[Book Spoilers] Nitpick without repercussion!

[Tewks44]

TERRIBLE EPISODE

In the books they were drinking golden vintage from the Arbor, in the show it is CLEARLY Dornish red.... WHAT???? WHAT THE HELL GRRM?

In the books they assemble in the Tourney Grounds, while in the show they are clearly seen landing on the RIVER BANKS!!?!?!?!?!?!11?!?/ UNACCEPTABLE

In the books the ships were equipped with horns, and in the show they used drums?? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

2/10, would not watch

[Lord Elrosir]

Try hacking at someone with a heavy, heavy two handed longsword with the strength of a Clegane, and you'll slice people in half. I thought it was awesome!

[towerofjoy]

I love how everyone on the boards has morphed into nagging mommies - "Stannis/Sandor/Bronn/Lancel: wear a damn hat..."

[teemo]

Alright, I LOVE this episode like I assume most people do (and this is from a book purist), but there are still a few things:

• Bronn and Sandor? Wtf I don't get it?
  
• No chain and not enough wildfire overall after the first explosion. But that was a nifty explosion.
  
• Why did Maegor's Holdfast look like a homeless shelter? And what is Shae doing there and why would Cersei even acknowledge her?
  
• Why the hell is Stannis fighting? It was damn cool though, I'll say that.
  
• Shae is always sleeping with Tyrion like it's no big deal. No secret meetings. Just meet up anywhere and it's cool.
  
• San/San, I'm assuming shippers aren't too happy with that scene. I don't really care, but it was weird. Also, it made more sense in the books for Sansa rejecting Sandor's offer to leave with her, because Dontos swore to help her and Sandor was freaking her out. The offer doesn't look so bad in the show. I was also looking forward to her song, since I thought it was going to happen because she said in an interview she was nervous about singing in an episode. Should have known it was a prayer.
  
• No Antler Men because they don't want to make Tyrion look bad at all.
  
• Didn't Lancel get shot with an arrow on his right side? Then how was Cersei causing him pain by hitting him on the left?
  
• "Fuck them in the asses?" Really?
  
• Sansa talking shit about Joffrey to Shae.
  
• Lol I like how Shae thinks she can't get raped because she's carrying a knife with her. This is the second time we've seen "badass Shae with a knife."
  
• People are going to be confused by the Mandon Moore thing.
  
• The very last scene with Cersei/Tommen was kind of lame (her storytelling specifically).
  

Deviations I thought were good/didn't mind:

• The Cersei poisoning Tommen thing seemed kind of unnecessary, but it did hit home the point that no matter how psycho she is, she has always shown love for her children. However, Tommen shouldn't even be there....but whatever, it would have confused viewers to have a Joffrey/Tommen/Ros threatening contest; two was enough.
  
• Loved Bronn singing Rains of Castamere. And that girl, she's one of the three whores of Westeros, right?
  
• The Hound becoming especially infuriated with Joffrey. Loved the look on Joff's face.
  
• The banter with Tyrion/Lancel/Hound/Joffrey was pretty funny
  
• Tyrion not losing that much of his face. Just would have been too difficult to maintain for who knows how many more seasons. Spend the money on something else.
  

But I would like to say, I am SO SO ecstatic that they made The Rains of Castamere. Even if he didn't fit in the credits, I just think it's so awesome that they made it and played it twice in the show. THANK YOUUUUU.

10/10 though, despite any deviations. I wish GRRM could write them all.

Oh, and this is the first episode my boyfriend has ever said was "okay." YES. Progress.

[victim]

I don't think the Knight in Renly's Armour came across very well, I didn't even really notice him until the very final shot when he removed the helm. I hope we hear some talk of that in the next episode; perhaps Stannis' troops talking about Renly's ghost or even Loras saying what he was doing or something will suffice. I guess I just wish we got more of a close-up to see he was clearly a Baratheon killing Baratheon's, at first I thought he was fighting for Stannis.

Other than that, damn great episode.

[House Martell]

I mean, Matthos was blown away by the explosion and it will later be revealed that he died from that. But from what we saw it looked like Davos suffered a blow equal or even worse than his son did, and we expect him to survive? Not entirely far-fetched, admittedly, but a tad bit hard to believe.

Matthos was on the back of the boat nearest to the explosion (after the "bomb" ship passed them) and was consumed by flame. Davos was on the far end of the ship and the explosion threw him off away from the fire into the water, which will be what saves him.

Yes the "no helms" was a little silly but it's TV, you don't want all your actors running around in helmets with their faces covered.

Is "Stannis was too awesome" a nitpick?

And my biggest complaint is GRRM just made all the other writers look foolish

[Nagisa Furukawa]

The gutting of the Sansa/Sandor scene.

Other than that, no big complaints.

[K.C.]

hk47, I was wondering the same thing about Cersei's "homeless shelter"... I think it was supposed to be a bunker. But Cersei questioning Shae made total sense to me, especially if she was drunk.

Also, the choice of singer during the credits made it seem like someone got Game of Thrones and True Blood mixed up.

[tolthar]

Just wanted to point out that tyrions wound is exactly what that type of gash would look like after just being cut. Its not till it bleeds and pusses and gets infected and rots that it becomes worse, as it bleeds more it will inflame and get bigger. This is a fresh sword cut to the face. and in the books he only loses the bridge of his nose. Its what Tyrions believes is comical about it when he looks at it in a mirror.lets at least see what it looks like next episode.

[The Smiling Eye]

If I had to nitpick, It'd be about Sandor. I get that he's impressively strong and one of the strongest men in Westeros, but him cleaving a man in full plate in two effortlessly is a bit too much I think. That requires superhuman strength, especially with a mere sword.

[teemo]

hk47, I was wondering the same thing about Cersei's "homeless shelter"... I think it was supposed to be a bunker. But Cersei questioning Shae made total sense to me, especially if she was drunk.

Also, the choice of singer during the credits made it seem like someone got Game of Thrones and True Blood mixed up.

:lol: yeah, I guess so. It's hard to say since Cersei wasn't really all that drunk in the books. She stopped after a couple and was a little loose lipped, but she was really just comical and over the top in the show.

[teemo]

I really feel like GRRM was having a lot of fun in this episode...like having Stannis fight and stuff. Little additions for fun and things we didn't get to see in the books. I really liked that. I also liked how he was able to kind of "fix" some of the writers mistakes, or at least work around them really well. I liked Sandor's attitude, it shows that he's a badass that doesn't care what anyone thinks of him.

[rmholt]

Who the heck thought it was OK to let Pycelle's beard grow back normally?

[Kushluk of Skagos]

I am a huge sansan fan.... I cried when I read it in the book (no joke), so I missed that.

[DurararaFTW]

Who the heck thought it was OK to let Pycelle's beard grow back normally?

This, if anything he looks less weak now.

[Jolene Brown]

That was absolutely badass, the only teeny tiny quibble is that I think they could have worked in the Renly's ghost thing with a line or two of dialogue and a weird fuzzy vision Stannis had of Renly/Gethin Anthony's face, or maybe by giving someone else the relevant lines of Dontos's dialogue to Sansa. But the ending was so amazing, and the episode was so great - I hope episode 10 can live up to it!

it's funny but I always thought it was Loras in Renly's armor in the books anyway - I was really shocked when it turned out that it was Garlan instead. I must have missed whatever reference made it clear it wasn't Loras when I was reading the book initially.

[Brucolac]

Loras tells Jaime about the battle and not being able to fit into Renly's armor. Garlan is probably not going to be cast anyway, so it makes sense to use Loras instead. I think that was only in there for book fans, anyone who hasn't read them isn't really going to notice that rider being all that different from the others.

[The Knight of Flours]

Surely this should be the shortest nit-picking thread ever?

I guess it might not be and that would really be my only nit-pick about this episode..

[Acetabularia]

Wow. I'm impressed! I think they cut budget on the previous 8 episodes just to give this one a boost. There was no song from the little bird, but at least the hound paid Sansa a visit. From the way they were going in the previous episodes I thought they were going to cut that scene completely. I was also afraid Tyrion wouldn't suffer his fatal wound, but they stayed true to the book there too.

Granted I did imagine the battle differently when I read CoK, with the huge chain across the Blackwater and the three whores. But the way they adapted it was impressive. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't give Davos as much screen time, non book readers will probably think he's dead after he got blasted from his ship.

I'm actually looking forward to the season finale now! :wideeyed:

Just to add some cynicism in here: The reason this episode was so good was probably because it didn't feature the storyline of Robb/Talissa, Jon and Dany.

[teemo]

Just to add some cynicism in here: The reason this episode was so good was probably because it didn't feature the storyline of Robb/Talissa, Jon and Dany.

Yeah, I've noticed I've found episodes much more enjoyable when Dany and Robb/Talisa aren't in them (I like Jon in the show for the most part).