Davieboy

Fab episode, 9 for me. Best so far this series. Theon magnificent, well done Alfie! Sacking of Winterfell, mob attack, both just great. "Little bird......" Ygritte; perfectamondo! And where's the love for Osha? Magnificent acting there, improving the perfection of the novel. Nat - brilliant! Years later and I'm still spellbound...

My verdict is a 9. I thought it covered a lot of ground well, with fab performances all round. I actually think Alfie Allen is capturing Theon very well - I can easily imagine him in the events we know are coming up in the future, esp. his initial meeting with Asha, a real highlight for me. Harry Lloyd's Viserys deserves all the plaudits it's receiving. Enjoyed the Bronn fight - I always imagined Sean Bean (in his Sharpe persona) as Bronn whilst reading the books. Loved Mord - could not resist telling my wife about the gold teeth he later acquires, probably the only spoiler I've given her! She's never read the book and positively loves the show (as do all her workmates she convinced to watch based on my say-so). Dany's story is her favorite part. Downsides - as SFA-OK says above the King's council is lacking something; I don't recognise Renly on TV as the Renly in the books and Littlefinger, one of my fave characters hasn't really shone yet. Early days for him I guess, and Varys is fine so far. I guess it's just Renly. As always, the end of the show is a huge wrench back to reality..... Watching from ep. 1 tonight as my friend from Oz is over - I have to do my BwB duty!

I found this the weakest of the eps. so far - did not like Sam much - perhaps he'll grow on me. The conversation about girls with Jon was pretty awful I thought. Also stiil underwhelmed by Littlefinger - Aiden Gillen was my choice from way back, but so far something (Carcetti?) seems missing.... Varys seems prety much OK, but in my head I'm listening for the Roy Dotrice voice. Bath scene was meh, though I think Viserys and Dany are excellent. Good things - The Mountain of course, plus Eddard, Cat and Tyrion all fab as usual. Great things - Arya, the star of the series so far, and Hodor - perfect! As I say, the weakest so far, a 6 for me, but I still loved it and it's a 10 compared to anything else. My pal is over from Australia and I can't wait to sit him down to watch all the eps so far... I've force-fed this series to quite a few people and it seems to be all positive, with many of them proposing to pick up the subsequent books once this season is played out. Best thing is that my wife is hooked after hearing me witter on about ASoIaF for years!

I vote 7. Wasn't totally happy with the first few minutes, did not think the introduction to the Council worked well. No sense of Renly's character for a start. Littlefinger had chances to shine later. Didn't much care for the Cersei/Joffrey scene, but Jaime is spot-on for me. Liked all the talk of the old King and his crazy doings, and the mention of Ser Simon Toyne was a real bonus. Thought the goodbye scene between Cat & Ned worked well, very poignant. Arya is just a total delight for me, as are Jon, Tyrion, Robert, Sir Barristan, Benjen, Joren. The Dothraki scenes worked well in this ep - less time on screen, but quality time. Slightly disappointed by The Old Bear (was this raven around?), but he hasn't had much time yet. Jorah is flying the family flag higher for now... Syrio - perfecto! And Jon's ascent of the Wall was pretty epic. Of course every ep gets a 10 by any other standard, but so far it's 9-9-7. Difficult to drag myself back into reality at the end of the episode... why can't it just keep going?