Season seven of Game of Thrones starts July 16.  As a lead-up, I’m re-watching the first six seasons of the show. Below are 25 thoughts I had while watching the fourth episode of season one, “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things.” Spoilers for the entire series, but for this episode in particular.

1. Hodor! Yet another character whose death I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from.
2. For a Lannister, Tyrion really was quite nice to Bran.
3. Poor Sam. He’s one of the nicest guys on the show and he gets tormented so much, especially in these earliest episodes.
4. Thorne is such a bully. People like him disgust me.
5. Viserys is so delusional, thinking Drogo’s army is his.
6. I can almost see the wheels turning in Daenerys’s mind as she asks Jorah whether the Dothraki could defeat Robert’s army. Viserys may be an asshole, but Daenerys is the dangerous one.
7. “A man who could change his face the way other men change their clothes” – Doreah gives us the first in-series mention of the Faceless Men.
8. “What did I buy you for?” – You’re all class, Viserys.
9. “Someday your husband will sit there” – I hope this isn’t foreshadowing that Sansa marries Jon. There’s already enough been enough incest on this show.
10. Man, this council really needs to sort out its priorities.
11. How convenient that Jon Arryn could mutter “The seed is strong,” but not “The king’s children are actually Jaime’s.” Sometimes this plot is so frustrating, I just want to shake GRRM.
12. Arya is just not having any of this husband and kids stuff. I can relate, Arya.
13. Sam’s father sounds like a real nice guy, doesn’t he?
14. Littlefinger tells Ned he was wise to distrust him. Oh Ned, why didn’t keep listening to that instinct?
15. And here’s Gendry! I wonder if we’ll ever find out what happened to him.
16. Ned can be a fool when it comes to trusting people, but he was pretty clever to figure out that Gendry is Robert’s son just by a quick look and a minute conversation.
17. Ghost has lovely fur, but those eyes make him rather scary-looking.
18. Good for you Daenerys! Too bad you didn’t leave any lasting scars.
19. Jon’s story about not wanting to sleep with Ros because he didn’t want to risk having a bastard is pretty touching. He may not have Ned’s last name (or even be his son!), but he is the most like Ned.
20. A story about eating horses. Just what I wanted to hear. Does every episode have to involve some sort of animal violence?
21. “The common people pray for rain, health, and a summer that never ends” – A reminder that this show is all about the noble houses.
22. I always chuckle that not one, not two, but three different actors have played Gregor Clegane since season one.
23. This story always makes me for sorry for the Hound. A quick reminder that few people on this show are 100 percent good or evil.
24. Cersei’s hair was so gorgeous in these early seasons. I wonder if Lena Headey was bothered when they chopped it all off?
25. I forgot Bronn was introduced here. He’s such a great character for keeping the show light during tense moments.

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