Reviewing "The Climb"

[Westeros]

We’ve worked feverishly through the night to get fans some of our usual content for the latest episode of Game of Thrones, and are pleased to share our detailed episode recap as well as our views on the episode at the episode guide for “The Climb”. Our book-to-screen breakdown—one of our favorite and most frequently cited parts of our guides—will have to wait until tomorrow when we’re awake, but it shouldn’t take long. In the mean time, there’s a lively discussion at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum for those who’d like to see what fellow fans are saying.

Also of note, HBO released the preview for episode 7, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, written by George R.R. Martin himself; we’ve embedded the video in the guide page.

Visit the Site!

[Dragonstoned]

Looking forward to the book-to-screen stuff although I anticipate it being short, guess the 'extras' section will take a lot of time this episode...

[Little Wing]

Hm... who knew I'd feel sorry for Ros in the end... :stunned: Oh well...

Not a bad episode per se, but I guess it's a bit of a calm before the storm, the GRRM written episode that follows, that is. Liked Sam and Gilly together, as well as Jaime and Brienne with Roose. The Freys were ... rodentish enough, no complaints there. Arya and Mel talking was surreal, filling in the Ghost of High Heart role there a bit. Didn't like the "us vs everyone else" bit with Ygritte, either... a bit of a nitpick I guess.

As for making Littlefinger's motivations/actions overt, I agree it's not as necessary - my non-reader friend was pretty spot on about him from the get go in season 1, he doesn't need it spelled out for him :dunno: but that's just one example...

Looking forward to next week's episode! :wideeyed:

[Jaqen H'gcarl]

Alright. Now it seems almost like it's a hundred percent certainty that the Purple Wedding will happen in S3. Big big fuck up in my eyes.

I really liked the episode btw, one of the best, the climb was TENSE :)

[Dragonstoned]

I thought you could have mentioned the music which was the best this season.

The pieces that were playing during the ice shelving off the Wall, LF's monologue about the climb, and the top of the Wall with the credits, were all brilliant.

[Ran]

Sorry for the delay, but I now have posted our book-to-screen adaptation here. Being sick sucks. Because of that, it may be a couple more days before I can get in front of the camera to do our video review. Sorry!

[Dragonstoned]

That's the link for episode 5, mate. Get well soon.

[Ran]

Now fixed! Thanks.

[Buckwheat]

What I particularly liked about this episode was how they tied it all together by showing the climbing every few scenes - it connected the whole episode with one story that had a beginning and an ending. The different scenes often feel disconnected, and this tied it all together nicely.

[boojam]

We’ve worked feverishly through the night to get fans some of our usual content for the latest episode of Game of Thrones, and are pleased to share our detailed episode recap as well as our views on the episode at the episode guide for “The Climb”. Our book-to-screen breakdown—one of our favorite and most frequently cited parts of our guides—will have to wait until tomorrow when we’re awake, but it shouldn’t take long. In the mean time, there’s a lively discussion at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum for those who’d like to see what fellow fans are saying.

Very good review.

Are we not back to the problem of pounding 100 lbs of prose narrative into a 10 lb visual narrative bag?!

Do Dave and Dan say "here is the teleplay, shoot it"?

Does Bryan Cogman or even director Alik Sakharov get to say , hey! wait a min. "this does not exactly make dramatic sense" or "this veers to close to a cliche"?

Well for the format they have... by the by where are the 50 min. ++ plus episodes? Which we were supposed to get this year....?

Episode seemed middling good, if muddled.

Some things, the deviation in Jon and Ygritte relationship, seem only mildly cliche-ish, does not really bother me.

If not a book reader probably the wall climb was the highlight, so I give em some slack there.

Littlefinger, well hell, I could not figure him out ,in the book, anyway.

His arc seems similar but the character now seem too 'Arch'. Seems like last week Varys enigmatic remark about "if he could be king of the ashes" seem to be a set up to defuse the remark , during the LF and Varys scene, about Vary's complaint about 'chaos' , LF's counter with using it to one's advantage does not make a lick of sense!

If not now, soon we will get to the last Varys-Littlefinger one-on-one, then that's it forever.

I thought the Jamie-Brienne-Bolton dinner and the Riverrun sequences worked ok.

(Tho I agree, it must be D&D who force these strange character framings , Carice van Houten last season and now that excellent actor Clive Russell. I thought Carice was fine this season, as if a correction had been made.)

Ok, you could detect it a mile away, that Gendry was going to be substituted for Edric. But! flash bam before you could turn around all reason goes right out the window! Don't mind the deviation, contracts and condensation being the driver, but if I was D&D trying to fit that new story into one finite time slot would have driven me crazy, it it looked like it did!

Loved Mel and Thoros speaking High Valyrian.

Gosh! Not much of a give away, but , with Mel and Arya, this might be the first time D&D have given something of GRRM's future story away? Or maybe not.

Whew! on Theon, this goes on to the end of season 4 ?

Now I don't mind the 'making of Reek' , but this is going to get tiresome.

The Olenna - Tywin confrontation did not seem well thought through , Rigg and Dance are way above this kind of stuff, well half of it was good , half was a script fumble. The homo-babble was embarrassing.

Now , I must be reading a different book, but by the end of ADwD Tyrion seems to have been Whitewashed by George!

From even SoS , on the page, Tyrion is showing a change in personality , to my eye. I really don't mind that D&D have moved it up , I don't understand all the complaints about it.

Cersei does not seem any less an antagonist as in the books, just a little milder.

I will say it again, many , if not all of the fine actors are going to bring a dimension to GRRM's characters that cannot be in the books, and it's just a fact of life, I can live with it.

[The Real Summer Islander]

Alright. Now it seems almost like it's a hundred percent certainty that the Purple Wedding will happen in S3. Big big fuck up in my eyes.

I really liked the episode btw, one of the best, the climb was TENSE :)

how do you possibly figure that?

[Jaqen H'gcarl]

how do you possibly figure that?

Have you seen season 3 yet?

If not, i'll explain where I got that from.

The purple wedding has been mentioned in probably 4 episodes this season. It's the 6th episode and Sansa is TRYING ON DRESSES for the PW. It is quite obvious that it's going to happen this season. It feels like they have made far too much of a deal out of it to exclude it from this season.

[King Brandon Ice Eyes]

The purple wedding has been mentioned in probably 4 episodes this season. It's the 6th episode and Sansa is TRYING ON DRESSES for the PW. It is quite obvious that it's going to happen this season. It feels like they have made far too much of a deal out of it to exclude it from this season.

I hope you're right. It would be a good way of ending the season. The last episode is called Mhysa. While it's an obvious reference to Dany storyline I guess (if they keep unifying the themes) it could work having Cersei (a mother) carrying Joffrey's lifeless body and Lady Stoneheart being born to avenge her son's life along with Dany and the slaves in the same episode. It makes sense I think.

[boojam]

Have you seen season 3 yet?

If not, i'll explain where I got that from.

The purple wedding has been mentioned in probably 4 episodes this season. It's the 6th episode and Sansa is TRYING ON DRESSES for the PW. It is quite obvious that it's going to happen this season. It feels like they have made far too much of a deal out of it to exclude it from this season.

Doesn't PW happen after RW?

As someone said PW this season is one wedding too many.

Anyway it's a bigger to-do than RW , so needs a big set up.

[Jaqen H'gcarl]

Doesn't PW happen after RW?

As someone said PW this season is one wedding too many.

Anyway it's a bigger to-do than RW , so needs a big set up.

Yes the PW happens after the RW, and yes I agree it's one wedding too many.

Indeed it needs a bigger set up than the RW, but at the rate they have gone on about the PW this season I really cannot see them postpone it to the next season.

[OberynBlackfyre]

I thought it was so GRRM-esque to have the death revealed at the end of the episode like that, kinda like a strike of lightning. I was really unprepared for the dynamic of Mel and Arya though, but thought how they combined the Edric/Ghost of High Heart thing into it was amazing.

I was also glad that Tormund finally had some bloody humor in this episode. I like the actor who plays him, but he doesn't jest nearly as much as in the book and not ONCE has he mentioned his member!

[boojam]

Yes the PW happens after the RW, and yes I agree it's one wedding too many.

Indeed it needs a bigger set up than the RW, but at the rate they have gone on about the PW this season I really cannot see them postpone it to the next season.

They do seem to move at a high rate , being that I think D&D knew they were get 2 seasons for SoS.

That being said , I think their set piece next season will be the battle for the Wall... but they have shown they like to have , at least two (maybe 3) zingers per season.

So this season we have already DRACARYS and the RW is coming.

So depending of what they do with the battle of Meereen next year , PW seems a perfect 4th season zing.

PW should be even more expensive to shoot than RW , or at least the same, seems D&D have not mentioned having to squeeze HBO for more dough like they did for Blackwater.

I think HBO is more comfortable with a budget of more, but I have not heard them going beyond the 60 or maybe 70 million mark for season 3.

Also I have seen no solid reliable on production 'leaks' , like there has been for RW, about PW this year.

[Abaddon]

The purple wedding has been mentioned in probably 4 episodes this season. It's the 6th episode and Sansa is TRYING ON DRESSES for the PW. It is quite obvious that it's going to happen this season. It feels like they have made far too much of a deal out of it to exclude it from this season.

It's pretty simple: the focus on Joffrey and Margary's wedding is misdirection. The intent is to focus the unspoiled reader on what a big deal the wedding is going to be so the wedding of Edmure and Roslin can appear to be secondary in importance.

[The Real Summer Islander]

Have you seen season 3 yet?

If not, i'll explain where I got that from.

The purple wedding has been mentioned in probably 4 episodes this season. It's the 6th episode and Sansa is TRYING ON DRESSES for the PW. It is quite obvious that it's going to happen this season. It feels like they have made far too much of a deal out of it to exclude it from this season.

that means absolutely nothing.. sansa trying on a new gown is in the books.. even if, theres no reason not to believe that the PW wont be in the beginning of season 4.... you simply cannot have the PW without the red viper. theres still so much unfinished plot that basically says it wont be happening in this season that it easily outweighs your argument for the build up to be in season 3.

[Capt. Zemblanity]

Yes the PW happens after the RW, and yes I agree it's one wedding too many.

Indeed it needs a bigger set up than the RW, but at the rate they have gone on about the PW this season I really cannot see them postpone it to the next season.

They did.

http://winteriscoming.net/2013/01/aidan-gillen-talks-season-4-i-have-a-ship/