Ned and his daughters Arya and Sansa have arrived in the capital and Ned immediately finds himself at work as he meets the King's counsellors; these include Petyr Baelish, an old friend of Ned's wife who still carries a torch for her and Lord Varys, a man who seems to know everything that is happening in the kingdom. It isn't long before Catelyn Stark is also in the capital; she is trying to find out who provided the dagger that was to be used to kill Bran and soon the finger is pointing at Tyrion Lannister. Meanwhile Tyrion is at The Wall with Jon Snow; here we learn more about the Night Watch; they aren't the great army of legend, rather they are undermanned and unprepared for the long winter that is to come. Elsewhere we learn that Bran has no memory of how he came to fall from the wall and over the sea Daenerys learns that she is pregnant and Viserys learns that the Dothraki will side with his sister over him.
While this episode lacked real action it more than made up for it with intrigue and the introduction to soon interesting new characters. Aidan Gillen is suitably slippery as Baelish a character who manages to be friendly yet potentially dangerous, Conleth Hill is also great as Lord Varys; a mercurial character who seems to know everything he needs to survive in the dangerous city of King's Landing. The final introduction of the episode was Arya's 'dance' instructor Syrio Forel; he was only in it for a few minutes but I have a feeling he will be a great character; Miltos Yerolemou was great in the role. Here we also see Arya developing nicely as a character; Maisie Williams has a couple of great scenes; first with Sean Bean, playing her father, then when Syrio starts teaching her how to use a sword.
Other highlights of the episode included an interesting conversation between Queen Cersei and her son Joffrey; Lena Headey and Jack Gleeson are great in these roles clearly the two characters are as bad as each other. The scene where Viserys makes the mistake of confronting his sister was rewarding as it showed that power is slipping from this vile character and his sister now has it; again Harry Lloyd and Emilia Clarke are great.
Overall another fine episode that shows you don't need lots of action in every episode to keep the audience gripped.
While this episode lacked real action it more than made up for it with intrigue and the introduction to soon interesting new characters. Aidan Gillen is suitably slippery as Baelish a character who manages to be friendly yet potentially dangerous, Conleth Hill is also great as Lord Varys; a mercurial character who seems to know everything he needs to survive in the dangerous city of King's Landing. The final introduction of the episode was Arya's 'dance' instructor Syrio Forel; he was only in it for a few minutes but I have a feeling he will be a great character; Miltos Yerolemou was great in the role. Here we also see Arya developing nicely as a character; Maisie Williams has a couple of great scenes; first with Sean Bean, playing her father, then when Syrio starts teaching her how to use a sword.
Other highlights of the episode included an interesting conversation between Queen Cersei and her son Joffrey; Lena Headey and Jack Gleeson are great in these roles clearly the two characters are as bad as each other. The scene where Viserys makes the mistake of confronting his sister was rewarding as it showed that power is slipping from this vile character and his sister now has it; again Harry Lloyd and Emilia Clarke are great.
Overall another fine episode that shows you don't need lots of action in every episode to keep the audience gripped.