The latest episode of the "Game of Thrones" (Season 2, Episode 8) could be described as slow for some people but most reviews for this episode consider this slow phase as "essential" for the development of the story.

In the last episode, Yara went back into town in order to tell Theon that he needs to go home. She also ridicules him in the process especially for his decision to kill the Stark boys. Theon defended his decision and refused to come home thus sticking to his plan. As it turns out, the Greyjoy are not really enthusiastic about seizing Winterfell. On the other hand, Ygritte gives Jon over a man named as the Lord of Bones but the Lord of Bones already has Night's Watch prisoner who is Qhorin Halfhand. Ygritte and Jon are now even due to Ygritte's persuasion that Jon can be of value due to being a bastard of Ned Stark.

Another interesting scene fo this episode is the interaction between Tyrion and Bronn. Their fun scenes were interrupted by Varys and the three of them thinks about their impending future once Stannis lays siege to the city. The episode also shown that Bronn and the rest of the City Watch have already began killing thieves though this was only implied in the episode and now shown. His thoughts revealed that the worst thing about a siege is not the fighting but the starving thus the thieves are the ones to gain an advantage in this situation.

This episode also showed Stannis which has been missing in action for the past episodes. The episode also showed his backstory revealing that he followed rules all his life and the rules are now indicating that he is king thus he should follow this rule. Stannis mentioned that Davos would be his hand once he is already placed on the throne. In the episode, it is also revealed that Stannis is already close to King's Landing thus building up the highlight of this season.

This episode also reveals a very surprising and welcome twist as it was revealed that Bran and Rickon are not really dead. In fact, they are in the tunnels below Winterfell.

As mentioned, this episode seems to be "tamer" in comparison to the previous ones but the next "battle" episode would be easier to understand due to this week's slow but informative episode.