Pinkie Baelish

Why is everybody more disturbed by the nudity than THE GODDAMN LEECH ON GENDRY'S PENIS?

I gave it a 9. A solid improvement from the last 2 weeks.

Gave it a 7, bordering on an 8. Solid, like last week, but things really need to start picking up. There were one too many one-on-one scenes, and they weren't as strong as previous exposition-heavy episodes like Kissed by Fire and A Man Without Honor.

I gave it an 8. Solid episode, although the writing was a step down from last week. Best parts: -The climbing of the wall was really well done, and absolutely gorgeous to watch. I even liked the sappy ending for once. -FUCK YEAH WE GOT MOTHERFUCKING FLAYING OAFKJSHBJFSKFNDSKJGDKGNFDKJGN. Can't BELIEVE they actually showed that! -Iwan Rheon is just killing it as Ramsay. And I loved the call back to season 2 with him blowing the horn -The montage set to LF's chaos monologue was well done, and I'm glad Ros didn't have a long drawn out death scene - -Good to see we still have Chekhov's dragonglass. -"Do I look like a fucking Umber to you?"

I'd rather see Selyse and Stannis gorging on their pickled babies for dinner after barbecuing them in Mel's fires than have that creepy fucker Patchface on my TV screen. His scenes are some of the few times in the series where I actually feel creeped out.

Nope. Balon is still very much alive when Tywin plans the marriages in the books. But you do bring up a point that's been bugging me this entire season? There's been virtually no mention of the ironborn, and they've been reduced to an afterthought, despite them holding some notable castles in the North. I really hope the show addresses them ASAP.

Dunno, Davos has a pretty rigid sense of morality. I don't think it would matter too much whether he knows Gendry or not. He's a good enough man to know that burning Gendry is a heinous action, and that Gendry has to be saved.

Why are we bringing the claws out?

That's definitely a scene I'm looking forward to. I just saw that trailer, and it appears that we'll finally get to see how cruel his son is. Can't wait :devil:

This has probably already been mentioned, but I thought flicking away to Daenerys as Shireen starts talking about Aegon the Conqueror was a nice touch.

Oh yes. There were at times where I felt his voice was too loud, but his line delivery of "Your sister....is alive and well" seemed very Roose-ish. I'm glad that the show is slowly clearing my doubts on the casting choice. Oh, and those eyes. Those eyes are just creepy....

I can't wait for more Shireen/Davos scenes this season. I've heard rumours, that instead of that young maester, it's Shireen that teaches Davos how to read in the show.

Agree about Shireen's hair colour as a minor nitpick. You had one job HBO!

Did anybody else notice that the theme playing during Karstark's execution was the same one that was used when Theon beheaded Rodrik? I thought it was a bit of a strange choice, since the theme was titled 'Pay the Iron Price', but oh well, it served it's purpose.

I gave it a 10. It reminded me of 'A Man Without Honor' last season, where the show took a breather, and focused on the one-on-one scenes. And I thought most of them, (except Loras) were excellent. Loved Shireen's singing at the end, and her greyscale looked good as well. Oh, and NCW needs to submit this episode as his Emmy submission pronto. Everything in Jaime's confession was fantastic. I am so, so glad that Bryan Cogman wrote it. And Nikolaj delivered it perfectly-he was pouring his entire heart out to Brienne, years of frustration and anger, and it was just mesmerizing to watch. Fantastic job all around. Oh, and I actually liked the scene with Stannis and Selyse. I was worried that they were going to make Selyse batshit crazy, but I actually found myself sympathising with her far more than I ever did in the books. And I'm glad they showed a softer side to Stannis, rather than that creepy pervy uncle mode he was in a couple of weeks ago. Given that we never see Stannis and Selyse alone in the books, the show can take some liberties in portraying their relationship. If there are any haters of this episode, I pity them. This is how you write a slower episode.

He's not in the KG just yet, but I have a feeling Tywin will make him join it when he learns of the plot. It would be an interesting parallel between Tywin and Aerys.

Yeah, didn't really get that either. It was a bit like Cat and Jon all over again, although the rest of the monologue was good. Nobody else seems to have mentioned it here, but props to the actor playing Craster. He really did make the character very easy to hate.

That's exactly what I had in mind. It's a damn shame the show didn't give the Old Bear a good farewell.

This episode was good, but I really don't get the love that's been showered on it. It was no Baelor or Blackwater. I really wish I could enjoy this as much as everyone seems to be, but I just don't understand what's so extraordinarily good about it.

I gave it an 8, although I might change it to a 9. Pros: -That AMAZING deranged look in Iwan Rheon's eyes when Theon is recaptured. Dude was born to play Ramsay -Speaking of Boltons, does anybody else think Burn Gorman would make a good Roose? -Burn Gorman is Craster's reckoning -Final scene was good, but I imagined it to be a lot more climactic and brutal, just to drive home Dany's conqueror side -Marge/Joff was surprisingly good. It's amazing how Gleeson manages to humanize such an utterly repulsive character -High Valyrian sounds great, and Clarke did a good job in that final scene -Cersei/Tywin. Now THAT'S how you create a new scene while staying true to the story and characters. Oh, and really liked the repeated close-up of Tywin's letters -Jaime/Brienne-good as always. I don't think NCW said 5 words in the entire episode, but still managed to remain captivating -Theon's monologue-apart from the Ned being his real father bit. -Hound/Dondarrion scene was good Cons: -Big HUH? on Varys finding the sorcerer. Although it does illustrate his power, it just was a bit surprising. Not sure how to react to it. -NO MORMONT'S LAST WORDS???? ARE YOU SERIOUS? The Old Bear deserved better. Far better. -I heard a lot of talk about how the episodes are longer this year, but so far, they seem to be the same length as last season -Varys' monologue about his castration. I imagined it to be quite ominous. IDK, it just felt too matter-of-fact to me

What the hell was up with that Varys scene?

-I think the whole Ramsay/Theon bit will be better once the season is finished and we get a chance to re-watch it. From what it seems like, Ramsay deliberately stages a hunt, fully knowing that his men will catch Theon and try to rape him. The rape bit is important. Ramsay already has his trust, but Theon now looks up to him as his saviour, and might refer to this incident in his future Reek-ified persona as evidence, exhibiting the Stockholm Syndrome that Reek seems to display in ADWD. -Agree on the Mance part. I really don't have a logical explanation. I guess we'll have to see how it play out. -IIRC, Jorah said the few luxuries in Xaro's manse worth anything would be enough to buy a small ship. I don't think they had enough to buy the carts of food and silk she has in the book. -The fires act as her compass or something? I'm guessing they're taking liberties on the power of Mel's magic. IDK. -I think she was trying to fight them off, but that only caused them to beat her more, causing her to scream.

First three points are valid. Minor, but valid. There's a big difference between Dany's decisions in Qarth, and choosing to sell one of her dragons. Such an action would take even Jorah, who knows Dany, by surprise. That may be so in the books, but we don't know for sure that on the show, Tyrion was unable to do anything after the Battle. In the books, he's still recovering from his injuries when he asks Tywin for Casterly Rock, in the show he's not. That suggests some passage of time, where he still might have been able to return Ros to LF Completely in character. Ramsay doesn't care about anyone, and unlike Roose he's reckless. Roose would look to conserve his men, Ramsay clearly doesn't. It makes perfect sense for Ramsay to go through all that trouble just to gain Theon's trust. Can't remember off the top of my head how many he sends in the books, but it was around a 100, I think. Many even died climbing the Wall, a possibility he would have been aware off. As of now, we don't know how many of his men will die scaling the Wall The Lannister hostages appear to have been captives for a few days. It's entirely possible they would have heard soldiers talk about Robb's new wife. I thought it was pretty obvious she was buying Missandei in order to free her. This will probably be made clearer later. Good point about the Unsullied. Maybe Jorah was unaware of how many Dany's goods will be able to buy. And they did cut out the whole Illyrio bit, so it would seem a bit strange if Dany showed up with goods out of nowhere. Melisandre said that the fires would lead her. I interpreted the scene as Pod not actually having sex, and simply returning the money and lying about bedding them. He seemed far too shy and naive for a foursome, honestly. This was bugging me as well, but it's possible that while Jaime and Locke were talking, Brienne was still getting beaten up by Locke's men. I was worried that Ramsay seemed too normal in ep2, but his demeanour when he killed his own men put my fears to rest. Even as Reek, Ramsay was always quite unnerving. Maybe we'll see some more of this before the big reveal of his true identity.

That's a bold generalization, don't you think? I noticed plot holes as well, but I didn't consider them being enough that they detract from the overall quality of the episode.