David Selig

But it's more sympathetic not to have serious flaws and make serious mistakes than to feel regret over them, right? So logically if Cat never prayed for Jon's death and never broken her promise to the gods, she should'be more sympathetic.

I am frankly at a loss why this scene makes Catelyn looks more sympathetic. It's revealed she prayed for the death of a baby and later on didn't make good on a serious promise to the gods even though she's very religious. Yes, she feels bad about this now, but so what?

So you automatically become a monarch when you kill the previous one even if your power base consist of a handful of men and you have no other followers? It doesn't work this way.

9/10. First 10 minutes were pretty mediocre, the Bron - Hound was a bore. After that it was great, with a really fantastic final scene.

Oh, and I was quite annoyed that Robb kept saying that the deal with the Freys was only "for a bridge" and ignored the 4000 soldiers he got out of it, every single one of which he desperately needs now. After they made a point at the start of the episode to show how Robb considers himself to be a really responsible lord caring for his subjects, ignoring this is quite hypocritical. Not marrying the Frey girl would not be just Robb breaking his word, it would mean losing a large part of his army at a time he really could not afford it and Robb knows that. Robb and Talisa had the potential to be a good plotline, both of the actors are very good, they have decent chemistry together, and Oona Chaplin being gorgeous helps matters a lot, but the writing is just so bad their scenes remain mediocre at the best of times. Was anyone surprised even a little bit by the story of why Talisa became a medic? It's basically the same story we've all seen and read dozens of times. Every dialogue between those two is so predictable and follows the cliches so closely I can guess the next line basically word for word without even trying much. Some positives - the Theon/Asha scene at the start was really good. Lena Headey's acting has improved by leaps and bounds since last season, her Cersei looks a lot more convincing to me now. Good to see Varys again.

So Stannis will attack in tow days and Tywin's army is still at Harrenhall and he wants to attack Robb's forces? How would Stannis be defeated at Blackwater? I really hope they won't have Tyrion defeats him only with the meagre forces he has in KL, this would be ridiculous, though given that they are doing their best to whitewahs Tyrion and turn him into a hero with no flaws, it wouldn't surprise me. No word on LF's negotiation with the Tyrells, which sucks, I was hoping we'd see how he arranged the alliance, they showed him in so many pointless scenes this season yet apparently skipped the really important ones. Anyway, pretty good episode overall. Bu I am disappointed they didn't show how more of the interaction between Cat and Jaime - the vows, how Jaime was released and got out of the camp, etc. The scene between Robb and Cat should've been longer too, so much potential for drama there was largely wasted. I really don't like Arya didn't have to kill anyone to get out of Harrenhal. This is a crucial part of her character deveopment, showing how ruthless and desensitized she has become because of all the violence she's witnessed at such an young age, and also showing how capable she is to deal with problems. Stannis hates cats and likes dogs, figures, no wonder he's such a killjoy.

I don't think there are different standards in the North - Ned said when he was leaving for KL that Cat was to govern the North in his stead for a few years until Robb became of age, and when Cat and Robb met at Moat Cailin, she was the one who was legally in charge and Robb half expected her to order him to go back home. It's just that Robb was already leading the army, winning battles and only a few months shy of his 16th birthday and he had no older male relatives on the Stark side, so his bannermen decided to ignore the technicality and put him in charge as King in the North even if he still was theoretically not reached his majority.

It's not Michelle Fairley's fault that the way her character is written in the show has been pretty mediocre overall. Her acting has been great, but what Evamitchelle objected to has nothing to do with acting. Thy didn't took it from him, it was Cersei's idea in the books too. BTW, my impression is that the writers of the show didn't intend to make the fact that Bran and Rickon are alive and those bodies in the end aren't theirs, much of a secret. They telegraphed it pretty blatantly. It's not a error, they just intended to show it differently than in the books.

I am hoping Qhorin is already captured, otherwise he's the most overrated ranger ever for not being able to find Jon for so long.

Pretty good episode overall. The show's main strength this season continues to be the acting performances and this episodes was one of the best in this respect. The changes in the Robb/Cat/Jaime plotline mostly worked, though Jaime killing his cousin was unnecessary and silly. The Qarth scene was pretty well done, Iain Glen gave another fantastic performance. Main problem for me was the cringe worthy Jon - Ygritte scene. It would've been mildly amusing if she had made one or two jokes about his blue balls and left it at that, but instead she went on and on and on...Pointless and way overlong scene. Qhorin must be the most overrated ranger in the NW, BYW, since he couldn't find Jon. How hard would it be to track him in the snow?

In the show most of Tyrell's bannermen joined Stannis after Renly's death, unlike in the book.

What are you going to tell us next? That the sun rises from the east? Your post is much more condescending than the one you quoted. "It's an adaptation" it's not a valid excuse for weak writing and scenes which don't make sense when you look at them closely.

What's with everybody this season treating Jon as some kind of an idiot this season and rubbing it in his face repeatedly, BTW? I don't even like him and yet it starting to get annoying and too much. Craster, the Old Bear, now Qhorin and Ygritte... How would the writers sell to the viewers Jon being chosen for Lord Commander so young when they keep presenting him as an incompetent fool? What was that "You are even dumber than you look" line for?

Weakest episode of the season IMO. Too many "WTF" scenes not because they were changed from the books, but because they made very little sense. Jon's chase of Ygritte was just ridiculous, just as the later scene with them lying next to each other (Rockroi explained perfectly why). Sansa suddenly trusting and treating Shae like a close friend when the last time we saw those two she hated her and thought she was a spy, Dany thinking that a few ships are all she needs to take the iron Throne, Littlefinger and Arya scene (they've really made him totally incompetent at anything besides brothel management this season) - all of this was poorly written. Some good moments, of course - the riot, the Winterefell scenes, Michelle Fairley being awesome as usual, but overall I was disappointed. Rose Leslie's acting was great, a shame they didn't give her some decent lines instead of all that nonsense.

Your condescending tone is really not helping your argument, you know. All of your arguments have been made plenty of times before and have never convinced me and many other posters, and no, it's not because we are not thinking about the issue... No, she just appears from time to time to give Dany some vague warnings and prophesies so people who are so inclined can waste time arguing about them on the Internet, then disappears again. One of the most useless and boring characters in the series.

It's pretty strongly hinted in the books that Brienne killed one of the two men-at-arms who attacked her after Renly's death. "She (Catelyn) glanced back, saw the second guardsman fall, his blade dropping from limp fingers." I was still a bit disappointed with the scene though, I wanted to see Cat participate in the fight, as she did in the books by hitting one of those who fought Brienne with a brazier. It would've made Brienne swearing fealty to her better reasoned. Plus why not show how Brienne and Cat sneaked out of the camp, it would've been quite a tense scene, especially for those who haven't read the books. Apart from that, very good episode overall. LF for once this season behaved like a competent plotter, not some clumsy wannabe. The dragon was so adorable and awesome. Rickon sighting! Tiryon was fine as usual, though they are taking the childishness of their enmity with Cersei to an even higher level than in the books. Why wouldn't she tell him she's planning to use wildfire for defending the city? For once even the NW scenes didn't drag for me, mostly because of the awesome view all around, it was spectacular to watch, some really impressive shots. Plus Sam continues to be great. I know it's shallow, but I wanted to see Doreah naked, she looked stunning in this episode. Hopefully in the next one, they did tease the viewers rather blatantly with that possibility of that. Better her than Ros or another random LF whore to fill the boobs quota.

If Stannis really didn't want to be a king, he wouldn't have made his claim for the crown. Nobody forced him to do it, it was his own choice. Besides, let's not forget he's a big time hypocrite and has no PoV, so anything he says should be taken with a big grain of salt.

Thoros was mentioned in the first season, Beric even appeared in it. Most likely they will appear at some point.

Renly is an enemy of the Lannisters, it's quite possible they deliberately spread the news that he's gay to discredit him and increase the morale of their own troops. Similar things have happened in history.

Just because there are sharp class distinctions, doesn't mean the higher born don't fall for the common. They just don't marry them except in really exceptional cases, but falling in love should be far more common. It happened a few times in the books for people of Robb's rank or close to it - Tyrion and Tytos Lannister for example, and at least a few of all those bastards in the books weren't born simply from lust. Plus for all we know, it may be revealed that the girl is a noble.

Varys's little birds. In the books he had spies in Renly's camp there who informed him pretty quickly what was going (Renly going to Storm's end, Renly dying, etc).

Good episode overall. I loved the shadowbaby and the Harrenhall scenes, Michelle Fairlay was amazing as always, and the Sansa scene was well done. I don't like what the writers are doing to LF. He is so clumsy and obvious in his dealings. Why was he so cocky and provocative with Margaery with all those unsubtle hints about Rrenly and Loras, instead of trying to make her like him? Apparently Renly doesn't like him too, which is no surprise after the first season, of course, but you got to wonder how did LF succeeded for many years in the court being a very minor noble with no retainers or lands to speak of, when he's so good at making people dislike him. And his scene with Cat..I know he's obsessed about her, but come on, he's smart enough to know how stupid would be to hit on her at this moment, especially given how much was at stake for him politically.

This was my initial reaction to the scene. Then I remembered that in the show they have done very little to show the kind, courteous and caring side of Sansa, unfortunately. Only thing that comes to mind is saving Dontos. On the other hand, they've added scenes where's been petulant and bitchy like her "I don't care" moment to Septa Mordaine in the first season. TV Sansa is very different from Book Sansa. Some of the changes feel pointless, both those scenes where she's bitchy have added nothing to the plot and watching her being petulant is simply boring.

Robb said in the first episode of the season that he was sending Cat to the Stormlands to meet with Renly, and nothing in this episode contradicted this.

Really good episode. I really liked most of it - Brienne is spot on, the way Renly and Margaery are developed is really interesting and well presented, Theon's standing up to his father and asking him why he got the blame for Balon's failure was something I've wondered a few times why he didn't do in the books and was done very well. Tyrion's scenes were excellent, some of the best Dinklage moments yet, the way he said "Make do" to Shagga about the goat was awesome. Michelle Fairley was impressive as always. Memorable ending too, I'd sure miss Yoren a lot. The only thing I didn't like was the Sansa - Shae scene, it felt pointless and Sansa was a bit too petulant. I am really interested how the idea of getting LF involved into Jaime's release will develop. It has the potential to be either really good but a lot of things can go wrong if the writers are not careful. Another meeting between LF and Cat is certainly something I'd love to see, there's so much potential for good drama there.