house of no sigil

7/10. Solid again. The Jaime/Locke scene and the aftermath of the Battle of the Fist stood out. Arya and Hot Pie was nice. The Tully stuff was good, the funeral was just like I imagined it. Dany's starting to get her "Mother" on, and I'm giddy with anticipation for whats coming next. Theon's storyline is coming along slow and low, I am a bit concerned that more drastic changes are coming....The Tyrion/Bronn/Pod stuff was well played and funny but it just felt like it was wasted time again, just like the Tyrion/Shae scene last week. It's scene's like this that make the show seem boring. Stannis/Mel was a bit bizarre but made more sense than people are giving it credit for. And no it's not "character assassination." Least favorite part was the NW at Craster's. No desperation at all. They just seem like a few guys passing through on a nature hike or something, not half dead of exhaustion from battling and running for days from an army of friggen zombies which we never see this season even though they previewed them in the finale last season....still annoyed with that.

About the Catelyn monologue, isn't it possible that it was just foreshadowing a possible future Lady Stoneheart reveal that she has known more about Jon Snow's true parentage all along? No matter if that turns out to be the much discussed R+L=J or not, it still fits. She could still resent him for the societal impact on Ned's character or possibly some other unknown revelation. Her piety would give ample motovation for both her praying for a young Jon's survival and her grief-addled belief that she is being punished for not upholding a promise to the gods. I'm not ready to say this is character assassination, it's just a new nuance.

7/10 I gave a 6 to 301, mostly because they previewed the wights in 210 and then didn't deliver them. This episode was a lot like that one minus that huge letdown. Great acting all around and a couple bits of good drama, but mostly just advancing storylines for bigger things later on, which is necessary and I am good with that. I really liked Jaime's banter with Brienne and I thought the fight was done ok, served it's purpose well enough. The Sansa/Margery/QoT scene was great. Like everyone else, I am really liking Marg, and it seems that the edition of the QoT will only make that line better. It was good to see the Arya storyline back, and I thought Thoros was good too. The Reeds also did not disappoint and the Theon scenes were done very well. The Joff/Cersei and Joff/Marg scenes served their purpose of character developement and the struggle for power and influence. The NW and wildlings scenes felt like just a bit of filler, kind of like "Hey! Nothing much is really going on with us this week but don't forget about us! Maybe NEXT week you'll get to see some giants or zombies....:-)" Glad they didn't do that same type of thing with the Dany or Stannis lines. That brings us to Tyrion/Shae and Cat's monologue. I thought one was annoying and one was new and interesting. I think it's pretty obvious that Peter is the iconic image of GoT and I understand that HBO wants to get him on screen whenever they can, but the love story thing is flat. He's much better as a whoring, drinking, manipulator. I understand how the scene fit into the developement of the story but it was highly unnecessary. I just found it boring. Cat's Jon Snow revelation, on the other hand, was excellent. I know thats a minority opinion here on this forum, but I really thought it brought a new nuance to her character, although not as big of one as everybody else seems to think. She's always been pious, so I don't think her believing that she is being punished for not upholding a promise she made to the gods is such a giant stretch. And I really don't think it will have much effect on her future story, so I'm a bit confused with all the handwringing over it. Next week, I expect dragons and whitewalkers.

Hilarious!

Aye. Then Shae may become the whore in the refrain "Where do whores go?"

Only a 6 for me. I liked everything about the episode as it was, but it's the stuff not there that bothers me. After showing the wights marching on the Fist at the end of season 2, it is maddening that they completely dismiss the entire ensuing battle. The "budget" reasoning falls a little bit short to me. Show a few NW getting killed and the rest fleeing. I still think that Jon and Mance and the Wildlings will see the aftermath when they march south, but people waited a year to see the wights and NW battle and it's ridiculous that they just skipped it. No mention of the fate of Theon or the mysterious sack of Winterfell. I know that there are time constraints and all but there were also some drawn out scenes that could have been cut in favor of an explanation of Winterfell. Shae and Ros or Bronn and Ros come to mind. Like everyone else, I was hoping for Strong Belwas. I liked the Mance/Jon meeting in both book and show....but seriously, the book was better. And finally, a little bit of Jaime/Brienne or Arya would have been good. All that said. Lol, believe it or not I thought what they did do was really good. Hate that my first post is all complaining.