I rather liked the third episode entitled Walk of Punishment because it's finally revving up events that will lead us to more betrayals, wars and White Walkers. The title of the episode is the fate that falls upon slaves who disobey orders in the far east city of Astapor. They don't walk at all, but are crucified, (Martin seems to like crucifixions) bloody, beaten and waiting to die. Daenerys sees them lined up along the coast of the new city that houses the slave army called The Unsullied Ones and is saddened by the cruelty of it all. She shows one man mercy by trying to give him some water, but these slaves are meant to be a warning to all other slaves. Although Daenerys appears naive to the price of war in the world of GOT, she is slowly maturing into one shrewd Khaleesi after being thrown to the Dothraki by her now dead brother as payment in his scheme to take back the Iron throne for himself. Oh, how times have changed.

During negotiations, you can tell that she understands every single insult the slave trader hurls at her since he believes she cannot understand a word he is saying. When he doubts that she has the money to pay for the soldiers, she offers him up something nobody would have ever guessed she'd part with--one of her dragons. He agreed immediately since dragons are priceless. Everyone knows that, right? Does anyone really believe she would ever part with one of her dragon spawn--for anything? I can't wait to see what happens to those fools. After the deal is done, she berates Jorah Mormont for disagreeing with her in front of the trader, an offense she will not suffer through again.

King's Landing:

Tywin Lanister, the new hand of the King orders Littlefinger (Lord Baelish) to go and court Lysa Tully, who is now the Vale of Arryn after her much older husband has died. Tywin wants him to turn her against Lady Catelyn (her sister) and join forces with the Lanisters in the war against Robb Stark. Baelish is very pleased with this assignment and says that Lysa has the hots for him. Does he know how much she hates the Lannisters? If you remember, Tyrion almost met his death at the Vale as he became a play thing for Lysa's sickly son.

Tyrion is now made the Master of Coin and is the new de facto accountant of the realm. After a quick review of the books, he realizes that Littlefinger has been borrowing a fortune from the Iron Bank and it seems that even in fantasy realms, the bankers always get back their cash. I still don't get the overuse of nekkid girls in Westeros. I think we understand how that world works and it's really played out.

Riverrun:

We finally get to meet Lady Catelyn's family when her and Robb arrive at Riverrun for the funeral of her father, Hoster Tully. We also meet her brother, Edmure Tully, who is a very shitty archer and embarrasses himself by not hitting Hoster's funeral boat with a couple of flaming arrows. His uncle Blackfish does the job for him and then makes fun of his ineptitude. We then learn that Edmure's quest for glory cost Robb Stark a big victory over Tywin's armies because he had set a trap that never got sprung because of Edmure's impatience. This is a happy family, not.

Theon Greyjoy

The pathetic Theon is still being tortured, but is freed by an unknown character who gives him a horse to ride away with. Soldiers soon chase after him and after he's caught they begin to rape him. But then the same unknown man slays the four men with arrows and then leads Theon away to supposedly his sister. Where or where is Theon going? Do you think it's to his sister? I'm not so sure.

Jaime Lannister:

This was the best segment of this episode. Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister have been captured by Roose Bolton's men and we now find them chained up together. Jaime tells her that she will most certainly be raped and that she should just take it because he's the real prize and if she fights back they will kill her. When the men do come for her, she fights back as they drag her off because that's what Brienne does. In a new twist in relationships and codependency, Jaime lies to the leader who's holding them captive and tells him she's worth a fortune if returned to Tarth unharmed. That means no raping! She is released immediately from that horrible fate all because Jaime now really likes her. The dialogue between the two while she's been taking him to King's Landing has been excellent throughout the series. As horrible a character as he is, we finally see a human side to him as well. Unfortunately for him his sharp tongue has pissed off his captors and they cut off his fighting hand as penance. And the episode ends with his screams!

Odds and Ends:

Not much of Arya in this one and that's sad because she's such a good character. She says goodbye to Hot Pies who stays to work in an inn as a baker and she leaves with some of the Brotherhood. The Hound is still captured and is being held by Thoros and the Brotherhood. It looks like they plan to execute him, but he is a stubborn one when it comes to death.

Not much happened Beyond the Wall either. Mance Rayder finds mutilated horses buried in the snow as he's scouting after the crows. He then decides to send Tormund Giantsbane with twenty men to the Wall so that he can take over Castle Black since most of the good fighting crows have been killed. He also orders him to take Jon Snow because he knows the layout of the castle and if he doesn't pull his weight then he can kill him. I don't think Ygritte liked that one bit.

Nothing this week with Bran and his merry clan that are heading north to find Jon Snow.

Actor Watch:
I just saw Tobias Menzies, the actor that played Edmure Tully and Liam Cunningham, the actor who plays Ser Davos Seaworth on the last Doctor Who episode, Cold War.

And if you looked fast enough you might have recognized Burn Gorman from Revenge, Spies of Warsaw, The Hour and one of my favs---Torchwood.