North of the Wall, our brief return to poor old Sam and Lord Commander Jeor MormontВ (James Cosmo), is quickly replaced by Jon Snow and the aggressively flirtatious YgritteвЂ™s (Rose Leslie). We get the aforementioned dragons, an incredibly weird mystical run in, and the recruitment of her fearless eunuch army from a sadistic merchant (who calls her a вЂњWesterosi whoreвЂќ in the subtitles while his translator flatters and fawns), dwarfed by the emotionally satisfying final twist вЂ“ much earlier than it occurs in the third book вЂ“ A Storm Of Swords вЂ“ perhaps because some secrets are easier to keep when you canвЂ™t physically see whatвЂ™s happening. That balance has never been so evenly weighted as Game Of Thrones Season 3 opens on three main plot strands, Jon SnowвЂs meeting with newcomer Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds), the King Beyond The Wall, DanyвЂ™s sea journey to SlaverвЂ™s Bay and the raising of her Arabesque mercenary army, and the courtly cat fights between Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage).ДanyвЂ™s subplot wins for visuals and pace, moving briskly from her boatful of hurling Dothraki to the shore as if to apologise for three episodes standing in the desert in Season 2. Though we came for the promised spectacle вЂ“ that brief glimpse of White Walkers вЂ“ we stayed for the Borgian intrigue and dynastic squabbles, and itвЂ™s the human drama thatвЂ™s defined the show despite the promise of the inhuman often just out of sight. Imagine getting all of that in between Bran Stark climbing a wall and Ned sharing a tender moment with his missus. Icy zombies lurch out of the snow in pursuit of Samwell Tarly (James Bradley), a giant turns to regard Jon Snow (Kit Harington) with feral disdain, and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)вЂ™s pet dragons, now the size of foxes, their spines darker and more murderous, dive for fish and toast them in mid-air. It feels less like an impossibly long time since Game Of Thrones first durrr-durrr-DUR-DUR-DUR-DURred onto our screens in a cloud of Yorkshire and incest, but not so much that we perhaps realise just how far weвЂ™ve all come, both audience and show.

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