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.

I don't remember the Blackfish being so obnoxious to Edmure during the funeral in the books. Would he really berate Edmure in public as he did in the show - Edmure may be a callow young man and the Blackfish's nephew, but he is also the new head of House Tully and the Blackfish's liege lord. Sort of a transitional, move-the-plot-along episode for me. Dany's arc - thankfully, she's not fussing and floundering as she did last season. I'm actually enjoying her scenes; there is tension and suspense and we can see a queen in her. Loved Jorah's bringing up the "and Rhaegar died" line, great delivery! Musical Chairs scene - another dramatic high point, thanks to the great acting and direction. I swear, the Council behaved like bratty kids (as well as one-upping politicians) and Tywin the dignified dad; with Cersei and Tyrion as the squabbling siblings. The scene did especially well in showing Tywin as the center of power in the capital, at least for now. Points to Tyrion for being resilient! Jaime and Brienne at the end were great; good direction in hearing the cries not only of Brienne, dragged off to be raped, but the men who she was battering; showing her strength and stubbornness. And the buildup to the loss of Jaime's hand was excellent. Pod/Tyrion/Bronn - did not impress me much with the scenes with the prostitutes. I guess HBO has a certain sex/prostitutes/skin quota in every GOT season. Not to mention the Ros appearance. Jon and the Wildlings. Kind of bored me. Looking forward to the next episode...

It was Sophie's best scenes since the end of Season 1. I definitely liked Diana Rigg as the Queen of Thorns. I do enjoy Natalie Dormer as Margaery; though she is going to look ridiculous later as little Tommen's wife. (of course, by then the boy playing Tommen could always shoot up a few inches, I suppose). The Joffrey/Margaery crossbow scene was excellent; and made a good contrast with the Cersei/Joffrey scene; since Margaery is handling Joffrey so well and Cersei is not.

If I were Varys, I would arrange for Margaery Tyrell to be assassinated by someone connected to Cersei. That would drive Mace Tyrell to not only abandon his support of the Lannisters and Tommen, but to possibly kill the boy king and Cersei herself, or seize King's Landing and present it to Aegon, remembering that the Tyrells once supported the Targaryens. Margaery, and the chance to have a grandson sit on the Iron Throne (through Margaery), are what's keeping Mace Tyrell invested in propping up a failing regime. Or, Varys could stage an attempted assassination on Margaery by someone connected to Cersei; and help Mace extract Margaery from King's Landing. Mace would offer Margaery to Aegon as a bride in exchange for Tyrell support. Either way, the Iron Throne is further shaken, and Aegon can't lose, at least until Daenerys crosses back to Westeros (which might be another three years at least).

Presumably, Littlefinger will spend a few weeks or months wooing Lysa and trying to consolidate his position in the Eyrie/Vale; and during that time, he could use Dontos as his proxy, alerting Sansa to the plan to spring her from King's Landing but telling her that it will take a while to make the arrangements.

In the book, if I remember right, Sansa does pray for Tyrion and many others, in a private but heartfelt prayer. As for TV-Sansa, she's a bit different from the original character; maybe she believed that if Tyrion and Joffrey were both dead, she might have a better chance of being sent home.

The TV characterization of Sansa has not run quite as close to the book as I would like. But it is in ACOK that after Tyrion saves Sansa from Joffrey's beating/stripping ordeal and brings her back to his tower and has her washed and medically attended, that Sansa herself, in her thoughts, wants to trust Tyrion, thinking that he seems kind; but reminds herself that Cersei seemed kind to her too. (I don't have the book in front of me now) She cannot bring herself to trust him or to forget that Tyrion is a Lannister. Despite his having shown her some decency and even kindness, he is a member of the family that killed her father after promising to be merciful; the family that is holding her captive. I didn't blame Sansa one bit for not trusting Tyrion, or any Lannister. The show has also had to make Sansa more emotionally immature than she was in the books. Her foolish behavior and somewhat superficial, sheltered outlook on life in the first season; is more understandable in an 11-year-old child than it is in a 13-year-old; and in the book, she was 12 during the Battle of the Blackwater; TV-Sansa is supposed to be 14 but looks 18 (it doesn't help that the young actress is a tall, beautiful girl who is physically maturing quickly). Sansa was an isolated (no Shae to trust, just the drunken Ser Dontos) abused 12-year-old in the book; and the best defense she could muster was not to trust any Lannister again, even one who appeared to be kind; and it's a pretty good strategy. TV-Sansa's distrust of Tyrion even after he saved her from Joffrey was well-portrayed by Sophie Turner, there is, initially, fear/wariness in her eyes and face when he approaches her and extends his hand. Unfortunately, by the time they get around to marrying TV-Sansa to TV-Tyrion, the pathos and injustice of marrying a child (flowering or no flowering, she's not yet 13, young even by Westerosi standards; and book-Tyrion said on their wedding night that he desired her even though she is still a child) will be lost, because Sophie Turner is a gorgeous teenager who will be 17 or so in real life and not look remotely childish.

In my opinion, this was the best episode of the season - even without Theon, whose arc has been outstanding this year. I loved the battle scenes and the moments before and in between. The bit between Tyrion, Lancel, the (silent) Hound and Joffrey where the conversation was going round and round without getting anywhere. The old pyromancer (yay, Roy Dotrice!)'s glee at finally being able to use the Wildfire again. Tyrion's simultaneous awe and horror at the results of that Wildfire usage. The gorgeous shot of Bronn setting it off with bow and arrow. Sansa's sweet but catty 'prayers' for Joffrey and Tyrion; especially her reminding Joffrey (who is trying but failing to humiliate her again) how her 'pretender' brother always leads from the front. Ilyn Payne's stare - forget the Hound, this guy is scary! Cersei getting more and more drunk; and her touching and horrifying scene at the end with Tommen on the Iron Throne about to kill her child before the expected enemies can crash through and put him to the sword. And Berserker Stannis - I don't remember if it was true to the book, but his insistence in leading from the front reminded me how single-minded Stannis can be; I loved it when his men had to drag him kicking and screaming from the battle when it was lost. And the arrival of Tywin and the Lannister/Tyrell cavalry. No one, I am now convinced, rides a white horse like Charles Dance as Tywin. Amazing! Tyrion emulating an angry hobbit and striking his foe in the lower leg, not to mention Tyrion the whole darned time. I'm a book purist, but I don't mind at all if they have him keep his nose; Peter Dinklage is too good-looking to mutilate onscreen. I'll save my nitpicks for the appropriate thread; but I was very pleased with the episode, it was tense, action-packed and yet held some great character moments. And thank the Seven there were no interruptions by Daenerys whining about her dragons. (I do hope we see all three of them next week, though)

It is a shame that the writers couldn't figure out a better finish to the Tywin/Arya relationship, especially since they dreamed it up in the first place. I did enjoy the chemistry between the characters and the actors; but what was it all for? Tywin to toss his favorite cupbearer to the Mountain as a housewarming gift? I guess Tywin wasn't as smart as we thought he was? If Tywin thought the cute cupbearer was as special as he seemed to during the past few episodes, why wouldn't he take her with him? Or was he just bored, and found that the clever girl was the only one capable of interesting conversation in Harrenhal, but did not find her interesting enough to bring back to King's Landing? Tywin did not, after all, ever address her by name. Maybe the writers will reveal, in the next two episodes, that Tywin did figure out that the cupbearer was Arya and had parked her in Harrenhal with instructions to Gregor to keep her safe and under control; but of course had not anticipated Arya's Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card with Jaquen Haqar. It's a bit murky; but so far the conclusion to the Tywin/Arya arc was sadly underwhelming. I did enjoy Tywin's masterful leavetaking of Harrenhal, with horses and red-cloaked Lannister troops.

As a dog person who admires cats, I have noticed that GRRM does have a tendency to do very unpleasant things to dogs. There are two other works by him that I don't reread because of it. I don't think he's much kinder to cats in AGOT; yes, Tommen loves kittens, and Balerion the kitten survived, but the description of Joffrey's torture of the kitchen cat in retrospect is ghastly. And two out of five Stark direwolves - the biggest, baddest canids of all - died violently; though it can be argued that the fates of Lady and Grey Wind are plot-directed. I'm not optimistic for the long lives of Ramsey's "girls"; which is kinda sad, because they don't seem to be particularly vicious dogs, they just do what Ramsey has trained them to do, track and hunt. They're actually quite friendly to Theon-Reek. I would imagine that at least one or two of Tommen's kittens will survive, though. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that GRRM is either indifferent to dogs or dislikes them; but that may not be the case, he just may be a total cat person. He has cats, right?

Not a bad episode. I could have cheerfully done without seeing more Robb/Talisa scenes; but at least Roz didn't talk too much while standing in for Alayaya from the books. Cersei was in better form in this episode - perhaps she just had to have somebody whipped to restore the confidence that was lagging in the last episode? It's not easy being queen... Finally, a moment or two when I liked Asha-Yara. It started when she had her feet up on the Winterfell table; a pose that seemed very Asha-ish. Nice scene between her and Theon. Poor Theon is still trying to be both Stark - wanting to compensate the miller for murdering his foster-sons - and Ironborn by claiming credit for killing Bran and Rickon. Alfie Allen is extremely believable as Theon. Tyrion is very much in love with Shae; and it seems fairly obvious to the viewer that she thinks he's cute, or gullible, but she certainly is nowhere near reciprocating his deep feelings for her. The Jamie/Brienne Road Trip sets off in fine style! More of these two, less of Talisa and Robb, and I'd be a happy watcher! The Dany/Jorah scene had a lovely view of the Mighty Cheekbones and Azure Eyes of Iain Glen, but not much else. I really wanted to slap Robb upside the head for talking to his mother like that. Yes, he's a king; and he's done what to get his sisters back? On his watch, Winterfell has fallen to the Ironborn; (as far as they know) his little brothers are prisoners, of course Catelyn would take action to try to preserve her daughters' lives by freeing Jaime before the Karstarks killed him. Technically, Catelyn should not have flouted the authority of the King in the North; but she's his mother and still deserves more respect than he gave her; and I'd probably have done the exact same thing in her place. Tywin's left Harrenhal in force and showed his continued admiration for the plucky girl cupbearer by giving her as a present to Gregor Clegane. That's so sweet. I can see how much she meant to him. A nice reminder that Tywin is still Tywin and doesn't really give a darn about the peasant help; even smart plucky ones. Maybe he thinks she'll domesticate the Mountain. :cool4: