Sara Stewart

Sara Stewart

‘Game of Thrones’ is back — and not a minute too soon

Revenge: It’s what’s for dinner in Westeros, and everywhere else in the “Game of Thrones” universe, too. As Season 4 opens, the carnage of last season’s Red Wedding — in which a few major characters and lots of unfortunate extras were slaughtered — still looms large. There’s a post-storm quiet (read: a fair amount of exposition) but, given the never-ending cycle of violence in this highbrow soap opera, we won’t make it through an hour without at least a little bloodshed.

Chief among the seethers is new character Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal), a fiery Dornish prince who’s in Westeros for the upcoming wedding of King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer).

Oberyn and his girl, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma), look like they’ll be entertaining: They’re the kind of couple that enjoys shopping for threesome material at the local brothel. Oberyn’s got a darker purpose for being in town, which a weary-looking Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) will ferret out (he’s charged with welcoming arriving wedding guests).

This episode’s other splashy addition is a new wildling faction: “I f—king hate Thenns,” says the red-bearded Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) as a band of big, bald, scary thugs approach him and Ygritte (Rose Leslie), lugging a mysterious sack of something (which you just know won’t turn out to be candy or flowers). They’re joining in the wildling uprising, but they don’t look like they’ll be good team players — the head Thenn (Joseph Gatt) casts a rapey eye at Ygritte, who threatens to put it out with an arrow.

Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is trying to come to grips, so to speak, with the loss of his sword-fighting hand — with the expected amount of support from his cold-blooded family. Dad Tywin (Charles Dance) wants him to quit the King’s Guard for a more sedate life at Casterly Rock, and sister/lover Cersei (Lena Headey) is peeved at him for leaving her alone. (Don’t bother pointing out that you were in prison and then getting your hand chopped off while trying to get back to her, Jaime. Deaf ears and all.)

But Jaime isn’t abandoning his contentious charge. “How many people in this city alone would like to see [Joffrey’s] head on a pike?” he asks Tywin. (How many people in the “GoT” audience, for that matter?) Among their ranks, it seems, might be the future queen, who lets her guard slip while perusing bridal jewelry with her feisty grandmother (Diana Rigg). “Perhaps I should let Joffrey choose for me, and end up with a string of dead sparrow heads around my neck,” Margaery snarks.

In parts elsewhere, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) is riding through the burned-out woods as a captive of the Hound (Rory McCann); while stopped at an inn, they encounter some familiar faces. Jon Snow is dealing with the fallout from his undercover stint with the wildlings, stepping before a council of disapproving Night’s Watch elders, and Daenerys Targaryen is leading her army of former slaves toward yet another slave-owning city, and looking increasingly swayed by the charms of hired gun Daario (Michiel Huisman, replacing Ed Skrein).

This swaggering guy might be the only character on this show who doesn’t seem to have a care in the world; it’s a pretty grim lot, but ever thus in the nasty, brutish world of George R.R. Martin. Regardless, it’s so good to see all of their bruised, brooding faces again.