The story is conveyed differently in the book (It's not Littlefinger who tells Sansa). The way it's done in the show kind of makes it appear that Littlefinger has some motive for telling her, but I don't think that's the case. The main reason is to give background on the Hound, as that incident with his brother when they were little pretty much shapes his entire character. I wish they would let the Hound speak more. He's one of my favorite characters from the books. Also, there was some subtle creepiness going on in that scene with Littlefinger. Sansa looks a lot like Catelyn when she was young. I'm not 100% sure how he came into the Targaryen's service. It may have been through Illyrio. In any case, I think the gist of it he doesn't really have any other options. More may be revealed on that. As for his exile. He caught poachers on his land when he lived in Westeros, and tried to make money off them by selling them to slavers from the other continent. He's not a bad guy, but was in debt at the time and had a demanding wife (which they alluded to in the show). Ned Stark isn't really a fan of slavery as you might guess, and his punishment was death (and since The Mormonts are from the North this is in the Stark's "jurisdiction"). Mormont fled before that could happen. I'm not sure how long ago in the time line he fled, but I thought it was years before. While he's obviously a shady guy, Jamie's portrayal has been awesome in this show. A credit to the writers and the actor.
Re: Jora Spoiler He was the lord of a place called Bear Island, kind of a poor northern backwoods location in Westeros. The wife he married was the beautiful daughter of the lord of some glitzy urban lcoation. She was depressed being holed up at Bear Island so he spent a ton of money on things like singers, travel expenses (I think he some sort of Westeros version of a leisure yacht for both of them to travel in style), etc. Because of the need for money, he sold the poachers to slavers, got caught, lost his lordship and was about to have his head chopped off by Ned Stark when he fled across the sea with his wife. His wife left him for someone with more money.
About the Catelyn/Tyrion scene at the end, I think one thing that got lost a bit on TV is how long things took to develop in "real time." I think there was a bit more cloak-and-dagger going on in the books than was shown on TV. On the show, it seems like she just beamed into Kings Landing, spoke with Littlefinger/Varys, met Ned, and next we know she's at the inn running into Tyrion. In real time, traveling took weeks and the book (IIRC) showed her brooding over the attempted murder the whole time and trying not to be recognized so it didn't seem that rash for her to just came out and went after Tyrion. In fact, I think the books showed that Cat was quite concerned about Tyrion and his men harming her (there were just 2 of them, Tyron has more men with him and if he was the mastermind behind Bran's assassination, why not Cat as well) and was trying to hide from Tyrion until the singer drew attention to her table and Tyrion recognized her.
There was also quite a bit of exposition on Theon and the Grejoy's this episode, which was due. They're doing a pretty masterful job of that without making it too obvious. The Viserys bathtub scene is another example. Gave a lot of info about the Targaryen's.
Spoiler It will also make more sense to new viewers when Arya sees the Dragon skulls when chasing the cats and overhearing the plans to do away with Ned
Are they, in all likelihood, done with scenes from the Hand's tourney? Would have liked to have seen The Mountain vs. The Knight of Flowers and the melee competition with Thoros of Myr.
No, I've seen clips of the Sandor/Gregor confrontation. So I'm sure next week will open with the conclusion of the tournament. We haven't seen Loras yet, either. I never saw that anyone was cast as Thoros though, so he may not have made the cut.
My thoughts exactly. Spoiler I'm anxious to see the whole underground scene where she overhears the men plotting about their plans The more I watch of the show the sadder I am that they had to squish the whole book into 10 episodes. I could see how it might benefit from taking a little more time here and there.
Spoiler Same with Beric Dondarion (sp?). I think the logistics are difficult. What quality actor are you going to get for basically one scene in the first season, and then ask them to come back for a bigger role in season 3 (assuming it gets renewed that far). I also read they're not going to introduce the Blackfish until season 2, which is kind of a bummer.
Another solid Episode. A lot of "stories" though. That bath scene was entirely too long. Would have liked to see some dragons; a flashback of the birthing chamber or something.
They have already cast Beric Dondarrion for the first season: http://winter-is-coming.net/features/cast/david-michael-scott/
Sweet! Good to know. Spoiler I actually am actually not quite sure why Brynden Tully wasn't cast. It seem like he would actually have a fair amount of screen time this this season, as he would have been pretty much been with Catelyn the entire time after he greets her at the bloody gate. I mean, I guess having him in this season isn't as pivotal to the future (the formation of the brotherhood without banners), but still... Reading more about it...none of the Tully's are going to be in Season 1, which I guess means they are going to move the end of the first book to the second season?
Yeah, that part where Littlefinger spoke to Sansa was suspicious. Seemed like (speculation): Spoiler he was purposely trying to put her in a dangerous position by giving her information she wasn't meant to know about.
Spoiler Perhaps Beric will be in the next episode at the end of the tournament? If not, I think Ned sends him on a mission to hunt down Gregor, doesn't he? I don't recall a ton of Beric in the first book.
Spoiler Guess I remember him mostly from Storm of Swords when he creates The Brotherhood Without Banners.
