By this point in its existence, Game of Thrones has established a pattern.  The first episode of every season is mostly a refresher of the current state of play as the writers get the season’s plot threads kicking off in the right direction.  Things escalate quickly from there until the ninth episode of the season, which is when the season hits its climax.  The season finale is then the denouement and starts the process of laying the foundation for the next season.  Thus, the fourth season premiere is best viewed in that context.

In the wake of the Red Wedding, the Lannisters are on top of the world, or so it would seem.  As the visuals at the end of the episode would suggest, of course, Westeros is a complete and utter mess.  Still, Tywim is in the mood for celebration, and that means melting down Ned Stark’s sword of Valyrian steel into two new swords for his own family.  And burning the direwolf pelt that it was sheathed in, for good measure.

It can’t be easy being Jamie.  The man went through Hell to return to his family, only to be treated like he’s Tyrion.  Turns out getting your hand chopped off, and your dominant sword hand at that, is less than favorable in the Lannister ranks.  Tywin all but exiles him to Casterly Rock (which Jamie refuses), Cersei blames him for “leaving her”, and Joffrey basically treats him like he does everyone else.  Jamie was resisting Brianne’s reminders about who he really wanted to be all the way home, because he figured he could return to his self-loathing life with Cersei.  What will he do when that excuse is no longer viable?

Meanwhile, if the Lannisters think they are good to go, the Martells would like to have a word.  And that word is “die”, generally speaking, especially if Oberyn Martell has any say in the matter.  The Martells are the ruling family of Dorne, the region to the southeast; they’ve more or less been letting anyone else battle it out and biding their time, it seems.

Oberyn seems like a semi-random complication to throw into the mix, but he serves a not-so-minor purpose.  In short, Rhaegar Targaryen was married to Oberyn’s sister.  When Rhaegar abandoned her and their children to abduct Leanna Stark, thus sparking off Robert Baratheon’s rebellion, Oberyn’s sister was raped and murdered.  Oh, and the children were killed, too.  Oberyn kindly reminds Tyrion of all this backstory, which also brings up a rather important point: the Martells were deeply invested in the old Targaryen dynasty.  Not so much in the Baratheons or the Lannisters.  Which, these days, is basically just the Lannisters, since everyone is ignoring Stannis these days.

Tyrion might notice how this bodes extremely badly if he wasn’t dealing with some of the most mind-numbing personal issues in Westeros.  Despite the fact that his marriage to Sansa is a complete farce, and he’s just trying to make it bearable for everyone involved (because he’s basically the most decent Lannister around), his lover Shae is giving him nothing but grief.  Maybe she should pay attention.  When Tyrion Lannister of all people is too stressed and worried to get it up, it’s probably a sign that things are getting serious in King’s Landing.

There are a couple important takeaways from this part of the tapestry.  First, Cersei is now aware that Tyrion has a mistress, and that it’s Shae.  How important this is going to be remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely to be meaningless.  Second, Sansa is reunited with Ser Dontos, the drunken fool who she saved from death back in the third season premiere.  (Readers of the source text will recognize the potential importance of his return.)

The Tyrells are prepping for the royal wedding to come, but as much as I love anything with Natalie Dormer in it, there wasn’t much to work with; the scene was largely to reinforce that Olenna Tyrell is always paying attention.  Oh, and Brienne was there to remind the audience about what happened with Renly Baratheon’s death, and how Brienne keeps her promises, no matter what.  She’s cool that way.

That’s the majority of the action in Westeros; now for those on the outer edge of the game board.  Over in Essos, Daenerys is preparing to march on the largest city yet: Meereen.  And her dragons are getting big, feisty, and very hungry.  Ser Jorah makes a good point: it won’t be long before they are out of control.  As usual, Dany brushes him off, because she’s still too damn worried about what Daario is doing.  If she wasn’t, she might have noticed that the folks in Meereen are openly mocking her and all but inviting her to come invade.

There are a lot of reasons why Dany isn’t ready to invade Westeros.  Most of them, unfortunately, are blatant plot mechanics.  Things have to happen in the other plot threads in Westeros and such before Dany’s arrival will have the desired impact.  The worrying part is that Dany’s blaze of conquest is riding a wave of love and devotion that comes from victory and liberation.  What if Meereen doesn’t turn out to be such an easy conquest?  Will Dany find herself surrounded by thousands of former slaves who start wondering why they are following the white girl around?

Up at the wall, Jon Snow faces a tribunal over his choices in the past couple seasons.  It doesn’t go well, but thanks to Maester Aemon, who has been around the block a few times, Jon gets a bit of a pass.  Which is good, because he lays out the problem with the impending invasion well enough.  And we get to see the potential for major bloodshed when the Thenns arrive to “help” Ygritte and her friends.  It’s going to be ugly when Mance comes calling.

Jon shows a bit more personality this time, but I was disappointed with his self-defense.  It might have been worth pressing the point that Halfhand told Jon to kill him and why.  He brought it up, but didn’t exactly fire back when challenged on it.  What’s worth noting is that Jon is still considered a traitor by a lot of the Night’s Watch, and some of them aren’t particularly inspired to believe his claims about the size of the threat.

The final piece of the premiere puzzle is a nice little update on the Adventures of Arya and the Hound.  They come across an inn where Polliver, the Lannister lackey that killed Arya’s friend and stole her sword ages ago, is hanging out with his friends.  Arya decides to start trouble, and the Hound reluctantly plods along after.  It ends with a wonderful little fight scene and Arya getting her sword back.  And using it.  With a particularly nasty smile on her face that lasts long after she gets to quote what Polliver said when he killed her friend as she slides Needle through his neck.

I was instantly reminded of The Walking Dead, as I often am when watching Game of Thrones.  A lot of folks (including me, I will admit) probably enjoyed watching Arya stab some folk.  They pretty much deserved it.  But it was the gleam in her eye and the apparent lack of remorse that some might have missed, and that makes Arya’s future journey a lot more interesting.