With Tyrion's trial by combat a disaster, he's prepared for a death sentence. On the eve of his planned execution he is sprung from jail by his brother Jaime and Varys. Jaime, who's hero ascent is one of the best arcs the series will have as the story progresses, admits to Tyrion a long held secret: Their father, Tywin, made him lie about his first wife being a prostitute. It was all a lie and the girl genuinely loved Tyrion. The newly freed Tyrion is so appalled by his brother's previous actions that he condemns him and falsely admits to killing Joffrey. He leaves his brother (who truly loves him) in stunned silence. Tyrion then sneaks into his father's room to find Shae in Tywin's bed. Once again overcome with rage, he strangles Shae before leaving and finding his father on the toilet. They share one final acerbic salvo, with Tywin refusing to show any sort of remorse and Tyrion shoots his father dead with a crossbow before escaping the city with Varys. This leaves the city in complete dissarray and puts Cersei in a difficult position. Oh yeah, and it leads us to...