Twincest Is Coming

Game of Thrones

Season 1

Episode 1:

Winter Is Coming

Synopsis: 

Three men of the Night's Watch, Will, Gared and Waymar Royce, ride out to investigate reports of a group of Wildings sighted near the border. Will finds only corpses and reports back to the other men of his discovery. The three men decide to investigate further but the bodies have mysteriously disappeared. Suddenly, everything descends into chaos as their horses flee and the sound of Waymar screaming echoes through the forest. Will runs for his life and comes face to face with Gared...Just as a shadowy creature with glowing blue eyes severs Gared's head.

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, Bran Stark is badly practising his archery as his family looks on. Arya Stark, his sister, abandons her lesson in needlework in order to fire a perfect shot over Bran's shoulder at the target with her bow much to the watching Starks amusement. Their amusement is cut short by the arrival of Ser Rodrik Cassel, the Stark House's Master At Arms with the news that a deserter of the Night's Watch has been captured. Lord Ned Stark knows what must be done and orders his sons to saddle their horses.

On a hillside outside the castle walls, Will stands before Ned Stark, knowing that as a deserter of the Night's Watch his sentence is death but swears that he saw White Walkers. Ned draws his sword, an ancient sword called Ice, to deliver justice as his sons look on. Bran is with them and this is his first execution. Afterwards, Ned tells him why he performed the execution himself: "Our way is the old way. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." Bran then asks his father if the poor deserter really saw the White Walkers but Ned reassures him that they have been gone for thousands of years.

Upon their return to Winterfell the group comes across a dead direwolf, a huge wolf hardly seen north of the wall. The wolf has given birth to a litter of pups before her death and Jon Snow, Ned's bastard son, convinces his Father that the Starks are meant to have them. That the direwolf is the sigil of House Stark and that Ned's five true-born children are destined to have the pups as their protectors. As they walk away with the pups, Jon finds an albino pup cast off to the side away from the others and takes it for his own.

Over at King's Landing, Cersei Baratheon, Queen of Westeros and her twin brother Jaime Lannister watch the Silent Sisters perform death rights over the body of Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King. Cersei is worried that Arryn may have shared some unmentionable secret before his death but Jaime is unconcerned and mentions that Cersei's husband, King Robert Baratheon will find a replacement soon enough.

Back at Winterfell a message arrives explaining that Jon Arryn has died and that King Robert is paying a visit. Ned knows that this can only mean one thing, that Robert is planning on making him the next Hand of the King. The house busies itself with preparation and when the King arrives he greets Ned and his family with affection before asking to visit the crypts of Winterfell. By the tomb of Lyanna Stark, his betrothed before she died, Robert offers Ned the position of Hand of the King and suggests the joining of their houses. Ned withholds an answer for the moment but knows its something he cannot refuse.

The Stark family throws a feast in Robert's honour which he enjoys immensely by getting drunk and burying his face in the breasts of a serving wench. An unamused Queen Cersei watches her husbands behaviour as she tells Lady Catelyn Stark that her daughter Sansa Stark, will fit in naturally with the nobles in the capital.

Jon Snow, on the other hand, is seated far away from the royal table and his family to not insult the Queen with his low birth. He steps outside to talk with his uncle Benjen Stark, a ranger in the Night's Watch. Jon begs Benjen to take him with him when he returns to the Wall when he returns but Benjen knows that Jon is far too young to make such a weighty decision. Benjen walks off and Tyrion Lannister, younger dwarf brother to Cersei and Jaime, steps from the darkness. Tyrion asks Jon if he is Ned Stark's bastard which immediately offends Jon but Tyrion advises Jon to remember who he is and then it can never be used to hurt him. Jon asks how he knows this. Tyrion replies: “All dwarves are bastards in their fathers' eyes.”

Inside, Benjen tells Ned that he's also heard reports of White Walkers which must almost certainly be untrue. Ned nods, discomforted by this news as well as the feast going on around them and responds with the Stark house words: “Winter is Coming.” On his way through the great hall Ned suddenly crosses paths with Jaime Lannister who says that he is looking forward to Ned's arrival as Hand of the King. Jaime then suggests that if Robert holds a tournament to celebrate that he and Ned spar together. Ned replies that he doesn't fight in tournaments because when fights a man for real he doesn't want them to know what he can do.

Meanwhile, far away from Winterfell, across the narrow sea in Essos, a silver haired young man, Viserys Targaryen, prepares his younger sister Daenerys to meet a possible husband. As the last heir of his line, an historic family of Kings almost wiped out by Robert Baratheon when he usurped the Iron Throne, Viserys hopes to wed his sister to Khal Drogo in order to secure the service of the Khals massive army in reclaiming Westeros as King. He keeps Daenerys in line when she complains by warning her not to wake the dragon.

With the help of Magister Illyrio Mopatis, a wealthy merchant who sees a good opportunity in helping a disposed king, brother and sister meet Khal Drogo. Drogo silently assesses Daenerys and then turns on his horse and leaves. Viserys asks whether the Khal liked his sister and Illyrio replies: "If he didn't like her, we'd know."

The wedding of Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen is performed in the traditional Dothraki way which includes huge amounts of sex and violence. Daenerys receives a chest of priceless dragon eggs as a wedding gift from Illyrio and Ser Jorah Mormont, an exiled Westerosi knight gives her books detailing the history of her homeland. After the wedding, Daenerys rides away to be alone with Khal Drogo and weeps as she is deflowered.

In Winterfell, some time after the feast, Ned and Catelyn are lying in bed when Maester Luwin arrives with a message from Cat's sister Lysa, Jon Arryn's widow. The message says that Jon Arryn was murdered by the Lannisters and that the king himself is in danger. Catelyn begs Ned not to go south to Kings Landing but Ned knows he has no choice except to go. The next morning after he excepts Robert's offer to be Hand, the king thanks him and says that he knows the sacrifice that Ned is making but that there is no other man he can trust.

Ned leaves for a hunt with Robert and his hunting party, waving goodbye to his son Bran. The young boy spends his day climbing the walls and towers of Winterfell, which is one of his favourite hobbies. At the top of a long abandoned tower he hears strange noises and when he climbs over to investigate and looks through a window he sees Jaime Lannister and his twin sister Queen Cersei having sex on the floor. Cersei notices Bran and screams. Jaime steps to the window and grabs hold of the frightened boy to intimidate him. After a short while Jaime looks to Cersei and then pushes Bran out of the window onto the ground far below them.

Review:

I have to admit I got into this show after just seeing Sean Bean and Lena Headey, actors that I've always liked, in the trailer. And I'm so glad I did. This show has the best actors and plot that I have ever seen well... anywhere. 

I recommend it to everyone. I still do.