The 2nd episode starts with Bran Stark stalking something in the forest which turns out to be his 3 eyed dream raven. In the same dream his brothers Jon Snow and Robb Stark taunt him, and he hears his father's voice coming from nowhere. He fires off a wild shot at the crow and misses. A young man comes up to him and tells him, 'You can't kill it you know because it is you.' This startles him awake. He tries to tell Osha about it, but she is anxious to get them all on the move.
Later on the young man reveals himself on the road with his sister and we find out it is Jojen and Meera Reed. Jojen tells them that they have been looking for them and they set off together. Jojen fills Bran in about his 'dreams' and tells him the raven brings him the sight of the future, the past, or faraway lands. Jojen's family was friends with the Starks and so Bran begins to trust him.
Robb Stark is on the road when he is told by Lord Bolton that he has received word that his grandfather (Catelyn Stark's father) has died and that Theon Greyjoy has destroyed Winterfell. He gives this news to his mother, and also the news that Bran and Rickon are missing.
Theon Greyjoy is now in the hands of a torturer asking him for the truth of why he took Winterfell. At every unacceptable answer, we have a turn of the screw. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Brienne and Jaime continue on their way to King's Landing. He is getting under her skin and trying to manipulate her. Brings up some nastiness about Renley the best line of which was 'It's a shame the throne wasn't made out of cocks, they'd have never got him off of it.'
Joffrey is being quizzed by his lovely mother Cersei about his feelings for Margaery. She is suspicious of Margaery's motives and poo-poos her interest in good works, her looks, and her relationship with Renly.
Margaery arranges a meeting with Sansa to meet her grandmother Olenna. Olenna is blunt, straightforward and asks the hard questions, especially what Sansa thinks of Joffrey. Sansa makes her pat responses but is pressed into finally admitting that Joffrey is a monster. Uh-oh. It is a piece of info that Margaery will make good use of--innocent Sansa regrets her admission immediately and begins to backpedal. Later on we see a scene between Joffrey, Margaery, and a...crossbow. Lady Margaery knows just what buttons to push to win over and manipulate the young king.
Robb is still traveling. One of his lords, in conversation tells him 'You lost this war the day you married her (Talisa).' (you may want to remember this warning.) His mother is making a dream catcher type thing to protect her children. Talisa wants to help her but Catelyn says only a mother can do it. She tells Talisa of a time when one of her children had the pox and she made a promise to the gods that if he survived she would love him and raise him as her own...she is speaking of Jon Snow. She felt she had never been able to fulfill that promise, and so that is the reason the gods have visited such terrible misfortune on her family.
Mance Rayder and Jon Snow are on the move. Mance talks about the difficulty of getting all 7 tribes to work together. He said his winning argument was telling them that they all had to march south or die. They meet up with a scout, sitting on the ground, his eyes rolled up and in a trance. Mance asks him what he sees--he tells them of the dead he sees at the Iron? fist. Mance explains to Jon that he is a warg--he can see through the eyes of animals. (I guess that means Bran is a Warg, and Jojen, too)!
Sam Tarly is having a hard time of it with the Night Watch. He is feelilng down, and getting abuse from the others ( because he didn't send the ravens) to the point he wants to give up. He goes to his knees but their leader Mormont commands him not to die and gives him to his main abuser to be in charge of his well-being.
Arya and her friends Hot Pie and Gendry are tromping through the forest on their way to Riverrun to find shelter with her grandfather. They are captured by Thoros of Myr and the Brotherhood Without Banners who take them to the local tavern. Thoros decides they are harmless and tells them they can leave. Especially when Arya, trying to prove how good she is with a sword fails miserably and looks like a helpless fool. In comes some of the brotherhood with a hooded figure in tow. The 3 are just heading out when the hood is removed to reveal 'The Hound' Sandor Clegane, who deserted Joffrey after the battle of Blackwater. Uh-oh! Wouldn't you know, he calls out Arya for being a Stark. Dang!
Tyrion and Shea have a little rendezvous in his quarters. Shea wants to ask him to protect Sansa from the manipulations of Littlefinger/Baelish. Tyrion's mind is not on the peril of Sansa, though, he is more distracted by the 'charms' of Shea, despite the possibility of her discovery by his father.
Theon's torture continues about the truth of why he took Winterfell AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
---to bring glory to my house and my father----turn of the screw----AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
--I hated the Starks and I wanted to hurt them----turn of the screw----AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
His hood is removed, the screw is released, a figure tells him that someone would come for him, his sister sent him.
Bran is on the road with his group and the Reeds. Jojen is educating him on being a Warg--getting into the heads of animals, seeing things that might happen. He continues his education of Bran, telling him what he has seen.
Brienne and Jaime reach a bridge and begin to cross. He sits down halfway and tells her she has two choices. Kill him and disobey Lady Stark, or don't kill him and he will kill her. He gets one of her swords and they have a nifty fight in the middle of the bridge--Brienne clearly the better swordsman. Unfortunately they have been betrayed by a farmer they had passed earlier, and are captured by some bounty huners to be returned to Robb Stark.
And that is where this week's episode ends. It looks like all the players are in motion, their stories unfolding and that the stage is now set for the real drama of the season to begin.
