Dr. Pepper

Very solid 9 episode. It had me from Grey Wind to shadowbaby. I jumped a mile off the couch when Grey Wind popped out. Awesome, awesome, awesome if for the split second they showed the wolf. Michelle Fairley delivered better than ever. So much was said with just her face and eyes. Ned's bones being delivered was a heartbreaker. I liked how Littlefinger is being added as the one who brought the news of a possible trade. It will really help a TV audience understand why she lets Jamie go since they can't exactly give her internal monologue. The introduction to Qarth was good, but not all that great. It might just be my personal distaste for book Dany that prevented me from fully enjoying the scene. Very curious with how the Talisa/Jeyne and Ros/Daisy storyline will work out. I enjoyed Talisa and Robb's scenes. I was a supporter of Ros, but I'm starting to tire of her being the go-to whore in King's Landing. I understand they can't continuously introduce new whores, but her acting just isn't as strong as it was. The shadow baby, holy shit!!! Better than I imagined!!! Harrenhall looks much scarier and more like I imagined in the books than what previous trailers showed. The only true complaint I have is that the new Mountain just didn't exhibit that air of terror. I didn't buy him as the leader of Polliver, the Tickler, et al. Next weeks episode looks like it will be a killer!

I am torn on how I feel about this episode so I gave it a five. I was pleasantly surprised with how Marg was portrayed. When I saw the casting, I did not feel comfortable that she was to be portrayed as older than Loras and Renly or that she was more the mastermind behind the Tyrells. But I liked it and can see a lot of promise in the adaptation of this particular storyline. Totally whooped with glee with Brienne. Gwendoline Christie nailed it. I found her totally believable as the character. I thought it might have been clever camera work to make her appear so tall, then I looked up her actual height. Having natural attributes that contribute to a books character certainly helps with on-screen believability. I still do not like this portrayal of Asha. Her attitude is so different from the books. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I thought perhaps I interpreted her character wrong, but I've reread some of her scenes and chapters and I don't get dull insolence from book Asha at all. I read a witty female fighting her way in a man's world. I want to root for book Asha. I want to drown tv yara. The Kings Landing scenes were very jumpy and felt incomplete somehow. Though I am glad they included Varys riddle! I like the vision they had with the changes on how Yoren dies and Arya is captured by the Lannisters. I just didn't like how it was filmed. It was as though they filmed the entire episode and realized they ran out of money just at the end and sort of winged it with the little bit they had left. In short, I liked most of the changes, most of the new character portrayals, I just didn't like something about the direction of it all. I started getting bored.

I rated it a solid 9. I'm not yet comfortable with some of the changes they are making with the books, but I thought as a show it was fantastic. I connected with many of the characters and arcs. I loved the scenery and the costumes. The only major costume issue I have is Cersei's horrible hair. It looks so incredibly fake that it's distracting. The least they could have done to make it somewhat believable was to dye her eyebrows a shade lighter. My favorite scene was the fish pie conversation with Shae, Varys, and Tyrion. I cringed and I laughed. Dolorous Edd also had me laughing my arse off.

I was disgusted by the Theon and Asha/Yara scene in a way that I never was with Jaime and Cersei. Maybe it's because I've already developed sort of a pity for Theon. I seriously wanted to wash my eyes out with lye as I was watching it. I'm not sold on the actor playing Asha. She lacked that spunk book Asha has. I'm very surprised with how explicit they are being with things that are only hinted at in the books. I know GRRM works closely with the show, so I wonder if he's giving a silent nod to all of the theorizing that goes on in the forums or if the producers are just using their own theories. I mean, it's hinted enough times that Stannis and Mel have done the dirty but we are never really sure. There have been some amazing theories about what Craster does with his sons and giving them to the Others is not one that I bought into. I wish I knew if we can use the show to learn more about the books. I reread parts of the books dealing with the killing of the bastards this past week and I found that it's never really stated that Cersei is the one who ordered it. Slynt said it was orders but never mentions the queen. The only time anyone says it was Cersei was Tyrion and Varys only agreed that it was a terrible thing. So it could have been Joffrey since it was done around the same time that Joff found out about the incest rumors. I really like who they cast as Jaqen. I had imagined him as a slimy, creepy man. The scene was great. Still, I wish Arya had brought him some water. Pyke looked amazing. Balon was amazing. I was not sold on Asha/Yara. She didn't have any spunk. I was disgusted with the Theon/Yara scene in a way I never was with Jaime/Cersei. Maybe it's because I have already developed a pity for Theon after reading so much about what the future holds for him. Maybe it was just because the actress playing Yara wasn't very good. I had been defending Ros' inclusion on the show but I'm losing faith. I can't figure out what they are building her up for. I'm not entirely sure what that entire scene was even supposed to be telling us about Littlefinger. It starts out with him spying on his whores...are his whores his spies?...then turns disgusting when he wipes semen from a whores mouth and then watches her kiss a patron with that same mouth then he goes on to threaten Ros. All of his previous scenes have already showed us that he's a player in the games and that he has no problem playing dirty so what new were we supposed to learn? Dolorous Edd made me laugh so hard that I spewed Dr. Pepper from my nose. It hurt. I had to clean my nose up, rewind and watch again just so I could laugh properly. I didn't appreciate his character in the books because I couldn't quite understand the dour nature he was supposed to have. The show makes me appreciate his comic value.

Considering the budget, why the hell do they refuse to dye Cersei's eyebrows? I can deal with the crappy wig if only I wasn't constantly jarred by the contrast of her eyebrows. Her eyebrows make her wig bad and it would cost just a tiny amount of money to lighten them.

I think the Ros scene in this episode gave a pretty clear indication that Ros will have a hand in training the

I gave it a 7. Excellent acting (Jack Gleeson was brilliant!), pretty decent prop and background. It's difficult to see how some of the changes they've made are going to tie in with the main plots in the books. I was disappointed that it didn't start with the Maester and Melisandre poison wine scene, but I think what they did help set up how mysterious and strange Melisandre is. I was pretty annoyed with the whole Ros scene. Yes, yes we know there are whorehouses and we know whores get trained. Maybe it was to show that if a whore can be trained to be believable in her pleasure, perhaps a whore can also be trained (by Ros) to be believable as a replacement for a certain missing child.