Game of Thrones Recap - "The Old Gods and the New"

Swinging swords were featured heavily this week. Theon Greyjoy—who up to this point seemed to be a conflicted, but otherwise good guy—crossed firmly over into the dark side when he took Ser Rodrik Cassel's life. Theon being Theon, though, made a mess of it, swinging his sword repeatedly to get Ser Rodrik's head off, while the Stark boys screamed in horror.

Further north, Jon Snow tried to exact the same punishment on a captured wildling, but Ygritte being Ygritte, which is to say a cute and charming wildling girl, Jon was unable to connect his sword to her neck. This man of the Watch was forced to make camp in the cold (since fires would attract the attention of wildlings) with only Ygritte to provide warmth. In the Westerlands, Robb Stark was swinging a sword of an entirely different sort. Flirting furiously with Lady Talisa, he made quite the impression on the Volantine doctor until his mother arrived to splash cold water on the whole thing and remind him that he is engaged. Never mind that King Robb has never seen his Frey fiancée—marriage is coming.

King's Landing was not spared a reality check. The residents of the Red Keep travelled to the harbor to see Princess Myrcella off to Dorne, but were caught in a riot on the return home. For King Joffrey, it meant seeing the consequences of his actions: He started the war that is starving his people. Sansa Stark, barely escaping an attempted rape, learned that people don't have to know you to hate you, and the High Septon found out the hard way that it only takes an instant to be torn from limb to limb. (See above for the storyboard of the gruesome scene from HBO GO's Interactive Viewing Experience.)

What lessons did you pick up from Sunday's episode?