Jorah the Explorer

We needed Stannis at the end of the episode. It's my favourite moment of the entire series because it's the sole heroic climax, sometimes thought of as a fantasy trope. The reality is it's the anti-cliche of the series, given that the depressing shock climax is far more prevalent. And now it will be shoved in as episode 10 filler. Why is it the anti-cliche and not unrealistic? Because it does happen in real history, and it's awesome! The Battle of Tours, where Charles Martel smashes the Muslims and saves Europe, and the Battle of Vienna, where the Polish hussars lead the largest cavalry charge in history and smash the Ottomans saving Europe again. We were robbed of our climax! ROBBED.

I don't even know what to rate it, I'll abstain. I really enjoyed it during the episode, but at the end my mouth was literally agape with no Stannis. It NEEDED to be the end of the episode, he needed that moment. Now it will be lost in everything else that happens in the next episode. Why did they do this?

Just checked and the beetle scene went on for six minutes. SIX MINUTES! Such a waste of time, considering some of the other scenes could have used a bit more length.

9/10 Only weakness being the bizarre beetle scene and the second Grey Worm scene. The latter was worth it for the previous river scene and the view of Missandei. Wow! Never expected her to be so well put together. I'm a fan of Roose and a hater of Ramsay, but I'll admit their scene gave me a little bit of the feels. Iwan Rheon does a great job.

I hate to echo the hivemind here. But it was great and I rate it a 9, with the obvious flaw of the Asha scene. A dumb sequence that goes in a circle, it's definitely out of place alongside GRRM's pre-Feast writing. A new scene that I really enjoyed was the Braavos story, though.. well done Cogman. Also the Jaime and Tywin bargain was cool.

It wasn't a very good episode, I rated it a 6. I was never terribly impressed with their invented scenes in previous seasons, but a few this season I really liked. Not the case in this episode, though. All in all I'm quite worried about next season, because they don't have good writing to fall back on. With all of the big moments left in season 4, it's pretty much a walk in the park for it to be good TV. But they'll really have to get better at writing to make season 5 interesting at all.

Initially rated it a 7, then changed it to a 5 as the infuriating Stannis portrayal and the so-bad-it's-pretty-funny Daenerys crowdsurfing scenes sank in.

Just watched it again on a replay, keep my rating of 10. Fantastic episode.

Glad that the eternal pessimists are in the minority on this one. Over two thirds tens. I should stop reading anything but the positive nitpick thread. The only thing that felt off was the awkward final Daenerys scene. But I'm of the previously mentioned mind that if you don't give this one a ten, what can you?

Perhaps Merry (Grenn) and Pippin (Pyp) were hiding in a bush and saw the whole thing. And next time Samwell sees Jon he can't wait to say, "Mr. Frodo, Mr. Frodo, guess what.."

Like 41% of us, I gave the episode a 9. Much improved from the previous two. If you are nitpicking this one, I'd have to call you an eternal pessimist. A very enjoyable episode start to finish.

So, which leech-in-the-fire was the one with cock blood? I'm guessing it was Robb's, seeing as how TV Robb's thinking with his other head is his own undoing.

I'm glad everyone is finally coming around to Theon's scenes being crap and unnecessary. I have being saying this since the very first episode that he appeared in. But yet even last week it seemed there were more Dreadfort apologists than not. And the most important thing is that it seems like non-book readers have had enough of it, judging by the reactions I've seen. Exit stage left and reappear as Reek when relevant, please.

One little thing I did like in this episode is that both future kingslayers refused more drink when offered.

I gave it a 6/10 initially, but after sleeping on it I'll regrade it as a 4/10. Not a good episode, and it sort of brings the whole season down, which has previously been well done. I liked viewing it, but after watching it and thinking about it, have become annoyed. Ahh, cynicism.