Game of Thrones recap: 'Second Sons'

Sunday's episode of the HBO fantasy drama put the spotlight on some of the show's lesser-explored characters, including Gendry and Samwell Tarly

Tyrion and Sansa wed
(Image credit: HBO/Helen Sloan)

Weddings, by and large, are not happy affairs in Westeros.

When Ned Stark's elder brother died, Ned dutifully stepped in to marry Catelyn, spending a single night with her before riding off to fight in Robert Baratheon's rebellion and returning with a bastard son. Cersei spent her first night as a wedded woman in bed with Robert as he drunkenly called her Lyanna Stark, the woman he really loved. And long before Daenerys and Khal Drogo shared any actual affection for one another, she spent an evening shivering and crying as he stoically had sex with her for the first time. "A Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is seen as a dull affair," said a bemused Illyrio Mopatis as Drogo's wedding guests interrupted their orgy to attack one another.

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.