How would you rate episode 504?

[rmholt]

8/10. Mainly casting for the negatives. D & D are closer to the spirit of the book than I thought they'd be.

[Fjordgazer]

I have one freind who watches, whio dose not read the books. I made the point to him about Lras being a good fighter but he thinks Loras is good because he has the best armor, weapons and horses, that he is good because he is privledged. That he is basicly sitting back and living this decadent lifestyle at court while Westeros is burning. His thinking is that the Lannisters are letting their troops run wild in the RIverlands in order to pay them and that if the Tyrells were as righteous as they pretend to be they would try to put a stop to it. So he basicly sees Loras as an empty suit of armor and this epsiode sort of confirmed this in his mind.

That's a pretty natural conclusion for a show-only person. But it's rather complex, relatively. Loras is just Marge's gay brother, nothing more.

[PatrickStormborn]

After a second viewing, I'm dropping my rating from 6 to 5 (easily my lowest rating so far).

The fight scene at the end is just completely ridiculous no matter how I look at it. From a character point of view, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever - Grey Worm would not be patrolling the streets, Barristan would not be without his armour, and the Sons of the Harpy could not physically stand against the Unsullied. This is clearly the showrunners taking an idea from the books (i.e. the Sons of the Harpy ambushing Unsullied patrols) and completely changing it to the extent that it no longer makes sense. The reason the Sons could kill the Unsullied in the books is because they were literally AMBUSHED whilst patrolling in pairs. In the show, there are 5 Unsullied - enough to cooperate and collectively defend themselves against civilians.

Barristan's lack of armour is just laziness on behalf of the showrunners/costume designers.

On another note, the editing of the fight is actually laughable... The extras are literally in different positions whenever the camera changes, Barristan is quite clearly barely touching any of the Sons, and there's even a point where Grey Worm is supposed to be attacking the Sons but just... stumbles. It's bad footage that's been edited terribly.

I don't even want to begin with why the prostitute supporting the Sons of the Harpy is ridiculous. It should be obvious to anyone with more than 3 IQ points.

The only redeeming thing about the fight scene is the score, and even that's actually pretty lazy. It's just a mix of the main theme and Finale from 1x10... but not even a particularly good one. I know that it's just a mix of those two scores because it sounds almost identical to Archangel's remix of them, although somehow the show's version is actually quite inferior IMO.

It's another example of the show wanting to hit plot points - in this case the deaths of Barristan and Grey Worm - and then contriving circumstances to do so, rather than letting the story build naturally. We're seeing something similar with Jorah and Tyrion travelling to Meereen by river in defiance of all logic, because they obviously plan to keep the stone men attack and their enslavement.

[AlpenglowMemories]

In general, the scoring has been rather disappointing this season. I don't think there's been any new motifs that have been particularly interesting.

[marsyao]

In general, the scoring has been rather disappointing this season. I don't think there's been any new motifs that have been particularly interesting.

The scoring will drop if D & D decide that they would further part way from the novel

[westerosifitness]

7/10

Honestly, I feel like the odd man out, but this may be my favorite season yet!

I can act like I really care about the Greyjoys, Griffs, Quentyns, etc that got cut out.

Honestly though, they ARE filler. They are to help George write the longest-ass book ever written. That is his end-goal.

I've enjoyed the past three episodes. Not saying they are individually my favorite, but each of them has something important occur. Most seasons have 4-5 episodes of set-up with no payoff. This season has an important plot point in each episode and plenty of interesting set-up.

Mel/Jon- Yeah, I agree that I thought her trying to tempt Jon was kinda weak, but everything else about Mel I really like.

Brienne/Pod- One of the first times I've felt something for Show Brienne. She is such a prick. I have a hard time rooting for her. Do not support her Kill Stannis mission.

Dorne- Lolz

Jaime/Bronn- They are great together. That fight scene was one of the high points of the episode.

Jon/Stuff- I forget what Jon does in each episode, but so far his stuff has been rushed but enjoyable. Not a usual fan of Show Jon mostly cause of the actor, but I have not had much problems watching him this season.

KL- I am enjoying all the Sparrow stuff. The focus on gays seems pretty topical and stupid but w/e it helps modern audiences relate. The Seven is obviously analogous for Christianity in its hypocrisy and bigotry. You all knew it. I like Cersei scheming and showing a different side of herself.

Barry- I feel like this is a big mistake. Dany sucks this season, so they kill someone the audience cares about to get the audience back on Dany's side. Big mistake. The readers will never forget.

All-in-all, this season has just been enjoyable for me. Maybe I'm lowering my expectations. I expected last season to take the cake and it sucked except for a few choice scenes. I expect nothing at all of this season and the only thing I've been disappointed on is Dorne. How do you fuck up so badly? Can I say the f-word on these forums?

[MakeThemBurn]

It was ok. I always hate it how American shows have everyone speak English, yet throw in some odd accents just because it's exotic. That's what I remember the most about sand snakes. Why were they speaking with Spanish accents? If English isn't their language then why don't they just use their own like everyone does in Essos?

Really starting to like Jaime.

Mereen was well done. It was nice to have Selmy speak to Dany about Rhaegar. The thing that always puzzled me in the books was how little information Dany extracts from Selmy regarding her family and King's Landing in general.

The slaughter was beautifully directed. I have only praise for the directors of this season. The slaughter itself only amused me. It's an open secret that Dany will unite the Dothrakis and cross the poison water with them so the tv show needs the Unsullied only for this season. Might aswell kill them all, I guess. However, what I find interesting is that some of the slaves have been working with the Sons of the Harpy in both of the attacks we've seen. This would suggest that Dany is doomed to fail since even the slaves work against her.

King's Landing: Was Cersei really this dumb in the books? I watched this episode with a friend who hasn't read the books and he didn't understand why the Queen decides to arm religious fanatics because of a petty fight with Margaery. Neither did I. IIRC Cersei had some sound financial reasons to arm them in AFFC. As for the nutjobs: scarring their faces went a little overboard.

Winterfell: Nothing makes sense to me here. Petyr doesn't trust Bolton, yet gives him his biggest asset. Sansa has suffered enough. If they make her suffer more in the hands of those psychopaths, I honestly can't say whether I can stomach all the evil on this show.

The Wall: This is the first season where I enjoy Jon Snow. Finally this boring character is using his own brains and doing independent decisions! Melisandre is as corny as ever. What the hell was the scene with him and Jon about? Stannis shows his soft side which hints that either him or Shireen will die this season. They need to make the viewers like Stannis before his death or heartbreak can move us.

[Lord Spark of House Spark]

IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER. The show was never going to be as good as the books, but it didn't need to be as inferior as this. The sandsnakes were ridicilously childish and one dimensional. Why did they torture and kill someone that freely brought them information? Was it to discourage others from doing the same?

The cracks troops from the sons of the harpy are one of the biggest disappointments as well. How could they have beaten unsullied like that? They locked the door to the city because they were so scared of them. There is now no reason for the mereenese not to kill Dany and go back to the way they were before.

The faith are far too unsubtle. Cercei may be stupid but she wouldn't even need to think more than one move ahead to see arming them is a bad idea. In the books she could see no option and her hand was forced but here it is inexplicable.

Loras's fruity gayness could only have emasculated him more if he wore dresses. Less knight of the flowers more flight of the cowers.

I liked the wall stuff

Stannis is getting better every week and at last Jon has dropped the emo sulkiness.

As for Mel and her pet boobies...

Any actress with lines that is willing to wiggle the charlies around will probably get a raise and extra screen time from d and d.

I liked Jaime and Bronn too. Well written and acted even if the storyline is pants

6

[kissdbyfire]

After a second viewing, I'm dropping my rating from 6 to 5 (easily my lowest rating so far).

The fight scene at the end is just completely ridiculous no matter how I look at it. From a character point of view, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever - Grey Worm would not be patrolling the streets, Barristan would not be without his armour, and the Sons of the Harpy could not physically stand against the Unsullied. This is clearly the showrunners taking an idea from the books (i.e. the Sons of the Harpy ambushing Unsullied patrols) and completely changing it to the extent that it no longer makes sense. The reason the Sons could kill the Unsullied in the books is because they were literally AMBUSHED whilst patrolling in pairs. In the show, there are 5 Unsullied - enough to cooperate and collectively defend themselves against civilians.

Barristan's lack of armour is just laziness on behalf of the showrunners/costume designers.

On another note, the editing of the fight is actually laughable... The extras are literally in different positions whenever the camera changes, Barristan is quite clearly barely touching any of the Sons, and there's even a point where Grey Worm is supposed to be attacking the Sons but just... stumbles. It's bad footage that's been edited terribly.

I don't even want to begin with why the prostitute supporting the Sons of the Harpy is ridiculous. It should be obvious to anyone with more than 3 IQ points.

The only redeeming thing about the fight scene is the score, and even that's actually pretty lazy. It's just a mix of the main theme and Finale from 1x10... but not even a particularly good one. I know that it's just a mix of those two scores because it sounds almost identical to Archangel's remix of them, although somehow the show's version is actually quite inferior IMO.

It's another example of the show wanting to hit plot points - in this case the deaths of Barristan and Grey Worm - and then contriving circumstances to do so, rather than letting the story build naturally. We're seeing something similar with Jorah and Tyrion travelling to Meereen by river in defiance of all logic, because they obviously plan to keep the stone men attack and their enslavement.

Cheers, Patrick, you said what I wanted to say better than I could. I'll just say that, regarding the bolded part, it does feel very lazy. But I think it's also [again] showrunners shoehorning some stupid ass way to achieve what they want: to kill off ser Barry & GW.

And also:

Dorne - god-awful, start to finish.

Littlefinger has gone from kinda stupid to a complete imbecile who gets all the important lines from other characters.

Really, it feels as if they tried to find the worst possible character to give the KotLT [minus the actual kotlt] story to.

And they've succeeded.

And I wasn't going to mention this, but since I'm here... I cannot for the life of me understand how can someone list several bad things with the episode, and still give it a 10. People, the rating is 1/10, not 1/100.

If the episode has issues - to a greater or lesser degree - it cannot get 10/10. 10/10 is for perfection.

Makes as much sense as Littlefinger's plan. :wideeyed:

[Just Maid]

I gave it a 8.5 but I rounded to 9. Great episode, if they continue with this trend I think the final episodes (from 8 to 10) will be awesome!!!!

[talvikorppi]

I'm giving it an 8 out of 10.

It's a great TV show, excellent production values and a great story... even if it's now diverging so widely from the "source material" (the books). I just treat the show and the books as completely different things from now on.

I liked the Jaime/Bronn stuff. Heh, that "clunk" sound when Jaime blocked the sword with his golden prosthetic hand was major ROFL. Also, earlier, Bronn's "Your niece?"

Is Jorah Mormont going to row all the way to Meereen?? (Well, Gendry is still rowing, so anything's possible...)

The show shows Cersei more scheming on big things Tywin style... In the books, she's in her own paranoid bubble and makes disastrous decisions for personal reasons. I'm not too happy about how the faith militant came about and how they're portrayed. In the books it was High Sparrow how asked/tricked Cersei into reinstating them, not Cersei offering to do it to get at Marge. Oh well, the show and books are now so wide apart that I'll just have to lump it. But Cersei must be heading for her trial because Qyburn keeps reanimating the Mountain.

I'm a bit WTF about Littlefinger scooting off and leaving Sansa in charge of his plot - whatever that might be - but we'll see, suppose. I don't see a possibility for a GNC as Lord Manderly has been cut.

Jon Snow and Melisandre... I found myself screaming NO! JON! NOOOO! at the screen and he heard me and refused Mel's offer to create another shadow, just like he did in the books. Whew!

Ellaria and the Sand snakes were cool (or should I say hot?)

Dany... Mostly boring but so it has been in the last couple of books. But the end. Grey Worm and Ser Barristan both wounded and apparently dying? Oh NO!

All in all, good, even excellent TV but as a bookie I'm a bit lost.

[CaptainTheo]

5. This was less entertaining than the last episode, and some things didn't make sense. Why does Cersei wish to arm the Faith Militant? Why arrest Loras? Why do the Sand Snakes murder the guy who helped them out? Why did he sell Jaime out in the first place? Why is Ellaria wanting to kill little girls when Oberyn specifically told Cersei that they don't do that in Dorne.

Tommen and Bronn were good, Tyrion was ok. I liked the scene between Stannis and Shireen. My least favourite was the Sand Snakes scene.

It would be even lower if I thought either of Grey Worm or (especially) Barristan were actually deceased.

EDIT: Changed to a 3 when I discovered that Barristan was dead (very mysterious given Grey Worm stopping his throat from being slit).

Edited May 20, 2015 by CaptainTheo

[marsyao]

5. Why do the Sand Snakes murder the guy who helped them out?

I do not like episode 4, but this actually makes sense, Jaime was in a secret mission in the Dorn, if he somehow disappeared, Dornishmen could claim they never see him hen held no responsibility for his demise who could be well be drown in the sea wreck, however that would not work, if that sea captain lives and tell everybody Jaime is in Dornish

[HexMachina]

I do not like episode 4, but this actually makes sense, Jaime was in a secret mission in the Dorn, if he somehow disappeared, Dornishmen could claim they never see him hen held no responsibility for his demise who could be well be drown in the sea wreck, however that would not work, if that sea captain lives and tell everybody Jaime is in Dornish

Mmm. Maybe. But did they need to torture him first? That was the bit that madexleast sense imo

[Dillinger]

Been enjoying the season well enough so far but definitely been one of the slower periods of the show.

[bravosi42]

Cheers, Patrick, you said what I wanted to say better than I could. I'll just say that, regarding the bolded part, it does feel very lazy. But I think it's also [again] showrunners shoehorning some stupid ass way to achieve what they want: to kill off ser Barry & GW.

And also:

Dorne - god-awful, start to finish.

Littlefinger has gone from kinda stupid to a complete imbecile who gets all the important lines from other characters.

Really, it feels as if they tried to find the worst possible character to give the KotLT [minus the actual kotlt] story to.

And they've succeeded.

And I wasn't going to mention this, but since I'm here... I cannot for the life of me understand how can someone list several bad things with the episode, and still give it a 10. People, the rating is 1/10, not 1/100.

If the episode has issues - to a greater or lesser degree - it cannot get 10/10. 10/10 is for perfection.

Makes as much sense as Littlefinger's plan. :wideeyed:

you are a bit rich to lecture anyone else on logic, with the bile you write.