Arrogant Bastard

I think they're going to take Reek's story from ADWD and move it into next season, or at least part of his story from ADWD. Same goes for Asha. Obviously it will require some changes from the story, but it makes sense to me; they can't possibly have another entire season where Theon does nothing but get tortured. With this, both he, Ramsay, and Roose will have something to do next season, most of it involving rooting out the Ironborn out of the North. THey may even establish some Northern houses like the Manderlys.

I give it an 8. I liked most of it, though it was pretty slow moving for a season finale, though like the season one finale a lot of this was set up for the next season. Still, it was miles better than last season's godawful finale, and almost on par with season one. It was missing a big moment, and I think this is due to splitting ASOS in two; unless they ended the season with the Red Wedding, it would be tough to pick a good point to wrap everything up. Liked --Bolton and Frey. Liked this conversation and both actors, especially Roose. Not sure if Walder will ever show up again. --Tyrion and Tywin. Good scene with mostly lines from the book. --Bran. I'm not a huge fan of Bran's storylines, even in the book, but I like that he was given a pretty good amount of screen time here. Liked that they included the Rat Cook story. --Davos and Gendry. Cunningham is perfect as Davos, and I enjoyed his interactions with Gendry. This storyline went much better than I thought it would when I first heard Gendry would be going to Dragonstone. Did not care for --Stannis. Don't really care for how they're dealing with him. In teh books he's much more conflicted regarding Edric, even threatening Melisandre over it. Here, he's just a prick; I don't think the writers understand Stannis. --Dany's last scene. Seemed corny, and a not a great way to end the season. Overall, solid episode and a solid season. Season 3 is close to as good as season one, and definitely better than last season. It didn't have an episode that topped Blackwater, but a few came close, and there wasn't a terrible episode all season long, whereas season 2 had at least three absolute stinkers. Still, one thing I'm not sure of, is why they got Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder and barely used him. He only appeared in I think 3 or 4 episodes this season, and barely had any lines. Mance doesn't appear that much in ASOS either, but he his interactions with Jon in the book were much longer. I thought the short meeting between Jon and Mance in the opener meant they were going to stretch out the longer book meeting over several epiosdes, but this never happened. Just felt kinda weird how much they underutilized a good actor in Hinds, especially for Mance, a character that was consistently mentioned by name in the previous two seasons.

I also agree. I think having Lady Stoneheart show up already is too soon. First, it kind of detracts from the Red Wedding, in that after only one episode we would already find out that Catelyn has been brought back. That reveal needs more time, as the impact of the Red Wedding is still being felt. Second, if they did reveal it, what exactly are they going ot have Catelyn do next season? There's really nothing.

Probably not. The main point, I believe, of that attack happening was for Arstan to rescue Dany and then be outed as Barristan. That's already happened in the show.

Having no Theon certainly helped; hope he's done for the season though I highly doubt it. In the books, were the leeches using Stannis' blood or Edric's? I thought it was Edric but I really don't recall.

I give it a very solid nine. Certainly the best episode since episode 3-5, and possibly even better than those two. Really liked the narrow focus of this episode; I believe if you don't count the opening scene with Arya and the closing one with Sam, the rest of the episode was split between Essos, Dragonstone, and King's Landing. What I liked Stannis: Thought he was developed well this episode, and I liked his interactions with Davos. At first I thought he was being set up as a villain again, with his more certain view that Gendry needed to be sacrificed, until Davos revealed that if Stannis felt this way he wouldn't be freeing him. Slight nitpick in that Stannis says Robb's name first instead of last when throwing the leeches on the fire. Yunkai: All done well, and surprisingly I wasn't annoyed by Daario. Tyrion's Wedding: Different than the book, but I really liked how they spent a large amount of time on the wedding and the various interactions. It did not feel rushed at all. Sansa's kneeling makes sense to me from a creative standpoint; without her inner monologue, she would not come off well at all to the audience. Only thing that felt kind of rushed was Arya's scene with the Hound, which I felt would have worked better had they had a previous scene together other than the capture.

So last week's was only slightly better but this was also the worst of the season by far?

I would prefer Alfie Allen showing up in season five, even if it literally meant him saying "Hey y'all, here are all my memories. They're all torture" than watching him being tortured every episode for two whole seasons. These scenes are pointless, repetitive, and a waste of time. I don't think it's only book readers that hate these scenes as well. Every review of the show I've read from non book readers, such as Sepinwall, also find these scenes pointless.

Solid episode, about on par with last weeks and the premiere. Still not as good as episode 3, 4, or 5. Liked --Jaime and Brienne. Pretty good scene of Jaime departing, and I thoght they did an excellent job with the bear scene. I also like Locke more than Vargo; he's certainly more sinister and nasty, whereas Vargo just came off as a buffoon in the novels. --Jaime and Qyburn. Good dialog there, though I do wish they had kept Jaime's dream, which for some reason the show is dead set against showing. --Jon Snow. Finally Jon has some interesting material, and I do think he works well with Ygritte. I thought Jon had one of the better storylines in season one, and then one of the worst in season two. He was getting short shrift this season, but finally the past two episodes he's had something interesting to do. Also nice to see funny Tormund for once. Meh --Osha's story. Not bad, but not particualry good or interesting either. --Sansa and Margaery--same as above Can it please be over already? --Theon. In the past I kept thinking they had to work Theon into this season, as it wouldn't work having Alfie Allen absent for possibly two whole seasons. Audience would forget about him, he could get work in another series etc. But enough is enough, these Theon torture scenes are beyond tiresome at this point. There's a good reason why George didn't give Theon a POV chapter in ASOS; because there's nothing interesting about an arc that only involves one character being tortured over and over. Also, I'm not sure why they haven't revealed who Ramsay is yet. It's not like it's a big twist or anything; he's the bastard of a so far pretty minor character--big whoop.

I give it about a 7.5, but will round up to an 8. Certainly not the best of the season by a long shot; I'd put it on par with the season premiere, and definitely better than episode 2. Liked --Queen of Thorns and Tywin. Good little scene, and I laughed at the sword swallower line --Melisandre and the Brotherhood--contrived yes, but I thought the interactions worked. I didn't particulary like to see the BwB handover Gendry like that, but I think it happened that way to . --Jon Snow--first time he got a considerable amount of screen time, and it worked. Liked the ending long shot and his chemistry with Ygritte. Meh --Jaime, Brienne and Bolton. I was really looking forward to this scene, and it just sort of fell flat. Not bad, but cut really short. I imagine they're --Theon. Not bad, but scene ran too long and until it's revealed who this torturer is, just seems to be going nowhere.

I enjoyed it. Very much in character for Roose, who is definitely cruel in the way he strings people along

I give it a very solid 9. --Great ending, captured the scene from the book as well as could be done, though just like the book, I imagine a lot of people saw this moment coming a mile away --Liked the Jaime Brienne stuff; toned down from the book, but still effective --Enjoyed the Varys story, though I wish Tyrion showed a little sympathy to Varys as he does in the books. Great acting by Conleth Hill, though I do agree the segway into that scene didn't feel right --Great added scene between Tywin and Cersei. Loved how it mirrored his talk with Tyrion, and shows that Tywin also treats her pretty shitty as well --Good introduction of Beric, though I feel this might have been better suited to have the duel in the same episode; this bit might have been better next episode Only things I really didn't care for was the continuation of Pod the sex god, even with just Varys speculating about it--I doubt he would give two shits about Podrick. Just pretty lame.

Speaking of which, do you think the show will revisit this? To my knowledge it hasn't been mentioned since season 1, and it would be difficult to explain how Tyrion and Jaime come to the conclusion that it was Joffrey. Of course, they may have a scene of Joffrey explaining it t someone, possibly Ros.

I tend to agree. I didn't think any of the scenes were garbage, but I think they could be spending the time better. That scene wasn't bad, but wasn't necessary either. I'm not really sure what hte point of it was to be honest. I don't really like that we're getting more Margaery and Joffrey this season so far than Arya. That Tyrion scene also was kinda pointless. Frankly, Shae is annoying, and they just seemed to throw that scene in so we know that Tyrion is still around.

I give it a 6; not bad, but not particularly good either. Too many storylines not given enough time all crammed into one episode with not really much happening. I liked the Queen of Throns, liked Thoros (who I think they're merging with Tom), liked Jaime and Brienne's interactions, and liked the introduction of the Reeds. Still, not all that much actually transpired other than Arya being outed by the Hound and Jaime and Brienne fighting. Still, nothing stood out as being bad either, so 6 is appropriate. Hope the next episode is better.