O man, season's finally over, and what a wait it will be 'til next spring. Thankfully episode 10 was great and still managed to amaze me despite the fact that I've read through game of thrones twice within the last couple months. Still I gave it an 8.5 rounded to a 9, mostly since I was expecting a bit more from the final scene. The scenes new to the storyline (aka not the book stuff) were great this time around, although the maester Pycelle scene was drawn out far longer than it needed to be to prove its point. Pycelle's untrustworthiness should have already been established in the minds of anyone paying attention to the show, let alone the books. He is portrayed as an opportunistic Lannister creature from the moment he seems to deflect the well founded speculation that Lannister men are behind the initial ravagings in the Riverlands (scene where Ned holds court). I guess the writers wanted to make it more apparent that he truly is as fake as they come in King's Landing, which is saying a lot. Having Ros in the scene works for a simple continuity, I don't see what the complaints regarding her are all about. Besides she's hot, although Pycelle in that sheerish robe is most certainly not. The greatest addition was the scene with Robb and Caitlin in their state of grief, something the book passed over more than I would have preferred given the humanity of all the characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. The final scene is an amazing addition to the storyline of course. However, I wish it had played out more similarly to the way it did in the books; not because I'm a to-the-book pain in the ass loyalist, but because the book scene was better IMO. The lack of not seeing the comet took away from the magic of the scene. Also the comet gives continuity to the overall storyline since everyone in the world can see it, and if anything it means a resurgence of magic - a theme that will strongly develop in the episodes to come. It would have been an easy cgi addition to the scene too, since you can easily superimpose it on a solid black night sky. The biggest difference is how the scene ends in the daytime seemingly hours later rather than seemingly minutes later in the book. Its strange that Dany would have just been chilling there for hours with her dragons. It may add more weight and mystique to the scene to end it the way they portrayed it, but there's something about the ferocity and power that was lost from not having the spell work as quickly as the fire burns. I'm not going to nitpick the fact that Dany still has her hair - it makes her seem all the more untouchable by fire. Also the visual of her and the dragons was beautifully done, and not just because Emilia Clarke is super bangin. It reminded me of Botticelli's Birth of Venus painting, and truly this is a rebirth for Dany. The dragons were also really cool, even cute looking. They would definitely make awesome pets especially since you would never ever need to buy another barbecue ever again.
