Spoiler Alert: This blog is published after Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US on Sunday at 9pm ET. Do not read on unless you have watched episode three (which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic on Monday at 9pm). As ever, we are going to (hopefully) avoid book spoilers as well.

Click here for Sarah Hughes’ season three, episode two blog

“If you want to sit on the Iron Throne of Westeros, you will need to get blood on your hands”

This was great: a taut, thrilling episode, which managed to cover a great deal of ground both in plot and character development. It’s always hard to judge an adaptation apart from the original material, and even more so when the source is as rich as in this case, but increasingly I feel that Game of Thrones stands on its own as great television.

I like the small inserted scenes such as Pod’s arrival back from the brothel or Tyrion’s quick guide to finance for beginners. They might seem unnecessary to some fans given the amount of plot to get through but they provide a change of pace and immerse us yet further in the world. This show’s greatest strength is often in its smallest moments – Arya’s touching goodbye to Hot Pie, Varys’ smirk at Tyrion’s audition for Grand Designs – and those moments come largely because David Benioff and DB Weiss weave round the books rather than sticking rigidly to them.

It was also an episode concerned with sacrifice as Stannis weighed up how far he would go for the Iron Throne, Catelyn considered the true cost of war and Dany prepared to sell one of her dragons in exchange for an army of slaves. We were repeatedly shown too that there is a huge difference between the stories told of glorious war and the brutal reality. Thus Barristan, a man still half in love with the chivalry of his youth, told Dany of the courage and nobility of her older brother, a man whose men died for him “because they believed in him and because they loved him”, only to have Jorah bluntly state: “Rhaegar fought valiantly. Rhaegar fought nobly. And Rhaegar died.” Similarly we saw the stark difference between Edmure’s dreams of glory and the bitter truth: his lack of patience has cost Robb dearly, and may yet cost him dearer still.

“You’re nothing without your daddy and your daddy ain’t here”

The Kingslayer finally ran up against the one man his words couldn’t work on, a meeting resulting in the loss of first his dignity and then, more disturbingly, his hand. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau brings a great lightness of touch to the role of Jaime, managing to convincingly suggest that this is a man who views life as a rootless game of chance. You had the sense that in his conversation with Locke he was less concerned with escape as he was chancing his luck, trying to see if having talked Brienne out of a sticky situation he could talk his way out of captivity as well. He couldn’t and it will be interesting to see what happens next. When you are as defined by your military prowess as Jaime Lannister is, what do you do when that prowess is taken away? Nor was Locke far off the mark with his harsh comments about Tywin’s long reach. Jaime might have a clever tongue, skill with a sword and good looks but for all his wit and ability his natural instinct in time of trouble is to remind everyone who daddy is.

“Come, my lord, you are a long way from home and winter is coming”

No matter how bad Jaime’s situation is, it’s probably better than Theon’s. One of the things I love about Theon’s story is that I have no idea how it will play out because they have diverted slightly from the books. In lesser hands this might annoy me but Alfie Allen is strangely likeable as poor, stupid Theon so I’m intrigued as to just what’s going to happen next. It helps too that Misfits actor Iwan Rheon was fantastically creepy as Theon’s supposed benefactor. As yet we still have no name for Rheon’s role but the very use of the Stark words, “winter is coming”, suggests that young Greyjoy is about to find himself among foes not friends.

Additional thoughts

• The scenes at Riverrun were outstanding, with Clive Russell perfect as the gruff Brynden Blackfish and Tobias Menzies, AKA Rome’s Brutus, bringing the right air of impatience to foolish Edmure.

• Michelle Fairley has been quietly devastating as Catelyn over the last two episodes, giving us a thoroughly believable portrait of a woman overwhelmed by grief.

• It was also a better episode for Robb with Richard Madden finally able to demonstrate the Young Wolf’s tactical nous and growing frustration. The relationship between Robb and Talisa remains the series’ biggest misstep so it was good to see the King in the North apart from her and rediscovering his lost charisma.

• Dany definitely understands High Valyrian and we are clearly witnessing a more decisive Khaleesi as evidenced by the steel in her response to Misandrei: “Yes, all men must die, but we are not men.”

• Top marks to commenter @jennifera30, who suggested there might be more to Pod than meets the eye. There clearly is. Much, much more.

Violence count

A pretty gruesome episode: one line of crucified slaves, two near rapes, the single-handed takedown of an expendable group of soldiers, the sacrificial slaughter of a group of horses, subsequently laid out in a strange spiral shape by their undead killers, and the loss of Jaime Lannister’s sword hand.

Nudity count

One brief ogle of a half-naked whore by Bronn, two fully naked whores preparing to divest Pod of his innocence and one fantastic demonstration by contortionist Pixie Le Knot of the Meereenese knot, which was in itself a lovely in-joke (George RR Martin famously referred to his most difficult plot issue in A Dance With Dragons as the Meereenese knot).

Random Australian of the week

The versatile Noah Taylor destroyed the last remnants of my teenage Flirting crush by telling Jaime some home truths and then chopping off his hand. On the plus side he did also sing the Bear and the Maiden Fair…

So what do you think? Is Dany really going to sell a dragon to raise a slave army? Will Jaime and Brienne even make it to Lord Bolton? Where is Thoros taking Arya? Finally, what secret skill will Pod reveal next week? As ever, let me know all thoughts and theories below …