Hey all. Like last year, I’ll be covering all of this season of Game of Thrones for our friends over at Character Grades. The recap of last night’s opener, “Two Swords,” is live, and you can check in every Monday morning for ~1500 words on the previous night’s episode.

“Two Swords” indicates that this season will be about how power and violence are different: One uses words and marriages as its currency, the other uses blood. But “Two Swords” also shows how power and violence are the same: Both result in a torn and ravaged wasteland for commonfolk.