Game of Thrones returned on Sunday after a week off with an episode that promised to reveal Tyrion’s fate, as the Red Viper would finally face off against the Mountain. Before the trial by combat in King’s Landing, “The Mountain and the Viper” caught up with Thrones characters elsewhere in Westeros and the Free Cities.

Game Of Thrones Recap

Not far south of The Wall rests Molestown, where Sam (John Bradley) decided Gilly (Hannah Murray) and her baby would be safer than at Castle Black. In the whoring village, prostitutes and their clients revel with booze and crude jokes and songs. One of the workers chides Gilly for her comparative purity and ignores her when she says she hears something suspicious outside. As it turns out, Gilly was hearing the beginnings of a Wildling attack on Molestown.

Ygritte (Rose Leslie) trudges through the town slicing and stabbing indiscriminately with her dagger, showing a far less sympathetic side of herself. Yet, when she comes across Gilly hiding in a corner with her baby, she halts her killing spree. Instead of pulling out a knife, she brings her finger to her lips and encourages her to keep the child quiet before leaving her. When Samwell learns that Molestown was invaded, he fears that Gilly met her end and blames himself.

Mereen

Settling into life in Mereen, Dany’s (Emilia Clarke) subjects bathe together in a body of fresh water. Unsullied leader Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) spots Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) washing herself and doesn’t seem to be able to peel his eyes away from her. Missandei recounts the incident to Dany, who wonders if the Unsullied lost both “the pillar and the stones” when they were castrated. Later on, Grey Worm approaches Missandei to apologize for his leering. She says he doesn’t need to be sorry and offers her own condolences for his being cut. He doesn’t want her pity, because had he not become an Unsullied, he never would have met her.

Ser Barristan (Ian McElhinney) accepts a scroll from a courier sealed with the Lannister crest and opens it to find Ser Jorah’s (Iain Glen) pardon from King Robert Baratheon. The pardon was for his work as a spy, reporting back to King’s Landing about Dany’s activities in her earlier days. Before going to Dany with the incriminating letter, he tells Jorah about it and that from here on out, he’ll never be alone with the Mother of Dragons.

When Ser Jorah has to stand and face Dany, he tries to explain that he made the decision to stop spying on her and to be her true protector. Though he stopped her from drinking poisoned wine, he’d told Robert all about her marriage to Khal Drogo, Viserion’s death, her pregnancy, etc. Instead of having Jorah killed, Dany exiles him back to King’s Landing. Her decision to ignore his pleas of forgiveness is understandable, but also exactly what Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) was hoping for when he sent out the letter.

Moat Cailin

Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) has successfully trained Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) to adopt the persona of Reek and to “pretend” to be Theon in order to help him take Moat Cailin for his father, Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton). Wearing the role of Lord less convincingly than he once did, Theon enters the castle and asks the men to surrender in exchange for their lives.

The standing leader refuses Theon’s offer, but the second in command kills the stubborn man and accepts the surrender agreement. Little did Theon or the man know that Ramsay would flay him after taking Moat Cailin. Though the scene is a terrible one, Roose Bolton could not be more proud of his bastard son. As reward for his work, Roose gives Ramsay his last name.

The Eyrie

Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen), new to the Eyrie, is the object of suspicion by the jury investigating Lysa’s death. They’re not quick to believe his story that she died in a suicide attempt, citing her love for her son as just one of many reasons she wouldn’t take her own life. Before Littlefinger can coach Sansa (Sophie Turner) on what to say to the jury, she’s called in to testify by the members – who believe she is Littlefinger’s niece.

When Sansa enters the room, she apologizes to Littlefinger, telling him that she has to tell them the full truth. She starts off by revealing that she’s not his niece Elaine, rather Sansa Stark, the late Lysa’s niece. She goes on to tell how Littlefinger saved her from the Lannisters and reunited her with her blood. However, Lysa, known to be unstable grew jealous after witnessing a chaste kiss Littlefinger gave her. Sansa claims that Lysa tried to throw her out the Moon Door when Littlefinger intervened, telling Lysa how much he loved her. Despite their efforts to get her to step away from the edge and believe his love for her, they couldn’t curtail her despair that led her to leap.

The jury is moved by Sansa’s tale, which she bolsters with some convincing tears. In the background, Littlefinger is incredulous. Afterwards, he visits Sansa in her room, and asks her to explain why she saved him. It was a matter of survival for the eldest Stark daughter, safer to bet on him than the people she doesn’t know. But there’s more, “I know what you want,” she tells him, meaning herself.

Unbeknownst to Sansa, her younger sister, Arya (Maisie Williams), is outside the gates of the Eyrie with The Hound (Rory McCann). After an arduous journey, The Hound, suffering from an infection from his neck wound, has finally arrived to seek payment for the highborn girl. However, they soon learn from a guard that Lysa had just recently died. The Hound looks stunned; Arya bursts into a fit of laughter.

King’s Landing

Jamie (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau) visits Tyion (Peter Dinklage) in his dark cell prior to the fateful combat between Oberyn “Red Viper” Martel and Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane. Tyrion waxes on about a simple cousin’s dedication and enthusiasm for killing beetles, and how, as a child, Tyrion wanted to know why his cousin did this. Jamie doesn’t share his interest, observing matter-of-factly that death is everywhere.

When the trial by combat begins, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) is shocked to see the sheer size of The Mountain and beings to fear for Oberyn’s life. From above, Cersei (Lena Headey) and Tywin look down smugly at their champion, while Jamie and Tyrion are finding it difficult to hide their nerves. After the battle begins, the two men show off their starkly different fighting styles – Oberyn is agile, graceful and swift, while The Mountain is pure strength and size. “You raped my sister. You murdered her. You killed her children,” Oberyn repeats as he leaps and spins around The Mountain, parrying with his spear and taking a couple of swipes.

After a bit of back and forth, Oberyn pierces The Mountain, cuts at him and eventually gets him on his back, when he jabs his spear into him one more time. Before finishing him off, Oberyn wants a confession for the memory of his sister and her children. His need for a confession causes his victory to slip from his – and Tyrion’s – grasp, as The Mountain flips the Red Viper over, ramming his fingers into his eyes until his head explodes. The Mountain then falls back onto his own back beside his dead opponent.

Without much hesitation, Tywin stands up and sentences his son Tyrion to death.

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