The Fenris Wolf

10/10. Awesome friggin' episode. I loved all of it, even the Pycelle scene. I thought the dragons looked amazing and I was so into that entire scene - tying that bitch of a witch to the pyre, lighting the fire, Dany walking into the blaze, the look on Jorah's face, like he wanted to stop her but couldn't...outstanding. Then Dany is found sitting in the ashes of her husband's funeral pyre, with tiny dragons coiled around her! Wow that was cool. I really liked the scene when the Old Bear was talking about fighting the real war, north of the Wall, while the Night's Watch readied to ride out. That was superb. The Lord Commander has all the best lines, I swear. "Honor made you leave, honor brought you back." "What made you think I was talking about your honor?" Ha! Got to love seeing Jon constantly learning so much from older, wiser men on the Wall. The bit with Sansa and Joffrey on the wall was also really good. When the Hound stopped her from pushing him my wife (non-reader) laughed and said, "He's the only one who even knew what she was going to do!" How true. Doesn't that say a lot about that particular crowd in and of itself? The director also lets you see a bit of the steel in Sansa that starts coming out later. Whoever plays Catelyn Stark is phenomenal. I practically choked up in her scene w/Robb at the tree, where she tells him to first get his sisters back, then to, "kill them all." That was powerful. That look she gave over his shoulder was stone-cold murder! Hell I was even happy with the Ros/Pycelle scene. I've just surrendered to the Ros at this point. They're going to slip her in there alot for their own reasons, whatever. If there has to be random T&A, at least she's smokin hot. Finally, for anyone who is complaining about the CGI for the dragons, seriously give it a rest. I watched the preview of True Blood that came on after this show, and after multiple seasons, their special effects are totally lame compared to GoT. Seriously they had these glowing fruit things that looked like cheap glass apples with lights in them, then it got really trippy and these goblins started throwing balls of fire at each other. It looked like an episode of The Twilight Zone reboot, the effects were so cheesy. With that to compare it to, I'm going to STFU from now on about any CGI or effects in GoT.

Yep, you make some really good points here. This show is indeed light-years ahead of most other shows on TV, and that's not just a slam against the general quality of television shows. It is (IMHO) a phenomenal show so far. I think what is frustrating folks is a combination of changes to their own favorite scenes (which I'm guilty of), and the fact that some very minor and easy changes would bring some scenes from meh to WTF awesome.

Are you serious? I think that's completely untrue. You could say that taking the *entire* TV population as a group (nearly impossible), most of them don't watch TV to be intellectually challenged, and I'd agree. See the ratings for shows like Dancing with the Stars and American Idol as proof. That being said, your average HBO mini-series viewer is a whole different animal. Shows like Rome, The Sopranos, and especially Deadwood were complex, exciting, edgy, and had a rabid and (most importantly) LARGE fan base. I watch this series with my wife (non-reader) and discuss it with some guys at work (some readers, some non-readers). I can say, based on my own limited observations, that the ratings and comments on this board are generally inflated over that of the general population. Again, based on my own experience, so if it's different with you don't get yourself twisted into knots. Most of them are commenting on things like acting, dialogue, the looks of the characters, and whether there is any T&A or action. They don't care if Littlefinger tells the story of the Hound or if the Hound does it himself, exposition is still exposition. And it's boring, generally. Imagine watching another series, like Deadwood, and instead of seeing the fight between Bullock and the indian out in the wilds, you are told about it. Even worse, told about it by someone NOT BULLOCK, having a conversation with someone else. How interesting is that? My biggest fear with this series is that it will go the route of shows like Jericho or Firefly. A couple of seasons, and then it will just fade away.