mrnegativity

Fair point! I'm not convinced they can get away without an intermediary between Margaery and Littlefinger. She's too young to be actively scheming at such a high level. The Reeds were really just a plot device to get Bran north of the Wall - as much as I enjoy their characters, from a narrative point of view they're readily expendable. Similarly, Damphair only exists to introduce us to the Drowned God, and call a Kingsmoot. Both of those things can be done without him. But scheming to assassinate a king... we'll see how they develop Margaery's character in the show, but I can't see book Margaery doing much other than following instructions / scheming along a very set path (i.e. this is what our family wants, here is your left and right of arc, scheme however you will within these bounds).

^^ agreed. They're just advancing her character development. In the books Margaery is barely mentioned until she's married to Joffrey. Gotta say I am wholly in favour of bringing her into the story earlier. I can't see them cutting out Olenna, though - there's no way Margaery could believably carry out the assassination on her own.

Awesome post re: Loras and Renly, Mr. Rockroi. Completely agree that it was more painful to watch Renly's inability to be aroused by his hot, hot wife than to watch him passionately kiss his main dude. For an HBO 'sex scene' the whole thing in the tent was handled very well. Get over the gayness people! I disagree re: Yoren, though. Aside from the fact that he is a badass (and the books support this), there are plenty of characters who have died less-than-heroic deaths in the TV series. For example - you mention Jory, arguably Ned, poor old Lemmy, the squire that fought Gregor, etc. - all died quick, brutal, and arbitrary deaths. Moreover, there _will be_ plenty more quick, brutal, and arbitrary deaths. Surely we're allowed a few heroic exits here and there! :D

It's nice seeing someone here who hasn't read the books! It's impossible for me (and I suspect most people here) to watch without thinking about the books. Like a neverending meta-critique playing out as the show does. So it's refreshing getting your perspective! You're in for a crazy ride, dude. It's all I can do not to spoil shit for you. I'll say though that you're spot on with Arya. She's just lost Ned and now all of a sudden she's lost the father figure / protector that saved her from King's Landing... both executed right in front of her. Tough cookie.

No. Loras is far too effeminate. Women are meant to be swooning for him too; I pictured him as a younger Jaime with dark hair. Remember too that Jaime sees a bit of himself in Loras later on - at this stage I can't see Jaime identifying with Loras at all, purely because he doesn't come off as knightly (i.e. traditionally masculine) in the slightest. Renly is good though.

A solid 9, only because I need somewhere to go. Art direction / set/costume design continues to be outstanding. Best examples this episode - Brienne's armour (her sigil, sapphire details), Margaery's dresses (hot), Tyrion's garb; everything shot in Pyke. Unreal. Some pretty epic editing/directing - Pycelle morphing into Varys, holy shit. Great job conveying a very important plot point. Developing Margaery's character earlier than in the books - good option. Condensing Arya's wandering - good option. Making us like Yoren more before killing him / giving Arya an inspiration for her prayers - good option (we're only going to sympathise more with Arya now that YET ANOTHER influential protector slash father figure has been cut down in front of her). As others have pointed out, the only thing that pissed me off this episode was Shae; but I hated her in the books so figures. Showing Sansa to be a little bitch was an interesting one too, I'm ho-hum on that but she probably needs a little depth now in order to lend weight to her developments later.

Adaptation =/= word for word rendering! The show is doing a pretty awesome job of making Westeros come alive. But I'll stop trolling now.

Too many brothel scenes?? GRRM vividly describes vaginas as 'c***s' in the books and happily writes about incest, but nudity and sex on screen 'makes you...ill'? Kudos for remaining faithful to GRRM's violently sexual world, IMO.

Couldn't agree more with your sentiments. Art direction - UNREAL. Stannis cheated in the books; TV series shows us Melisandre naked and people complain that they're ruining his character. fffuuuu

People are so harsh. Stannis was played pretty well in this ep, and they need to establish Melisandre-as-seductress and Stannis-as-devotee early on (otherwise a whole heap of later actions won't make any sense)... what better way than getting them to fuck on the table shaped like Westeros? Awesome. And Miss Van Houten got her gear off... people are still complaining why?? 8/10 for an awesome episode. There were a few wierd moments (Jon racing through the forest in detective mode) but the rest was suitably epic. Yet again art direction (costumes, set design) is UNREAL.

Several people criticized the casting of Salldhor Saan because he's _black_. Seriously, get over yourself. I didn't picture him as black either but he played it perfectly. Criticisms of Ros - well, who gives a f***, Ros is only there so we had a segue into a 'remember audience, Littlefinger is a ruthless, calculating badass' scene. Viewers who haven't read the books are going to FREAK the fuck out when it's revealed Littlefinger is behind Sansa/Joff etc. UNLESS it's established early that a) he has a motive (Cersei being a bitch) and B) is ruthless enough to and capable of executing such a convoluted conspiracy against the crown....