SPOILERS: Don’t read this review if you have not yet seen or don’t want to know details from the most recent episode of Game of Thrones.   10) Tyrion toasts himself and the Lannister siblings:”…the Imp, the cripple, and the mother of madness” at breakfast w/ big brother, Jaime. 

9) Jaime and Bronn (who has graduated from common whores to the wife of a knight- “she’s a screamer, that one”) practice swordplay on a secluded cliff.  Jaime uses his left hand (of course); Bronn treats Jaime just like anybody else.  (Jerome Flynn continues to get some of the best/funniest lines!)

8)  We may’ve been happy to see Ramsay being dressed down by his father, Roose (“My banners not yours.  You’re not a Bolton- you’re a Snow.”)  However, as that (tense) scene goes on, Ramsay gains some points via Theon (who has revealed that Bran and Rickon Stark are still alive).  Roose, now Warden of the North, listens intently to his bastard, and gives him another task (“…maybe I’ll reconsider your standing.”) 

Theon now looks like a completely broken man.  He finally learns that Robb (who he thought of as a big brother) was murdered.  Alfie Allen will have some (more) acting challenges this season, I’m sure! 

7) Varys tells Tyrion that Shae has been found out (we know by one of Cersei’s spies), but he can help her escape across The Narrow Sea.  At the wedding breakfast for Joffrey, Cersei points out Shae to Tywin (who warned Tyrion in Season 2 that he’d kill “the next whore I find in your bed.”)  Then we have the break-up scene- Tyrion tells Shae that she’ll “have a comfortable life in Pentos,” how he wants to be true to his wife (Sansa), then cuts her down so much that she starts to weep loudly (though she’s a tough gal)!  Peter Dinklage surprised me in this scene, since I didn’t think Tyrion could be so harsh with someone he loved.    6) At Dragonstone (Stannis Baratheon’s stronghold), we see few men being burned at the stake for not converting to The Lord of Light; such occurrences were mentioned in Season 2.  Melisandre presides over the event.  One of these men is the brother of Selyse, but she doesn’t care, being a total fanatic.  My favorite character is back!  Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham), looks away while they’re burned.  He tells Stannis: “He worshipped the gods of his fathers, and his fathers before him.  They were the gods of your fathers, too.”  Stannis doesn’t like such comments, since he’s also devoted to this new religion.  

We learn more about Selyse later on in a dinner scene, where she tries to connect w/ her husband over their shared struggles during the war.  She misses, of course, as Stannis is a man cut off from his emotions.  Selyse calls their daughter, Shireen, “a stubborn little beast.”  Stannis commands: “She’s my daughter.  You will not strike her.” Hmmm… maybe he’s not all bad?  

Melisandre wakes up Shireen and tells her more about her religion: “There is only one Hell, Princess, the one we live in now.”  Carice Van Houten has such a screen presence! 

5) “Bastards are born of passion, aren’t they?  We don’t despise them in Dorne,” Prince Oberyn Martell coolly explains to Tywin and Cersei after introducing his “paramour” (lover/companion) Ellaria Sand.  This reminded me of one of Edmund’s speeches from King Lear:

Why brand they us

With “base,” with “baseness,” “bastardy,” “base,” “base”—

3) “But you love him” Cersei replies to Brienne, who’s surprised by this accusation.  Jaime, the topic of this tense conversation, is watching both ladies (but can’t hear them).  Gwendolyn Christie reveals more of Brienne in this episode with just a few looks: social unease, innocence (of politics), and good manners (even toward King Joffrey, who cuts down her beloved Renly).   

2)  All the insults, looks (inlcuding reactions of other guests), and tension between Joffrey and Tyrion involving the cup of wine  1) Joffrey choking and eventually dropping dead- just what we wanted for so long!  (Twitter folks cheered with happiness, too.)  But what killed him?  The wine?  The pie?  And who planned it?  So many suspects…