Episode 12 – The Night Lands – New Viewer Recap

Our newbie recapper, We Do Not Sow, finally got to see more of the house that he adopted as his moniker. He gives his reactions to this and the rest of episode 12, after the break.

Spoiler note: The discussion in this post is for non-book readers ONLY (book fans can discuss the show here). We ask all the series veterans to refrain from posting spoilers in the comments here, veiled or otherwise. This show is best viewed without knowing all the surprises beforehand, so please be respectful of your fellow fans. Thank you!

We Do Not Sow: I’ve been waiting for a while to see the Iron Islands and I finally got a peek of them tonight. So, I guess we will start there with Theon , is it me or is this guy just horny all the time? After last weeks episode and this week when Theon was talking to his “woman friend” (we will keep it PG-13 tonight) on the ship, I could almost guarantee there wasn’t going to be the welcome party that he was expecting. I didn’t think that he would feel up his sister on the way to the castle though, if you’rr counting at home I believe that’s the 3rd incest case in 12 episodes, ewww. We finally meet Balon Greyjoy tonight, he wasn’t really what I had imagined, and I thought he would welcome Theon a little bit but like Balon said he hasn’t seen his son longer than when Theon was growing up on the Iron Islands. Yara seems like a cool character, another strong female role, I guess we will see more of her coming up and I am assuming Theon will be trying to win the honor of his father over Yara. We will see if Theon continues to pursue being the King of the Iron Islands or will just follow Robb and the Starks.

On the road to the North, Arya finds out Gendry knows her secret and every one traveling to the Wall in the group knows the queen is looking for Gendry. There were some clever lines and laughter in these scenes tonight with Arya’s quick wit. It is good to see that Arya isn’t alone trying to get back home. I would guess that the two of them might even become travel companions by themselves at some point this season. With both of them wanted by the queen I hope they can both make it far enough to the north or to Winterfell. I can imagine them both being strong and likable characters down the line.

No matter which family you root for, or which characters are your favorites, Tyrion is great. He speaks his mind and doesn’t care who he offends or what the outcome is. He is also very smart and can probably play the “game” in King’s Landing better than anyone else. I really enjoy Tyrion’s spats no matter who it is with, and happy for Bronn getting a promotion to the commander.

Another cast member I always love seeing is Ghost, we had a Ghost sighting tonight and he’s getting pretty big now. The dire wolves look great so far this season. The Night’s Watch exploration team is still staying at Craster’s Keep. The intrigue of marrying his daughters and having no sons was really driving me nuts and creeping me out all at the same time. After the shadow figure picked up the baby from the ground I could only assume that maybe it was one of the undead characters from the first scene from season one. Maybe Caster is sacrificing his sons to the undead army that might be growing beyond the Wall. Who knows? Well I guess most of you do know, but for new viewers like me I guess we will have to wait and see.

Stannis, Davos and Melisandre are still very interesting and now have made allies with a band of pirates but I still am unsure about where their place is in all of this. I know Stannis still wants more men before he goes to battle with his younger brother Renly and challenge him for the right to the Iron Throne but either brother I think will still fall short if trying to advance on King’s Landing.

Last season I was so excited every time a scene started in the dessert knowing it was a Daenerys and Drogo scene. After the season finale, I was upset they had killed off Drogo but really excited to see the dragons, I figured 3 dragons were better than Drogo. So far the first two episodes nothing has really happened except being deserted with nothing to eat and drink. The previews for next weeks episode looks like we will get to more action but I am not sure if we will see any across the Narrow Sea for a while.

So new viewers like myself, what haven’t you expected so far this season? And have you found yourself liking a character you didn’t last season? New viewers make yourself heard on the comment boards, if you are having any problems following the new characters, the HBO new season 2 viewers guide is my new best friend.

• Published on 04/09/2012 at 8:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:29 PM CDT