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Game of Thrones Power Shift: Hodor Loses Control; Littlefinger Gets Laid

Our feelings for Sunday's Game of Thrones can be summed up in one word: Hodor! If you need more than that, check out the rest of the recap.

Hanh Nguyen

[WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Game of Thrones' "First of His Name." If you haven't watched it yet, perhaps you'd like to sit this one out in Meereen?]

Our feelings for Sunday's Game of Thronescan be summed up in one word: Hodor! If you need more than that, check out the rest of the recap.
In the episode, we got a new king, a new married couple and a reunion. Most importantly, however, we got to see Hodor let loose, thanks to some mystical powers. Who else improved their situation? Who ran into trouble? TVGuide.com breaks down the power shifts in "First of His Name":
Game of Thrones' Kristian Nairn answers questions Hodor-style

Power TrippingBran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) After nearly getting abducted by Locke (Noah Taylor), the crippled heir to Winterfell wargs into the mind of Hodor (Kristian Nairn) and takes over his body. This allows Hodor to break free of his chains and kill Locke, thereby freeing Bran and his friends. We're kind of heartbroken over Hodor looking confused by the blood on his hands (there are definitely ethical concerns we have about Bran doing this), but we prefer that to poor Hodor's torture last week. Bran appears to have gotten better at warging, and makes the difficult decision to bypass Jon and continue North to find the three-eyed crow.
Jon Snow (Kit Harington)
The bastard and his band of Night's Watchmen successfully rout the mutineers at Craster's Keep, which solidifies Jon's leadership cred. Sadly, we do not get the hoped-for Stark family reunion with him and Bran, but his reunion with Ghost is almost as good, right? Having a direwolf by your side is always a plus during wartime. Also, in a parallel sort of execution, Jon dispatches Karl (Burn Gorman), while Ghost kills Rast (Luke McEwan). Good riddance.Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen) Marrying Lysa Tully (Kate Dickie) gives Littlefinger some hold in the Vale, but we also discover some very interesting things. Apparently, he's been influencing her all along and got her to not only kill her own husband Jon, who was the former Hand of the King, but that act also led to Ned Stark (Sean Bean) getting called to King's Landing to replace Jon. And of course, we remember exactly what happened there. Littlefinger has been playing a very deep and long game.Tommen Baratheon (Dean Charles-Chapman) The young lad is now King Tommen, the first of his name after the coronation. Long may he reign! Can he make Ser Pounce his Hand? Or would that be his Paw?

From Tyrion to Bender: TV's biggest drunks
Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) Her plans are falling into place nicely. Not only has she been officially asked to make a political marriage to Tommen, but the young king keeps throwing conspirational smiles her way. Already, he's learning to see her as a friend and confidante.

Power Balance

Daenerys Targaeryn (Emilia Clarke)
It's all well and good to be the Breaker of Chains, but Dany discovers that the two cities she freed from slavery have already fallen again to despotic rule. Although she has just inflated her navy by 93 ships, Daenerys makes the difficult decision to stay in Meereen and actually learn to rule instead of moving on to conquer King's Landing without the experience necessary for a monarch.

Podrick Payne (Daniel Portman)
Pod is kind of the sorriest squire that ever was. He can't cook a rabbit and can't even ride a horse well, but he does win over Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) after he reveals he saved Tyrion's (Peter Dinklage) life at the Battle of Blackwater. That sort of loyalty deserves some respect!

Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey)
On one hand, she appears to have been duped by Margaery into offering her the queenship (again), but Cersei is practical, which has kept her in power for so long. In a deceptively innocent conversation with Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal), she plays on his emotions over their shared bond as parents. It should be remembered that Oberyn has been named as one of the judges for Tyrion's regicide trial.

Power Failure

Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) The girl can't catch a break, can she? Just when she thought she escaped the poisonous backstabbing atmosphere at King's Landing, poor Sansa has landed at the Eyrie with Aunt Lysa, who cannot let go of her childhood jealousy of her late sister Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley). She transfers these toxic feelings onto Sansa unfortunately and gets all crazy-eyed grab-handsy and even accuses her niece of seducing Littlefinger until Sansa is forced to retreat into defensive lies again.
Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) The lord may be the true power behind everything, but his coffers have long run dry. He reveals the Cersei that the Lannisters have borrowed a "tremendous amount" of money from a bank in Braavos, which is why they really need those filthy rich Tyrells. Hmm, we wonder how this Lannister plans on paying his debts?
From Thrones' Jaime to Grey's Callie: Characters we used to hate

Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) No amount of "water-dancing" practice can help against "armor and big f---ing sword" The Hound (Rory McCann) teaches her. If Arya really wants to do something about that hit list she has, she'll need to improve whatever skills she has in her arsenal.
Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton)
Although he doesn't appear in the episode, let's not forget that Locke was one of his men. Now that he's dead, House Bolton has lost their lead on controlling Bran. Jojen Reed (Thomas Sangster) He sees visions of the future, including his hand on fire. That can't be good.Best Quotes
Cersei to Margaery: "[Joffrey] would've been your nightmare. ... The things he did shocked me."Sansa to a crazy Lysa: "I'm just a stupid little girl! I'm a terrible liar!"Pod explains his squirely duties for Tyrion: "Mostly I poured wine."Oberyn: "We don't hurt little girls in Dorne."Cersei: "Everywhere in the world they hurt little girls."What was your highlight of "First of His Name"? Are you sad we didn't get a Stark reunion? Is Dany wise to stay in Meereen for now?
Game of Thrones
airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO. Watch the cast discussing the best and worst hair on the show below: