Bonifer Tasty

Dorne was unforgivably terrible. Preposterous plot, horrid dialogue, lame choreography for the fight, and a good amount of bush-league acting. Just terrible, through and through. What a waste of the sand snake opportunity, of course, but ALSO a wasted opportunity to do something interesting with Myrcella. The Loras trial was pretty horrid too, all in all, although in that case at least the scenario is plausible. But not the way it plays out. Olenna arrives weak and with no army? No. Kingsguard allowed to have weapons but not permitted to use them. No on both counts. Birthmark used as evidence, no - body servants see all these people naked all the time, that could easily be common knowledge. And there was, in that scene, no solid evidence to arrest Marjorie. Shite. Less offensive, but still pretty stupid, was the writing in the Jorah/slavers scene. No self-respecting slaver would kill a dwarf out of hand...he would sell a dwarf as a court entertainer if nothing else. Ridiculous premise. We're to believe that this slaver never handled a dwarf before? He would know either that he COULD kill Tyrion, or already know that he couldn't. Winterfell (awful as it was) and Braavos were at least well constructed and believable. I can't believe I'm giving a show such a low rating, but I'm so offended by how stupid so much of this was. 2

Dorne was unforgivably terrible. Preposterous plot, horrid dialogue, lame choreography for the fight, and a good amount of bush-league acting. Just terrible, through and through. What a waste of the sand snake opportunity, of course, but ALSO a wasted opportunity to do something interesting with Myrcella. The Loras trial was pretty horrid too, all in all, although in that case at least the scenario is plausible. But not the way it plays out. Olenna arrives weak and with no army? No. Kingsguard allowed to have weapons but not permitted to use them. No on both counts. Birthmark used as evidence, no - body servants see all these people naked all the time, that could easily be common knowledge. And there was, in that scene, no solid evidence to arrest Marjorie. Shite. Less offensive, but still pretty stupid, was the writing in the Jorah/slavers scene. No self-respecting slaver would kill a dwarf out of hand...he would sell a dwarf as a court entertainer if nothing else. Ridiculous premise. We're to believe that this slaver never handled a dwarf before? He would know either that he COULD kill Tyrion, or already know that he couldn't. Winterfell (awful as it was) and Braavos were at least well constructed and believable. I can't believe I'm giving a show such a low rating, but I'm so offended by how stupid so much of this was. 2

I enjoyed it, and think it was a big improvement on the week before (my least favorite of all episodes), but somehow it is not singing out in my memory. A bit forgettable to me, although I enjoyed it fully. Gave it a 7 - still a fairly low score from enthusiastic me.

For me, definitely the worst episode of any season. There was no center, even if it had some strong moments (like Kevan in council). I also felt the emotion of Dany's rule for the first time (even from the books), although I think the premise of that trial-story was shaky and unrealistic. I think, for me, even a terrible episode of the show could not fall below 5, such pleasure there is in seeing more. So, 5. I have grown comfortable with the divergence from the books. That doesn't seem to be getting to me. But I still fear for this and coming seasons because Benioff and Weiss have never been particularly good (as in convincing) at writing non-Martin material...and soon that's all we're gonna get.

Totally totally agree!

I have to agree with this completely. Still LOVE the show, this episode really failed me.

8 One point off for the absence of Lady Stoneheart - Arya should have had a wolf dream at the VERY LEAST seeing her body or (by this point) remembering her body. One point off for altering Tyrion's motivations for going to Tywin's bedroom. That was SUCH A RISKY move that it doesn't make sense unless fueled by immediately uncontrollable emotions... All else really worked for me - including the small change of Cercei's confrontation with Tywin adn embrace of Jaime, and including the Hound/Brienne interlude... so pretty happy overall

Just didn't work for me. They should have had this part of the attack happen much earlier in the season, and its delay, with no Stannis appearance, just felt anti-climactic to me. I also thought there would be no Mance, which was irritating me, but at least it looks like next week they have a scene with him. I gave it a 3. It was my least favorite episode all ALL seasons.

I'm getting better about not comparing to the books, but still, there was no reason for Sansa to say who she is really. But I like how they are treating her "awakening" to the game. I remain irritated that the Wall storyline has been so strung out, and don't like that they seem ready to unify the attack from the south and from teh north. Not as exciting. Give it an 8.

Yes, I have noticed exactly that!

Gave it an 8. Oberyn/Tyrion had me really worked up, thought it was great. Lots of the rest was ok, but did think that moon door scene was oddly rushed. The story at the wall is getting kind of lame - and where was Maester Aemon on the panel?

9 for me. Definitely would have given it a 10 had it not been for the Yara storyline. Bleah!

I gave it a 9, but maybe should have given it an 8. For me, they start at 10 (I LOVE THIS STORY!), then I downtick for things I don't like, and uptick for thinks I really like. Downticks this time: Lysa Arryn's too quick reveal of Jon Arryn's murder (didn't mind it being in this episode, just thought it was hard to notice with enough attention); Tywin saying they were out of gold for three years (don't buy it!); Olenna being gone from KL; and Lysa Arryn telling Sweetrobin show Sansa was and that she killed Jon Arryn. Just plain stupid! Upticks: Oberyn' saying he has 8 daughters (YES! Don't want any cutting out of characters like they did with teh Tyrells!); Hound and Arya talking about Syrio, playing with audience on whether he could be alive or not (fun!); successful resolution of Craster Keep plot, I hated it last week, but it turned out alright.

You know, I agree! This was really out of character, to say nothing of how out of time/place it was for anyone to say. To me, although I agree that this is a tiny detail to nitpick, it shows a kind of laziness that is creeping into the writing. More seriously for me, and the sole reason why I downrated this episode to 6, is that they had Samwell reveal his knowledge of Bran. This really really changes so much. The show is definitely on its own path now - either to nonsense, or to a different story arc. And Jon leaving for Crasters - is he not going to be at Castle Black when Ygritte's invading force gets there? Are they going to postpone the Wildling hit on Castle Black until he's back, leaving the Wildlinds to wander around searching for Castle Black FAR TOO LONG. I mean really, they climbed the wall, how can they have trouble finding it again...did they go THAT FAR south? Why? Lots of messiness here. I was shocked by the ending reveal, and am unhappy getting the spoiler, but I think i can deal with it. I was also shocked by how bluntly they had Olenna admit to poisoning Joffrey! I mean, for book readers, there was still some small doubt about that... perhpas Littlefinger was lying to Sansa, or misrepresenting things. And now, Margaery is also bluntly exonerated, when part of the fun in the book was being uncertain if she knew the plot. But I can deal with those things too. Liked Brienne/Pod/Jaime. Liked Meereen takeover, although it was rushed, and I'm a bit sad that the reasons to punish Selmy (and Mormont) were not there. I suppose Mormont's exile will come a bit later, but since Selmy never hid who he was, Daenerys has not reason to doubt him. Lots to process here. Unsettling, even as I am forced to go on watching the show with greed for more!

I have often ended up in disputes here on this board with people over issues of what was going on, and I eventually realized that in the majority of cases (as with Sansa, or Tyrion, or Catelyn) the dispute was basically centered on my reading of the POV as biased (as written by Martin to provide an interpretation by the specific character) while the person who disagreed with me saw the narrative as pure reportage, to be relied upon. I'm not sure why some people can't appreciate the layered treatment of the POV structure. It is clear that Tyrion, as witty as he is, describes things in such a way as to make himself the victim (and yes, sometimes he really IS the victim!), and Catelyn's chapters are increasingly written as though by a person succumbing to depression, including her "stupidity" that people so often hate, she is increasingly detached from real events. Cersei's POV is riddled with alcoholic misperception. Sansa's with a shocking self-centeredness. Etc. It's one reason to love the books! And Martin is basically saying in the interview he gave on the "rape" that Jaime was the POV and Jaime would never have perceived that event as a rape, no matter what really transpired.