TV Review: GAME OF THRONES S2E7, A MAN WITHOUT HONOR

[Twitch is reviewing Game Of Thrones on an episode by episode basis throughout the current season. Please note that these are being written from someone who has very deliberately NOT read the books so as to come to the story fresh and will not be reading the books until after the series concludes. Should you wish to compare and contrast the books to the show please be courteous to those who have not read them yet by limiting discussions to the timeline currently played out on screen as well.]

After turning in one of the most kinetic episodes of the season with last week's The Old Gods And The New, director David Nutter turns in a comparative snoozer with this week's A Man Without Honor. Too many strangely hanging plotlines and too little Tyrion Lannister - indeed, the general lack of events in King's Landing in general is perplexing given the major turn there last week - make this one of the the softer episodes of the year. Which is not to say there isn't still plenty happening.

The episode begins with Theon waking in bed, alone, in Winterfell and quickly learning that the two Stark boys - the biggest bargaining chips he has in his own bid for power - have escaped. And suddenly Theon goes from being able to present himself to his father as the triumphant conqueror to being the guy who couldn't keep a crippled child captive. And he is not happy. The chase is on, a chase that ultimately begins with two burned bodies being displayed in Winterfell in the first of what should be a number of tense cliffhangers in the episode. It's sadly the first of them to not quite work as it is entirely obvious that Theon has substituted a pair of orphan children from a farm the Starks passed in a bid to regain the appearance of power. The absence of half-giant Hodor and the wildling girl Osha in the hanging is a dead giveaway and Nutter's presentation doesn't give the audience any real reason to believe that these might actually be the Stark boys.

Jon Snow gets the real dog of the story lines this time, wandering dimly through the frozen wastes north of the wall with Ygritte, who quickly realizes that Snow is a virgin, mocks him for it and leads him into an ambush. Snow has had some great moments in the series but this storyline is continually exposing him as too stupid to live, really, but gosh does he ever have full, pouty lips. This is all leading to Ygritte and her people trying to recruit Snow to their cause, obviously, but unless Snow mans up and does something interesting soon this plotline runs the risk of becoming the equivalent of Twin Peaks' Donna and James - the bit you fast forward over to get to the good stuff. Again, the 'dramatic' cliffhanger moment - the ambush being revealed - lacks the punch it really should have.

The best bits this episode belong to the ladies: Catelyn Stark, Sansa, Arya, Daenerys and Cersei.

We'll begin with Catelyn. The military camp of Robb Stark gets a lot of screen time in this episode, particularly the pen where Jaime Lannister is being held captive. It's the first time Jaime has appeared on screen and he's looking rather haggard and somewhat despairing. So despairing that he kills a fellow captive - one of his own cousins - to lure in a guard and stage an escape. Which works for about five minutes before he is recaptured and dragged back through the camp where Robb's men are braying for his head. Enter Catelyn, forcing her own men back to protect Lannister - the only bargaining chip she has left to get her daughters back. Michelle Fairley gives a fabulously nuanced performance as a woman caught between conflicting urges here, particularly as Lannister taunts her over her dead husband's infidelity. This is the one cliffhanger that truly works this week thanks to Fairley's performance, Catelyn putting herself in a position where it appears equally likely that she may either offer herself up as a human shield to protect Lannister or simply kill him herself. We'll have to wait until next week to find out.

As for Arya, there is certainly no big action for the younger of the Stark daughters this week in Harrenhall but it does become abundantly clear that Tywin Lannister knows more about her than he has been letting on, the master of the Lannister clan pointing out openly that Arya's speaking patterns have given her away as a high born girl and not the stone mason's daughter she has been claiming to be. Does Lannister know the truth? He certainly could and what will Arya do now that she knows her position is not secure?

And then there's Daenerys. Again, on her own she's still a rather pouty girl prone to tantrums and demands but things just got interesting in Qarth. And while she may not be the most interesting character herself right now she is absolutely the catalyst. Seeing Daenerys' dragons as the key to some advancement of their own Pyat Pree - the creepy bald man from the House Of The Undying - has struck a deal with Daenerys' host Xaro. Pyat gets the dragons - and Daenerys to raise them - and Xaro gets to be king of Qarth. There's only the matter of the Thirteen - Qarth's ruling council - to deal with, which Pyat handles easily, sending projections of himself to slit all of their throats simultaneously. It's the second magical assassination of the season and there is obviously a whole lot more on the magic side to explore once Daenerys bows to the inevitable and heads to the House Of The Undying - where her dragons are being held - herself.

And then there is Cersei and Sansa, their stories tied together by the arrival of Sansa's first period. Why does this matter? It means Sansa can now bear Joffrey's children, which means it's now time for her to be married to the monster. And, strangely, seeing the young girl in this situation seems to awaken some humanity in Cersei, who first summons Sansa to her chambers to give her some surprisingly frank advice - love no-one but your children - before meeting with Tyrion - his sole appearance - for an equally frank and, honestly, somewhat despairing, conversation regarding what to do with Joffrey. He's out of control and mad with power. They both recognize it and suddenly it's not out of the question that Tyrion and Cersei may put aside their personal dislike of one another to depose the boy king. They're certainly not looking to make his life any easier.