When you think of opposites in Westeros, who do you think of? To me, there are no two characters who are more different than Littlefinger and Brienne of Tarth (except perhaps Pod and Brienne, but that's another story). Littlefinger is the most duplicitous person in Westeros; even by politician standards, he's a slimy little weasel who is perfectly suited for that smarmy little goatee and moustache and he's never met an opportunity he wouldn't milk dry. Meanwhile, Brienne is completely artless; were it not for her Lannister sword and armour, she'd be as plain as her haircut. As if that study of opposites wasn't enough, the episode also features the triumphant return of Bronn, his new intended Lollys Stokeworth (a great, hilarious performance from Elizabeth Cadwallader), and none other than the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister, who needs Bronn at his back for a sensitive mission to steal his daughter Myrcella Baratheon back from the Dornishmen. The structure of the script works really well. Writers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss do a very good job of splitting things up and balancing them out pretty evenly between Westeros' rulers. We get a bit more of Dany's story, since she's the one learning first hand how ruling can be terrible, but she needs to learn the lesson that what is right isn't always popular, a lesson that Doran Martel (Alexander Siddiq AKA Dr. Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) knows quite well. Perhaps it is a lesson that Jon Snow, new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, will learn in time. Snow's election scene was masterfully done by director Michael Slovis. Everyone knows that Sam is going to speak up for Jon Snow, otherwise we wouldn't get those reaction shots of him, but it's teased out wonderfully, with Samwell speaking up at exactly the last minute before Maester Aemon starts the voting process. The speech itself is a fun character moment for John Bradley's Sam-who is finally learning that his wit and his humour is a great weapon in his role as future archivist-and Kit Harington's Jon Snow-whose mopey expression works great as he celebrates his election to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch by looking like he wants to crawl into a tankard of ale and die. It doesn't really matter how well you're trained for leadership, to someone you'll always be Joffrey, and in a world like Westeros, political enemies are more dangerous than White Walkers. Maybe Sansa and Arya have it right; Sansa's learning to play the game from a ruthless expert, and Arya's not playing the game at all, instead learning to be a Braavosi assassin rather than a lady in a damp stone castle somewhere. On-the-job training tends to get rulers poisoned in this world, and a black-and-white world view is no match for the Faceless Men from the House of Black and White.
