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Everyone's favorite show to obsess over has finally returned for its fourth season. Viewers were treated with what you'd expect from a great episode of Game of Thrones. You had cannibals, fiery princes, some quips about chicken and a great quote from The Wire.

Let's start at the end because it was just a great scene. We're with Col. Sandor "Omar" Clegane who turns using the word "cunt" into an art form. He and Arya wind up in an inn currently being lightly terrorized by Lannister soldiers. One soldier in particular, Polliver, is on Arya's list she says every night. A very tense conversation about chicken ensues, which culminates in the Hound's now trademark line, "Fuck the King." This sets off one of the best fights we've seen in the series and ends with Arya killing two men and reclaiming her sword, Needle, and getting herself a horse in the process.

Now jump back to the beginning of the show. We were treated to a cold open featuring the Stark family's Valyrian steel sword "Ice", last seen removing Ned Stark's head from his body. Tywin Lannister, is celebrating his near total annihilation of the Stark house by melting down the sword and having two new ones forged with the metal.

One of the swords goes to his son Lefty, er, I mean Jamie. Jamie accepts the sword, but turns down the offer to leave the Kingsguard and rule Casterly Rock, much to the chagrin of his father who is not used to being told no.

I really like how the swords symbolize peaks and valleys and are used to frame the episode. Tywin melting down Ice showed him at the peak of his power. He's defeated his enemies and no one else stands in his way. He even has reclaimed a Valyrian steel sword that his family has been seeking for generations. The peak is accentuated by immediately being told "no" for the first time in a very long time.

Arya, on the other hand, has reached a low point in her life. She has been robbed of her past life, her family and anyone she ever really cared about. She's a prisoner being brought to a strange place in hopes of a ransom. She reclaims her sword, a piece of her old life, and with it starts down a road as the first Stark who can claim some revenge for the wrongs done to them.

Check out this week's podcast where we'll go over the rest of the episode, including the introduction of Oberyn Martell, Dany's Dragons and the proper use of Golden Hands.

Last week's episode of Game of Thrones was a "let's get re-acquainted" kind of episode that most people expect at the beginning of a season. Thankfully, for a show of this quality, it did not disappoint. This week is a mixture of new happenings and checking back in with the rest of the storylines.

Of course, if you've watched already, you know that I've buried the lead. This week, everyone's wishes came true and that bastard Joffrey "Baratheon" got what he deserved. As a book reader, it's probably not appropriate for me to speculate on who was responsible, but I have had a great time listening to people's theories. They are widely varied, but one that I like the most is "all I know is that it wasn't Tyrion". I'd have to agree that the show is pointing that way as Tyrion is the only one who was actually looking for clues after his nephew died, and not just running for pie.

So, the King is dead and his little brother will now wear the crown. Tommen is the younger, but considerably less cruel second born child of Cersei Lannister. This doesn't create a power vacuum per se, but will definitely change everything in Kings Landing and it will be fun to see how this shakes out.

The stage is now set for conspiracy and intrigue for the rest of the season in Kings Landing, so let's travel just a bit north and east for a fun beach party thrown by everyone's favorite witch, Melisandre. Our first look at Stannis's crew this season shows him burning several "infidels", including his brother-in-law, as sacrifices to the red god R'hllor. Melisandre also comforts a small child with the notion that "there is only one hell and it's the one they live in right now". Clearly a great babysitter, also available for kid's parties.

We continue north to the Dreadfort, home of the Boltons and everyone's second favorite bastard, Ramsay Snow. Daddy is now home, and the Roose is loose. (Forgive me for using that line). Roose Bolton wastes no time in reminding Ramsay that he is a Snow and not a Bolton and sort of gives him a slap on the wrist for utterly torturing and psychologically crushing his hostage, Theon Greyjoy (now Reek). I've heard some people complain about how this storyline is just a bunch of torture and doesn't have much to do with what's going on. To them, I simply must say that you're not supposed to like everyone and everything that goes on. This story is about being real, not about pleasing you.

Finally we go north of the wall to join Bran, Meera, Jojen and Hodor. We're once again shown Bran warging into Summer just as the direwolf is making a kill. I'm glad that the show is able to have the warging scenes as in the book it was done incredibly well. The feel of warging translates well to the screen and you don't lose much in the change of mediums. Then Bran shows that he really could be the most powerful character in the whole story when he unleashes yet another magic trick. With just the touch of his hand to a Weirwood (the ancient white trees with red leaves and weeping faces), he is able to see a series of visions of both the past and the future. They do not elaborate on this ability in the episode, but I suspect it will be used a lot on the show as a way to show all kinds of places and events without having to have a long storyline take us there.

Altogether, I give this episode 5 stars. It's got everything you've expected from Game of Thrones, blah blah blah. Joffrey dies and that's why there are 5 stars. Deal with it, and pass me a piece of pie.

The King is dead! Long live the King! Finally, the biggest little monster in Westeros is dead and Tyrion is taking the blame. Cersei wants him dead, Jaime doesn't think he did it and Podrick really doesn't know what to do.

What this really means is that we're going to be treated to a lot more Charles Dance's mad acting skills while schooling the new king. With Tywin firmly in control of the crown, I expect him to have tons of great scenes with a trial coming up. He's definitely going to be a frontrunner for the supporting actor Emmy next year.

With peacetime returning to Westeros, the show runners have the challenge of moving the plot along while keeping us interested. This includes, but is not limited to scenes about robbing a poor famer of his last silver, a proper Dornish orgy and a rather rapey scene in a sept next to Joffrey's body. These scenes might feel a little forced, but even if they do not quite flow with the show, they at least advance the characters OR the plot, and usually by smacking you in the face with it.

Another scene that felt forced, but ultimately was quite entertaining was the final scene with Daenerys outside of Mereen. It starts awkwardly with her reciting how important each of the men around her are to her. She decides that Daario is the most expendable and he proceeds to basically pull an Indiana Jones on the champion from Mereen.

We're left with the image of broken chains flung all over the city of Mereen, encouraging the slaves inside to break their own chains. It's an interesting way to encourage chaos inside of a city you mean to take.

For some strange reason, I really love the fact that we're getting lots of reading lessons on Game of Thrones. This time, we get Missandei teaching Grey Worm how to speak the 'common' language. Unfortunately, they do not take this time to read boring old history books to sneak back story into the scene, damn! Hopefully next week we get another installment of Reading Rainbow Westeros.

Cut to Mereen and Daenerys the unstoppable manages to take a city while only showing a grand total of 2 deaths on the screen, (well, 4 if you count the guards, 5 the horse). Once she has the city, she wants to pay the masters back for the children they nailed on the road to Mereen. (Side note on that, shouldn't a city as ruthless as that stand up to something more than killing their champion and a bunch of slaves with swords?) Anyways, Ser Barristan councils that she have mercy, but her Targaryen fire burns bright and she must have her revenge. You can see him flinch just a little, maybe remembering her father...remember him? The Mad King? Yep, flip a coin they say.

Now we go to CSI: Westeros. I say this because I couldn't think of a more clever Sherlock related name. We are in the boat with Sansa and Littlefinger and we are shown, almost step by step, the conspiracy to kill Joffrey the Shit. I really hope that's how he's remembered in history books. It's a shame that the other big player in this, the Queen of Thorns (Margaery's Grandmother), is leaving town. She's shown some clever wit and quick hands, especially with people's necklaces.

After a quick training session of foreshadowing at the Wall, we join Cersei and Jaime having a chat about Jaime's vows. Jaime has probably had the most misunderstood life in Westeros, and despite his bitchin' duster, his part time rapey, incestuous behavior is still frowned upon by most people. Jaime is trying to find a few shreds of his own dignity, trying to rebuild his life and he won't just bow to his sister and stands up for Tyrion. This of course, enrages Cersei, and their relationship has become almost formal, calling each other "Your Majesty" and "Lord Commander". I guess they never had the most functional relationship.

I'd like to think that currently, the story of Margaery is a lesson on the dangers of drinking too much. Cersei sits around and drinks all day and her life is falling apart, meanwhile Margaery stays sober and is "Improving her lot remarkably" as her grandmother put it. She's sneaking around at night, sharing secrets with the new King Tommen and meeting fan favorite Ser Pounce.

We join Jon Snow back at the wall, discussing his brother with Sam. We're also shown that maybe Jon has another motivation behind heading north of the wall. He hopes to find his brother in addition to getting rid of the mutineers.

Now remember that this season there are a lot of dots to connect, so please notice that Locke, the new recruit who can really fight at Castle Black, is the same guy who Roose Bolton sent to hunt down the living Stark boys. Locke overhears Sam and Jon talking about Bran, so of course when Jon makes his plea for volunteers to go north, Locke joins in.

Jon Snow's speech about getting the mutineers is a great transition to check in on what's going on north of the wall. Karl, the guy who stabbed Lord Commander Mormont is in charge, currently drinking wine out of said Lord Commander's skull. He's basically gone native, as they say. In keeping with tradition, they decide that Craster's last son has to be given to the gods, as the rest of them have. Leaving the baby out leads to Bran and company hearing it and getting captured at Crasters keep, where a very drunk Karl finds out just who Bran is. This is definitely leading to a very interesting confrontation.

Finally, we learn something that is just mind blowing. Feeling like something that you might see as a big reveal at the end of the season, and certainly pointing the needle towards the supernatural. we actually see how the White Walkers are made. The implications of this definitely reach back a ways, as we know that Craster has been giving his sons to the White Walkers for some time, this has to help account for their increased activity, which lead to the Wildlings all teaming up to attack the wall. I guess when you connect the dots, whether north or south, the main lesson is that incest is bad, m'kay.