to come around to the idea of Margaery marrying the new king, treating her in a much kinder fashion than she did when she first called her “sister.” Joffrey’s one-time fiancée Sansa has now found herself in a somewhat precarious situation, saved by Petyr Baelish and spirited away to safety, but very close to her frantic and unpredictable aunt Lysa. Arya’s time with the Hound is growing more and more unpleasant, though she got some minor revenge by naming him as one of the people she planned to kill. I’m very glad that the brutality Karl going to unleash on Meera didn’t come to pass, and kudos to Jojen for his brave and rather insightful prediction of his impending demise, which stalled long enough to keep them alive before the cavalry arrived. Bran did pull off a neat trick of his own with a devastated Hodor by using him to kill Locke. It was torturous to see Bran and Jon so close to each other, but I suppose a family reunion is something that’s still a long way off. For the moment, we’ll have to settle for others being out on endless treks, like the new entertaining odd couple of Brienne and Podrick.