Jasta11

The duel bit didn't bother me too much. Arya has learned how to fight an armored opponent, her training clearly made her extremely agile, and Brienne was holding back. I was more annoyed at Brienne basically just showing up to tell us Arya was a badass, but no big deal. Ugh, you can already feel that they're setting up Jon x Dany. At this point it's more or less inevitable, but the cringe will be real. Not looking forward to this. I did like the world building in the cave and the symbols. All the reunions! The Theon and Jon one was a bit underwhelming, but I liked the Starks a lot. Sansa continues growing on me, so does Arya. Bran's a bit annoying now with the emotionless routine but it does fit his character. Poor Meera, she goes through absolute hell for him and barely gets a thank you. And of course, dat battle. Definitely one of the show's best, hell I'd rate it only below Blackwater and Hardhome, and not far below either. Loved it in its entirely.

I rated it 7 but I think I was being a bit harsh. 8 is more fitting. Liked; -Euron, actually. His actor seems to have stepped it up somewhat, he was more charismatic and had some of the creepy factor in his eyes that I expect of Euron. He still needs an eyepatch however. -The Hound, all of it. I wasn't sure how they would keep the character relevant, but if we keep having great scenes like that, I say keep Sandor coming. I want more of this. -Ed and his song. I was afraid Arya would go full murder mode yet again as chance meetings always end in violence in GoT. Nice to see I was wrong. -Cercei and Jaime finally having the dynamic they should have on screen. Hopefully they develop on that rather than forgetting it yet again. -I am a simple man. I see undead giants, I like. -Nice arrival scene in Dragonstone, good atmosphere and awesome art direction with the fortress. Keeping Dany silent is always a plus too. -Jorah hype! Did not like; -Arya massacring the Freys was cringeworthy and a big reason why I didn't rate it higher. If she can perfectly emulate a 90 years old codger, how can you even stop this girl? She could literally murder anyone. Killing Walder satisfied my primal revenge boner, that was just gross overkill. -Echoing Brienne: what the hell is Littlefinger even doing now? What's his purpose apart from giving Sansa creepy looks? -Did we really need to see Sam emptying chamber pots? His side-quest is tedious enough as it is. -Sansa questioning Jon in front of his bannermen, and Jon deciding to arm even the women. I'm sorry, this is fantasy and all, but that's not how feudal societies work.

8/10. Docking one point for Varys of all characters becoming Tyrion's comedy sidekick, and one for Davos becoming an atheist as well as a big fan of Mel's magic all of a sudden. Liked what I saw a lot otherwise, albeit I do think Euron's first scene wasn't that amazing and the ritual to ressurect Jon lacked some flash. I'm not expecting colums of light or pillars of fire, but it seem bringing someone back is as simple as combing their hand and rubbing their belly. Uh.

Obviously shirtless Ramsay and his 20 Good Men will set fire to the Night's King while he's sleeping in his underwear or something.

dp

Mel travelled halfway across the North in a single episode to be at the Wall right in time for the stabbing, but Jon is totes dead for reals. Sure, I believe that.

For all their faults, D&D do a much better job with the Meereen storyline than Martin. Sorry, but I have to say it. They manage to convey Dany,s tough situation, hesitations and ultimate bad judgments better in three scenes than Martin does in 10 chapters. Albeit the hissing was a bit over the top, it's still ten times better than the freaking crowdsurfing. I am still utterly unconvinced by some of their made up storylines, particularily Dorne (Crazy Widow Ellaria is stupid). But their Meereen is not a snoozefest and for this alone this season is worth the price of admission. Also liked the Mormont letter and Kevan putting Cercei in her place.

Season 4 has, among other things, the not-rape scene and Jaime having sex with Cercei in the White Tower. At this point, he was supposed to be moving away from her, not towards. And in season 5 he becomes suddenly worried about the enemies of the Lannisters, when previously he didn't give much thought to it? His character is all over the place. Add to that the seemingly pointless removal of the Tysha story before Tywin,s death, and I feel that the showrunners dropped the ball on Jaime.

Honestly? I'm fine with that. Book!Cercei is a total dumbass who embodies every Wicked Queen stereotypes possible, down to Snow White-esque prophecies and having someone practice black magic on her behalf. The show kept those, but they toned down how incredibly stupid she was, and not really to her detriment. She's a more interesting character as a result, albeit less entertaining I suppose. As for what people say about the Sand Snakes, I cannot for the life of me understand how they are different from the ones in the books. ''Vengeance rawr!'', this was the extent of the characterization of them in the novels. They never grew past that. I do think making Ellaria the Crazy Widow is stupid at first flance, we'll see how it goes, but the SS are pretty much exactly like their book counterparts; B-movie bad girls. The characters that I feel the show has badly mishandled are Jaime (post season 3), Renly, Loras and Catelyn. Stannis was on the list but his scenes I've seen in the first four episodes redeemed him in my eyes. 4 characters in such a massive cast, is an Ok score I find. It could have been better, definitely, and it could have been far worse. And off the top of my head there are at least 4 characters (Robert, Marge, Daario, Tywin) that are better in the show if you ask me. Changed, but better. There are also storylines that work better in the show, such as Arya + Sandor in S4 and Dany's arc in Meereen (for what I saw of it) in S5, albeit some are worse too sadly.

Seeing the Discussion thread before watching it, I thought this would be an utter trainwreck. Turns out? It's one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. -Stuff at the Wall was fantastic. Only thing I didn't like were the villain music and general vibe given to Stannis. It was supposed to be a triumphant act that even GRRM himself calls righteous, yet Stannis even when saving the Watch feels like a giant prick at best. I know the showrunners have no lost love for him but cripes. The rest was great however, the charge was impressive to see, Mance was awesome, Tormund was awesome, Jon burning Ygritte was pretty good, and Kit acted really well in all his scenes. The closing shot of Mel over the flames was the cherry on the sundae. Well done overall. -Cercei going craycray even before daddy bites it. People wanted the Lioness, and she's roaring back with a vengeance, with all the misplaced pride and senseless ravings we know and love from Book!Cercei. Didn't overly like Jaime actually having sex with her in the White Room (his character really does kinda yo-yo this season) but Tywin finally not having the last word in an exchange was good for variety's sake if nothing else. -Best Dany scene this season. I thought the chaining of her dragons was actually really sad and well done. Poor things have been just betrayed by their mother. -Jojen dying was unexpected, but well acted. I really got the impression that, when it was announced that they were at the weirwood tree, he was going to say ''this is the day I die''. Less of a fan of the Jason and the Argonauts wight ripoffs, or the Children of the Forest chucking (holy?) hand grenades. Bloodraven also wasn't as messed up as I imagined, but the dialog was spot on and Leaf looked like what I imagined. Poor Meera :frown5: . -That Brienne vs Sandor fight was friggin brutal. It all started nice and easy, with the usual parries and faffing about you expect in traditional duels, only to end in a messy, no-nonsense brawl. I liked it, a lot. It bought something worthwhile to Brienne's arc, closed off Sandor's, and gave Arya cause to GTFO to Braavos. A particular highlight was Sandor begging the she-wolf to kill him, with dialog lifted almost verbatim from the books and Rory and Maisie both acting the hell out of that scene. Valar Dohaeris! -The Tyrion escape was cut short, with little dialog between the brothers, and I'm still displeased about it. But I now get that the Tysha story was superfluous; that was three full seasons ago. I do think it required a mention, but not being the focal point is not a bad thing. Not a fan, however, of Shae attacking Tyrion first, that's really whitewashing and nothing else. It's still dark, especially how he pitifully says sorry to her corpse, but the change was not required. -The Tywinicide, however, I really liked. The dialog was very solid, and if you ask me Tyrion's ''I have always been your son'' line is way better than mumbling about his dad shitting gold. Both actors absolutely killed it. I'm sad to see Charles Dance go, he was certainly a top notch actor. Oh well, at least we get his voice in The Witcher 3 I suppose. Also interesting that Show!Varys did not seem to plan for Tywin's death. Now, as to the elephant in the room: I'm come to realize LS would not have added that much. Sure, she would have been a great cliffhanger, but since we got 0 BwB content this season it would have come completely out of left field. My guess is that Brienne meets her early in season 5, if the character isin't cut that is. I would hate for LS to be cut, but we'll see how next season goes. Still, it was a great send-off to a great season. Certainly much better than season 3's finale.

-We get it, Gilly and Sam like each other. No need to spend two scenes on that. I did like Sam taking a few levels in badass and delivering a few great lines (open the fucking door!). -Maester Aemon is always nice to see, he's the best of the elderly actors if you ask me. -The battle atop the Wall was great overall. Only bit I didn't like was that the scale was a bit low. Not enough men and giants. But that's understandable since it was probing defense time. And the scythe was a great idea, kudos to whoever thought of that. Also, Edd taking charge of things was great. Piss on Jon, I want this guy as Lord Commander. -I think this needs to be said: Fookin giants riding fookin mammoths. -Also, giant archers, which is just straight up brilliant. Much more believable than wildling shortbows shooting 700 feet up. I cringed at the guy who got hit by a ballista-like arrow, fell down said 700 feet, then got impaled on a spike. Ouch. Oberyn can't complain after that one. -I got almost in tears at Grenn and friends reciting their oaths while facing down a big stonking giant. Pure. Fucking. Badass. Best scene in the episode. -Ygritte dying was a bit let down by Kit's acting (which was otherwise pretty great) and by the fact I actually wanted the bitch dead after she killed Pyp. -Loved the Jon/Styr duel, well choreographed and much better than Lord Snow's tussle with Karl the Fookin Legend. -Alistair Thorne actually growing a set of brass balls and delivering great lines. Hope he survives to stay a lovable douche. -The fight choreography in Castle Black, however, was pretty poor in general. I counted almost 40 Watchers dying, almost three quarters of them at the hands of Tormund, Styr or Ygritte. It's a wonder they weren't utterly routed at all. I get the main wildling characters are good fighters, but they kinda went overboard. Especially cruel to then only give one kill to poor Ghost. -No Stannis is pretty surprising. I'll reserve final judgement based on how it's done next episode, but I'm pretty sure the series would have been better served by having him save the day. Instead he's going to be in what is possibly the most crammed episode of the series so far. So yeah, overall it was very solid, with amazing visuals, great scenes and enough badassery on both sides to make up for Stannis's absence. But it still falls short of Blackwater and its amazing dialog.

We know he is in episode 10. It's just that it's going to be incredibly crammed; we have Bran and Bloodraven, Dany's inevitable scene (probably Drogon eating a child), Tyrion's escape and the Tywinicide, Arya abandoning the Hound and going to Braavos, Lady Stoneheart (if she's not here I WILL scream in rage :P) and whatever other loose ends they need to tie up (Sansa, Theon, Yara maybe?). Now they also have to put in Jon, Mance and the Stannis cavalry. There's way too many important stuff in the finale. It would have been better to have Stannis arrive in ep. 9 so ep. 10 can entirely focus on what's happening down south. And it would have made for better TV for Stannis to save the day after the grueling battle at the Wall.

I'm more pissed that it makes for a pretty stupid ending. Having the trumpets roar and knights charge the Wildlings would make for a far better end than just a cliffhanger.

Whew, that was fast. -The Mole's Town bit was a bit cliche. Wildlings are raiding as usual, Ygritte is evil enough to kill anyone in her way but babies are off limits so she's not THAT evil and we should feel sad when she dies. -Grey Worm/Missandrei was well acted and kinda cute. But I really didn't care about it. Honest. They're side characters and we know it's going nowhere. But it was cute. -Theon's actor is amazing, it will never be said enough. The scene was nothing special, but Allen still killed it. Also liked Roose and Ramsay's dialogue. -Sansa going from pawn to player was a bit too abrupt. One episode ago she was making snow castles, getting gripped by Lysa and having childish disputes with Sweetrobin. Now she's a kinda vampy manipulator who masterfully lies to high lords and saves Littlefinger from his own folly, not to mention dat dress. I don't like Baelish in the books, but in the show he seems a bit too clueless. He really had no plan to properly explain the Lysa-cide? And didn't even brief Sansa? Cmon, he's smarter than that. Otherwise it was very well acted. -Jorah's exile played as it should have. A bit sad we won't have his actor to up the level of acting in Dany scenes anymore, albeit Clarke did well enough this time. -I really didn't like Arya being revealed. For Sansa it worked since it was in secret with honorable people, but the Arya Stark that was missing for more than a year announces her presence to the Bloody Gate within earshot of dozens of people and no one bats an eyelash? But the laughter was just golden. It ties in nicely with Tyrion's first scene; the sheer absurdity of it all means you can only crack up. I laughed as she did, honest. Also a great counterpart to Sandor's ''fuck me, I'll never get that gold'' face. -Once again, the show attempts subtlety where book readers bemoans it has none, and once again it whooshes right over the head of several of them (us?). Just like with Cercei suddendly turning into Mother Theresa, there was a purpose in all this. The senseless killing and waste of life, unexplainable. It's Tyrion's defense mechanism, gallows humor at his finest. All the talk about dynasties and family legacies is just sugar-coating; in the end, it's only people killing people. -The duel, oh the duel. Most anticipated scene this season after the Tywinicide, and it did not disappoint. They kept most of the book's good lines and the choreography was nice, albeit Pascal jumped around a bit too much for my liking. Speaking of Pascal, he aced this scene, going from confident to raging as the battle goes on, with all the swagger we expect from the Prince of Dorne. Tyrion's face in the end was also perfect; he's dead and has just realized it. I'm glad there was no vomit, that wouldn't translate well to the screen at all. I am also rarely squicked by anything on TV, but my that was gruesome. The eye gouges while the usually calm Oberyn screams in pain? Chilling. But the head popping was over the top. Gregor is really strong, sure, but that would require way more force than what he can muster. The sound it made, you would think Oberyn ate a 12-gauge slug at point blank range or got his head hit by a heavy warhammer.

-1 for the Dreadfort scenes which ended on a lame note. -0.5 for Stannis the Passive. Rounded up to a very, very good 9. best episode of the season so far.