LauraD

Loved Davos, showing his struggle between being Stannis's right hand man and Stannis's friend. The bit with Jorah was a poorly written scene that was made brilliant by sharp acting. I'm really enjoying how they're doing Arya right. Also, shirtless Gendry. Enjoyed that too.

One of the best stroke so far in the entire series is Tywin. God, he's spot-on perfect. He's not cruel, but he's not kind. He's pragmatic. Does he care that prisoners are being tortured? Nope. Does he care they prisoners are being wasted when they could be useful? Of course. And moreover, I see more of Tyrion in him than ever. The way he walks into a scene and gives orders with complete confidence while mocking those around him. It's almost as if they wrote the scene for Tyrion and then removed the compassion. Plus, with Tyrion turning his bitchslapping Hand-ness on Lancel, the family resemblance is stronger than ever.

About the dragons... TV-Dany is facing something Book-Dany never did: As TV-Jorah repeated in episode one I think, "They'll kill you and take your dragons." This was never the case in the books. In the books, she just showed up and people were delighted by them. They never said, "Watch your back." They said "How much?" The show is actually, dare I say it, being more realistic as to how she would be treated given the circumstances. If she showed them the dragons, they'd likely say, "Right. Grab 'em." and then kill her. And I thought her interaction with Jorah, the worried glances, betrayed that she's in a pickle. And then it doesn't take a genius to look at the guards and take the leap to where her concern is. The real question is: why didn't they just kill her, search her packs, and take her dragons?

God, the Joffrey scene was really difficult. I kept thinking that if it were me, what would I do? Smart little bastard, picking up the crossbow.

Ok, so I get that there's a hell of a lot of backstory to get through here, but "I've loved you since I was a little boy"? Seriously? Littlefinger is CUNNING. That's his single defining characteristic. Sure, he's lovelorn, but that's a secondary trait to how god damn clever he is. He's supposed to be the Cheshire Cat of Westeros. Clever, creepy, snarky, but undeniably lovable. But, the writers keep giving him the most obtuse lines. "I've loved you since I was a little boy"?! Gag much? A clever man does not confess to a grieving widow who definitely already knows that he loves her. A clever man makes himself indespensible to her, perhaps by saving her children. Or, a cleverer, less sweet man, marries her sister while manipulating her very similar, but younger and hotter daughter into his grasp. For a story that relies so heavily on identifying where characters have merit along with human or even monsterous flaws, the show writers are really failing Petyr. They seem to think that his love for Cat is sympathetic? I never felt that. I always saw that aspect of him as a pathetic carryover from childhood that he resented. The best part of him was that he's a small lord of no significant birth or fortune, and yet had managed to gain hold of Harrenhal and the Eyrie, and perhaps soon the rest of the Vale (And then, of course, the world. Bwahahaha.) Name ONE other character who is that successful in that time frame. Seriously, I think Bolton's Bastard might be the only real comparision in upward-movement. Also when he pushed Lysa out the door. Who didn't love him dearly then? I mean, I see what they're doing. They're setting him up as sympathetic so that when he steals away Sansa and does various other deeds, it can be seen as done by a man suffering from chronic heartbreak. I just though LF was made of sterner, more guiling stuff.