UnCleos

I gave it an 8. Dialogue driven so I couldn't expect anything major (which we knew, apart from the bear scene). The writing was quite good as expected, but I agree I wish they had given George a bigger episode to do (though he refused the RW).

It is a cheap way of building up Joffrey and his "evulz". I never said it was completely out of character, it was just a petty move from the writers. One of the best things about ASOAF is the size of the world. Moves like this make the world seem much smaller, and that is a bad thing. I don't know how I would have done it, but perhaps I would try to be more faithful to the books that this series is based on. And perhaps try to mimic the best and most faithful season (the first) without buying into my own hype and making "necessary" changes. Then again, I'm not the genius who penned "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", so I can't possibly dare to judge the masters.

Gave it a 6. Maybe the worst episode of the series for me. "Night Lands" is the only contender which comes close. There wasn't one stand out scene, and Benioff and Weiss really showed how weak they are as writers this episode. I'm sure George will come out next week and show them how it is done. They will be the death of the series. Two privileged morons who have nothing noteworthy to their name. Tragic they are in charge of this adaptation. The death of Ros was ridiculous IMO. Joffrey being the one to do it? Come on.

Pretty disappointed this week. Certain scenes like Shae&Tyrion, Shae&Sansa, Joffrey&Marg and Cat&Talisa (ugh) were real misses for me. HBO writers taking too many liberties and trying to craft "Oh wow" scenes when they just fall flat. The whole Joffrey hating Renly and homosexuals thing seemed VERY political and out of place. And of course Cat's deviation was (as someone pointed out) simply trying to obtain sympathy for the RW. George's world isn't black and white, that is why it is great. Apparently the writers are not aware of this.

Long time lurker, first time poster. I gave it an 8, and that is rating it purely as a television show. As an adaptation, as many of you have said, it failed in this episode. Particuarly in contrast to the magnificently written Blackwater (Credit to George obviously) it looked even worse. Although I am touching on things everyone else has discussed, I'd also like to speak on a few points that bothered me throughout the season. Many characters were changed or made to do things that hurt them for the audience for a few cheap thrills and crowd pleasing moments. Jaime killing Alton like some common psychopath (just for a violent scene), Robb marrying not for honor but for being horny and "in love" (for petty romance and pleasing the masses), Stannis sleeping with Mel immediately just from a lame promise of a son (came off as so rushed, especially with the audience only having seen them for one episode since then). It just screamed amateur writing to me, no care taken with such deep characters. That is my main point, the rushing of this season. So many scenes, so many episodes, storylines, character arcs, either rushed or abandoned. It made it seem as if Benoiff and Weiss only wanted to get COK out of the way so they could move on to the epic third book (and of course the RW). Many non-book readers that I spoke to felt as if nothing had happened this season, because so many points were glossed over. The importance of the Freys to Robb (his betrayal is more than the loss of a damn bridge), Arya not developing at all, instead being babied by Tywin (Also lost ALOT of possible Roose characterization by omitting his role at Harrenhal, which is really a damn shame because he is a fantastic character), and I will not even get into how bungled and rushed Jon's storyline felt. Dany's was made to be action packed, but felt absolutely tacky and silly for most of the season. Tyrion and Theon were handled well, although as many have mentioned Theon's final scene was unbelievably disappointing. I hope I am wrong, but the more I look at the resume of Benoiff and Weiss, the less faith I develop in this series doing justice as it progresses. Every great television show seems to have a season in which it stutters early on though, so there is hope. It is such a shame that Clash of Kings, a great second book in Martin's series, was given a bit of a half-assed treatment by these two. All that being said, I am still looking forward to the third season. Much of that will be to witness what will live up to be the most shocking scene in television history (we all know what), at least in my opinion. Beyond that, Jaime and Brienne will feature heavily, and they are both doing a fantastic job (Nikolaj is always capivating on the screen). SOS gives them magnificent material, and they damn well better try to do it justice. Here is hoping for next season coming on strong.