Red Raven

I don't think Shireen is dangerous. She has a childhood form of the disease that disfigures but doesn't kill and has run its course long ago and she's not contagious. She's also protected from the deadly adult form that does appear to be perpetually contagious. I doubt Stannis would allow her to come to the wall if she were going to spread disease to his badly needed troops. JonCon, however, he could be a problem.

He's created a character who keeps marrying false kings. As much as I liked Renly, he wasn't next in line and Joffrey and Tommen are technically both Waters. If she marries Aegon and he turns out to not be real I'll just crack up laughing. I can see him being the betrayer but maybe not so much because of Ashara. Throughout ADwD he was filling Dany's head with the same kind of nonsense Viserys was puffing his chest out about: that the people in Westeros were crying out for their true Targaryen king, blah, blah, when in reality no one except Robert could have cared less. Presently there are a few factions who are curious and are sniffing about so they can make their own power plays, but Barristan is overselling the situation to her. I think it could prove destructive to her in some way.

When Dany was lifted up and carried around on the people's shoulders, the actor playing Jorah had an incredible look on his face during his close-up. He really acted the hell out of that moment.

Stannis was a badass but the best scene of the night for me was Bronn pulling the bow, arching waaaaay back and shooting the arrow into the night. It was the coolest shot by bow I've ever seen save for the archer during the Barcelona olympics opening ceremonies. Thrilling!

I gave it a 9. Agreed, Tywin and Arya were my favorite moments of the episode. I wondered how they were going to handle Arya not pick Tywin as one of her kills and they managed to pull it off by making it an urgent situation. Complaints: Stealing the dragons was pure cheese. It didn't make sense to me that Osha didn't take the opportunity to stab Theon before she snuck off with Bran & pals. I know, I know he's needed later but they could have put Osha somewhere else besides Theon's bedroom. Ygritte's "wiggling" was annoying. Other than that, fine episode.

I loved Harrenhal! It was much more run down and decayed than I imagined it - brilliant work. A truly scary "haunted" castle. I'd love to explore a place like that...without the torturers and other baddies one might run into. On Saturday I was reading a website on medieval torture and people's abdomens being cut open and rats being placed inside to eat their way out was one of the methods described. It was perversely cool to see the Tickler use something similar to something I just learned about. Peter Dinklage, along with Harrenhal, were the best things about this episode. Tywin was way scarier than the Molehill...er...Mountain was this week. I also enjoyed Renly and Stannis squabbling with each other and, while I don't like Cat, I did love that she'd clang their heads together for acting stupid and not allying against a common enemy. I think they changed her from a lord's daughter to a foreign commoner so it'll be more of an outrage when Robb ditches the Frey girl and marries a smallfolk. I like her, she's a capable combat doctor and can hold her own with Robb, not that that's a particularly high bar. (I'd like to see her spar with Tyrion.) I gave the episode an 8, marked down because the ongoing dumbing down and de-smoothing of Littlefinger is disappointing to watch.

Yes I have. Since this is about the TV show, I was speaking of my impression of the TV version Stannis. Mel was coaxing him in much like any cult leader would coax a follower and by the looks of things Mr. "I have a wife...I took vows" Stannis bought it. That said, as for the book version, considering what he lets Mel get away with he may be a hesitant, methodical fanatic but a fanatic nonetheless.

I'm not surprised Stannis porked Melisandre. He's a fanatic and fanatics will do anything to prove their devotion. He probably thought it was his duty to his new god.

Then let them watch Jersey Shore, there's no shortage of stupid television out there. There should be at least a few shows out there where the audience has to rise up to the material and do some of the work themselves and GoT would have been the perfect show for that. It was a shame when they dumbed down Dexter, it would be a greater shame to dumb down GoT and the hamfisted Cersei/Petyr scene was a step in the dumb direction.

I gave it a 7. Overall I enjoyed it except: 1) Littlefinger tipping his hand so obviously to Cersei. He reminded me of a Bond villain who boasts, "Before I kill you, let me tell you, complete with charts and graphs, about my detailed plan to conquer the world!" Someone as practiced as Littlefinger should know better than to make such a rookie mistake; dumbing him down was a disappointment. 2) Shae was ridiculous; they turned her into an airhead. 3) The CGI for the direwolves. It was done so poorly it was distracting. 4) Melisandre's hair. A little conditioning could go a long way to making it not look like a cheap wig.