Cas Stark

I liked it overall. The Dany stuff felt very out of sync with the rest of the episode and I could have done without the Ramsey eating the sausage and the rest of his penis joke monologue. No Lady Stoneheart is a disappointment, it won't make sense to do it next season, the audience wants to get some kind of sense of Stark hope NOW.

I didn't get any hint at all and D&D aren't really known for being subtle.

Evita? Don't you mean the blond jesus? LOL.

I keep telling you they are Dany fanboys. I thought it was actually a good episode except the Dany stuff completely did not belong and I had convinced myself I was wrong about Michelle Fairely and they would do Lady Stoneheart so that was too bad.

Why shouldnt she slap him? She was married to his liege lord, to whom he owed allegiance and obediance to and now she is the mother of the his king and current liege lord. She could have his off if she wanted to and nobody would question it.

Yeah, that would be bad TV because it would have to go on long enough and be loud enough for the audience to realize they were really bad musicians...and that's a bit of a waste of time, especially since they didn't end up spending that much time on the RW anyway....I think that choice was the right one, but I'm not sure how many casual fans even got the song, but that probably doesn't matter eithetr.

LOL, so if the moral of the story is that life is totally random, and no matter whether you're a good person or a bad person s**t happens, that's not much of a moral either, because if its all random chance, what's the point of honor and doing the right thing? None. Might as well rape and pillage to your heart's content because maybe it will catch up to you and maybe it won't. Nice. That sounds about right, though.

"All" is not lost, but, Wintefell is burned, Bran is in the North and not coming back, Arya is a killer and in Braavos, Rickon is a feral wildling who was 3 when his family was destroyed, Sansa is Sansa so she doesn't count for much, a huge percent of their Northern bannermen and the men in general in the North are dead. So, I would say, if nothing else bad happens to the Starks, Wyman Manderley kicks everyone's ass....they've lost, they've lost more than the Lannisters that is for sure, Casterly Rock is untouched, and even if all the Lannister prime's die but Tyrion, he will be alive and there are still Kevan's children. And there is no way nothing else bad is going to happen to the Starks for two more books. So, the moral of the story is that mercy is stupid, because if Ned had put Cersei under house arrest and sent for Robert, it would be House Lannister that was decimated and not House Stark, and there is no way to undo the damage that has been done unless Benjen Stark comes back married to a wildling with a ton of Stark children, and I think we can rule that out, LOL.

I've told myself that, the long game, just and fair rule will win out over fear and scorched earth violence. But, so far, the evidence that the story will turn out that way is thin. Most of the Stark bannermen are already dead, Arya is a stone cold killer, Bran is north of the wall and not coming back. Is victory going to be Rickon Stark, who knows virtually nothing of his family's code of honor ruling in Winterfell?

Yeah, I think he's become addicted to "you think I won't kill XXX, ha, watch me"...and I have a sneaking suspicion that the moral of the story is going to be "nice guys finish last, after their castles are burned down and their families are killed"

I gave an 8, 8 is the highest I've rated any episode this season, and it was one of the best episodes. For what they chose to portray about the RW, they did a good job, but it wasn't what it could have been and they cluttered up the episode with Sam and Gilly and Dany's stories which was unnecessary.

I did miss him, LOL. I was looking for him because I read on here he was cast, but never saw him during the show.

It did. It turned the Red Wedding into a Romeo and Juliet love story tragedy where the young couple in love are murdered, with the focus on the love story. Lack of Northern bannermen erases the fact that the North is still loyal to the Starks, that multiple people died trying to save Robb Stark's life at the Red Wedding instead of having them all slaughered without much ability to fight back with the only person trying to save Robb being his mum. There would have been no cost issue to give 2 or 3 Northerners some screen time this season [instead of Shae or Ros or Pod] and then have them die heroically at the RW. Lack of direwolf action is a shame because it robs Greywind of the heroic death he had and it reduces the link between the Starks and the wolves, but plot wise its not a big deal.

I didn't think it was very ambiguious that Arya Stark had the same wild 'wolf blood' streak that Lyanna and Brandon Stark had....her father says as much, and then there is her resemblance in termperment and skill set to Lyanna Stark as well. I know Sansa fans like to think she is a Starky Stark, but that's a reach.

If they had done that, which of course makes the most sense, then there is no excuse for a gratuitous sex scene.

They could have had her drug the wine, and then have him wake up with the leeches on him, at least it would have been consistent with what they wrote for the scene.

What's the difference? Either fear spoils the blood or it doesn't. If it does, then Gendry screaming in fear while being leeched is a logic fail because it doesn't make much sense that fear only taints the blood when you kill the victim...at least not to me.

Is she notorious for that? Book Mel only fucks Stannis to my recollection, and there is no sex angle to the leeches on Edric Storm. I know that it doesn't even "fit" with what the show itself created because if the lamb can't see the knife because it spoils the blood then it logically follows that the leeching too must be done without any fear, so tying him up and then dropping leeches on him while he screams was definitely showing him the knife and ruining the blood. Logic fail.

It still won't be the same. In the books she was always a worthless piece of garbage who wanted money and never cared about him. In the show she cares about him, she doesn't care about money, she wants to run away with him to Essos, so even if she testifies against him it won't be because she's a money grubbing bitch, who was stringing him on all along, but because she's hurt/scorned that he married Sansa. Totally different.

That's interesting. I think at this point that TV Tyrion killing TV Shae would be a significantly worse crime than it was in the books, and this might be much too abrupt a switch from white to dark grey of a character.

I mostly agree, I liked the scene with Jon and Ygritte. I don't have a problem with showing Theon's torture but I do find their choices in how they've gone about it somewhat strange and didn't like the two women this week. The Robb scene was okay but too much of Chaplin's butt.

Yeah, I had super high expectation for this season since they said Storm and RW was what they were most excited about...and, I haven't seen it. I've seen a crocked up "Talisa" love story, no Northern bannermen for ages, the Freys kind of haphazardly thrown in here and there, no direwolf, so, my expectations are now low. I'm sure it will still have a huge emotional impact, but I have little confidence anymore they really know what they're doing with it.

I find it strange that we saw Robb's army march to RR, but we haven't seen anyone but his immediate family since then, to me, this robs the RW of a huge degree of its tragic dimension because the viewer will have no connection to anyone but these main characters...Maege Mormont, Robb's squire or some made up bannermen could have been given a few minutes of consistent screen time this season so the audience might care when they get killed. Seems like a missed opportunity that would have been easy and cheap to make come off.

Let's just say I am not optimistic at this point in time of their ability to deliver on the RW. There aren't even any recognizable people left in the show who can die at the RW beyond Robb, Cat, Talisa. There is no brother to free Grey Wind, no Greatjon, no bannermen we've seen in ages. Maybe they're going to stage it totally different as an intimate affair instead of the mass slaughter it was in the books.

I don't see what was the big problem with the bear pit scene except that it was different from the books, but then I didn't like it in the books, so I am probably not a good judge.