This season, Game of Thrones has been slowly upping the ante. The stakes get higher every week. The number of claimants to various thrones increases as various underlings get their leathers in a twist and start declaring independence. More tellingly, the violence gets more extreme every week. Game of Thrones, even in the quietest episode, is still full of killing, but this week's episode featured more killing, and more graphic killing, than any episode of the entire series thus far. The violence in this show is sudden and shocking, but when you add significant gore, what was once a grimace becomes very uncomfortable and stomach-turning. This episode had several uncomfortable moments, from the rioting crowds in King's Landing apparently dismembering someone bare-handed to Sansa's narrow escape from a band of rapey peasants (via the Hound, who brought the ultra-violence in defense of the auburn-haired Stark in a spectacularly-directed scene by director David Nutter), and Jon Snow's adventures beyond the wall with the prettiest wildling possible. The unexpected character growth for the little-used Theon Greyjoy has been greatly appreciated and oddly satisfying (much like every time Joffrey gets slapped around or otherwise insulted; I swear, that kid is as obnoxious as Draco Malfoy). While he was popular enough at Winterfell when he was a ward of the Starks, his return this week was, ahem... far from successful. He's a joke on the Iron Islands, and he's hopelessly ineffectual as a conqueror with his boat full of scummy pirates. Granted, he took an undefended Winterfell, but it's pretty clear that no one respects him in the North, either. The plot in Westeros is definitely getting thicker, and it's overshadowing Dany and her adventures across the Narrow Sea. Even with the events that transpired this week, I'm growing a little bored with Dany. Now that she lacks her horde of Dothraki, her Khal, and Viserys, she's kind of boring. Even with her weird new friend Xaro Xhoan Daxos, there's not a lot going on with Dany yet aside from the show showing off its set designers and weird-looking character actors. Granted, Dany is the mother of dragons, but fire-breathing leather kittens aren't enough to keep my attention when there are much more interesting games afoot in Westeros.