Episode 2 opens in Dothraki lands as they settle to camp for the night. We get some background about a couple of the characters before the scene switches back to Winterfell.
There’s a confrontation between Tyrion and Prince Joffrey, in which the latter is put in his place and a witty comment or two are passed. Breakfast is served and the Lannisters have a conversation about Bran, The Wall and other things.
The queen visits Caitlyn in Bran’s room and makes sympathetic noises. She obviously knows how Caitlyn is feeling having been through something similar in the past, but we know the words are empty. She leaves and Caitlyn continues her vigil for her son.
Outside, the blacksmith is finishing a sword with Jon. Jamie shows up and is condescending about the Night’s Watch and The Wall. Once he leaves, Jon takes the sword to his youngest sister Arya, who’s packing and trying to get her wolf-cub to do tricks. He speaks to her about it and tells her her first lesson; “Stick ’em with the pointy end”. They hug and she names the sword “Needle”. After leaving, Jon goes to say goodbye to Bran. Caitlyn is harsh – she never liked Jon.
Caitlyn and Eddard speak about his leaving to go south to King’s Landing, the capital. She cries, and Eddard tries to comfort her. Jon speaks with Robb and then Eddard outside, before they part ways on the Kingsroad. Eddard and his party head south with the king, Robb stays in Winterfell as lord while Jon and Tyrion head north with Brandon and the Night’s Watch.
At camp, King Robert and Eddard speak of hunting and the Targaryans. Robert wants them all dead.
Back in the Dothraki camp, Drogo and Daenerys are having sex, and the Night’s Watch camp sees Jon and Tyrion discussing what it will be like on The Wall, what Jon can expect now he’s joining up, and we get some more idea about how Tyrion sees the world. He really makes cynicism seem like fun.
At Winterfell, Robb rushes off from a conversation with Caitlyn to see to a fire. An assassin enters and She tries to fight him off. Then suddenly Bran’s wolf enters and tears out the assassin’s throat. There’s a lot of blood.
Later, Daenerys speaks to her slaves about dragons. Two spout nonsense because “it is known”, the third seems more knowledgable and they speak for a while.
The Night’s Watch party reach Castle Black at the Wall. We get to see how huge the massive edifice is before switching back to Winterfell, where Caitlyn is searching for clues about how Bran fell. She finds a long blonde hair and calls her trusted advisors. It ends with Caitlyn and the weaponsmaster deciding to head south to inform Eddard.
Daenerys’ training continues, which she later puts into practice when Drogo enters her tent. He resists at first, but she gets her way in the end… of course.
The scene switches to the kingsroad, where the royal party are camping at a small villiage en route to the capital. Various conversations ensue, and Joffrey takes Sansa off for a walk. They come across a clearing where Arya is practicing her swordplay with a butcher’s son. Joffrey decides to take charge and threatens the boy with a sword, even though they were practicing with sticks. Arya intervenes, and when Joffrey attacks her with a sword, her wolf disarms him. Arya throws the sword in the river, and she runs off with the wolf, leaving Joffrey clutching his hand. Sansa goes for help while her sister hides.
Arya scares off the wolf with stones. She knows what will happen if the guards find her.
After a search, Arya is found, and taken to the king. Eddard hurries back to learn Arya has been accused of attacking Joffrey with a club. Sansa backs Joffrey’s version of events and the king tells Eddard to discipline her, saying he’ll deal with Joffrey. Cersei demands the wolf be put down. Since they can’t find it, they order Sansa’s wolf killed instead. The butcher’s son is executed out of hand.
Back in Winterfell, at the moment Sansa’s wolf Lady dies, Bran wakes up, and the episode ends.