Finally the night that we have all been waiting for arrived. The night when we got to see the first episode of season 4 of Game of Thrones. After a 10-month wait, was it worth it? Let's find out.
The Lannisters.
The episode opened with Tywin Lannister having two swords made of Valerian steel. We know one was for Jamie, who we see has had a hair cut and has now got a brand new gold hand.
Cersai is becoming more evil by the day, and Tyrion is being used as a whipping boy to insult the Prince of Dorne, who is hell bent on killing everyone who had a hand in his niece and nephew's, Raenys and Aegon’s, murders.
Joffrey is the same evil self that he has always been, and I'm surprised that there aren’t more people out to murder him. I hate him so much! As ever Jack Gleeson does an excellent job of making him hateful, and just seem pure evil.
The Starks
Sansa is filled with grief and cannot bring herself to eat. We learn that she knows all the details of her Mother and Brother’s death and it is eating away at her. She seems to blame Tyrion, in part, for their murder and she can’t stomach to be around him. I loved how they filmed this scene because we see that some part of Tyrion does care for her greatly, even though he knows that he can never help her.
We also see that she is not as fragile as people make her out to be. She knew that she was being watched and she knew when someone was following her. I loved that they showed us some character development with Sansa and we really feel for her because she truly is damaged by what has happened to her family.
Arya is still with the Hound, but she seems hardened by what she witnessed in the Red Wedding. She doesn’t want to get away from him at this stage, and it seems that she just wants his respect. We see a massive change in her in this episode, when she helps the Hound to kill the Kingsmen. As soon as she notices that one of them has her sword, Needle, and they were responsible for killing her friends, she wants revenge.
To me, it seems that she is more aware of the grey area when it comes to killing, especially in this world. Her little smile at the end, after she has killed the soldier that killed her friend, tells me that she has found a way to make herself feel better about all the things that have happened to her and her family.
Jon Snow has returned to The Wall, he knows about Robb and Caitlyn, although he only feels sorrow for Robb. He has to answer for his joining of the Wildings when he was beyond the wall and we also see that his time on the side has changed him greatly.
I have always felt that there was an element of vulnerability in Jon (the TV version anyway), but that has gone now. He is aware of the greater threat and Maester Aemon seems to see that in him as well.
Brienne of Tarth
Brienne is still with Jamie, their relationship seems to be one of mutual respect. He values her opinion and she knows that he needs a little help keeping his vows from time to time.
I love their relationship because it shouldn’t work, but it does. There is a little spark in scenes with them together. It is not a romantic spark, it is just something that makes me feel like they will be friends for a long time.
Daenarys
We pick up with Daenarys on the march to Mereen. We see that she has a massive army and her dragons have grown a lot since we last saw them. Drogon is a lot bigger than the other two, but he seems to have bonded more with his Mother, even though we are quickly reminded that dragons can’t be taimed.
Of all the characters in Game of Thrones, Daenarys is my favourite. She has changed a lot since we saw her marry Khal Drogo and she seems to be the character that has a morale code. When she saw the slave children nailed to the crosses, she was so angry and you could see the determination in her face that she was going to get revenge for them.
I am very excited to see her character develop throughout the season. I have read all the books and comics, so I am trying not to give too much away, but I want to see how her development compares with what happens in the books and how she changes.
Conclusion
I loved this episode of Game of Thrones. Nothing major happened, but you can see how they are setting things up for what is about to come in the next few episodes.
Two Swords reminded me of how the novels are set out and I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. It seemed to jump from one character to the next, in seemingly unrelated stories. I just thought it was extremely well filmed and thought out.
This is the first episode that I have seen since reading the books. I watched all the previous seasons before I started reading the first novel in the series. I feel like having now read the books, it has made me see the episodes through new eyes in a way. Maybe that is why I preferred the way Two Swrods was filmed, previously I have felt that it was too chopped up.
With no The Walking Dead to watch I was worried about what I was going to do with myself. But, Game of Thrones more than filled the void. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole episode.
Rating: 9/10
I can’t wait until next week because the promo looks like we will get a bit more action. Check it out below:
I loved how the sound stopped just as the dragon flew over Mereen. It made me feel a bit ominous and excited all at the same time.
Excited to have Game Of Thrones back? What did you think of Two Swords?Let us know in the comments below.
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