Archmaester Marwin

This episode had great moments and weak moments:

GREAT

1. Ghost. OMG wow looks amazing. Exceeds my wildest expectations.

2. Pyke. Looks bloody phenomenal. Bigger than I expected, much more of a whole castle.

3. Sallador Saan - He was awesome. Not typical blonde Lyseni, but he seemed to have a summer islander vibe with is comments about the holiness of a woman's parts.

4. Lommy suggesting yield, Hot Pie talking about what makes a battle, Yoren, Arya and Gendry's scenes. I'm really liking this plot line. Jaqen was good too.

5. Tyrion and Cersei have great on screen chemistry.

WEAK

1. I thought Janos Slynt was balefully dull. He should have been louder, more obnoxious, and drunker IMO.

2. Littlefinger wiping the whore's mouth. I simply cannot defend this pointless, over the top, filth. I have never complaied about the sexing up of the show before, but that was just nasty. There was no need for it either. He could have wiped her without her being so messy, it would have accomplished the same thing. What, does she have no feeling in her face? WTF.

3. Didn't like Yara. Perhaps I am unfairly comparing her to my mental image of book Asha, but still.

4. Didn't like the sex scene between Mel and Stannis. I think the very last thing we needed at this point in establishing Stannis' hard as iron stubborn honor is a scene of him cracking and forsaking his honor, even if it might have happened.

Can someone point out how in ACOK the extent of Mel & Stannis's relationship is implied besides the fact that she carries his banners and other stuff like killing Renly and....the othee guy at Storms' End (name escapes me)? I found him to be a very stern figure and not very sexual at all. In the book he does make a comment to Renly regarding his homosexuality, so I see that, but if someone can help me out on my question I'd appreciate it.

Well,

Under Storm's End she gives birth to a shadow that Davos recognizes...presumably Stannis. How did the shadow get into her womb? Pretty strong implication for sex

I give it an 8. I was impressed. I guess I went in with lower expectations and I kind of thought they'd drop the ball after a fairly solid first season. I was also pleasantly surprised with Greywind. Considering the budget, I'm infinitely happier with more CG direwolves than some fucking poorly trained husky puppy. Joffrey was great, I actually lied the Cersei/Littlefinger bit, and even Melissandre was better than I expected.

Stannis is too young and too soft, Melissandre feels a little less arrogant and succubus-like, Davos is a garbage interpretation so far (the guy's supposed to be a pirate,) BUT this show never held a candle to the books. This is MUCH better than what I was expecting, and I enjoyed it more than several episodes of the first season.

Are you sure Davos is supposed to be a pirate? Last I checked he was supposed to be a knight who was a SMUGGLER like 18 years ago (He relieved the seige of Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion. I thought Davos was good.

The direwolf did look really good though, I agree with you there.

5 or 6. I have NUMEROUS complaints. I have a serious case of fanboy rage right now.

In no particular order

1.Crasters keep...felt rushed, Jon was being a douche for no reason, Craster seemed wrong.

2.Robb's scene with Jaime- WTF? Jaime is now denying things for no reason, and saying Robb has no proof? And he's SCARED of the Direwolf? Absolutely out of character for Jaime.

3. Littlefinger and Cersei - Wow that felt forced.

4. Ros's echo of Littlefinger's season 1 lecture about not rushing it - Felt forced, was stupid.

5. Joffrey having guys fight to the death instead of joust - there was really no reason to not let Ser Dontos just get totally pwned by Ser Lothor Brune. But I see why they did this...horses and jousting would use more budget.

6. Maester Cressen already dying by the time Mel drinks, and drinking without prompt. Just bizzare. Why? Neither Mel of the Maester's actions are explicable for this moment.

7. Gendry and Arya wearing eyeliner. WTF?

8. Tyrion coming in all mud caked telling Joffrey he looked for him at the battle. What battle, the one Tyrion slept through on the Green Fork? WTF? Did the guy who wrote this episode even watch Season 1? Why would Tyrion still be dirty? Tyrion's intro made me feel like it wasn't his first time back. Was awkward.

9. Joff calling out Cersei on incest. WTFFFF

10. DANY'S WEIRD INTERACTION WITH RAKHARO!!!! WHHHATTTT IN SEVEN HELLS WAS THAT!! They better not get romantic!!