The more you watch the Game of Thrones the more you realise that it is this one-of-a-kind jigsaw puzzle whose pieces keep changing their positions and yet they keep forming a glorious whole in their new alignments. Whether it’s a Lannister in Targaryen territory or a Baratheon on Snow turf or a fresh Stark and Bolton mashup, the unlikeliest of developments continue to make the show stronger.

And that’s why it is not a bad idea that HBO is creating fresh plot points, confidently steering away from George R.R. Martin’s original machinations. Even if sometimes they come at the cost of a character they have meticulously developed over four seasons. When Littlefinger tells Ramsay Bolton he hasn’t heard much about him, who are they fooling? But without that line it’s difficult to digest why Lord Baelish would strike up a matrimonial alliance between Sansa Stark and the twisted Bastard of Bolton.

That’s the big one in the third episode of Season 5. While in the book Ramsay is set to marry a fake Arya Stark, here the skin-peeling-genital-chopping freak is being betrothed to the real Sansa Stark. The Littlefinger line that convinces Little Bird to go ahead, despite knowing Bolton Senior killed both her mother Catelyn and brother Robb: “There’s no justice in the world unless we make it. You loved your family; avenge them... Stop being a bystander... stop running.”

If Ramsay doesn’t chop her into pieces, that is. “I won’t hurt her,” he says but that sounds more ominous than Joffrey shouting: “Everyone is mine to torment.” Sansa clearly is moving from monster to monster punctuated by a little dose of Tyrion in the middle. Her only hope in the Bolton house is the Stark-bred Theon Greyjoy, who lurks around in his usual state of haze but does ‘Reek’ of a future turnaround. Of course, Brienne — with Podrick, who’s her new sword apprentice — is never too far away.

Rising from the ashes of her dead husbands, Margaery Tyrell has married again. And again married a King. And again married a Baratheon. Officially that is. Biologically, Tommen is the youngest product of Cersei and Jaime Lannister’s incestuous love. While Marge is clearly aiming for Liz Taylor’s marriage count, breaking records in bed is Tommen, who just can’t have enough of the bodacious Tyrell girl. Yes, sex scenes return after a no-show last week as the King tells the Queen: “This is all I want to do for the rest of my life.”

But what Marge wants to do is get Cersei out of the family picture. Besides brainwashing Tommen and trying to have him send his mother to the Lannister land of Casterly Rock, the new Queen taunts the Queen Mother — “or do I address you as the Dowager Queen?” — in front of her lady friends. While Marge is going on an all-out attack, she doesn’t have many more cards to play and Cersei hasn’t even picked up her hand.

Husband gone, elder son gone, daughter packed away, brother sent away, Cersei now has to restart from scratch and while Qyburn is a major weapon — the creepy scientist seems to have brought The Mountain back to life  — she is ready to get down and dirty to climb her way back to the top. In this episode High Sparrow, named after the head of the religious zealots spreading their wings in King’s Landing, Cersei lends her support to the Sparrows in an uncanny move which we will fully understand later.

At Castle Black, the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, Jon Snow, officially rejects Stannis Baratheon’s offer to make him a Stark. And for those in his Wall-protecting brotherhood not yet ready to obey his orders, Jon sends out a signal by beheading Janos Slynt in a setpiece reminiscent of his father Eddard Stark from the first episode of the first season. And even though he’s “sworn to stay clear of the politics of the Seven Kingdoms”, clearly the show’s big hero has been born.

While Jon’s own sword Longclaw swung away, the sword he gave to Arya goes into hiding. The Stark girl throws away her clothes and coins into the water, but stashes Needle under the rocks in Braavos. Now that she is “faceless”, “a man will teach the girl”. The atmospheric insides of the House of Black and White promise this particular sub-plot to be on the lines of the 36 Chambers of Shaolin where Arya will have to go through rigorous training to emerge as a master assassin.

And finally on their way to Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion and Varys manage to hit the same inn where the exiled Jorah Mormont is nursing his broken heart. He takes the absconding dwarf captive and vows to take him to the Queen in the last line of the episode. Now which queen does he have in mind? Will he buy his ticket back to Westeros or try his luck in Meereen once more?

The game’s just begun. 

Episode 4 of GoT Season 5  airs on  May 4, 6.30am on HBO Defined