'Game Of Thrones' Recap: Tommen Is Crowned King; Littlefinger Responsible For Westeros' Chaos

by Chelsea ReganMay 5, 2014, 12:00 amNews >

Game of Thrones episode “First of His Name” began with the crowning of Tommen Baratheon (Dean Charles-Chapman), the youngest son born of the incest between Cersei (Lena Headey) and Jamie Lannister (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau). “Long may he reign,” chants those congregated in the long, dimly lit hall, mere days after the death of King Joffrey (Jack Gleason) and his short rule.

Game Of Thrones Recap

While he’s paid respects by the people he now rules, Tommen looks over to Margaery (Natalie Dormer), who's looking over at him adoringly from a distance. When Cersei follows Tommen’s eyes to Margaery, she leaves his side to have a chat with her former daughter-in-law of an hour. Margaery compliments Tommen’s composure on the throne and expresses her sadness over the loss of Joffrey. Cersei, shedding her blind love for her late son, acknowledges that Joffrey would have been a nightmare to Margaery and that Tommen actually could be a great king. A great king, however, needs help and she thinks that Margaery could be perfectly suited to be his wife. Margaery feigns disinterest, but states her willingness to accept the honor. “Do I call you sister or mother?” she asks Cersei, referencing the elder woman’s upcoming marriage to Loras.

Later on, Cersei broaches the subject of Tommen’s nuptial plans with her father, Lord Tywin (Charles Dance). Tywin acknowledges that they need the Tyrell’s on their side; they need their gold. The crown still owes a lot of money to the Iron Bank of Bravos, and, like debt collectors everywhere, they’re going to seek what they’re owed. Though he’s willing to talk about marriage strategy, Tywin declines speaking with his daughter about Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) trial.

Dany In Mereen

Enjoying an extended stay in Mereen, Dany (Emilia Clarke) learns that Joffrey was murdered at his own marriage, which makes King’s Landing more vulnerable than it’s been in a long time. She also learns that Daario (Ed Skrein) took a navy. Although she’s initially annoyed that he did this without her consent, she’s pleased to hear of its vastness. Jorah (Iain Glen) delivers Dany the bad news – neither Yunkai nor Astapor have flourished since she freed the slaves. The old leaders are taking control and enslaving others. Realizing her liberation of Slaver’s Bay isn’t going as planned she wonders, “Why should anyone trust me; why should anyone follow me?” Instead of sailing to King’s Landing with her army, she’s going to stay and prove she can rule.

Eyrie

Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) arrive at the Eyrie at the Vale of Arryn. There, they are to go by Petyr Baelish and his niece Elaine. When they get to the throne room, the little sickly Lord Robin (Lino Facioli) greets Littlefinger enthusiastically as uncle. Lysa (Kate Dickie), meanwhile, tells Sansa that she knows her true identity and is happy to have her blood relative by her side. No one besides the four of them can know that she’s Sansa Stark.

Lysa’s mania is soon apparent as she throws herself in Petyr’s arms as soon as the two children walk away. She wants to marry him as soon as possible. According to her, they’ve been married for a long time and they’ve been working towards this moment for what feels like forever. As it turns out, it was Littlefinger who gave her the poison to kill her late husband John Arryn. It was also him who helped her write the letter to Catelyn, which essentially worked to get the entire Stark family to King’s Landing – ultimately resulting in a lot of chaos that resulted in Ned’s death, and the war between the seven realms. Though he seems to drag his heels in marrying Lysa so quickly, he agrees and they’re legally man and wife.

After a marital bedding that keeps Sansa up all hours of the night, the eldest Stark daughter has a tense chat with her crazed aunt. Lysa is convinced that Petyr desires her as he always desired Catelyn. Why else would he risk so much to have her brought back to the Vale? She’s convinced that Petyr got Sansa pregnant. Sansa insists that she’s not pregnant and that she’s a virgin. With her aunt’s hands tensing around her wrists, she insists that she’s a poor liar and that Petyr routinely calls her a stupid little girl. Lysa relents, but only long enough to inform her niece that she’ll be marrying her cousin Robin.

Riverlands

Arya (Maisie Williams) whispers her kill list right before bed, annoying The Hound (Rory McCann), who is trying to catch some sleep. When Arya explains to him her reasons for the ritual, The Hound approves. According to him, there are few things able to motivate one through life better than hate. He does becomes a bit disconcerted, though, when he hears his name as the last one from her lips. He realizes she might mean what she said when he catches her water dancing with Needle the following morning and she tries to ram the thin sword through his armor.

Traveling a similar route is Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and her squire Podrick (Daniel Portman). She quickly learns that Podrick’s experience on the road and in battle is minimal to say the least. He can’t even cook her up a squirrel. He does ultimately earn her respect when she learns he killed a member of the Knight’s Guard who tried to kill Tyrion during the Battle of the Blackwater.

North Of The Wall

While a mutineer takes one of Craster’s daughters off into the woods, Locke (Noah Taylor) watches on, counting how many of them there are. He reports back to Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and the rest of the crew that there are 11 men and they’re all drunk. However, he omits that he saw Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and the others in a hut, telling the men to stay away from there because there are hounds caged up.

Unaware that the Night’s Watch is near, the mutineers are about to have their way with Meera (Ellie Kendrick) in front of Jojen (Thoma Brodie-Sangster), Bran and Hodor (Kristian Nairn). Jojen offers to trade information provided by his second sight in order to save his sister from getting raped. “I saw you die tonight,” says Jogen to Karl. “I saw your body burn. I saw the snow fall and bury your bones.” Just then, the Night’s Watch can be heard arriving outside.

Locke makes a b-line to the hut and picks up Bran. In order to stop his own kidnapping, Bran goes into Hodor’s body, follows Locke and snaps his neck. He then goes back into his own body and tells Hodor to cut him and the others free. Bran watches on as Jon Snow fights the mutineers and is eager for John to notice him. Jojen urges him not to let Jon know he is here. They need to find the three-eyed raven and Jon wouldn’t let him keep going North to protect him.

As Bran, Jojen, Meera and Hodor continue on their mission, Jon Snow faces off against Karl inside Craster’s Keep. Jon ends up on his back, but is saved when one of Craster’s daughters puts a knife into Karl’s back. As Karl moves towards the girl, Jon gets back onto his feet and rams his sword through Karl’s head. When the Night’s Watch regroups, they realize that they lost a handful of men and that one mutineer got away. And though Jon didn’t get to reunite with his brother, he did get Ghost back.