Wow... That was... Yeah.... Before we get onto exactly what that was, let's deal with the rest of what is surely a pivotal episode, certainly in terms of ongoing plot and personal character developement.

Firstly, the Wildlings Strike Again. This time, Ygritte's merry band of rapists and murderers take out the brothel near Castle Black and all it's inhabitants and punters save for Gilly and her baby. Gilly is either one of the luckiest or unluckiest characters in the show with everything that's happened to her since we first laid eyes on her and I'm still not settled on which category she belongs to. Jon Snow and the Night's Watch get all wound up about the massacre and decide what they are going to do about it: precisely fuck all, opting instead to sit around in relative...

5 hours in and everything finally starts to ramp up a gear. There were so many Bauer Bingo moments this week that I had a hard time keeping track of them. From more 'Putting people on speaker's and 'Within the hour's to some of my personal favorites such as 'Doing it my way'.

The episode starts out simply enough with Bauer in custody and Morgan in possession of the flight key. Morgan puts what's left of her shattered career in Jack's hands, which, despite moments of kudos, can never end well. She gets the data to Chloe who quickly pieces together the evidence that proves the drone was hijacked by Al Harazi. All the men in the show eat big slices of humble pie as they have to admit that our Whispering Wonder and the Bauer Babes were right all along.

As we leave the male...

Picking up where we left things last week, Jack fairly effortlessly storms the US embassy, retrieves the flight key from Tanner and very nearly escapes. Sealing him in the building leads to Jack locking himself in a comms room with some hostages and a cyberblag ensures that he's in there for the rest of the show. Being a computer geek there were many things wrong with this section of the show including utterly ludicrous IP addresses and more flashy beepiness than is really necessary for a progress bar. However I shall maintain my disbelief and allow them the blag for the purposes of creating a bit of tension on the show.

While all the situation at the embassy takes place, Heller manages to placate the combined force of the stern words of the British press and politicians and he...

We kick off this week with another wonderful back and forth between Tyrion and Jaime. Somehow I get the feeling that these two had immense fun recording all these prison scenes as Tyrion, despite his precarious position, lists all the things Jaime has managed to get up to over the last few years and is still somehow the best boy. Jaime takes himself out of the running as Tyrion's champion and promises to go and get Bronn after dropping the bombshell that Cersei has named The Mountain as her champion.

There's a nice few shots of The Mountain making offal out some some prisoners/slaves. I'm not really sure what they are, but they aren't around long enough to discover why he's chopping them into little bits. At this point we really want The Hound to come back and face The Mountain...

Okay... First off... It's just plain wrong seeing Jack in a typical London boozer. Furthermore, it's even more wrong when Jack and Chloe actually refer to it as a pub. It just sounds weird. Bauer finds the poor sap who had his head blown off in the toilets on last week's episode and gives chase to his murderer. After once again letting their only lead escape, Chloe drops a figurative bomb on the proceedings. It appears that her husband Morris and son Prescott were killed and it all seems to tie in with the fact that she was in the loop on Jack's disappearance at the end of last season. 

The suits make preparations to hand Jack over to the Russians which is about as likely to happen as William Devane and Stephen Fry sealing their special relationship with an on screen...

Well then. So this week we finally get to lay eyes on the much talked about Iron Bank of Braavos. It's really not that far removed from my vision of a Gringotts-esque operation after all. Although rather than Warwick Davies being in charge, we seem to have a rather beardy Mark Gatiss. Stannis and Ser Davos manage to persuade the bearded banker that they should get all the money instead of Tywin Lannister and Tommen based on the fact that the Onion Knight chopped off his own fingers. Next week, Jaime will be trading in his missing hand for a new suit of armour and a shiny belt.

Speaking of having things chopped off we're back with what's left of Theon! His sister mounts a rescue attemps but to no avail and, during the battle, we get to see exactly how hard Ramsay Snow is as he...

Straight in with episode 2. I love that 24 does big season openers with multi episodes.

The hunt for Jack begins and there's dissention in the CIA ranks as not everyone is happy with Kate being re-instated to help with the search. We're reminded that, not only was she the only one who knew Jack was up to something, but also that she didn't see whatever was wrong with her ex partner/lover/whatever he was. So she's basically a human being.

The Girl with the Many Tattoos returns to her nerdcave and who should be there, but good ole gravelly voice himself: Michael Wincott who appears to be some kind of King of the Nerds, Adrian Croft. We find out that Jack's plan is to find a hacker type who was formerly party of Chloe's group and is now plotting to assassinate Heller. The...

And we're back. Split screen action from the outset as we're wandering around an East London market until it cuts quickly into a CIA field office. I'm immediately confused as to what Agent Sarah Walker is doing in London... Especially without Chuck. The show wastes no time throwing Jack straight into the middle of a fight. The years off screen don't seem to have dulled Jack in the slightest. If anything he seems even more kick ass than I remember. 

James Heller is now President of the US, which is awesome as he's one of my all time favourite characters in the 24 verse so It's fantastic to see him back. Seeing Michael Wincott's name in the credits sends a shiver down my spine since he's one of my favourite actors and I can't wait to see what he's up to in this.

...

This week's episode seemed again to be more filler than killer. Although there certainly was a fair amount of killing towards the end.

We begin with the coronation of King Tommen the 'how long will this one last' and at this point I'm finding the phrase 'Long may he reign' to be more of an earnest plea to the gods from the Lanister's point of view rather than a celebration of their king. Margaery is still sniffing around and has a bit of a chat with Cersei about the forthcoming nuptuals and how much of a little prick Joffrey actually was. Athough I do think Margaery is pushing it a bit with her jibes about mother and sister. I fear she may well end up with a sword through the neck before long if this continues.

Daenerys finally hears about Joffrey's demise through the...

Any episode of Game of Thrones that starts out with a quiet conversation between two characters is obviously trying to lull us into a false sense of security. So, I'm immediately on my guard as a subdued scene between Grey Worm and Missandei takes place. It segues quickly into the overthrowing of yet another city at the hands of Daenerys and her army. Despite urging for mercy from Barristan, Daenerys proceeds to decorate her new pathways with the recently deposed Masters as justice for all the child road markings a couple of episodes ago.

Back in King's Landing Jaime and Bron are continuing with sword lessons. Jaime seems to be doing well right up until Bron literally pulls of his arm and starts beating him to death with the wet end. Well... Something like that anyway. There's a...