Ser Desmond Wine's Bane

I think it is just something the show has added in as a bit of world building and it also helps the actors pretend to be 'dead'. With something covering your eyes you are less inclined to move your eyeballs automatically when hearing a noise and if you do, the camera doesn't see it. Jon Arryn had the same stones.

Top of the list is "And Now His Watch Has Ended" with 9.5/10 Position 25 is "The Rains of Castamere" with 9.9/10 The list appears to be in some random order, not by score ranking.

A lot of late voters have had more than one watch and picked up on more details and potential inconsistencies. Perhaps this is a cause for the drop, I have heard podcasts from Unsullied who have described it as the best non-Ep 9 episode yet. It also appears to the episode with highest level of non-canon content. This could be a reason why it has been marked lower by so many readers. Disclosure: I gave it a 7 and voted before I rewatched the episode

Is this episode the one with the least canon content to date? Tyrion capture, Sansa escape, Cersei/Jamie, events at Meereen were 'basically canon' Everything else? Arya and the Hound, Sam + Gilly x 2, Night's Watch, Tywin/Tommen, Tywin/Oberyn, Team Dragonstone = not canon.

^ Some great material for Jaime's entry in the White Book here... But perhaps it should say "Tried to kill an 8 year old boy, but couldn't even do that right."

7 Some scenes were fantastic. Some were flat, and some really suffered from what were obviously time constraints Fantastic Tywin/Tommen/Cercei - really loved this scene. Tywin broke the chain Cersei thought she had on Tommen. And Tommen showed there is hope for the future Tyrion/Pod - A really well paced scene from gifts to gradual ramping up of the bad news, the climactic 'Pod. This is goodbye.' Tywin/Oberyn - brilliantly showed Tywin's sharp political mind and added depth to Oberyn and a shrewd operator. Quite Good Demonstration of Wildling threat NW meeting at Castle Black showing their dilemma Sam/Gilly at Moles Town Meeree CGI, Dany's Valyrian and the bombardment Neutral Oberyn/Ellaria - meh, we get it Baelish/Sansa - It just felt flat, possibly because I don't buy in to the TV Baelish. Could Have Been Better The dog and the wolf - started well but I thought it fell flat. Would rather have seen them stay there, so next time they could be attacked and have the opportunity for a discussion about the Gift of Mercy Stannis/Davos - Clearly rushed. Actors racing through their lines to save time. Dramatic effect suffered Davos/Shireen - Clearly rushed. Actors racing through lines etc - see above Sansa/Dontos - Clearly rushed to save time. The image of her in the hood is truly beautiful and one I was looking forward to, but the whole escape taking barely a minute but moving from early afternoon to evening meant it lost so much. Sam/Gilly at CB - I feel this would have been better played if there had been some actual menace displayed to Gilly and Sam was reacting to a clear and present danger. It is sweet they are trying to set up a romance but it just felt it missed the mark. Champion of Meereen - I have no problems with the rapid take-down by Daario, but I just felt the scene construction was wrong - the angle the charge happened on, the position of Dany etc as it happened and whatnot.

Surprised at the drop in number of votes given the death occurred

Yeah, I love Bran's story - a side dish that fills out the main feast. However I don't really like how the Reeds are portrayed. They just seem a bit 'off the mark' On topic. 7.5 but rounded down to 7. I can understand why people might be wondering what on Earth the Ramsay hunt scene was about. I really liked the Dreadfort scene with the introduction of Fat Walda and the whole 'shave me Reek' set up. It showed a lot of things not least of which is Ramsay isn't going to sit back and be just a bastard. To me it was clear that Stannis only allowed the burning to appease certain others and isn't a 'true believer', but rationalising it with 'he didn't follow my orders' was a bit soft. I did rate "She is my daughter you will not beat her". Jaime/Tyrion was good as was Jaime/Bronn. They missed the mark with Joffrey not saying 'I am experienced with Valyrian steel' and the connection to the attempt on Bran's life. Dunno how they will resolve that now. Wedding looked good but the words used for every wedding is different in the show. The strip of cloth is the only connecting image between marriages on this show. Tyrion/Shae - motion hand cam worked well. I don't actually mind Sibel's acting.... but it has suffered from being made into a love story. Feast - Initially I thought it was too choppy, but on rewatch it was much better. Loras getting a personality is great. War of 5 Kings was great. Joff being a d-bag was great. Jewel handling great. Oberyn was great. Dormer nailed what I had in mind as Marg from the books. Brienne's greeting at the High Table just did not fit in at all. It was painfully obvious that it was cobbled on. "We have this character who is a fan favourite, so lets get her to do something - except the obvious thing which is talk to Sansa.' Joff's death - Jack was fantastic, Make up and CGI were suitably and satisfyingly gruesome.... but I just wasn't convinced by Lena Headey. I actually really wish I hadn't read the books before seeing this episode, I suspect I might have given it a couple more points if that had been the case.

So an edit or some spoiler tags at the very least would be appreciated.

To be honest I am not one to pay attention to the score very often... but Chen is right on to it (normally) and has taught me to appreciate it. Its striking though, that the previous week he was bemoaning the lack of Ayra action, then once it happened he jumped straight to a discussion of the score, but completely missed what had really been done with the music.

Yep, it would be the same podcast. The opportunity was missed to point out that the music morphs from the GoT theme into the Jaqen H'ghar theme as the credits roll.

Something really seems to have missed the mark here. After so many people wanting to see a Stark, and Arya in particular, start to fight back, when it happens they appear to get put off by it. A podcast I follow had the same reaction. The season preview episode lamented the amount of time before 'Arya finally strikes back - it has been hinted for 3 seasons now. They need to make it happen" * Arya gets stabby* Ep1 Review podcast "The whole Arya deal was creepy and I was really put off by the triumphant music" - and this was one week after they called for Arya to start getting stabby. They got their wish and promptly turned their noses up at it.

I thought Cunningham was nothing short of brilliant as the Irish bomber in that - one terrifying individual.

I rate it - this gif/10