IronSuitor

Small point that I liked - when Robb is holding his councils, first with Alton and then with Talissa, you can see Roose judging Robb's every move and even making a little humorless sarcastic quip about "too many prisoners". The show's ability to set up smaller (at least now) characters with only small pieces of dialogue has been impressive. This is why I hope against hope that the writers have found some way to make Dagmar Reek/Ramsay, because in hindsight it's going to be obvious to a non-reader how he was setting Theon up to fail, and smirking in the background every time he crashed and burned.

No. The actor has actually noted that the producers have been nice/smart enough to move material from SOS into this season to give him something to do in the upcoming episodes.

The entire point is that Jon doesn't really understand, not in the visceral, instinctual way Qhorin or Ygritte does. All he knows is he can't kill her, he's not prepared to let her go, and Qhorin's not gonna let him bring her along. What's a poor bastard to do? Conveniently bed down with her to delay the point when he has to make a decision, apparently. He knows it's a terrible idea to keep her with him, but he can't bring himself to do either of the alternatives, yet. (I'm actually betting she'll just give him the slip during the night.)

You're acting as if he's thinking his actions all the way through. The entire point of having him bring down the sword is that up until the last second he didn't know he wasn't going to kill her. His train of though is roughly "whew, avoided that moral quandary. Why did Qhorin want me to kill her in the first place? ... OH MY GOD SHE'S RUNNING TO TELL EVERYONE!" As to Qhorin and the rest of them leaving that's really Martin's fault. "Alright, I know you're just a green boy with a history of insubordination who has really big qualms about killing this relatively innocent girl, but it's absolutely imperative that you do it. We'll just leave you completely unsupervised to do it."

Robb was flirting with her by insinuating she was a spy (nobody said Starks weren't cripplingly socially awkward). The note mentions that the writer is "marching with 10,000 troops" and plans to meet Tywin in a week. I assume it's a Lannister bannerman, or at least decidedly not a camp follower in Robb's army.

Given that even Robb knows she's lying through her teeth, yes, I would think. It's all well and good to judge Theon on his beheading skills, but Ned and Ilyn Payne had Ice. Theon has some dinky arming sword. His main problem was looking like a total spaz.

I've decided that my complaint, because we must have one, is that Roose raised his voice a little too much, and they could have at least mentioned his name, to remind people. (Then again, his whole leather biker outfit with the flayed man on the front kind of does a lot of talking for him.)

Gives her a good reason to go into the house of the undying and makes for something interesting in an otherwise uneventful CoK arc. I thought it was pretty smart, though I get not being overjoyed with the change. I also applaud the mention of Ramsay. I'm glad their not falling for the trap of projecting "he's a baddy" onto Roose from the beginning. "My boy would be honored to bring you Greyjoy's head" - and a lot of other smaller pieces too. Very perplexed at people complaining about this episode. Best so far this season, IMO.

Hardcore. I'm not currently watching, but I'm anticipating really enjoying this episode.

This should be pinned to the top of every single one of these threads.

When dragons are necessary to the plot, they'll show the freaking dragons. Indulging in dragon showing every time you want a peak would be a one way ticket to a disappointing Battle of the Blackwater.

You have an odd definition of open. For a guy who carts his bastards and mistresses around and revels in his reputation as a poison wielding scoundrel, he actually is very discreet about his male affairs. The only reason we know about them is because other people tell stories about them, as if they were something salacious on par with his use of poison.

Agreed, a lot of the actors that I had written off last season are proving me wrong. Both Loras and Renly are becoming much more believable in their roles, and Alfie Allen was amazing.

This is a show in which a woman gets full frontal naked in nearly every episode. You are insane if you think that two dudes making out a bit in a scene that advances the plot is a reason to complain. The actors who play Loras and Renly (both of whom I hated in the first season) are actually doing a much better job, IMO. Also I'm glad they're fleshing out Margaery earlier. They need a good actress for the part, and no decent actress would sit around for two seasons doing essentially nothing.

Very good episode, I gave it an 8 only because I need room on the scale for even better ones. The Renly-Loras-Margaery thing is being played very well, all things considered. Tyrion's scenes were suitably brilliant. Theon and Balon's interactions are improvements on the book version, IMO. Both actors are playing the hell out of their roles and the visuals are fantastic, though I'm not a fan of Yara/Asha. The last scene made it, for me. Amory Lorch and crew were pitch perfect. I can't wait to see Harrenhall. Given how amazing the casting has been so far, I'm really anticipating Roose Bolton and his interactions with Arya.