Raksha the Demon

I was far more affected by Grey Wind's death than I was by Robb's. I am really hoping that they will not show the post-mortem mutilation on TV. They can talk about it, I don't care; I just don't want to see it. Michelle Fairley, the Roose Bolton actor, and David Bradley-as-Lord Walder nailed it. Liked Arya and the Hound, too...

I'm just happy that the writers remembered that Robb had a wolf named Grey Wind; considering that Robb apparently had no bannermen tough enough to even try to save him (and that we haven't seen Grey Wind since last season if I remember right). Actually, I thought Grey Wind out-acted Richard Madden when one compares their death scenes. TV-Walder was excellently cast and acted. I will never be able to rewatch the Harry Potter movies again without booing whenever Filch appears. (kept looking for Filch's cat to pop up in Walder's lap or at his feet) Overall, one of the better episodes this season. I was glad to see Jon finally ditch the Wildlings; especially Ygritte, who bored me in the books and also on TV; and very glad to see him kill Orell. I liked the Osha/Bran interaction and Yay, Rickon speaks! Fun times in Yunkai; liked the Jorah/Daario rivalry; poor Jorah is desperately trying to impress Dany (hey, we captured the city!) but she only has eyes for Daario...

I have definitely been underwhelmed by the disuse of the direwolves in seasons 2 and 3. The bond between the wolves and the Starks is central to the ASoIaF storyline; the wolves are not just exotic pets; but a mythic link to magic and wildness. Does anyone else think that Grey Wind looked like a real critter rather than CGI; and also seemed rather small/slight compared to Summer and Shaggydog (who might have been CGI)?

I would have been delighted if Cat had stayed dead; and won't miss Lady S. at all if she does not gurgle through sad scenes of vigilante hangings in the next season...

Jeyne did not attend the Red Wedding in the book; she was left at Riverrun; with, I think, the Blackfish. And she did survive.

I thought the scene quite good, too. Maybe they didn't want to stress the bear by prolonging the scene. Given Bart's size and power, I certainly wouldn't want to see him stressed when he's facing off with Gwendolen Christie. Bart gets a personal Emmy from me for his acting chops; he was quite terrifying. Almost as terrifying as Tywin Lannister power-walking into the throne room and making Joffrey squirm, but louder. What I liked about the episode: 1.The Bear/Brienne and Jaime Action! Big Bear and slightly disheveled (and mauled) Lady Fair. Jaime is actually heroic for the first and only time in his life. (wish, wish, wish he could have had the dream and then told Brienne "I dreamed of you"). Followed by the excellent use of The Rains of Castamere; which kinda made me think fondly of the Lannisters; Lann the Clever, Jaime, Tyrion. I imagine that the next time we hear that song, it will be associated with a far more horrible and far-from-heroic event, ugh. (I want to see a follow-up with Locke being thrown into the bear pit and getting horribly killed by the bear, but we can't have everything) 2. Tywin's Power Walk and Joffrey PutDown: With Tyrion temporarily humbled this season and Cersei seemingly declawed, there's been a halt to the semi-obligatory Joffrey Slap Events. This scene reminded the audience, and Joffrey, just who is really in charge. Tywin of course manages brilliantly to keep his horrible grandson in his place; but he does come up short, because, for once in his miserable little psycho life, Joffrey actually brings up a good point. What about those pesky dragons in the hands of their sworn enemy Daenerys Targaryen? And I'm wondering, as is Joffrey, why Tywin doesn't have better intelligence about the whereabouts of said sworn enemy, and, equally important, the lowdown on her dragons? Does Tywin actually think there's no possibility that these dragons will grow larger than dogs? 3. Daenerys' parley with the Yunkai Head Nabob: Can't remember the Yunkai Head Nabob's name from the book, if he had one. He should exchange some eyeliner tips with Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time, though. Anyway, impressive entry, the Head Nabob waltzing in by litter, escorted by his men and drums through the ranks of Dany's Unsullied. Dany holds court in a very queenly way; and I loved her dragons! Especially Drogon's nuzzling up to his mommy, how sweet. 4. Margaery/Sansa Girl Talk: Cred to GRRM for having Sansa realize that she still has a lot to learn. Unfortunately, they're still trying to write her as a dimbulb, asking Marg if her mother taught her about the Sex Ed that Marg is trying to teach Sansa. In Sansa's defense, it was a legitimate question considering that Marg claimed virginal maidenhood after several months of marriage to Renly; but many TV viewers might not remember that; I can't remember if Marg's post-marital maidenhood was an issue in the show. TV-Margaery and Sansa do work well together. 5. Bronn & Tyrion: The best AGOT bromance is back! The actors have so much chemistry and their characters are meshing well. Bronn is right, what is Tyrion complaining about? And sorry; he accepted the terms of this travesty of a marriage, Tyrion seems like he's trying to salvage his conscience when he mentions how young Sansa is. He knows that Tywin would not have cast him out barefoot into poverty if he had refused to be a party to the shoddy scheme or compel him at spearpoint; Tyrion had a choice and Sansa didn't. What I Didn't Like in the Episode: 1. This episode of the Weekly Theon Torture Hour: It's getting boring. If you're going to bombard your audience with the pain and suffering of a character, (I think, in my strictly amateur opinion) you should do it in small, powerful outbursts, not once a week so that it becomes routine. The bimbos didn't help either. I guess, now that Ros is written out of the story, they need new boobage from the Happy Hookers of Westeros; and hey, combining Sex with Torture will delight the viewers? Um, no; not this viewer. Especially since this particular installment of the Weekly Theon Torture Hour apparently ends in Theon's castration; a pretty horrendous thing, and it was trivialized by the Happy Hookers. 2. Bran's Road Trip. This was interesting in the books; on TV, not so much. Only Osha's memory of her wildling hubby's horrific conversion into a wight had much appeal for me, Tena pulled out her acting chops for the monologue. 3. You Know Nothing, Jon Snow. I'm getting tired of the Wildlings. They may be wild and free and fierce; but they're also as smug as any Lannister and they're getting on my nerves even more. I want to tell Mance and Ygritte and Orell and Tormund to Shut Up. Ygritte and Jon Snow managed, for once, a semi-effective moment when she was awed by the windmill and Jon discussed the grim realities of Wildling History 101 of which Ygritte and probably every Wild 'n' Free Wildling except Mance Rayder is woefully ignorant. But at least Jon smiled; I wonder if his face cracked after months/years of it having only two acting settings - Pout and Scowl. 4. Catelyn's decreasing presence: She's become about as influential and significant as a doormat. Instead, we get Robb/Talisa sex; Robb butt and Talisa butt and the news of the non-canonical pregnancy. Is Talisa telling the truth? Is she a Lannister plant or a loyal loving Stark bride? I find I don't care much. Why is anyone going to care about Catelyn when she dies and then returns, since she's been a cipher for most of this season? All in all, a good but not outstanding episode.

Since Loras is apparently the only male child of Lord Tyrell in the TV show; he must be aware of the importance of siring more Tyrell children. (perhaps he's experimented enough to know that he can physically have sex with women, just not enjoy it as much as he does sex with men) Sansa, being 15, and the daughter of one of the most fertile noblewomen in Westeros, would give Loras better odds on producing a flock of little Tyrells than would Cersei, who, if she's lucky, might pop out one or two kids before menopause hits. Plus, Sansa doesn't have a psycho brother; and is obviously happy to be marrying Loras, as opposed to Cersei, who would act like she's so far above the Tyrells it's ridiculous. (of course, Sansa's attitude towards Loras might have changed after she found out he preferred guys; but I imagine, if the marriage had gone ahead, that Margaery and Olenna would have made sure she didn't find that out before the couple was wedded and bedded. And Sansa might have still been happy enough to be headed toward Highgarden that she could have become a very understanding wife...)

I disliked the character of Ros in the TV series because she was not in the book at all. GRRM created so many fascinating characters, many of them strong women in a patriarchal society, and every minute of screen time devoted to Ros was a minute that could have been given to one of the real ASoIaF characters. For the amount of time given to Ros, we could have had Jeyne Poole's story in AGOT and ADWD, or more screen time for Arya or Sansa or Cat or Myrcella, or even had the actual prostitutes from the book - Chataya and Alayaya (who gave ample evidence that even a beautiful, elite young courtesan could be abused by powerful people).

I actually thought that Loras was starting to like Sansa as a person, and was trying to overcome the awkwardness of the situation (and he certainly was more aware of it than she was, since he was the gay man who had lost the love of his life and Sansa was clueless as to her supposed bridegroom's sexual orientation). They actually seemed like two attractive young people who had not thought they would come together, were being brought to an arranged marriage, and were trying to get to know each other before the wedding. I was soooo glad to see Ros dead. I'd have preferred her to exit the series by embezzling a fortune from Littlefinger and running off to start her own brothel in Pentos, but at least she's gone. Tywin & Olenna's power luncheon was great. So was the Cersei/Tyrion commiseration party. Sam & Gilly & Baby were sweet. Great scene at Bolton's dinner table. Could we please, please, please skip the weekly Theon Torture Updates? I'm going to have to stop snacking while watching the show if there's going to be more flaying and whatnot. Ick. I know what's going to happen to Theon, or at least much of it; but I really don't want to have to see it happen. I'm tired of the Varys/Littlefinger Cryptic Conversations. I couldn't tell what the heck Littlefinger was portentiously babbling about, and didn't care. I'm starting to get annoyed with the Blackfish. Edmure might be a dufus, but he's a dufus who happens to be the BFish's liege lord, so a teeny bit of respect would make more sense than Brynden's constant slap-you-upside-the-head threats. And on TV, the Brotherhood Without Banners are as greedy and opportunistic as all the other bad guys; happy to sell an innocent down the river for gold. Oh well. I'm pretty sure that Gendry will survive, maybe he'll meet up with Arya later in Essos...(I'd be delighted if Arya kills Melisandre someday...) Enjoyed the Wildling Ascent of the Wall. This episode was better than last week. Of course, I can't really remember much about last week's episode.

I gave it a 7 because of: 1. the Wall-climbing scenes; really well done. 2. Tywin and Olenna's power luncheon 3. Sansa and Loras' scene; I liked it; their awkwardness and the genuine attempts to overcome that awkwardness; Loras actually seemed to like Sansa as a person; and the poor girl was just so happy about the prospect of leaving King's Landing and marrying him... 4. Sam & Gilly. 5. Ros is dead. I'd have been just as happy to have her gone to Pentos to open up her own brothel, but at least she's not distracting from more interesting characters anymore. Can't wait for Joffrey to get his just desserts on TV! 6. The Tyrion/Cersei scene. 7. Jaime and Brienne's Dinner with Roose 8. That shot of Sansa sobbing while watching Littlefinger's ship sail away; still a prisoner, with no hope of escape now, and to be married to a Lannister. I was utterly bored by the Littlefinger/Varys conversation and couldn't really figure out all of Littlefinger's cryptic remarks...and didn't care. Not thrilled about Gendry subbing for Edric Storm as Mel's designated King's Blood sacrifice to Rhlorr. I never was crazy about the Brotherhood in the books, but they didn't betray their own.

A good, if not great, episode. Favorite scenes: 1. Tywin & kids - lots of family resentments running rampant here. Cersei is so smug it's ridiculous, thinking she's one-upped Tyrion and proved her worth in Daddy's eyes, when Daddy orders her to become a broodmare again, this time for Margaery Tyrell's gay little brother. Tywin cracks the familial whip. Sorrow for Sansa in store. 2. Dragonstone - the most we've got into Stannis' character that I can remember. He meanders around as if he's vaguely searching for connubial affection from Selyse (whose passion is for Rh'lorr, not Stannis) and paternal affection from little Shireen (who is the only person I think we've seen give Stannis a hug without proceeding to have wild, shadow-making sex). It's so sad because Stannis doesn't seem to have the least idea of how to connect with either his wife or child. Shireen wants to love her father, but Stannis can't even bring himself to hug her back; and her only visible toy was made by Davos, rather than given by Stannis. And may I say that the young actress playing Shireen does an outstanding job, portraying an intelligent, good-natured and very lonely child. 3. The Hound/Beric duel, with Beric's sword blazing, and Arya herself on fire with a passion for vengeance that is denied. The fight looked very real and rather scary. The Arya/Gendry moments were very well done, thanks to Maisie Williams, who continues to prove herself a fine actress. 4. Dany & her Unsullied. I liked the interaction between the Mother of Dragons and 'Grey Worm'. Major points for the omission of Ros! Major Faults for Loras jumping into bed with the cute squire rather than mourning Renly for at least awhile longer; and wouldn't you think his granny would have told him to keep quiet about the future hoped-for marriage to the supposed Winterfell heiress?

Melisandre did not sacrifice Edric Storm; Davos had the boy sent away before it could happen.

There's a lot of hate among fans towards Sandor Clegane for killing a 12-year-old boy suspected of attacking a prince who Sandor was assigned to guard (and, it's implied, killing him on the queen's orders); but Theon does get some sympathy for being tortured, despite his having murdered two younger boys to save face because the Stark children outwitted him. Both actions are reprehensible; but I blame Theon more than I blame Sandor. Although I feel sorry for Theon for being tortured, because I don't think anyone deserves what was done to him, I still want him to pay with his life for the two innocent lives he decided to take. Alfie Allen did a fine job in his scenes last night, though.

Anyone know how long it took Balerion to reach physical maturity? Years? Decades? Dany could be waiting a long time. In terms of development, ADWD-Drogon could still be a young adolescent.

I blame HBO for inventing sex scenes that did not occur in the books.