S4·E5 — First of His Name
The hour retold
Tommen is crowned — first of his name, gentlest of his line — and the episode immediately shows the realm reorganizing around the vacancy where fear used to be. Margaery works the boy-king with a smile calibrated to the millimeter; Cersei, in the hour’s slyest scenes, plays gracious with Margaery, Tywin and Oberyn in turn, extracting sympathy for the trial while the audience watches her sharpen every conversation into a shiv aimed at Tyrion. Tywin, candid for once, admits the mines of the Westerlands ran dry three years ago — the richest house in the realm is living on reputation and Braavosi credit, which explains more about Lannister policy than any speech about legacy.
The Vale delivers the season’s true bombshell over soup. Lysa Arryn, married to Littlefinger within an hour of his arrival, shrieks her jealous devotion — and in the shrieking confirms what she did for him: the poisoning of Jon Arryn, her own husband, and the letter to Catelyn blaming the Lannisters. The entire war — Ned’s ride south, the dagger, everything — was authored by Petyr Baelish before the first episode began, and the story hands the revelation not to a court but to a nervous bride in an echoing hall. Meanwhile Jon storms Craster’s Keep and burns the Watch’s shame to the ground; Bran, hiding a warg’s reach away from the brother he cannot risk meeting, wargs Hodor to snap Locke’s neck and slips away north. Two Starks pass in the night, close enough to call out. The story is not done using either of them, so neither does.
What happens
- Tommen is crowned; Margaery starts on husband number three; Cersei plays nice with everyone she hates.
- Lysa Arryn marries Littlefinger within the hour of his arrival — and shrieks the truth of Jon Arryn's murder.
- Dany learns Astapor and Yunkai have fallen back to old ways, and decides to stay: a queen rules.
- Jon storms Craster's Keep; Locke dies with a snapped neck; Bran wargs Hodor for the second time and slips away north.
The people of the episode
Sansa Stark — Her aunt's welcome curdles between the soup and the sweets.
Petyr Baelish — The whole war, it turns out, started with his lie and Lysa's letter.
Daenerys Targaryen — "I will do what queens do. I will rule."
Jon Snow — Burns the keep and buries the Watch's shame.
Bran Stark — So close to Jon he could call out — and can't afford to.The fallen — spoilers
- Karl Fogg & the mutineers — The self-styled Lord of Craster's Keep, a sword through the back of the skull.
- Locke — Bolton's hand-taker, his neck snapped by a stableboy who wasn't a stableboy.