Game of Thrones, The King is dead, long live the King, some thoughts

By April MacIntyre May 31, 2011, 3:15 GMT

Queen Cersei\'s incest secret is out, and the man that knows, Lord Ned Stark, sits in her dungeons at the end of this episode awaiting death.

The seventh episode of HBO's "Game of Thrones" sees the loggerheads of Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) and Lord Ned Stark (Sean Bean) come to a violent end, as Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) will finally have a crack at Lady Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) after betraying her husband Ned.

The King is dead, long live the King, as Robert (Mark Addy, who will be missed) is felled by a boar, and Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) ascends to the Iron throne, that special "chair" that the highly motivated Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) wants more than anything after a botched assassination attempt on his pregnant Khaleesi (Emilia Clarke).

Queen Cersei's incest secret is out, and the man that knows, Lord Ned Stark, sits in her dungeons at the end of this episode awaiting death.

Cersei paid her court handsomely to remain loyal to her, as we know that a Lannister pays their debts, and Stark is not cared for by Petyr (aka Littlefinger) or Varys (Conleth Hill).

Littlefinger tells some auditioning whores about his true lady love, a square-jawed woman of regal birth he adores, one Catelyn Stark, who hails from House Tully.

Ned informs Cersei privately he knows Bran witnessed she and her brother making love, and that he was pushed from the window. He also knows all the known royal heirs are her brother's children.

Littlefinger knows Cersei's secret too, but he is motivated by lust and money to look the other way.

Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is scolded by his father Tywin (Charles Dance) the Lion, of House Lannister for letting Lord Ned Stark live. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) must be returned from House Stark house arrest to their family fold to keep up appearances.

Tywin gives Jaime half of his army to go to Winterfell and retrieve his brother Tyrion and gives his favored son an ultimatum to make it right.

Cersei is seemingly ambivalent to Ned's knowledge and mentions the incest of House Targaryen. She tells Ned: “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”

As Robert languishes in his bed, mortally wounded from a boar hunt, Robert dismisses everyone but Ned and commands Stark to serve as Lord Regent and Protector of the Realm until Joffrey comes of age.

Ned writes: "Until the rightful heir comes of age”, as he knows of Robert's bastard son who is a fierce fighter and fine looking man.

This episode fleshes out more of Jorah (Iain Glen) who is slipped a pardon by the Spider, in hopes he will abandon the side of Daenerys (the Khaleesi) so the assassins Robert ordered can take her out.

Except he is loyal and sees the big picture: Khal Drogo has the army and the will to take the Iron Throne, and perhaps the child Daenerys carries too.  I believe Jorah knows that Daenerys is the true dragon, and has the pure Targaryen bloodline and power.

He saves Daenerys from a poisoning by reading the face of the wine merchant, sensing the pardon was too convenient a piece of news. The wine is of course, deadly, and we see how the Khal adores his bride, is grateful to Jorah and punishes this man who dared to kill his unborn child and wife. Full frontal male nudity in this episode. Not a good death.

Now the other interesting thread is that of the vows taken at the Wall by Jon Snow (Kit Harington), as his beloved uncle’s Benjen's (Joseph Mawle) horse returns without him, as the chatter of the White Walkers grows, with Wildings captured telling tales of these sleeping beasts awakening.

Jon has no idea about his father Ned's dilemma, nor the whereabouts of his uncle. He is increasingly agitated as they make him a steward instead of a ranger, and he is anxietal to find his family.

Now he knows that being a sworn in member of the Night’s Watch has a penalty for desertion, which is death. Sam tells Jon his assignment means he’s being groomed for command. Together they take their oath North of the Wall, then Jon’s albino direwolf brings him a severed hand.

The episode leaves us with many edge of the seat actionable moments: The Starks have leverage by having Tyrion as a prisoner. Snow is going to find his uncle and perhaps flee to save his father. The Stark girls are in real danger at King's Landing, with Sansa (Sophie Turner) in danger of being raped by the Hound's (Rory McCann) brother.

“I did warn you not to trust me...” says a gleeful Littlefinger with a knife to Ned's throat.

Episode eight will be fraught with dramatic twists.

There are only three hours left for this "Game of Thrones," and the knowledge that HBO has given it room to grow into season two with the threat that "Winter is coming" will bring all sorts of otherworldly danger. Fantastic series, superb crafts and acting, this is one of the best efforts on television. Catch up for free on HBO GO.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.