Harrad

Sorry to say but this episode was really when the season took off...That of course means the previous 5 were not great. Good but not great. At the end of episode 6 I said "nooooooooooooooooooooooo....too soon."

Thats a good point, and there still could be a later reveal that she is from the Crag. I thought her unwillingness to meet the Maester from there was because he would know her.

Yes. I thought so too...until the earlier rants on "idiot." I'll take a c*nt over an idiot anytime.

I like your slash and burn attitude. Add to Jon escape, get elected Chief, and then get offed..or does he. This brings up the question: Is GRRM a democrat (small d). Maybe the Nights' Watch and the Wildlings being the only popularly elected entities will prevail.

I think it would be a good idea to compress the action in books 3 and 4 at least. After all, what has to be accomplished? Ooops, quite a bit actually. Jon has to finish his ranging, come back, get promoted, and then ? Dany has to go from not much to quite a lot. Arya takes up residence in Bravos. Sansa and Littlefinger to the Aerie (in principle this could be skipped, but whence those two?). The Red Wedding of course. The Addamms (er...Lannister) family reunion. Stannis fights another day and another day. Will the Dorne subplot remain? No one has yet guessed the feelthy word that was said 3 times in the episode by different characters in different venues. Was it strictly a medieval epithet? Forget about "idiot"; this one really rolled off the tongue.

OK. Its possible...look at Harry Potter...I just pity Hodor having to carry a 6 foot tall 250 lb Bran.

Shirley, that favorite line came after the Lannister family "reunion" and before Tyrion's road trip. Thus, is wasn't cut out of this season, but is still to come. Speaking of waiting years for the events we know are to happen--IMNSHO opiion the books can be significantly compressed. Once story lines are left out, the action of the main characters is somewhat repetitive and unnecessary and HBO could cut to the chase in several ways. Is HBO and the audience really prepared to continue for 5+ years?

Yes, indeed. The Lannister family reunion is a Thankgiving not to be missed. How many years on HBO before Tyrion says "tata" to Dad?

Agreed, its well done. The introduction of the convo between Arya and Tywin is another nice touch of the HBO team. The only problem there is that she went too far at times, and Tywin should have gotten a lot more suspicious than he did listening to her words.

Since Catelyn has no idea where or in what condition her daughters are in, and Catelyn has no idea who is in charge at King's Landing, releasing Jaime Lannister had three definite results and one completely speculative result: 1. She returned their most deadly one-on-one combatant to the enemy during the war 2. She ensured dissension within her oldest son and liege lord's camp 3. She took Brienne, one of the best and loyalest warriors out of action and then the speculation 4. One or more of her daughters is alive and one or more of her daughters will be released by the good hearts at Kings Landing. Just think about this. If you were banking your hopes on Tyrion's good feelings to counteract the evil of Jeff and Cersei, when Jaime returned to King's Landing he would be an ally of Cersei, as always, and tip the balance in the favor of the bad Lannisters. She might as well release Jaime "hoping" that he would be moved by that act of kindness and magnamity and suddenly become the compassionate conservative we knew lurked beneath the facade of a merciless killer of 10 year olds. Reedickless is about the most one can say for that "reasoning."

Yes. You've nailed it here. Catelyn has no idea who's really in charge in King's Landing. She has no idea where her daughter's are, or even if they are alive. So why not release a deadly enemy during a war, on the hope that perhaps any of those wishful things are true. A brilliancy! Jon was not responsible for the deaths of Qhorin's squad. They are supposed to be rangers on a mission. If they lost their lives ineffectually looking for Jon that is hardly his responsibilty. In the book they lost their lives by being caught by the wildlings depite their elite ranger status. Same same. Jon is pretty much a raw youth in both book and series. I don't think he's substantially worse off in either.

Catelyn knows nothing. She doesn't even know if either of her daughters is alive or held by the Lannisters. We know that Arya isnt even there. She also doesn't know who is in charge in King's Landing. When Cersei and Good Ole Jeff were both there, the Starks took it in the neck. How is she supposed to know that Tyrion is in charge? Is she ready to trust Littlefinger, again? Hah! And as far as a beheading or two, is Tyrion really in charge? The best that can be said about Catelyn's act is that she is unhinged. In the book her being unhinged is better motivated by hearing the news of the "deaths" of Bran/Rickon. Even so she is a poor medieval Lady to let the deaths of a few children drive her to self-destructive acts.

Sorry I cahnt give you any more hints. I simply cahnt.

I forget nothing. The Lannisters had already given their answer about honorable actions by lopping off Ned's Head. One doesn't make a trade by giving the other side what they want and then hope for the best. It made no sense in the book. It made no sense in the series.

There was another word that was used 3? times in the episode in different venues. Cant you guess what it was?

If Jaime were useless as a hostage he should have been killed. Sacrificing Brienne and betraying Robb by fomenting dissension among his bannerman were the only possible results of Catelyn's actions. Why is everyone's panties in a bunch about Qhorin? I see the series returning to the gist of the book within the next two episodes by a duel between Qhorin and Jon. No harm, no foul.

Two great examples of "enhancements" by the HBO crew are the story of Robb (offscreen in the books) and the stealing of the dragons to further motivate Dany toward the House of the Undying. This latter could be a nice payoff if the dragons get a little action rather than then just being retrieved. The details of how Stannis comes to grief in the battle of Kings Landing hardly matter, whereas the cinematic presentation does. We shall see. Without going back to the book shelf...how much of Book 2 is in series 2?

I agree. BTW earlier I mentioned that the same thing happened in the book so the comment that started "Sorry..." was off the mark.

Is there anything in the book that shows Jayne to have betrayed Robb? Not to my (imperfect) memory. Whoever Talisa is, hardly matters, seeing as the Red Wedding is coming. Its enuf for me that she is Charlie Chaplins granddaughter. Roose is a traitor in the book and will no doubt be one in the series. I just wonder what fate the series has for Theon since I can't imagine his fate in the book would be allowed in a video series. Its just too creepy. This episode allows me to revisit my pet peeve (at least one of them) in the book. Catelyn Stark showed no evidence for the moron gene before releasing Jaime. She was far from a paragon (witness her treatment of Jon and Tyrion) but being the daughter of one great Lord and the wife of another, should have given her a little more fortitude.