Definitely Mayhaps

9/10 Fantastic finale, waaaay better than Season 2 and even Season 1. Was a longer episode and that helped, there was an awful lot to focus on. Arya+Sandor, Tyrion+Tywin, the new Roose+Walder scene, Davos+Gendry and Dany's scene at the end were all outstanding. The only real thing that bothered me was that Jaime just WANDERED STRAIGHT FROM ONE OF KL'S GATES RIGHT INTO CERSEI'S BEDCHAMBER. I mean, with him looking like complete shit and supposedly 'unrecognizable', I find it hard to believe. Also, he's be back for Joff's wedding... well, isn't THAT gonna be awkward...

I will refrain from any niggling complaints (chiefly to do with how Talisa was handled and Arya) and just say that it was the Red Wedding, it was incredible and they got it almost down to a tee. The Bran/Jon scene was also handled exceptionally well, especially the bit with Rickon having to leave and Bran warging Hodor. Yunkai was good as well but looked a bit tame compared to the rest. Catelyn absolutely blew the house down. I felt like clapping at that ending. Mesmerising. The slow plodding start to the episode was a great idea. For show-fans, I guess it helps intensify the gripping and horrific finale. 9/10.

9. Out of 10. Bloody brilliant, every scene felt important to the story, every actor (even Clarke) was on top form. Sandor/Arya was a bit weak but then, I have very high expectations for this pairing and they've still got time. The wedding was amazing, I absolutely loved it. In the way, the whitewashing of Tyrion mostly paid off here because in the books he was very protective of his new wife. His display of anger towards Joff and his subsequent reaction was also fantastic. Castermere story was wrong but that is a minor complaint. Lack of Ser Dontos was weird in my opinion; it would have made the guests, as well as Joffrey of course, laugh even more and make it even more embarassing for Sansa and Tyrion. They've introduced him, why not utilise him? Sam the Slayer was great, despite the fact Edd and Grenn weren't there. Strange there wasn't any more wights so to give way to introducing Coldhands but all in all, a very strong finale, same as last weeks. The Dany storyline is again great. It seems to be going from strength to strength. I find it a fascinating watch. And Daario. WOW, what a phenomenaly good casting! Seriously think D&D can ACTUALLY write a better relationship between Dany and him on TV than George ever could in the books. As others have said, would've liked a Robb/Cat/Tullys/Talisa scene arriving at the Twins, to set us up for you know what. Overall, much much better than the Climb, Bear and the Maiden Fair and pretty much every other episode this season. With less filler and more action, as well as being pretty faithful to the books even in the Gendry/Mel scenes, 'Second Sons' was brilliant. Here's hoping 'The Rains...' is even better.

Disclaimer: Did not watch the Theon scene. I'm thoroughly tired of seeing the torture scenes; I don't like torture at all in media, it detracts from the good stuff. Ramsay was revealed to me from the point where he sets Theon free, I don't need to see anymore of him until Greyjoy becomes Reek. Overall, this week was a 6/10 The good - Dany. For some reason, I am really enjoying her TV story this season. Clarke is still a weak actress but she's getting a bit better; the talk with the slaver was great, the dragons looked wild and as dangerous as they should be at this stage. They have nailed the Unsullied, the dynamic between Jorah and Barristan is at least existent and Daenerys at least looks a hell of a lot stronger this season, in keeping with her development in SoS. Book 3 improved Dany leaps and bounds and the show is remaining pretty faithful, much more so than everything else. Shame the dragons aren't named 'officially' on the show yet but I'll let them off. Plus, Ramin's music for Dany is the best soundtrack of them all... - Arya's escape. I have no qualms about this, again very faithful but I don't see how they could've altered it drastically. - Robb/Talisa. Holy shit, a good Talisa scene? Nah not kidding, this one was good for one thing; it actually felt intriguing. They have the potential to actually show us the true purpose of our Volantene nurse to Robb's storyline and after two seasons of developing this frankly clueless love story, I'm excited to see how they can pull it off. Assuming it goes the way I speculate (can't say here, huge spoilers), the Talisa story might, just might be saved and, in retrospect, be one book departure that will truly be great. - Anything Jaime/Brienne. The bear scene was solid and I didn't find it anticlimatic at all. The bear was obviously trained to do the stunts (strange how PETA haven't reached for their pitchforks over this) and the scene with Jaime and Qyburn and Jaime's sudden urge to go back for Brienne were, hands down for me, the best scenes in the episode. Worth a rewatch just for Jaime alone really. The bad - Tywin/Joffrey. The point of this please? I'm not following. Boring and only saved because it showed two of the best actors on this show. - Jon. I really was bored by his scenes this episode. It all seems to be focused on Ygritte and this Not-actually- Orell bloke, who's crush on Ygritte was awful to watch. With Jon, it was grimace, grimace, hate Orell some more, kiss Ygritte and then do nothing. Should be 'you do nothing, Jon Snow', that's more like it. I can't be bothered to disect the rest. I basically found most of the episode bar Dany and Jaime scenes just really boring and filler leading up to major events that we know about.

6/10 A big solid MEH this one. I sometimes don't know why I bother watching the show anymore, when episodes like this come along. I'm sum up the good and the bad ugly Good - Olenna/Tywin; I enjoyed this exchange a lot, mostly due to the performances of Dance and Rigg, two of the UK's best actors. Certainly loved how Olenna spoke to Tywin that way, it seemed tense due to how casually she hinted at things to a man you would do best not to get on the bad side of. - The first Jon/Ygritte scene - It was actually well acted on the Jon side for once and it struck fairly true to the books in delivering the flawed relationship they share. I really liked it. - Robb's scene - Apart from the BF acting a right goon, pretty good indeed. Also Cat got a line! I cheered when she spoke; never thought I would say that this season but that was before the enormous cock-up that is the TV Cat. The rest - Osha/Meera - I don't have to explain this one. Awful. Completely detracting from the Bran story (and by what Bran said in this scene, he literally knows it). Not even a befuddled 'Hodor?' from Hodor could save this one. - The Wall Climb - First sign of the Jon/Ygritte love story being overplayed. Decent effects of the Wall 'defending itself' but otherwise another resounding meh. - Tyrion - Every damn scene with him in over the last couple of episodes has been boring, boring and more boring. I don't care about book changes, a few new Bronn/Pod scenes would not go amiss for pure popcorn entertainment value! Why aren't they furthering the development of Bronn? Also, Tyrion telling Sansa (and even worse off-screen) was a huge NOPE from me. As was Sansa's reaction. She has supposedly toughened up at this stage, why is she bloody bawling as if Ned has just been beheaded?? - 'The Arya One' - Oh boy. Do not even get me started on this. First time I cringed at the acting from the Arya actress. The 'you are a witch' made me facepalm, Mel playing a poor Ghost of High Heart was plain weird and strangely OOC, and the whole fact about the brotherhood exchanging Gendry for gold. I mean, if you had a bloody brain cell between yourselves, you would find that a SMITH can generate GOLD through his CRAFT so you can fund your purpose. Easily one of the worst scenes to date, up there with Dany from Season 2. I'm serious. - Ros dying - I actually liked Ros as a character and she was becoming a lot more established in the story. But working for both Varys and Baelish is bound to get you killed one way and another, they are ruthless individuals after all. Also, Joff killed her? That's a vital part of his character thrown out the window there! And stop making him even more of dick than he is, please! - Ramsay - Loving him (creepy I know) and Theon is fantastic as always, but I don't really want to see the torture happen IMHO. What happened in the books was left more to the imagination of the reader and that in a way was a hell of a lot more disturbing. - The ending scene - It was just as bad as the Aragorn/Arwen kiss at the end of ROTK. And just as painful to watch.

7/10 The good; - Dany at the end, obviously, was very well done indeed. It still wasn't as awesome as it was in the book but I liked the score, the dropping of the whip, the tapping of the spears and, of course, the Valyrian speech was incredibly well delivered. Certainly Clarke's best performance; she can act well if the scene is faithful and well written, unlike Qarth. - Theon being delivered back to the Dreadfort. Oh yeah, I loved that. - Jaime/Brienne. I'm loving their stuff on TV. Cannot wait to see Jaime get his revenge on the 'Not Vargo' guy, hopefully it will be brutal. - Cersei/Tywin, a short scene but a good one, not in the books but they stuck to the characters well enough for it to work for everyone. - Beric reveal. Yeah, knew he would look a bit more 'normal' than book Beric but still, I really like the actor who plays him. Anticipation for the Hound fight is sky high. The disappointing: - I found Crasters underwhelming and Mormont's death felt like any other, without the last words to Sam (possibly scewed to fit the 'I forbid you to die' line from the earlier episode) and yelling about the cursed breach of guest right. - Varys/Tyrion. This scene was boring, just a re-telling of a story I know well and I found the sorcerer in a box to be utterly ridiculous. - Too much of LF's plans are getting hinted at. I would've preferred if they had kept it under wraps until after the PW and used Dontos for Sansa's escape plot. - They seem to be elaborating a bit on Pod's sexual exploits. That was a fun scene that subtly came in to distract but add a bit of humour to a grim story, I don't want it to become a major element as that is too distracting and there is already enough to distract viewers away from the tense storyline as it is. All in all, a decent to good episode, not as amazing as everyone is making it out to be but still very good, especially the Theon bit and Dracarys. Honestly did feel the season premiere was stronger.