Game of Thrones is the sort of show that often receives criticisms that it’s “too slow”, or that “nothing happens”. Generally, those complaints are misguided, but every now and then you can see where they stem from, and The Prince of Winterfell is one example. It’s a frustrating episode where nothing really happens.

But that’s not to say it’s bad; far from it – a middling Game of Thrones is still head and shoulders above most things – and it’s probably a necessary episode before things kick off in the final two.

The action (read: people talking to each other) opens in Winterfell, where Yara has arrived – not to back Theon up, but rather to continue exposing him as the naive child she knows him to be. Despite her coldness, however, we’re given our first real indication that she does still care for her brother, as she recounts a memory of him as a baby. Good work by Gemma Whelon, getting to show a different side of her character.

Winterfell also provides the setting for one the show’s rare missteps, in the reveal that Bran and Rickon weren’t actually killed and burnt by Theon last week.

Between the conveniently charred corpses and the otherwise pointless mention of the two orphan boys in last week’s episode, we’re not sure anybody was convinced. In an episode where little happens, that the biggest event was a reveal the audience were way ahead of is disappointing. At least the show didn’t drag it out too long, while Ramin Djawadi’s haunting, majestic violin score as Bran’s survival is revealed almost made it worth it anyway. Beautiful stuff.

Another instance of something happening, but failing to surprise the audience, is Robb finally hooking up with field-nurse Talisa. They’ve been flirting for weeks, and after a clichéd walk in a sun-bathed forest, Talisa recounts a story about back home, and how she came to find herself on the other side of the world, sawing off feat.

Unfortunately, while Oona Chaplin’s character has been a spiky, spirited triumph on the whole, her monologue here, while providing some nice shading for the world, was entirely un-engaging. More interesting will doubtless be the repercussions of Robb breaking his vow to marry one of miserable old Walder Frey’s daughters from last season, given that he’s now enamoured with another woman.

And that’s not all Robb has to worry about; his mother Catelyn makes the frankly idiot decision to release the Kingslayer, in the hope that the Lannisters will return her daughters in gratitude, and weakens her sons position drastically in the process. At least she has the sense to send noble Brienne with Jaime as escort, and the buddy-cop dynamic between these two radically different characters has huge potential going forward.

What Cat doesn’t know is that the Lannisters don’t even have one of her daughters, as little Arya is at Harrenhal, and finds her precarious position put under further threat when Tywin Lannister rides out to surprise Robb’s forces on the field. Arya goes in search of Jaqen, to give him one last name to kill, but she doesn’t seem to try too hard to find him. And even if she did; would she really have given the name of the only father figure she has? The only man who treats her as an adult? Hmm.

Arya instead uses her intelligence to trick Jaqen into helping her escape – by naming him as the last man he must kill – and allows herself, Gendry and Hot Pie to escape.

Meanwhile we get plenty of discussions in King’s Landing, as everyone prepares for the coming storm. Bronn paints Tyrion the realities of a city under siege, while there’s a nice meta gag about how to pronounce some of the names in George R. R. Martin’s world (and, of course, Varys is the one who knows straight away). Tyrion and Cersei also discuss battle plans, but the tenderness of their scene last week is gone.

Cersei thinks she has Tyrion’s whore held captive, but she has the wrong woman, and the misplaced smugness Lena Headey plasters over Cersei’s face is a marvellous thing to behold. Tyrion plays it cool, insisting that – even if she did have the right woman – whores are “only for rent”. But as he dashes back to see Shae, we see how little he believes his own words.

He loves Shae, and he’s desperate to convince himself that she’s more than a whore; that she’s his. It’s a wonderful, heart-wrenching and heartfelt scene from Peter Dinklage.

This episode also highlights another of this season’s missteps, as we get to catch up with Davos and Stannis again after a few episodes absence. Given that Stannis is the rightful heir, and supposedly biggest contender to the Iron Throne, Stephen Dillane has been criminally underused.

The story of how Davos came to be known as the Onion Knight was a great one, but it needed to come much earlier in the season. We’ve seen these characters interacting for ages now, without ever really getting the background to their relationship coloured in.

Still, it’s good to have them back this week, and their fleet is winging it’s way rapidly towards King’s Landing, so there’s no doubt they will feature heavily next week. There’s also a glimpse of Dany and Jorah in Qarth, which gives Iain Glenn a fantastic moment to play as he’s powerless to deny his Queen’s pleas to help her reclaim her dragons (The House of the Undying will doubtless be another storm we visit next week), while Sam, Dolorous Edd and Grenn discover a hidden cache of dragon-glass (obsidian) weapons hidden under some runes.

What that’s about remains to be seen, but if this episode lacked much in the way of incident, it featured some great individual performances and if we know anything it’s that after the calm, must come the storm…

Aired at 9pm on Monday 21st May 2012 on Sky Atlantic.

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