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Game Of Thrones Season Premiere Review: “Valar Dohaeris” (Season 3, Episode 1)

For the viewers at home, it's been a long, cold wait between the paradigm-changing season finale of Game of Thrones' second season and the first scene of the new season. For the characters who inhabit the world of Game of Thrones, however, it seems as though very little has changed and very little time has elapsed. Given the scope of the show, it seems like an almpost impossible task to move through the various strands of plot in any real or understandable manner, so I'll begin by talking about the characters who experience the most to move the plot forward before trickling down to the lesser elements of the story at hand.

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Meanwhile, John Snow, fresh off of murdering a fellow Watch member to gain the trust of the Wildlings, finally gets to meet Mance Rayder, the enigmatic King Beyond the Wall. Ciarán Hinds makes a welcome addition to the cast, and cuts a surprisingly noble stature amongst the wild people of the fronzen wastes. It doesn’t take long for him to trust John, mainly because John makes the excellent point that the Watch seemed to not care about the White Walkers, and yet Mance may be the man to do something about them. This and the first scene with Sam would have us believe that the White Walkers (who were introduced in the first scene of the first episode ever) will finally become a big part of the show.

Then we have Tyrion, who is trying to get over his social and physical wounds by grabbing some of the fame and honor that is rightfully his after successfully defending King’s Landing from the oncoming armies of Stannis Baratheon. However, his deeds are being repaid with distrust by his sister and scorn by his father. The greatest slap comes from his father, who claims that Tyrion is the reason his wife died, that Tyrion is probably but not provably a bastard. He will not get to inherit the lands which are rightfully his, and he will not get to marry Shae, his former-whore of a lover.

Meanwhile, King’s Landing is under new management, with Joffrey and Lady Tyrell trundling about on the top of the world. The good news, however, is that Joffrey seems to have leveled out thanks to the unwavering love and devotion of Lady Tyrell. Meanwhile, House Tyrell is feeding the rabble of King’s Landing to help quell the bread riots we saw last season, and Lady Tyrell is even visiting orphanages to tell the children therein how proud they ought to be of their fathers. Whether she is working in the best interest of the city or the best interest of herself is to be seen, though I will make a firm bet on herself.

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