221 replies to this topic

[The Ragged Man]

I give it an 8.25. I enjoyed seeing Khal Drogo again.

[Mediumjon Umber]

A whopping 10!

If it hadn't been for a certain scene in KL I would've given this episode a 9.

But Sansa, little dove, your smile made my heart melt :')

[Mexal]

I gave it a 7 but to be honest, my biggest issues with this series has nothing to do with the changes (though I do miss all the myth/history but I assume at some point they'll get to it) but the storytelling structure. The best episodes have been the ones where it's tightly focused, where only 2-3 stories are being told instead of 5 minutes spent on each story. I want more of those. Every episode that features all the stories is comparably weaker to the stories that are tighter (episode 3 and 9 are great examples of this).

If that doesn't change, I will continue to be underwhelmed for part of the season.

[The Third Reed]

Really CBA with pros and cons really.

Roughly a 7 as a TV show, a 3 in terms of being faithful to the books.

Lot of the changes piss me off now, I really think I need to start separating myself from the books mentally.

[BinkyBonks]

Awful, absolutely awful. There are so many changes from the book, and all of them are terrible. The Bastard of Bolton doesn't sack Winterfell. The Maester Luwin scene is bungled, and he looks full of vitality even though he's supposed to be dying, and this would be confusing for non-book-readers. The House of the Undying is just pathetic. The conclusion to the Qarth part of the series -- with Danaerys storming the city with a few men -- is absurd. Ghost doesn't intervene in the fight with Qhorin Halfhand; the dire wolves were almost entirely absent this season. Samwell hides behind a rock in the midst of an undead horde, which is goofy and unnecessary (he could have watched from a cliff). Shae is being presented as humane, when she's supposed to be presented as materialistic. I could go on and on.

The excuse that they have to cover so much ground in a single episode is not enough to get them off the hook for this. They could have easily had the Bolton men instead of Pyke men sack Winterfell, for example. They keep taking liberties, and all these liberties are stupid.  Instead of trying to translate a work of genius as well as possible to television, they are trying to improve upon it. Predictably, they're failing.

Edited by BinkyBonks, 04 June 2012 - 10:20 AM.

[Mediumjon Umber]

BinkyBonks, on 04 June 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Awful, absolutely awful. There are so many changes from the book, and all of them are terrible. The Bastard of Bolton doesn't sack Winterfell. The Maester Ludwin scene is bungled, and he looks full of vitality even though he's supposed to be dying, and this would be confusing for non-book-readers. The House of the Undying is just pathetic. The conclusion to the Qarth part of the series -- with Danaerys storming the city with a few men -- is absurd. Ghost doesn't intervene in the fight with Qhorin Halfhand; the dire wolves were almost entirely absent this season. Samwell hides behind a rock in the midst of an undead horde, which is goofy and unnecessary (he could have watched from a cliff).

*Luwin

And Sam is myopic, so him watching well, anything from a faraway cliff doesn't make sense.

[Pellaeon]

Only a 4, I'm afraid I will compete all episodes with Blackwater from now on

[Tadco26]

How did Dany and her "kalasar" of ~ a dozen people take over the house of the King of Qarth?  He has no guards?  Sam is just overlooked by the white walkers and their army of zombies?  They let Jon go because Qhorin attacked him?  Jon hasn't even said he wants to join them yet and now he is free, at the Lord of Bones suggestion?  Is Pyat the only warlock in the order?  I'm curious why they even bothered with Ser Dontas in episode one and haven't had a scene with him since, while Littlefinger has already offered to take Sansa home.  Did Varys recruiting Ros really warrant that much screen time?  I don't think the scene was bad if you have unlimited screen time, but I also don't see what it added considering how one of the main defenses of changes to the book is they don't have enough time to fit it all in.

[Sanette]

5/10 and I'm being nice.

What the hell was that? Is this still an adaptation of ASoIAF or some entirely different book because this is how it looks like. Boring, anti-climatic episode that just continues to change the characters and the whole show is getting dumber and dumber. They left so many important things out (Winterfell, Jon, Dany, Robb) that the logic just went to hell. Who burnt down Winterfell? Why didn't Bran and Rickon go with the northmen? The viewers don't know it was Ramsey so it doesn't make sense. Why did Dany act like a psycho and killed her last handmaiden? Jon killing the Halfhand looked like he acted on self-defence and not on an order. They made Robb look like an arrogant idiot who doesn't value his mother's advice and just do what the hell he wants. I just can't with this season. And don't even let me start on the HOTU mess.

[Apoapsis]

This was definitely the weakest episode so far, of both series. Not because they changed so much from the books - I don't particularly care about that - but because it was just bad. All the emotional bits were just ridiculous - Tyrion and Shae, Robb and Mrs Robb, Dany and Drogo. None of those scenes were really needed. Well, maybe the wedding scene was but it was crap anyway.

I watched last series in more or less one go since I didn't even know it existed until it had almost finished airing. I was planning to do the same with this one since I really don't like having to wait between episodes, but curiousity got the better of me. Hopefully remembering this episode will make it easier to wait for the third series to finish before I start watching it.

[TyrionTargaryen]

Stop being a bunch of nerds. When are you going to get it in your heads that this is an adaptation? Call the WHAAAMMMBULLLLAANCCCEEEE. Never seen a bunch of crybabies whine as much as this. Here, have some cheese with it.

It was an amazing episode. It was no Blackwater but I give this one a 9. That throne room scene in winter and Khal Drogo in that tent was 100x better than the silly visions of rat faced dudes raping a girl and a baby Rhaegar.

[hatbar]

I give it a 9, thought it was a very strong episode to end the season. This is the only episode this season that I have actually cared about Dany and wanted to watch what happens with her and I hope they use her a bit better in season 3 (roll on season 3!). I thought Bran and co leaving Winterfell was extrememly sad meaning that there is no Starks there anymore. I think Robb and Cat should know by now that Bran and Rickon are 'dead' I thought that would come this season.
I had to knock one off though because it wasn't as good as Blackwater and the end of Theon's arc was a bit naff after such a brilliant build up.

[musiclover7]

I gave this episode a 6.  In my opinion, there was enough content here to warrent two episodes.  It gets a 6 from me mainly because it felt rushed, and important happenings were just sort of glossed over, or completely left out.  Yeah, I like many think the Danny story was really messed up in this series.  I can understand them needing to spice it up a bit for TV, but the fact that they added new content at the expense of other more crucial content, sort of spoiled it.  I guess she does not get to know that she will be betrayed 3 times in the TV series.  That whole scene where her dragons set fire to the warlock was poorly shot to such an extent that it was unbelievable.  I don't know why the decided to change Johns story around so much either.  Would have been better if he and the half hand were trapped like they were in the story, and had more chance to dialogue.  It was not an easy decision for him to (betray his vows) pose as a wildling in the book, and he would not have come to the decision at all if it were not from the strong assistance of the half hand.  So they added stupid content at the expense of important content.

Now for the burning of Winterfell.  How did that happen according to the TV series?  Anyone know?  It just sort of happened...  too rushed.  I guess we will get the answers to that one next season.  The Tyrion scene was good, as was the scene with Theon.  The Throne room scene was well done.  I guess beggars can't be choosers.  I am personally just stoked to get to see this story made into a motion picture at all, but that said, I feel the need to offer critique where critique is needed.  So far they have done an awesome job.  This last episode came up short imo..

[Sanette]

TyrionTargaryen, on 04 June 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

Stop being a bunch of nerds. When are you going to get it in your heads that this is an adaptation? Call the WHAAAMMMBULLLLAANCCCEEEE. Never seen a bunch of crybabies whine as much as this. Here, have some cheese with it.

It was an amazing episode. It was no Blackwater but I give this one a 9. That throne room scene in winter and Khal Drogo in that tent was 100x better than the silly visions of rat faced dudes raping a girl and a baby Rhaegar.

I don't care how many events from the books they change as long as the character developement stays the same. This is why we all love the books is it not? So when they make Jon look like a stupid retard I'm going to be pissed. I've seen so many films and tv shows that I can see the faults and clichés and this episode had plenty of them. Everyone has a right to have an opinion. Just because yours is different to mine doesn't meant it's right. And I don't think that seeing dead Drogo being emotional is better than seeing prophecies that play a huge part in the whole series.

[BinkyBonks]

TyrionTargaryen, on 04 June 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

Stop being a bunch of nerds. When are you going to get it in your heads that this is an adaptation?

We're not being nerds or crybabies, it's just an awful, terrible episode. They're taking too many liberties which aren't necessary.

[sumpthy]

Was going to give it a 9, then watched Mad Men and adjusted down to an 8. I think all the people throwing a conniption over every minor change should probably be watching a different show because you're going to give yourself high blood pressure.

With regards to the prophecies not being shown. They'd be far, far more obvious in visual format than they are written down.

Edited by sumpthy, 04 June 2012 - 10:40 AM.

[smithy]

Lord SnavE OtirB, on 03 June 2012 - 10:37 PM, said:

It wasnt bad, but...
Is nothing like the books anymore...
I rated it a 6

You know , expecting a TV series that is limited to 10 episodes per season that run on average for less than 60 minutes per episode to be completely faithful to the books is a little unrealistic , truth be told the only way they would even come close to keeping the story completely faithful to the books is by making each episode a 2 to 3 hour long feature film with a budget to match , pretty unrealistic if you ask me. If you are finding the whole viewing experience so bad why even bother to put yourself through it every week? why not just re-read the books and stop with the constant unreasonable expectations?  X_X

[jamesellaby]

Here's my review (again, I've never read the books, I should point out, so approach it from a purely TV viewer perspective). I'd give it an 8, by the way:

http://www.newadvent...sode-10-review/

[gogorath]

Bee Diddie, on 03 June 2012 - 11:07 PM, said:

Absolutely horrible. Worst yet. I pride myself on having a high tolerance for the tv show changing certain elements, but was there a scene that was faithful to the book at all in this one?
This was just....really really bad.

Just by virtue of your reaction to this episode, I think it's pretty clear you don't have a high tolerance.  Not saying your opinion doesn't count, but cmon.  There were plenty of changes, but most people are not having this reaction.

The Throne Room scene, for example, was pretty darn close, even if you are a perfect literalist.  Most of the other stuff outside of Jon and Dany were thematically consistent if not with every single detail (Arya and Jaqen, Tyrion and Varys before Shae comes in, Theon and Lewin, etc.).  Your level of tolerance for the small details is showing there.

[gogorath]

Gave it a 9.  Really enjoy Alan Taylor's work.

Unfortunately, the only thing I struggled with was the effects in the ending - I was neither overly impressed with the dragonfire or the White Walkers.  I would have preferred the latter stay off screen.  Jon's sequence was rushed as well, but everything else was so wonderfully done to me it still hung a nine.  I haven't rewatched yet; I may be more tolerant of the effects then.