Channel4s-JonSnow

I wouldn't even score the episode highly on production values or action, so it loses out there too. You can occasionally sway me and I'll forget the bad plotting if the scenes are well directed or beautiful, but apart from some nice landscape shots I can't say that about this episode. The action itself wasn't even close to Hardhome levels , everything was directed in a very safe, standard manner. There were very few epic or interestingly framed shots. It was below average even on those terms

You're right, that was literally the only good point in the entire episode.

I'd give it a 4. What could have been a tremendously exciting episode was destroyed by some of the stupidest writing the show has ever put on screen. At one point I thought I'd simply turn off the tv if the dragons came to a last minute rescue.. not expecting that the writers would stoop so low. But they actually did. There are many things this season which require faith and for you to leave your brain at the door, but the thought that you could run to the wall for miles in thickest winter, send a raven across a continent, prepare and fly across the continent on a dragon and find a lake... all in the space of a day... it's moronic. Not to mention the plan that got them there in the first place. The first time the show has truly upset me with its stupidity

I think I'm maybe starting to adjust to the pure speed that things are happening now. Its basically like a showreel or a trailer for a full season. Not much to say on the episode. My one lasting feeling was awe at the brazeness of some of the writing. The way the shoved Gendry back into the story and got him up past the wall was faster than light. Most of the last 10 minutes was absolutely ludicrous. Still I'm enjoying it all, but in a very different way to the one I used to.

I don't really have a problem with assuming she learnt all these things in her time with the FM, they just didn't really show us any of that, so it feels like it came out of nowhere. They have screwed up her story in many ways by making it feel rushed and cutting out much of what she would have learnt while there. In the books it feels like she is just starting her journey and learning the very basics, and it will be years before she could ever get to this level, but this feels like its possibly a matter of months at most.

I'd say an 8.5. Tale of two halves really. Obviously the Field of Fire battle was awesome in so many ways, I don't need to really explain why it was so much fun to watch. Who wouldn't enjoy the Dothraki in full scale combat, with a dragon burning stuff up. Of course there are a number of travel issues that are heavily glossed over, but thats where we are with the show now. The first half wasn't great though. - The Sansa / Arya reunion was rather flat. It should have been a massive moment, even if Arya is not herself any more. But they somehow made it quite pedestrian and disappointing. I felt very little emotion watching it. I guess they were torn as to how to depict Aryas reaction. - The caves should have been a mysterious / cool moment, but was rather spoilt by the Children of the Forest advancing their drawing skills rather suddenly and learning to draw in a modern realist style, where they were doing patterns before. - Was nice seeing Arya fighting Brienne, but again when did she learn these skills? Fine, I won't grumble. I enjoyed it

I thought it was the best episode of the season so I'll give it an 8. It was the first episode that didn't feel horrendously rushed. I guess I'm now used to the pacing of the show now, that they are fast forwarding and throwing the big events at the screen. This episode seemed to pull that off a bit better than previously. I enjoyed the amount of time they took with each location. That the Jon and Dany scene took its time. Sure it wasn't as momentuous as I'd imagined but at the same time it didn't make me want to puke so that's a bonus

I'm giving it a 7. A definite improvement on last weeks clunkathon. My hopes weren't high after the first scene however. That battle room was another case of characters who seemed to have not had a single conversation with each other over the last few months, and decide to get all the most obvious points out to each other in the space of 5 minutes. So much expositional dialogue I wondered whether I could continue to watch it without ripping the tv apart. I was also frustrated by what appears to be a very black and white view of what each group wanted. Dany and her crew seemed to all be mostly aligned in their ambitions, making their task mostly very simple, there were no conflicting goals, no backstabbing. That did mostly appear to improve as the episode wore on though. The Tarley/Jamie discussion did at least add some sort of political complexity to the show, as minimal as it was. Apart from that there wasn't a huge amount to complain about, obviously Missaworm was just an awkward nonsensical scene that served very little purpose, the same goes for the lesbo action on the boat. But I enjoyed it a lot more than last week, which almost signalled the end of the show for me.

Yeah, that it was clearly designed to elicit a cheer from the audience was obvious. Instead though I watched it completely blankly. Just as when she got Walder Frey, there was little to no build up, no tension and no suspense. It was just 'oh here is Arya, she killed some Freys... Happy now??' I have history as a defender of the show but stuff like this I really cannot defend, and its indicitive of the drop in quality.

It was definitely rushed and therefore very unsatisfying. It felt more like one more box they had to tick before moving on.

A solid 4 out of 10. I guess the best I can say about it is that it set up the pieces and helped people who don't watch the show remember what the hell is going on. however for anyone without the brain of a goldfish it seemed like everything was just being explained for our benefit instead of people have conversations. A couple of good scenes and a couple of truly awful ones! - Kings landing was horrible: so many unnatural conversation and exposition - Somebody kill Ed Sheeran now

I'm giving this episode a 9. It reminded me of the difference between most of the Harry Potter movies, and that 3rd one directed by Cuaron. All except that one movie the Harry Potter movies are bland, safe uninteresting fare which do a decent job of getting the story across, are functionally decent, but at no point cross over into being exceptional or even good. That third movie is different, because it was treated as something more than just a low brow kids movie, but an excuse to make a thing of beauty and ,it might be a bit of a stretch, art. These last 2 episodes have been such a huge step above the previous 8 I'd want Miguel Sapochnik to direct every single episode. If only they could all be this good. Again simply just as a treat for the eyes and the ears it was a fantastic piece of television. That opening sequence in KL was just beautiful, the way he used sound and music to create an atmosphere, the visual and camera shots of the Sept, both interior and the explosion. The haunting way the little birds were running around, the pacing of the shots and the use of silence. Just the best. I could go back and compare what he's done in this episode and what other directors have done in earlier episodes and it doesn't even compare. My least favourite episode this season was 5, I know many liked it, but I thought it was amateurish in its staging and design, poorly directed and was only saved by the Hodor reveal. Otherwise it was a bit of old trash. Sapochnik would have saved that episode. Not only that this episode was full of a bunch of nice moments. Jamie and Walders nasty banter, the Sandsakes and Lady O bantering, I liked Dany dumping Daario, it actually felt emotional.. as did her scene with Tyrion. 'King in the North' actually made me feel something when it happened, I felt a touch of joy and sadness all at the same time. Overall I've liked this season, but its been the most patchy by far. It started off too rushed and hurried, then descended into too slow and lacking in pace, and went out with a bang. I'd hope for more balance next year,

I want to write a longer reply but my eyes rolled out of my skull.

PFF.. Okaaay.

PFFFFFFFFF. LOL. EYEROLL.. etc etc.

The point is that the show doesn't focus on politics in the way that the books do, mainly because that sort of thing is very hard to get across. Just go back and watch earlier episodes, its all about personal relationships between characters, at times its soapy and melodramatic. Don't have rose tinted glasses as to what the show was before.

But the show has ALWAYS made it about personal relationships, the political side of it is merely background dressing. Its always been like that.

The show has only ever had the very smallest nods to political intrigue. Its always bordered on soap opera from the very first episode, and has always focussed on personal relationships. Thinking its a show about politics means you probably have a very shaky memory.

I don't even understand this post. Since when is people making mistakes causing them to be a badass? What is the problem with characters being flawed and screwing up? Isn't that better than the ludicrous idea that Saint Tyrion is something that exists or that Jon is Aragon or something.

Yeah it would be like Transformers 2 getting to the top of the IMDB top 250 best ever movies consistantly. (Even if IMDB is hardly a good measure) The level of snobbery is very high here.

Glad you think the majority of people on this board are morons and somehow you are superior to them

Hes exceptional, he makes all other directors look like chimpanzees.

My friend who I watched the show with, who is Unsullied said after that episode: "FINALLY! Something went right for those characters!!" Because the showrunners have rightfully understood that there is limit to the doom and gloom, that the show has to move forward and get towards the endgame before people get bored.

So yeah in full I'm giving it a 9.5 out of 10. It was near perfect, probably the most engrossing and beautiful bit of tv I've seen. The Hardhome director is just such a step up from everyone who's ever been involved in the show, and I especially mean Neil Marshall who I regard as a bit of a hack. There were so many beautiful and iconic images throughout this episode, everything about it simply looked better than normal, every shot was better, the way he set out the landscapes ( just look at Winterfell in the background, there is something so painterly about it all). I'll start with the bad because i'm going to struggle to find anything I disliked: - The weakest scene for me was the one with Yara, which was a little too smug and 'ooh aren't girls fantastic' for me, but I did like the way they drew out the parallels between Yara and Dany and set out that Dany has an idea of her idea of Westeros in the future. I also enjoyed Tyrions callback to the mad king earlier, because I think its clear that Dany is getting more an more Dragon like in her mentality. I don't think its been the best transition into that, but I'm glad she's there. - Vale Knights turning up last minute was a bit too Helms Deep, but actually I'm not really bothered by it because the way they set up the tension and feeling of despair before this point was perfect. The Good - Firstly, the visuals, I am a sucker for something that looks beautiful, and this was by far the most magnificent looking episode of tv I've ever seen. I said the same about Hardhome which I think was like a medieval Saving Private Ryan x 10. The way the director captured the sense of being in the middle of a medieval battle is simply something I've not seen done that well before. That sense of chaos, of the dirt, the blood, the sounds and the inability to really know whats going on was just brilliant. The guy can direct battles better than almost anyone. Even the Meereen stuff was well done as well. The shots of Drogon were a vast improvement to the crapshow last year when day rode off on her. - The sense of tension throughout was epic, it had the full gambit of emotions, brought me up and down and made me care about the outcome and want to cheer by the end. Yes some of it was a little predictable, but then I hunt for spoliers all the time, and had a good idea what was going to happen before I saw it, but that didn't change how much I enjoyed it. - I expected the episode to simply be one big battle and nothing else, but it had so many small moments that made a difference too. Seeing Davos finding the stag, the way he looked at Mel after that, Mel's conversation with Jon and her look at the end when her visions were proved right. The conversations between Jon and Sansa were full of emotion, I thought Kit has been fantastic since he came back, he really does have a more haunted feel to him, the acting has been a subtle change but its there. - Even the bits I thought were predictable were good, having Rickon run towards Jon was just a heart wrenching moment because of how close they were to each other. That Jon KNEW what not to do against Ramsey but did it anyway because thats who he is, I loved that. Just fantastic in total.

Simply amazing. ill write more tomorrow when I have more time but that was definitely the best episode ever, and possibly the best hour of tv ever, topping even that episode of true detective! It wasn't even that it was beautiful , because it was, but the writing was flawless and there wasn't a single moment I didn't love.