MysteryNinja

I'm pretty conflicted over this episode. It was excellent, no doubt about that. I was glued to the screen, even though I knew what was going to happen. In anticipation of the episode, I didn't expect them to top the books in terms of impact of the Red Wedding - I expected a good adaptation, nothing more, and they delivered it well. The GOT Red Wedding was more about the shock than the horror or sadness of it, I felt (as some others said too). There were some fun moments that stayed with me, the presentation of the Frey women, Arya and the Hound with the farmer, the guy who played Walder Frey really seemed to enjoy his role; the acting was, as always, top class in this episode. One scene just made me shake my head though: the invasion of Yunkai. I mean, hasn't GRRM tried to convey in the series that three men going against 10+ opponents in reality is not a cue for 'badass fighting' but in most cases for wounding, disfigurement or death for the disadvantaged side? I thought that scene, and the ensuing 'surprise, he's not dead, just some splatters!' was pretty cheap, tbh. I gave it an 8 because of the above and some other, littler, irks. I was oscillating between 8 and 9, might still go back and change.

9/10 Loved the Sandor/Beric fight - but this episode's high point was definitely the Jaime and Brienne bath scene for me. So intense, and I salute the showmakers for including it, and dedicating considerable time to it - and of course the actors for conveying it brilliantly :bowdown:

9/10 So many memorable scenes! I don't have any particular gripes, except maybe the continuation of Pod & the whores (but it was short so I can live with it) and the fact that Brienne accused Jaime of acting like "a bloody woman" for whining and wanting to quit - that made me frown :dunno: but both these things were just small irritations in between the good to great to awesome scenes of this episode.

I gave it an 8, like I did for ep 2. I still consider it not yet awesome enough to go all the way to the 9's or 10's, though this was a good step up to it. Some interesting scenes, and that last image certainly was a showstopper (in an icky way). What stuck most in my mind: Arya and her weird cake gift from Hot Pie; Theon being hunted and Boy being mysterious; the "Mereenese knot" being mentioned (I heard that right, right?), Jaime...

I gave it an 8, one better than the opening episode. The good: I loved the introduction of Olenna Tyrell, and the Reeds. Loved Jaime and Brienne scenes. The meeting between Joffrey and Margaery also stood out for me, great acting and good played out tension. The bad: Catelyn! How can they make her say such things :frown5: - at this rate she's going to think the RW is a just punishment for her being alive. The rest: all around good scenes with good dynamics (maybe with the exception of Tyrion/Shae but I fear personal dislike colors me too much to stay critical here), hence the up in rating

7/10 I liked returning to the Game of Thrones universe, but I felt the episode missed a bit oomph - after all that's been said about how this season would blow our minds, this first episode merely sets the stage and little else memorable scenes for me: Dany and Jorah go shopping for an army; Tywin and Tyrion talk about the family (the ones that stick closest to the books :closedeyes:, I know) Scenes I could do without: Bronn & naked lady #1, Margaery in the orphanage - this looked somewhat forced to me, the personally-handing-out-toys and ruffling-through-poor-parentless-kids-hair kinda charity lady Edit spelling

Many thanks to Azador for posting your excellent notes of the Barristan excerpts! :bowdown: Though I'm just a little bit disappointed GRRM so far hasn't read any chapters yet with info about any of the Starks (unless I missed something) - I guess he's keeping that for the actual release of TWOW.