The Wolf and the Lion, Game of Thrones Season 1, Episode 5

Sometimes an episode of Game of Thrones is all set up. The players are put into place, one at a time. Then there's episodes like this where folks get dead super quick. We learn before all the carnage, though, that leadership has serious consequences.

    Let's start from the top down because I wanna get the Winterfell stuff out of there early. Bran's feeling bad about himself and yeah, he can ride and bow and arrow a the same time so stop moping around. Then we get some sexposition and a dong shot from Theon as we learn his family was a big deal but Roz kinda prefers the mighty wand of Tyrion. We learn that power and delusions of power can be shifted. The Greyjoys were a once mighty house thrown down, and now Theon is left with their memory as he is technically a prisoner of the Starks. Mostly something to think on.

    A little lower, and Tyrion finds himself being escorted to the Eyrie by Catelynn and her men. We see power shift subtly here as the hill tribes attack. Tyrion, although the captured prisoner, becomes more ingratiate to the sell swords like Bron while fighting than Catelyn does with her position of power and bannermen that we saw last episode. Gotta say, though, the "often and loudly" line is a classic.

    When they reach the Eyrie, we get another imbalance of expectation versus reality. Catelyn expects her sister to be happy to see her with the captured Lannister, but batshit Lyssa freaks out. The woman has become unbalanced at the prospect of losing another child, and admonishes her sister about bringing trouble to her door. Her every action is an overreaction, and Tyrion gets the terrifying view from the sky cells. Also, the gross milk moustache is gross and that's all I'm saying about that.

    The bulk of the episode happens down south in King's Landing. The tournament is going on, with jousting happening and the melee about to happen. King Robert proves himself a king by stopping a fight between the Clegane bros (even though the Mountain kinda didn't listen) and listened to Ned about not fighting in the melee. He balances this kingly intervention and acceptance of his limitations by demanding Dany and her unborn child be killed, something that causes Ned to tell him to take this job and shove it. The balance of the king wanting to lead and be kind and the warrior who wants blood can be seen in how long he allows the Clegane fight to go on.

    Then there's poor Ned. Poor stupid, honorable Ned. He decides to pack up and leave, listening to Arya's nonsense about mummurs in the dungeons and hearing his wife kidnapped a Lannister, when Littlefinger offers him the chance to follow his honor. He said he'd find out who killed Jon Arryn and dammit he will. So he goes off to a brothel where he sees a bald as shit baby with Robert's hair and gets confronted by Jaime Lannister. His honor won't allow him to betray his wife, so there's a fight, and he ends up stabbed. More power and honor there, learning that no matter what you control you can still end up half dead in the dirt with all your bros.

    The Wolf and the Lion came to a head this week, and we saw the consequences. An underlying theme came as well, though, one of parentage. Of supporting or abandoning children and how that manifests. We shall see how things shake out.