Hot News: Game of Thrones Season 4 Premiere Review

Full spoilers for the Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere follow...

What better way to kick off Game of Thrones Season 4, and the post-Robb era, than to see Ned Stark's 'absurdly large' broadsword Ice melted down into molten goop. And then molded into a sword (one of two) that was then gifted to Jaime. All while a very dour orchestral version of Rains of Castamere (mixed with a little of GoT's own score) haunts in the background. Symbolic for sure, and also a great indicator of the shifting tone of the series.

Because the show feels different now. It can't help but not. And while I won't go into a bunch of George R. R. Martin book stuff here, I will say that the tone of the books, after the Red Wedding and A Storm of Swords, changes as well. So this isn't just a show shift. Not having an alive, adult Stark actively seeking to topple the Lannisters creates a big void, for better or worse. Even Joffrey states in this premiere, that the war is over (as far as anyone can tell). Arya sure hates the Lannisters, but she's powerless. As is Sansa. Meanwhile Daenerys and Jon Snow, who we see here learning about the death of his half-brother Robb for the first time, have different priorities and goals. And, sticking with this, all the other 'kings' who sought the throne are also gone, or empirically crushed like Stannis.

So now more than ever before, without a discernable direction, the show is about the characters themselves and their individual journeys. Jaime's home, but now what? Arya's traveling with The Hound, but now what? One thing that is clear is that there's no going back, as even Jaime finds that he can't easily rejoin his old life. Tywin expects him to lord over Casterly Rock and Cersei has grown cold and drunk out of waiting for him to return.

'You took too long,' Cersei exclaimed, placing a hefty amount of blame on Jaime for not only inciting a conflict by fighting with Ned on the streets (though Catelyn's really 'patient zero' here when it comes to the outbreak of war) and then getting outmaneuvered and captured on the battlefield. All this stated of course after Cersei had already screamed out 'everything's changed!' - which is the most important takeaway from this season opener.

So Jaime fell out of his father's graces by choosing to remaining on the King's Guard, only to find out that his one sole reason for joining the King's Guard had grown weary of his presence. Even the King himself, Jaime's own secret son of course, was chopping him off at the knees, laying in with passive aggressive digs at Jaime's overall lack of accomplishments/ambition. Interesting to see Joffrey being a total jerk to someone other than Tyrion. He's an equal opportunity dickweed. Especially towards a man that he probably knows, deep down, is his real father.

Though if we're looking for someone/anyone who could directly oppose the new 'all is well' vibe of King's Landing, Prince Oberyn 'Famous for F***ing Half of Westeros' Martell has joined the mix as our very first, physical introduction to the southern realm of Dorne. A man who seems to lust and loathe in equal capacities. A man who blames Tywin for the murder of his sister and her babies after The Mountain massacred them during the sack of city two decades earlier. So the Lannisters do still face a threat (though Oberyn has not brought an army with him) - one that comes from a completely new region. Though I think, at this point, it may be safer to call Oberyn (along with his bastard-born lover Ellaria and his bisexual vices/distractions) a 'wild card.' Someone who could, down the line, shake things up for the royals.

Also a 'wild card' still (though not as interesting or effective) is Shae, who's still angrily jealous over Tyrion and Sansa's marriage. I've never been a huge fan of the way Shae's been portrayed on the show, since she's just never seemed like a person that Tyrion could ever fall in love with. Though now that Tyrion is traveling down more of a straight and narrow path for the honest sake of his wife (he refuses both random whores and Shae in the same episode), she does seem to represent Tyrion's reckless past in a way. Though it's a past that those of us watching left behind seasons ago.

And while I'm on the subject of both Tyrion and Cersei's scenes, the two of them had some wonderful moments of dialogue mixed with some clunky exposition - both having to list out the things that have happened on the show so far to their scene partner. Like when Cersei said 'What's happened? Oh, I don't know, first you fought Ned, then you got captured, then there was the siege...' etc. Likewise, Tyrion had to list off a few things to Shae as well. Not the best use of these characters' time. One of the crutches of TV.

The stuff up north worked great though, as we not only saw Ygritte and Tormund meeting Styr and his cannibalistic clan of Thenn ('I hate the f***ing Thenn'), but we also saw Jon stand before the pigheaded Thorne and Slynt (remember when Tyrion banished the 'baby killer' to the Watch back in Season 2? Well, here he is) and have to explain that his undercover mission was the idea of Qhorin, who he'd also conveniently murdered. A much better way of reminding us of the things Jon's been through over the last two seasons. And also a great indicator of the fact that, although he's back at the Watch, Jon's not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

Even with Robb and Catelyn now gone, and most of the characters now condensed back at King's Landing, choices still needed to be made regarding who got to have their time in a season premiere. For the past couple seasons now, Arya's been all but left out of the premieres. Now, with more wiggle room, not only did she get her time in 'Two Swords,' but she got the best scene of the entire lot. She and The Hound make a very fun pair to watch (which is really saying something considering the fact that Arya, post Season 1, has been basically paired up with character after character). And despite their squabbling, there's a sort of twisted father/daughter element to their relationship. As if Arya's true parents are the war itself. Because dammit if she didn't wind up getting the 'pony' that she wanted. After some blood was spilled of course. Maisie Williams on Arya's Quest for Vengeance

I'm invested in Arya's tale, and her small moments of revenge, probably more than anything else on the show right now. So to see her spike Polliver through the neck and take back Needle was immensely satisfying. And considering how much the good guys have lost on this show, a moment of retribution like this, while tiny in the grand scheme of things, felt huge and magnificent. It is curious though that Polliver was never part of Arya's bedtime 'kill list' on the show, seeing as how she actively hates him, knows his name, and (as we saw here) eventually came to kill him with her own hands.

And yes, The Hound himself has become a bizarre fan-favorite fixture on the show. And I agree with the person who said on social media this past week (can't recall who it was) that he was Game of Thrones' answer to The Wire's Omar.

Daenerys' moments in this episode were the least effective, I felt. Aside from the awesome establishing shots of the dragons, naturally. Dragons who've not only grown dangerously large, but snap at their mother when they feel she represents a threat to their food. Jorah mentions that they can never be tamed, though it would certainly suck if she's somehow unable to control these creatures in some capacity. It's kind of her gimmick.

I wrote about the tonal shifter earlier, and then Cersei shouting about how everything was now different, and it's probably best represented in Dany's scenes (though the shifts to her story weren't necessarily born out of the story itself). We do indeed have a new actor playing Daario (for those who don't know, that is Treme's Michiel Huisman playing the same role Ed Skrein played last season) - the sellsword from the Second Sons that helped Dany conquer Yunkai. But here in the season premiere, not only has Daario's face changed, but so has his relationship with Dany. In fact, he comes off as a character we've never met before.

And that's not bad, per se. I didn't like the first Daario nor did I like the way Dany sort of became a quivering schoolgirl around him. And it seems rather obvious that the EP/creators Weiss and Benioff decided that they didn't like portraying Dany as being somewhat weak-willed around him. So now he's more actively chasing her and she's more noticeably standoffish. And on her army's march to Meereen (despite the gruesome notion of a dead slave being posted at every mile marker) there were a lot of Rom Com-type beats between them. Especially when she said 'You are a gambler' to him after he simultaneously counseled her and flirted with her; a callback to the sword holding contest he and Grey Worm were in the middle of when we first saw him - again, an act I feel the previous Daario wouldn't have been doing.

So Dany's scenes weren't bad, but they were the lightest and least impactful of the episode.

Other items worth mentioning:

The Dreadfort was new to the opening credits, but we never made it there. That bulls*** statue of Joffrey standing triumphantly with his crossbow. So perfect. Jaime gets a gaudy, golden hand. So perfect. Brienne tries to remind Jaime of his oath to Catelyn regarding the Stark girls. It's not usual that GoT is late to a TV fad, but after Hannibal and (assumedly) Walking Dead, cannibalism isn't as shocking as to once was. Cersei's now using Qyburn, the ex-Maester found at Harrenhal last season. No House Fowler of Skyreach (a real house, yes) in the Dorne visitation precession! I call BS!

Post By http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/07/game-of-thrones-two-swords-review