and Tony Way (Ser Dontos Hollard) make return appearances after an absence of several years (Teale in the first season, Carter and Way in the second). Reception Television ratings "Two Swords" broke the viewership record for Game of Thrones, which was set by episode six the previous season. 6.64 million people watched the premiere airing, and when coupled with encore airings, that number rose to 8.2 million total viewers. This was at the time HBO's highest ratings for any show since the finale episode of The Sopranos, though it was shortly exceeded. In the UK on Sky Atlantic, "Two Swords" was top in the week with a viewership of 1.21 million. Critical reception The season premiere obtained a 97% rating from 25 reviews with an average score of 9 out of 10 according to Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewing it for IGN, Matt Fowler gave the episode a mark of 8.5 out of 10, and wrote that "'Two Swords' was a solid GoT premiere, though it certainly didn't hide the fact that the show, post-Red Wedding, is going to possibly meander more than people might enjoy or expect." Two reviews from The A.V. Club were written, with one intended for those who have read the novels and one for those who have not. Reviewing for the novel readers, Emily VanDerWerff gave the episode an "A−", while Erik Adams, who reviewed for the non-readers, rated the episode a "B+". Myles McNutt at Cultural Learnings also gave the episode a positive review, singling out the final scene with Arya and Sandor as the episode's best sequence. Awards and accolades References External links at HBO.com 2014 American television episodes Television episodes about cannibalism Game of Thrones (season 4) episodes Television episodes written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss