redriver

I've gave it 5. While in the first episode I was mostly frustrated about the casting issues, in the current one my point of concern was the blatant adding of unnecessary footage.

Some people here are saying, that it was necessary to show Stannis and Mellisandre sharing their body fluids atop of the map of Westeros, as it was necessary to show in the first season Renly getting a blowjob from Ser Loras. Well, I disagree with you. There is no need to chow every bit of info from the books to help the audience swallow it - GRRM haven't showed this stuff "on-screen" in his writing for a purpose - he was aiming to a bit more intelligent reader. And the film directors are definitely trying hard to make this season more RATING-vice than QUALITY-vice. Maybe they'll add some cameo appearance of Harry Potter in the sixth episode? It also can increase the DVD sells afterwards... Chuck Norris can also save the day!

I have no problem with the vivacity of the sex scenes - GRRM provided plenty of these thro out his books. But all of these brothel sequences with an non existing Ros character (who is fucking her way thru the whole Westeros - and with the help of the script writers maybe will sit the Iron Throne some day) is a waste of a screen time - and we all know - that ten one-hour-episodes are clearly not enough to cover all of ACOK.

The Iron Islands part was OK. Asha (it is really awkward for me to call her Yara) is nothing like I always imagined her, and Balon Greyjoy is a bit too young, but they are bearable...

Two moments that pissed me off were: the death of one of Dany's bloodriders - Aggo, Jhogo and Rakharo are alive thro out all of the books - so why are you killing one of them? And also the encounter of Jon in the woods with Craster smuggling his son - as far as ADWD we have no curtain knowledge of what was the fate of his children. So why do the script writers are taking so much freedom in revealing all of GRRM's secrets so soon?

I've just realized, that the guy with the beard that is talking to Jon/Sam/Grenn is Dolorous Edd - I thought it was Pyp who's grown a beard! Now that's a Hell of a BAD casting job!!! It's turning worse with every moment. And Rorge is looking just filthy, not menacing at all (and he's got a nose!).

Balon Greyjoy too young?Patrick Malahide is 67 years old.

What age do you think Balon is?

I think the Stannis portrayal is pretty much accurate.The Stannis I recall in the early books is pretty much a man in thrall to Mel,and cold, and not lovable.

This is what we get.If and when Stannis turns badass,I'm sure we will get that too.

I gave the first episode an 8 and really would have given the second a 9.The drama factor really kicked in here,whereas it was naturally absent in E1 due to it being a scene setter.

The Tyrion scenes were amazing and the line to Slynt,"I'm not questioning your honour,I'm denying it's existence" was priceless.

Great to see Arya and Gendry.The Theon scenes were great,but tinged with a sense of tragedy for me.

I like Davos' Merseyside accent.This is shaping up to be at least as good,if not better than Season 1.

Gave it a miserly 8,but really 8.5.

I gave it an 8.The episode seemed to pass too quickly.

The sets looked fantastic,the acting excellent.It's a good start and I expect it to improve.

Looking forward to episede 2.