Katydid

Brienne's motivation will be the same as it is in the book - - find Sansa before Cersei or anyone else does, and keep her safe. Of all the pointless changes made from book to screen sometimes, I don't believe this one is as catastrophic. Jaime will attend Joffrey's wedding and witness his death (and we'll probably get surprising indifference from him, giving a chance to show how little Jaime thought of his own son), and in the chaos, Sansa will slip away. He won't notice, Brienne may not be in attendance, so Littlefinger will get Sansa away. Tyrion will be accused, and everyone will want to go after Sansa. Jaime will send Brienne.

I did love that Arya Stark finally made an appearance.

Lannister pride aside, if Brienne fulfills her promise to Cat and sees Jaime safely home, then the Lannisters could be seen as in the debt of the Starks, for returning him. Can't imagine Tywin, nor Jaime, would be pleased about having to pay that debt. As Lannisters always do. :)

That woman playing Shae - where did they find her? She's awful, painful to watch. I felt awful for Dinklage. As brilliant as he is in the role of Tyrion, there was no saving that scene. Jealous!Shae is just about the worst version of her we've seen yet.

Opening sequence was a HUGE letdown. After the cliffhanger of S2, for them to just fade to black, have a few background noises of yelling and a sword or two clanging, then *poof*, it's all magically over? Kinda lame. I've tried to like Emilia Clarke as Dany, but I just can't do it anymore. She's so wooden. She was adequate as mousy!Dany in S1, but as her story progresses and becomes more rich and exciting, as Dany grows into her role as a leader and potential ruler of Westeros - - I don't think Emilia has the range to cover it. She looks the part just fine, but her yawn-worthy performace takes me right out of it. I hope that changes along the course of S3. Someone refresh my memory - - after Jon captured Ygritte and non-canonically tied her up as a prisoner last season, was there any point where he told her he wanted to join Mance's gang? Ghost with Sam = :thumbsdown: And I guess I should reconcile with the fact that the showrunners have an inexplicable hard-on for the Pointless Screentime Sucking Whore Ros. We'll never be rid of her. :bang: I enjoyed the reveal of Selmy, and understand why that needed to be changed. The audience could recognize the character, and hiding him as someone else serves no overall purpose in Dany's story, so that made sense. Tywin's spiteful rant at Tyrion was painful to watch. Kudos to both of them, that scene was awesome. LOVED Margaery and Cersei's tension-filled dinner. Both actresses played their parts perfectly, and the tug-of-war b/t them should be a beautiful development this season!

Actually, that's canon, taken straight from the book - from his conversation w/Cat: Not knowing how long this game might continue, Catelyn wasted no time. “Are you Joffrey’s father?” “You would never ask unless you knew the answer.” “I want it from your own lips.” He shrugged. “Joffrey is mine. As are the rest of Cersei’s brood, I suppose.” “You admit to being your sister’s lover?” “I’ve always loved my sister, and you owe me two answers. Do all my kin still live?” <SNIP> His smile cut. “I’ve never lain with any woman but Cersei. In my own way, I have been truer than your Ned ever was.

Read the rest of my post re: bumping up the escape attempt a few episodes. Rather than putting all 3 of Jaime's scenes into this episode, and rather than Joffrey & Da Hors, Jaime's escape attempt could've come in an earlier ep. For example.

True, some changes are necessary, some are fine, and some even add good stuff to the story; some changes are frivilous, stupid and pointless. And those are the ones I rail against. For example, I had no problem with them consolidating the scene where Arya frees Jaqen, Yoren is killed, and Arya & Gendry are taken captive and sent to Harrenhal. In the book, nothing of huge significance happens while Arya, Gendry & Co are on the run before taken by the Mountain's gang, so why not get them on to Harrenhal that much quicker? I do, however, have a problem with Ros the non!canon whore sucking up valuable screentime, when we already have precious little of it to go around. I have a problem with Joffrey having whores beat each other just to show us how ZOMG!EVYL he is, when we just saw him have Sansa stripped and beaten in the middle of the Hall. He's a douche. We get it. What's infuriating about things like that, to me, is that Jaime's canon!escape attempt could have been a quick scene included in that episode, instead of Joffrey's nonsense. That way, Jaime wouldn't have been off-screen for 5 full episodes. My $.02.

This is concerning to me. Elsewhere, I'm starting to see the same complaint over and over from non-book readers, all too often - "this is getting too hard to follow." Adding ridiculous scenes such as Ros beating another whore because "we really need to hammer home that Joffrey is a sadistic little shit!!" are not doing GoT any favors. WE KNOW Joffrey is a sadistic little shit. The canon scene of him having Sansa publically stripped and humiliated was all we needed. (And that scene was awesome. Peter Dinklage stepped right out of the pages of the book.) If Dany's CG!dragons are too expensive to create, then how difficult would it have been to have Nameless Member Of the 13 invited to walk up to a cage and peek in, then turning around with a wondrous look on his face and telling Dany "welcome to Qarth, Mother Of Dragons!"? Why was that scene with such stupid dialogue necessary? (At least they managed to introduce Xaro there. Another character that was whizzed on by and is leaving viewers more confuzzled.) And the pacing could have been improved upon in this episode. Cut out Joffrey's dumbass whore-beating scene, and there'd have been plenty of time for Mel's shadow-baby to drift into Renly's tent and gut him, cliffhanging on Brienne & Catelyn's shocked, horrified faces. Next episode opens with all hell breaking loose, Brienne fighting her way out of the tent/camp, and she & Cat gone within the first 3 minutes. IMO, there are simply too many characters that need to be more carefully introduced, there are too many intricate plots and threads that need to be more carefully explained, and they have precious little time as it is. Please, producers, think it through before S3 begins filming. I'll be heartbroken if this show gets canceled because people simply can't follow anymore, and don't want to bother trying.

SO agree. I liked most everything (canon) about this episode, but that scene with Joffrey was just stupid. The pointless, crap scenes they're adding this season are wearing thin. Renly's peach got cut out so Joffrey could watch two whores slap each other. Really? :bang:

Except that Joffrey isn't capable, nor a "strong king." He's a brat and an idiot, and I'd really prefer to see the character that way. His mother is the true power behind the throne, and I feel like she's coming dangerously close to being wasted in this young season. :(

I assumed it was because the color purple signifies royalty, and it was a royal wedding.

Yes, thank you - - I meant the Purple one!

I'm coming to terms with the fact that the writers/producers are going to take their artistic liberties. Or, I'm resigned to it, anyway. I won't agree with all the changes or additions, but maybe they won't all piss me completely off. That said, I don't see why Joffrey needs to be a better villain, when it's his mother that perfectly fills that role. I don't want a softer, sympathetic Cersei. I want bitch-monster Book!Cersei, the one who verbally bitch-slaps Tyrion in this episode, ripping him for her mother's death. Joffrey is a whiny brat that screams for his mommy when he cuts himself on the throne. Cersei is the one who is crazy, power-hungry and bloodthirsty enough to murder babies. (Nevermind the fact that, are we really meant to believe that Joffrey is smart enough to have coordinated the search for all Robert's bastards?) I can only hope that, after the Purple Wedding, Cersei goes into her crazed mode, and we get her on-screen as she's meant to be.

So wait - JOFFREY ordered the killing of Robert's bastards? Did I miss something?