Silverjaime

The acting was superb throughout, the special effects were excellent, I can't even decide which scene I liked best - Bron firing the arrow, Cersie's drunken nastiness, Tyrion taking charge, Stannis fighting on no matter what his men do, Sansa saying "you won't hurt ME", etc etc......! George's dialogue was spot on, lots of wit and memorable lines from everyone. Season two started off quite disappointingly IMO but this episode was probably one of the best hours of TV I've ever seen! How are they gonna follow that??!!

Did out a reply but the board ate it! So - gave it a 6; too many things not great - Robb, Dany, Jon - their storylines have been chopped and changed too much for my liking; LF still popping up all over Westeros to have yet another scheming chat with another character; Arya and Tywin - great acting but nonsensical scenes - he would hardly even think of a child servant as human never mind confide in her. Liked the Winterfell part - powerful scenes very well acted; the riot scenes - very good, Sophie was great, and thank goodness the Hound got a couple of words and some action; and Tyrion and Joffrey interaction never ceases to amuse! Overall if it was just a TV show it would be good. But I think the increasing departures from the novels are changing the characters, their journeys and their motivations, and setting up problems for future continuity. Also Jaqen/Lorch...WTF?? Why make the killing funny? Where is scary magical Jaqen?

I gave it a 6. On the plus side - thank god we got actual storyline instead of more senseless goings-on in a brothel. And I love Brienne - the scenes between her and Catlyn were very powerful - Michelle Fairley is so intense! Maisie again shines even when playing against Charles Dance - who IS Tywin! - their scenes I loved. And the Stannis and Davos scene was really good - love Liam Cunningham. Tyrion however, is continuing to be the comic relief - where is the tormented book-Tyrion? Couldn't we see him occasionally? And I'm afraid Renly's death did not turn out to be the shocking event it should have been - apart from Brienne's reaction. The Tyrrells didn't seem to care much, and Loras' grief and rage were very underplayed. Dany's story continues to not grip me, but then it didn't in the book either; though I love how emotive Iain Glen is - fantastic actor. As for Littlefinger - OK of course they had to have Aidan Gillen popping up all over the place - LF is hardly in ACOK at all, and they had to write him in - but it seems out of place to have him at Renly's camp. And though I love the actor to bits and have admired his work for years, I'm still not convinced by his portrayal of LF, though that is down to script and direction to a large extent..... Overall it was the best episode yet I thought, and we got some solid coverage of the many storylines, and there were many really great scenes. Just a few niggles which kept it from a higher score IMO.

Just finished viewing as I'm the UK side of the Pond. This ep was absolutely brilliant! From the first dramatic scene - I'm so pleased they continued from last ep and didn't cut away from Ned's Death to somewhere else - to the end with Dany and the dragons, it hardly put a foot wrong. Well except for the obligatory naked Roz scene (now we get her washing her bits!) and Pycelle's rambling exposition, which just didn't seem to belong among the rest of the more epic scenes. I mean who cares if Pycelle isn't what he's pretending to be? who is? We can see they're all two-faced and deceitful.... But APART from that - excellent episode, wonderfully epic, lots of stirring and emotional scenes, beautifully acted all round - and having not been a book-Dany fan at all I wasn't expecting to like show-Dany so much - Emilia has really won me over in the last few eps. Sansa is much more sympathetic than in the book, I hated her forever, but Sophie is showing her as more nuanced and suffering. Jack Gleeson continues to amaze - what a brilliantly evil and hateful little git! His acting has been super! The brothers bringing Jon back - the hair on the back of my neck stood up when they recited the vow; King in the North - another such moment! And good grief Iain Glen is one of the sexiest men in the show - he should wear half-open shirts all the time...(just sayin'....). Jaime looking half-ashamed when confronted by Catelyn; Tywin and Tyrion "you're my SON"; still not impressed by sour-faced Shae; LF and Varys sparring - though the last scene of theirs was funnier; poor little Arya having to join that frightening band of no-goods (and her hair is so cute!); Gendry looking tough; Bran and Rickon in Winterfell where WINTER IS COMING!! And the DRAGONS!!! really well done! Beautiful CGI. Emilia was so graceful and proud! I could go on and on.... Well done to D&D for this one - and it beautifully sets up the storylines for S2. Can't wait!