bikie

it's hard for me to even critique the show any more... I wonder how much I'd enjoy season 2 without having read the books... I find myself now just waiting for certain scenes (no arya killing guard?? agh!!!) or comparing scenes or critiquing scenes as they contrast the book... everything seems inferior to the book and it's pointless to sound like a broken record in that regard... I am still looking forward to season 3, however, and am hoping D&D return to their season one form...

this show build the tension before a battle of any film or show I've seen... and the battle delivered... wish GRRM had the juice left in the tank to write every episode...

I enjoyed the episode but didn't think it was one of the stronger ones of the season. the bran and rickon cliffhanger was too telegraphed and I haven't spoken to a non-book reader that thinks they are dead yet... like renly's death, I think it should have had a bigger impact on the audience and was not handled properly... dany is just as annoying to me in the show now as she was in the books and I didn't feel that way in season one at all. as someone pointed out, I can't tell if that is the actress' method with this character or she is showing some limitations on how to handle dany this season. ygritte is fantastic, better than I expected from her character though I agree with some others that they are making jon snow way too incompetent while I enjoy the chemistry of arya and tywin immensely, I just wonder if that storyline will yield anything significant to the story other than two actors having a great dynamic together... I've really enjoyed the season but with everything that happened in book 2, I would have expected a faster pace rather than the character development path they have chosen....

best of the year for me, gave it a solid 9... if I had to nitpick, I thought the hound's fighting was a little too "terminator" like and if I never hear dany's threats again, it will be too soon... would have been a 10 but I still think the show has room to be even better... that hour went by like 10 minutes though... great stuff...

my favorite episode of the year so far, but I do echo the "underwhelmed" sentiment with regards to renly's death. it seemed rushed and not nearly the "event" it should have been. I liked how it was handled in the book with the shadow and the people in attendance much better. the scenes with arya were amazing, just amazing... tyrion was on top of his game as usual and I loved the scenes with jon... the only true letdown was qarth. I just did not find any of it interesting at all, save for the amazing cgi with the dragon.

I don't know, from the series only, joff has the following resume: went after arya and the butcher's boy with malice intent beheaded ned against orders made sansa look at his head on a spike had sansa beaten multiple times stripped sansa and pointed crossbow at her cut out tongue of singer threatens to kill his mom almost kills drunk knight ordered killing of all robert's bastards, including infants I think this goes well beyond immature and is well into psycopathic... but if I could give that scene a point, it would be the escalation of his feud with his uncle... I just think they could have made that point with a shorter scene and used that air time for other aspects of the story that could use more of it...

I gave it a 7.. agree with many of the criticisms on this thread: do we need to see more joffrey cruelty that doesn't involve major players? if you go over the list of his exploits from just the HBO show, anyone need more convincing he is a maniac should stop watching the show... the Qarth scene came across as cliche and tacky, something this show has managed to avoid expertly... the Robb and Talisa scene also came across, to me, as very predictable and cliche... all in all, I still enjoyed the show but become increasingly disappointed with the additions HBO has inserted

9 loved the addition of Margaery's complexity and Brienne was spot on the editing of Tyrion planting his seeds was brilliant the note from theon gave him the initial sympathy I was surprised the books never conveyed to me... my only complaint, though I understand why it had to be excluded, was arya getting some kills, yelling winterfell, and then the classic "hot pie!" response... perhaps later on they will work it in...