Carldog

Finally got to watch it.... good ending. For the first time since the begging of the season the show felt epic. Let's hope they come back next year with some more $ and step things up a little.

Gave this ep a 9.

They've all but cut the dire wolves...

Mr. Bastard,

At any point in my post did I say sex scenes cost as much as battle scenes? No.

What I said was sex scenes cost more than, let's say, your average person to person interaction in KL or at the Wall. Cut back on sex and have more money to do other things.

It's called managing your money.

Reading a lot about how the budget held back the battles. Not good enough.

There are a lot of pointless scenes in the seires that cost a fair amount of money, such as long, drawn out, hard core sex. Those women get paid well to preform, and preform they did.

Don't defend this with budget constrains when all it needed was a few clips.

Ok, I get it, their skipping one battle to focus on the other.... no, no their... their shipping both? No. Way.

Talk about your all time let-downs. This happens to often.

6, for what it could have been. There where some great scenes but at the end of the day it did not deliver. Anyone watch the new x-men? That delivered. The Dark Night? That delivered. Band of brothers? Delivered. The Pacific? Delivered. Deadwood? Delivered.

This is a good series, but I can in no way endorse the idea that it is on even ground with the books. Im talking direction and writing, at the top when it's good, at the bottom when it's bad.

I'm bot saying it hasn't delivered... just not enough.

That ep worked for me. I gave it an 8+, which is high for my standards. Its the first time this seires truly felt epic, which was an element I thought was lacking from the show. Of course I'm judging the sieres to the book, and that not fair to the sieres. It would need to be twenty hours long (which would be great) to capture the ture nature of A Game of Thrones.

Lany,

Yes there are misunderstandings. I never insulted him or discredited him. I made a joke about my own comment; the Drogo secne had a WWE feel to it, he said he liked it, I said he must like WWE. It's a joke.

As for my opinions; they are not the only viable ones on the board, but they are made without an emotional attachment.

You admit emotion in your last post which creates bias messaging. It goes back to my original statement of inflated ep rankings.

who cares about what I have to say? Im one dude.

Lany,

We, the readers, not your husband, the non reader, must separate emotions.

How eles can I put it?

Popgun,

To quote Gus from Lonesome Dove, "your in over your head, Pea."

To quote Walter from Big Lebowski "your out of your element, Donny!"

Lany:

Your husband must like pro wrestling.

Look, I never said it's not a good show, (Its my fav on tv) but you prove my point when I say we fan boys/girls can't truly make subjective post unless we strip all emotion. That dosent happen here much; look at the rankings of each ep. Not many votes below seven.

It reminds me of when Star Wars ep 1 came out. People where going nuts as they made their way out of theaters saying how great it was. A few months later most were in tears.

Remember fan is short for fanatic.

What I'm saying is remove the emotional attachment and judge it that way. It's very hard to do; most posters can't.

It can't truely be subjective if emotions are fueling your post, there needs to be separation, which the forum lacks when dealing with the show.

Tywin: how was it bad? How was it good, I ask?

Drogo: "I want you! Westeros, next Saterday night in the Madisen Square Garden!...."

Robert: that was not done well... FACT

Porn: "hey Joey, my mom and dad are gone. Look whats on TV," says the 15 year old to his friend.

We are all die hard fans of asoiaf, but at times our emotions can get in the way of what is really going on. Thus, I feel, this forum lacks brutal honesty. People that see the truth are calling out the show, while others are saying its "the best one yet" or "excellent" or "a 10". The fact is this ep was none of those. It was good, not great, and I don't see how a view could be subjective.

Ex:

The porn shot- I like chicks, but we all know what's going on there.

Robberts death- "I guess the king died"' lacked emotion.

Tywin and the stag- poorly done when put in context of the book.

Drogo- here I come WWE!

In conclusion, this ep was much like the seires, up and down, hit and miss, a roller coster...you get the point.

Liked it. I think an eight is in place. The lack of D wolves is hurting the show greatly, but that's not to say its not moving in the right direction.

Things that irked me:

Really? You thought this ep good? Doesn't sound like it.

-- Didn't like Sandor keeping his fist raised with Loras. I don't remember that being in the book, I feel like Book Sandor would have scowled, spit (at Loras, not the king), and stalked away, angry at having been forced into a conflict not of his own making, for this creampuff knight who he wouldn't respect.

-- Loras is bad. He's not nearly as beautiful as he's supposed to be in the books (making Sansa's swooning a little hard to believe), but the dude has an uncut toothpick body, I don't see how he's a master swordsman or can even hold up the jousting lance. Frankly, he looks ridiculous as a "great knight" in his armor. Again, I think he should look more like this.

-- Renly too small and weak, not charismatic or confident enough.

-- Scene between Varys and Littlefinger went on too long and set them up as much more outwardly confrontational than in the book. Could be an interesting take on it, but I don't think it's needed to show it that way. I feel like they both work behind the scenes and wouldn't want to give away any information they didn't have to (including knowledge about each other).

-- Didn't like the lighting when Arya was hiding int he dragon skull. Scene should have been darker (mostly torchlight) but at the same time I thought the skull was not at all obviously a dragon skull, even in HD. Would people who haven't read the books even recognize it as such?

-- Ned-Jaime fight should have been in the dark and in the rain, not yet another sunny palm-tree day in King's Landing. Yeah, plot-wise it doesn't really change anything horribly, I just thought they missed an opportunity to set a great mood there. Think about the fight between Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford at the end of Blade Runner. Would that scene have had the same impact in sunny, dry daylight? "The Storm" has started with this fight, this is where it all really starts going downhill, they should have had the environment play a role in reinforcing that.

-- The long shot of the Eyrie. Kind of cool, but I always pictured it carved into the side of a cliff instead of as a freestanding structure. Not sure why the Moon Door should be a hole in the floor (for one thing, it's a waste of space, just doesn't seem as practical as an actual door in the wall).

-- The tournament still looks terribly small and cheap. I guess it's over now? Can't tell. Like Episode 4, they didn't really give many clues as to where we're at with it (people advancing, being officially crowned as champion, etc.). We visit it randomly a couple times to fit in some key scenes, but that's it, it seems forced in.

-- Bran-Luwin scene (Game of Thrones: The Board Game!) seemed a little off and unnecessary. I get that they were trying to lay out the land/map/families for people unfamiliar with the world, but it was clumsy and boring for me.

-- What was the point of Ned going to see the other Robert bastard (the baby)? He already knows about Gendry, isn't that enough? OK, he saw the baby, fine, it doesn't really prove anything more than he already knew (even if the baby actually is Robert's, it's the word of a whore after all, and you can't really see that it looks like Robert). And he did this while he must have known his family would be in increasing danger with each passing minute (he has his daughters isolated in their rooms and posted his best guards there). Feels like Ned visiting the whorehouse again was a lazy excuse to set him up for the Jaime fight, not brought on by true motivations.

Things I liked:

-- Everything else was completely awesome!

I just wish they would think about each scene and try to think "What simple things could we do to make this more dramatic or clear?" or "Is this scene even necessary?" There are small things that could be changed or added that would improve scenes, but it seems like they just didn't take the time to ask those questions in every case.

Still, great episode overall.

I like to wait a day before I vote, but... Gave it a 9+; great episode, best one yet.

7.5

6.5... rounded up to 7 on the thread.

This episode seemed a bit clustered with a lot of back and forth, but also had some great character scenes. Not as good as last week but like a I've stated before; it's great to see AGoT on my TV screen... Ill take what I can get.

6.5... rounded up to 7 on the thread.

This episode seemed a bit clustered with a lot of back and forth, but also had some great character scenes. Not as good as last week but like a I've stated before; it's great to see AGoT on my TV screen... Ill take what I can get.

First off, I've enjoyed both episodes.

I gave this one an 80% (85% really) for three reasons: 1. Tyrion waking up in the dog pin is out of character for him and I didn't like that. 2. The lack Ghost I have a problem with. 3. The chick on chick thing with Dany and Darea was a waste of time. I'll take more story over more sex.

Very pleased over all.