Quite exciting! It’s no fun being sick as a dog, but one benefit is that it gives you plenty of time to catch up on your TV shows and post about them. And that’s precisely what I did today. After some writing, intermixed with coughing and hacking, I managed to catch up on my GOT!

And I was pretty enthused. Last episode, I had a few gripes about the changes they had made from the original text. Yeah, most were just fine, better really since they avoided some convoluted plot twists or needless events.

But there was one, the capture of John Snow by the Wildlings, that I couldn’t quite see the wisdom of. That represented a big changeover from the text, and I wondered how they planned on resolving it with this episode. And wouldn’t you know it, they did it again! I guess the writers really do know what they’re doing with this one.

Alas, they still managed to change some other things, much to my chagrin. Now I got to wait another week to what happens with that. They sure know how to keep audiences in suspense, damn them! Anyhoo, the recap!

The Prince of Winterfell:
The episode begins with Theon at Winterfell, where his sister arrives with her kinsmen from Moat Cailin to tell him no help is coming. His father has taken exception to his seizure of Winterfell, and his execution (staged, of course) of the Stark children. Rather than withdraw as ordered, Theon opts to stay and fight, even though it will mean certain death.

At Harrenhal, Arya loses her chance to kill Tywin Lannister when he decides to take advantage of the lull in the war and ride south to assist King’s Landing. She meets with Jaqen and arranges a new plan. In exchange for her not naming him as her third victim, he will help them escape. Jaqen honors his promise and kills the guards holding the gate at night. Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie escape!

Meanwhile, Robb returns to his camp to learn that his mother has set Jaime free. He is outraged and orders his mother put under guard. Shortly thereafter, he and Talis finally give into their feelings for each other and get it on! This will naturally cause problems, since Robb is compelled to follow his heart and dishonor his betrothement to the Freys. And of course, Brienne continues south with Jaime, who is driving her nuts and actively planning his escape.

At King’s Landing, Tyrion and Cersei continue to play their little game of cloak and dagger. She plans to blackmail him by seizing the woman she thinks is his whore, but Tyrion sees that she has the wrong woman. He goes to Shae and tells her they must be more careful from now on. However, more pressing is the coming siege of King’s Landing, which is only two days away!

And of course, John Snow faces capture in the North. Interestingly enough, so has Qorin Halfhand, the only remaining ranger in their group. He tells John that he must make up for his failure, and plans to do it by setting John up as a defector. On person who seems interested in this is Ygritte, who has saved his life already by claiming Rayder wants to interrogate him.

Good Points and Bad:
Okay, good stuff first since that is where I left off. Last time, I was wondering how they would resolve the little issue of how John and Qorin were supposed to be captured together, but only after John swore to him that if they were taken prisoner, he’d do what he had to to infiltrate the Wildling’s camp.

Well it seems they came up with a solution for that, probably had it in mind from the beginning. After being captured, John discovers that they took Qorin as well, thanks to the trail he left chasing Ygritte. Feeling guilty for this failure, Qorin decides to tell John that he must defect in order to make up for it. He begins denouncing John in front of the other Wildlings to make his eventual defection seem realistic.

Now the bad stuff, though it really doesn’t amount to much. Again, they made a change, but in this case it was more of an omission and possibly a delay. In the story, like the miniseries, Cersei overplayed her hand with Tyrion when she brought whom she thought was “his whore” forward. Tyrion repayed this by letting her know that she had the wrong woman and the men who she thought were working for her are in his employ. She is pissed, but can do scarcely anything about it.

However, here we see Tyrion play along and leave to find Shae, who he then tells to be careful. Seems wise, didn’t want to let her know she’s missed with her ploy, but unless they show this later, it constitutes a big omission, and this stuff is kind of important. No spoilers, but it does set up something that happens during and after the big siege.

Speaking of which, the stage is now set for that to happen! Stannis and his forces are two days away, the preparations continue, and Tywin Lannister is riding south to drum up what support he can for the defense. What’s more, the Lord of Bones was introduced – very nice by the way! – and John’s “defection” and his relationship with Ygritte stand to be developed further. I’m intrigued and looking forward to the climax. Not to keen on the long wait for season three though!