It’s hard to believe but HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones will come close to reaching the one-third mark of its third season tonight with the new episode ‘Walk of Punishment.’ The season premiere seems like it was only just yesterday, and several core characters didn’t make their Season 3 debut until last weekend. Now that all the player positions have been established, the “game” can finally get going before we’re talking about five episodes in and half way to the season finale.
To recap last week’s episode, Jaime Lannister and Brienne had a little sword fight on a bridge that felt more like foreplay than anything else. Before the fight could properly finish, soldiers appeared from Rob Stark’s army to take the pair prisoner. Since Jaime and Brienne both need to get to King’s Landing, I would expect them to form a bond and team up in some way to eventually escape their captors.
Looking back to the season premiere, Daenerys was presented with an army to purchase and was mulling it over. The preview for tonight’s episode shows Daenerys offering to buy all 8,000 soldiers, another step toward her marching upon King’s Landing and taking the Iron Throne that she believes is hers by birthright.
Arya is amongst the Brotherhood Without Banners and seems to be fitting in well despite her desire to leave. When she does leave, the Hound shows up as a prisoner and rats out her identity. Knowing Arya’s value, the Brotherhood won’t be so quick to let her stroll out the door. With Arya getting a lot of screen time last week, I wouldn’t expect to see her much tonight, if any at all.
We can expect to see Jon Snow as he is taken to see the Fist of the First Men, as revealed by tonight’s synopsis. The synopsis also tells us that Tyrion will pick up some new responsibilities. If those responsibilities will help him strikes back against his father and Joffrey then I’m sure Tyrion will accept them with open arms.
As far as tonight’s title goes, the ‘Walk of Punishment’ could refer to Theon Greyjoy’s escape from his captives and having to journey home with what’s left of his left foot. He is certainly paying for his ill-advised siege of Winterfell.
Game of Thrones: Season 3 episode 23 ‘Walk of Punishment’ premieres tonight at 9/8c on HBO in high definition. If you ponied up for an HBO subscription, you can watch a live online streaming version of tonight’s all-new episode via HBO Go on either the HBO Go website or via the HBO Go app on a cell phone or tablet such as iPad. There is no official free live online streaming version available, so HBO Go is the best way to watch it off the air.
