189 replies to this topic

[Lord of Cheese]

It was a very good episode. A 7 from me.

Dany + Qarth was a flopping joke. In the books Dany is shown as a very cunning and persuasive character (the first half of her wilderness treck). It seemed a very poorly written scene where Dany was made to look very small.

Ros Ros Ros. why do we keep having Ros.... I would have rather seen Joff use his 3 arrow crossbow to shoot at animals maiming and missing, like in the books, than this scene. That would have done the trick of making him look like a saddist but also incompetent.

Shadow! fucking! babies! that was so cool!! hahaha. When i was reading the books I recall the shock and the bruise on my jaw after it hit the floor. So it was not quite a surprise. But i wonder what my non-book friends will think. I would have liked there to be more blood and fluids for the birth though... just to make it more fleshy and not completely just magic as being separate from her... to make it look like it was a part of her and stannis rather than just a magic spell or thing that she was just transporting.

Cant stand LF the more i see him. They have ruined him.

[episodenone]

The Anti-Targ, on 23 April 2012 - 05:50 AM, said:

I don't know what it is, I'm finding it hard to feel the love this season. Film/TV adaptation never lives up to the book, no matter what, and changes are  necessary. I know this absolutely so it can't be that. After all, I like the book of LOTR much better than the movies but I still loved the movies despite some of the adaptation changes, some of which I didn't like at all.

I think I'm not connecting with the characters like I did in Season 1. The shows have all seemed a little rushed, edited highlights if you will. So some of the added scenes have maybe felt a bit annoying as there's plenty of the book being excluded and additional scenes which I don;t think add much by way of important context, narrative or exposition.

I'm with you - and now I don;t feel all alone about it.

For the record - I think the "1" vote was a mishit by someone.

[DarkSnow]

Where was the Peach?

[TheEvilKing]

I gave it a 7.

Good bits:
Harrenhal looked dope. Arya's scenes were all good, Tywin was great.
All the scenes involving Renly and his camp were excellent.
Tyrion was great as always.
Joffrey being a dick is always a positive.

Bad bits:
Jeyne's scene was rubbish. I can already tell I'm not going to enjoy her character.
The Qarth stuff seemed a bit too cartoonish after the ultra-seriousness of Dany's storyline so far.

[WinterWarrior]

I thought it was a great episode and gave it a 10. There were things I did not like - every time Ros is on the screen I don't like it and that scene with Joff was totally unnecessary. We already know he is a sadist - although I must say the actor who playes Joff is excellent. And young to be so talented.

Greywind - Robb was great.
Cat was excellent in all of her scenes.
Roos Bolton was Roos.
Harrenhall was great, I thought Arya was great but the twist to the story from her being Tywin's cupbearer instead of going to the cleaning crew first makes me wonder who her first "kill" will be, they must be changing that part of the story.
Millesandre is very well played.

I have to say though, the series is very violent and full of "evil'" stuff which those of us who have read the books understand. But people who have not read the books may not and may get turned off by it. My husband is one of those and thinks the series is just too strange....with too many dark forces. Even when I try to explain all of the story lines to him....there is not enough time to develop the characters where you see the good in some people to counter the bad in so many others. That is why I fear that not having good characters like Meera and Jojen to balance the bad just makes it too dark for those who have not read the books.

Edited by WinterWarrior, 23 April 2012 - 07:33 AM.

[Fez]

Not as good as last week, but overall I liked the episode quite a bit; it's a 7.

The biggest problem was the Joffrey/prostitutes scene; it went on for far too long. Particularly since the whole episode was only 50 minutes long.  I also wasn't the biggest fan of the Dany/13 scene.  Not due to the lack of dragons but because it felt and looked like something straight out of a '80s fantasy film.  And Littlefinger continues to act stupidly around people with the power to order his execution; just doesn't jive with me.

On the other hand, the Harrenhall scenes were fantastic in an incredibly disturbing 1984 type way; the Renly/Stannis scene was really good and looked beautiful at that location (although I missed the peach); the Shadowbaby was suitably creepy; and Tyrion was suitably awesome as always.

The rest of the episode was solid.

ETA: And I'm big fan of the Harrenhall entry in the credits; no moving parts, just blackened lumps.

Edited by Fez, 23 April 2012 - 07:38 AM.

[Dacie]

I was so freakin' excited to see Harrenhal in the opening, and it was every bit as terrifying and horrible as I imagined.
The Tickler torture was completely which was pretty perfect.
Loved it when Tywin strode in like a boss.
Tyrion was awesome.
I liked the Cat and Littlefinger addition.
The Renly and Stannis parley was great, even without the peach.

The only thing I really didnt care for was the Qarth scene.

ETA: also didn't care for Joffrey and the prostitutes.

Edited by GiveMeSomeSnow, 23 April 2012 - 07:43 AM.

[ServantOnIce]

Again, tired of Ros, please get rid of her already . . I agree that scene was unnecessary but hey this is HBO right?

I liked the writing and Roose Bolton even though he looks nothing like Roose (give the man a black wig will you?) he looked more like Ser Ilyn Payne's brother . . . he did a great acting job.  

I was upset there was no Theon in this episode  . . . .

I found the scene in the red waste with the Dothraki rider funny . . .

I liked Qaarth  . . .

The scenes with Peter Dinklage are outstanding . . the man can act . . . I wish Syrio had a real sword not a practice sword or he could have taken Ser Meryn. Bronn punking him out was hilarious.  Do you think Gerald Hightower or Ser Arthur Dayne would have allowed Bronn to get away with that? Nope .  . but it was as Ser Selmy said, "I can cut down the five of you . . "

The Kingsguard has really fallen off under the Baratheon dynasty.

Edited by ServantOnIce, 23 April 2012 - 07:46 AM.

[Chelly]

Another episode I loved. I gave it a 9/10. Some good television. I squeed when I saw Harrenhal and Qarth in the credits, very much like how I squeed when Pyke was added. I wonder if they are going to do some beyond the Wall as Jon and company travel farther out.

[rmholt]

hk47, on 23 April 2012 - 04:08 AM, said:

But he invoked.....SOUMAI!

Yeah wtf was that?  something from prior stories?

[rmholt]

Chelly, on 23 April 2012 - 07:48 AM, said:

Another episode I loved. I gave it a 9/10. Some good television. I squeed when I saw Harrenhal and Qarth in the credits, very much like how I squeed when Pyke was added. I wonder if they are going to do some beyond the Wall as Jon and company travel farther out.

Not obsessive about it but it seemed they put the walls around Qarth in the expected form.  If the qarthians are so insistent on having the name pronounced correctly, GRRM should have had the books proofed a little better

[rmholt]

I kind of wish ppl would stop bringing up Ros.  No reflection on poster or their opinions - I havent noticed her as a distinct individual as I dont really attend to the pros scenes but now she has become memorable from all the complaints!  

[Mr. E]

rmholt, on 23 April 2012 - 07:54 AM, said:

Not obsessive about it but it seemed they put the walls around Qarth in the expected form.  If the qarthians are so insistent on having the name pronounced correctly, GRRM should have had the books proofed a little better

I honestly think that was an in-joke, because of the English language's phoneme "qu", which is pretty much the only form of "Q" in English--that is, whenever you see a q, with very, very, very, very, very, rare exception, it has a "u" after it, making that "kwa" sound.

So I can just see half the actors and set workers on GOT mistakenly pronouncing it KWARTH, simply because that's what English has taught them to do, and then D&D adding that line in for clarification and a nudge at the crew.

And speaking of that scene, I'm a little surprised at the widespread negative reaction to it. I thought it was one of the best in the show, especially showcasing Dany's desperate situation and the weakness of her position. Emilia Clarke's acting in this scene was spot on. The poor girl has been wandering the desert with little food and less relief for weaks, it doesn't surprise me one bit that she wouldn't be at the top of her game in dealing with a city's ruling class.

[Cowmilker00]

first half was a little slow and fairly unimportant for the storyline but it came back with a great second half with arya, davos' back story and shadow baby all in all not as good as last week but a solid 8

[boojam]

Opening credits ... I could watch and listen to that a 1000 times.
But...
whoa doesn't Harrenhal go by like, lickey split!, not much elaboration.
Qarth looked better , but kind of scrunched up.

What was Pyke doing there, I blink, didn't see it in the episode!

[Lord of Cheese]

Mr. E, on 23 April 2012 - 08:04 AM, said:

I honestly think that was an in-joke, because of the English language's phoneme "qu", which is pretty much the only form of "Q" in English--that is, whenever you see a q, with very, very, very, very, very, rare exception, it has a "u" after it, making that "kwa" sound.

So I can just see half the actors and set workers on GOT mistakenly pronouncing it KWARTH, simply because that's what English has taught them to do, and then D&D adding that line in for clarification and a nudge at the crew.

And speaking of that scene, I'm a little surprised at the widespread negative reaction to it. I thought it was one of the best in the show, especially showcasing Dany's desperate situation and the weakness of her position. Emilia Clarke's acting in this scene was spot on. The poor girl has been wandering the desert with little food and less relief for weaks, it doesn't surprise me one bit that she wouldn't be at the top of her game in dealing with a city's ruling class.

For me, the kwarth karth scene made Dany look like an idiot or a child. The guy pronounced it Karth before she said it herself and then she goes and says it Kwarth and in such a way that seems she has a hard time making the words out. This from the girls who is supposed to secretly know high valyrian. sigh.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

8/10.  Overall a very good episode with a few odd/disappointing turns for me.  There were some great scenes, and certainly more positives than negatives, but not quite as good as last week's.  The two Tyrion scenes were his best yet this season as far as I'm concerned.  Enjoyed the entire Qarth sequence (the Spice King was a pleasant surprise - I wasn't expecting much but was quite entertained by his delivery and mannerisms).  I think the Xaro/Dany dynamic will be more interesting on the show than the book's version, which I found to be one of the more predictable and boring parts of ACOK.  The parley was extremely well-done despite one glaring omission (more later).  And the Shadowbaby scene was riveting and phenomenally well-executed.

That said, while I don't mind the Talisa storyline per se (and certainly agree with the function that it serves), the initial interaction with her and Robb felt unconvincing to me.  The situation felt contrived and the dialogue and some of the delivery seemed forced - something I'm not used to seeing on this show.  Also the Joff/whores scene, while well executed and certainly effective in its message, was unnecessary and took time away from other, potentially more relevant uses of screen time.  Yes, we know Joff is dangerously sadistic - we just saw as much in the directly previous scene when he threatened Sansa with a loaded crossbow and had her beaten.  There's a fine line between unsubtle and overkill and having a concept so obvious bludgeoned into the audience's head insults its intelligence.  Also wasn't wild about the Cat/Littlefinger scene, although the presentation of Ned's bones helped redeem its shortcomings a bit.  I do wish they'd shown the actual bones though - I talked to two non-readers last night who thought they'd just sent Ned's head in the box!  

Oh, and there shoulda been a peach.  No reason for there not to be a peach.  

Definitely looking forward to next week though - all hell promises to break loose on a number of fronts!

[Blisscraft]

Thought it was good, not great.  Certain aspects were amazing.  Never watched "Lost" so the shadow baby looked fantastic.  (The reference was lost on me) Want to watch the episode again. It seems a bit disjointed.  Maybe that was just me.  Too much wine with dinner.

[Mr. E]

Lord of Cheese, on 23 April 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

For me, the kwarth karth scene made Dany look like an idiot or a child. The guy pronounced it Karth before she said it herself and then she goes and says it Kwarth and in such a way that seems she has a hard time making the words out. This from the girls who is supposed to secretly know high valyrian. sigh.

Doesn't mean she doesn't mispronounced words. For an anecdotal example, my sister has this friend call Brittany. She pronounces it Britt-A-knee, not Britt-knee. She introduced herself to me as Britt-A-knee. The first time I called her by her name, I said Britt-knee, and she was in the awkward position of correcting me. There are standard tropes and expectations of language, and considering this is a city Dany had never glimpsed or understood before, it simply doesn't surprise me she would make that mistake.

Likewise, while I agree that Kwarth seen made her look a little foolish, I think you're more supposed to feel sympathy for her than anything. Of course she looks foolish. She is weak. She's hungry. She's blistered by the sun. Her mind is not at 100% by any means. She's approaching a great and powerful city with a "horde" composed of forty people and a horse (and three dragons). The Qartheen have absolute power over her at that moment. Anyone is going to look like a fool and a child in that situation, especially one that is half-starved, delirious and profoundly desperate.

Edited by Mr. E, 23 April 2012 - 08:44 AM.

[Jamie Lannister]

6. Decent episode with some enrapturing moments, but a fair few weak points that really didn't deliver on my (perhaps unrealistic) book expectations. Even the more minor scenes, like the Stannis/Renly parley and Qarth felt a little weak.

Still. I enjoyed it.