Ser Shaft of Hightower

Possibly the single best episode in years. But flawed to the moon, per usual. They've turned Arya into an inexplicably supernatural "Mystique-verine" - a port of the primary powers of two X-men right into GoT. Dany can do no wrong, Tyrion is always such a good, caring fellow with the right words, while Sansa the Inexplicable can do no wrong. And Euron is just...well, just another 'king' with a big cock; a low-rent "Robert the Reaver". Pity.

T'was an unpolished turd of a plot.... ...and the weakest writing of the series since You Need the Bad Pussy.

a generous 8 Lady Stoneheart can wait; there's plenty of time to fill next season, it's the last chapter iirc, and we're not done with Book 3, anyways. Jon hasn't even been nominated for LC, yet, folks... What bothered me the most are 3 problems, two major and another minor: 1. Character Motivations are veering off wildly. I understand that they need to consolidate characters in order to tell the story at all. I get that POV-as-written limits just what we can learn about these characters, and quite severely. But neglecting the Tysha bit, and aspects of Cersei and Jaime's behavior are rather inexplicable - and that's over the last several episodes, not just this one. 2. No Dalla or Val. I suuuuure hope they are going to be in this, because if not, the entire political structure and customs in The North will be all fucked up. If you don't know yet, google Winterfell Huis Clos for why. 3. Bloodraven. Even though the dialogue was pretty close, visually it fell down the bland-hole. He just looks like an old dude sitting in a tangle of roots. No dreaming Lord, no leaves or mushrooms or roots through the body, no indication that he is (much, much) older than Aemon etc. It could have opened with an extreme closeup of his eye closed, then you see one open as it zooms slowly back. Then you see the other eye but it is sprouting a mushroom or branch through it, until it zooms all the way out and you can see that this is an extremely old, nearly cadaverous man fused with a tree completely. A real missed opportunity for the fantastical; it felt too much like i was watching a low-budget 80s flick. on the POSiTIVE: -Stannis! Stannis! Stannis! It wasn't nearly the surprise as in the books, but a great showing nonetheless. The look Mel gives Jon is telling... -Sandor and Brienne - as contrived as it was...so what. I get why they did a lot of this. The show really needs 13-15 episodes per season to touch on all the right stuff, but ah well....anyhoo, What a fight!! -Danaerys' scenes are good. Pretty much as in the books if pared down for obvious reasons. -Peter muthafukkin Dinklage and Chuck D. nuff said.

the 2nd half of this was great the first half not so much this 'Yara' person is ponderous and i really miss the Real Asha; one of the best characters in the books has the personality of a burlap sack on TV. well, a steely sack. but still, a sack. and ramsay is not supposed to be fun. twisted, yes, but gleeful - NOT. missing the mark by a wide mile, there. Ramsey is basically Glen Danzig-meets-Alan Rickman but we're getting one of the Oasis brothers instead. the trial was on point! 6.5

au contrare, ser False. My first reads of Feast -and to a lesser extent Dance- were disappointing, in a "i need to know what happens next" sense. Sure, it all feels of sightseeing after the thrills of aSoS, but then with 2 books to go yet, what wouldn't? However, upon further readings, the plot development and in particular the writing throughout aFfC & aDwD are amongst the most savory of all. Apart from characters we already know, there's the The Red Priest+ a Melisandre POV, the brilliant Saltpans chapters, intro to more Tyrells, Martells and Gerold Dayne. Danaerys' discontent in Mereen is hardly "filler"; it is key to where her character is headed. She's a teenage conquerer with all the difficulties this involves, after all, not just some fantasy princess waiting to ride in on her dragon to save the day. We're not bitching, anyways. It's just noticing something that the writers apparently thought we wouldn't, and that's discouraging.

I liked the Jaime/Brienne/Tyrion and Sansa/LF scenes. The ending with the Walker(s) was also cinematic and ...appropriately chilling. But all in all, this was the weakest, most confused episode of the entire series. Jon AND Bran going to Crasters... wtf. Talk about wonky plotting. Where in the hell are the Thenns and other so-called wildling "threats"? It sure is taking a long time for them to get there, since Jon has apparently completely healed since having to "hurry and warn everyone" about the "imminent wildling threat" bearing down on The Wall since... last season. Margeary and Tommen. Er, there's nothing to see here, folks. The Missande+Grey Worm no-mance. Never mind the Jorah and Barristan banishment by Dany subplot; we need to focus on these two and their foreplay to nowhere! The sacking of Mereen was grossly oversimplified into an eye-for-an-eye, one and done affair

:cheers: I give it a nine.5 Acting, and the pace of direction/editing was the best of this season by far! I'm not wild about all of the book deviations (season two was the main offender in this regard, though) - but TV is rarely this well-made anyways, as this episode amply demonstrates. Maise truly added a lot to her role here,as it seems her acting chops just get stronger. Sansa/Dontos/LF was just about spot-on, and the Tywin scenes are Mr. Dance's pleasure, it seems. What a smooooth talker, heh. This one only misses a 10 due to the sam&gilly scenes being reducible to about a minute of story, instead of ten. And I know the budget only gives us so much of them because it's complicated to produce greatness, but: ~no dragons~ :crying: Still a great epi, tho.

uhhh guys. Lady Freykiller doesn't appear until the EPILOGUE of Storm of Swords = that roughly equates to ep.10 of NEXT season...so why was anyone expecting to see her a full year ahead of time??? As for No Coldhands, I'm bummed but not at all surprised. I guess they couldn't find an elk rider...oh, and and one that can act... let alone find an 8' tall elk... that you can ride at all, let alone act...and the substitute "just use a horse and replace the face" isn't going to work, either. And a 'just have him ride a horse' compromise is lame. May also be that D&D couldn't get any details from GRRM re: Coldy beyond what's in the books - which is (paraphrasing) 'shrouded man of the NW w/ pale skin, black fingers, hides his face, etc'. When you really think practically about him that's not telling much at all. Maybe not. But the elk problem is a biggie for sure. I have to wonder how they will handle Leaf, if at all...but they HAVE to!! urrrghhh. :dunno: anyway, i gave it an 8, all things considered. love love DAVOS!! Tywin/Joffrey was bombass, Gendry story totally makes sense to do this way, Jon/Ygritte works pretty well, Tyrion/Sansa is alright if off a little from the books (so what if she doesn't seem so repulsed in the show - she still thinks KINDLY OF HIM right there in the books; check the Eyrie chapters) the Dany crowd-surf WAS really dumb, and ended everything on a note of poof-ery. i imagine she couldn't keep the horse calm in a crowd so it didn't work...but it felt like they are trying to establish some rapport with the slaves like she's a Mother Theresa or something. which is OK, if unexciting - we got plenty of excitement in last episode...but would have been nice for SOME conflict to emerge/cliffhang instead of this vague floating sensation we're left with.

I can't believe all the up-tight nitpickin! to y'all that voted a 6 or lower I love you guys and I'm going to sound like a bit of a dick here, my apologies in advance: WHAT ON EARTH do you want? a whole other show? LOL If this doesn't do it for you then might as well give up on it now YES - tyrion and stannis and sansa are different than in the books, Lots of things are; because it's not a book nevertheless, they do 90% of the SAME critical junctures as in the books, ultimately. the plot has to hook up bottom line: GRRM isn't Mr Perfect. Some depictions in the show really are improvements. Some are not, absolutely...and guess what? that's OK! It's OK because the only freaking way this series gets made at all is by HBO - who else can do it better...AT ALL??? YOU???!!! ME??!! LOLOLOL

i agree, maester Hodor! 9.5 -severely better than most this season and has me STOKED again! !_! white walker and especially all those CROWS killed it!!! awesome freaking scene dany vs titan's bastard scene was excellent too...knew i was in good hands Sheee-it, that kid playing Joffrey hammed it up right and carries the wedding scene. The way the aftermath is handled is nicely done. PACING worked a beauty - just when it seemed to start to bog down or get possibly get a bit tedious...HEAD'S UP :eek: >>>>SAM THE SLAYER<<<< "...openin' barrel o whoopass on Others since AL 299"

this one feels different from prior episodes, due to a lot of odd deviations and additions this week, but also some wonderful scenes Above all, there's way too much Littlefinger this season. Obviously, he's being played so 'moany' that he sounds like he's ill. but... I enjoyed The Wall scenes, and the scene of Roose, Jaime and Brienne. Maise Williams continues to kill it, although the motives of the BwB sort of suck now(agree w/ y'all), did not enjoy the Ramsay/Theon like i'd hoped. They're dwelling on it too long, and this Ramsay is not very scary. Twisted yes, a rapid fire archer, yes, but he looks rather small and almost pampered/emo. He should be more of a blood-drinking goth brute with delusions of grandeur, but whatever. Casting can't be ideal. Did not enjoy 3 minutes of Sansa with Loras but only 3 seconds of her crying/realizing she has to marry Tyrion instead, while watching a ship go...where? Apparently Littlefinger is going to the Eyrie without her, while he's talking to Varys in the throneroom!... huh?? GREAT cinematography on the whole, if tepid. Nice balance and contrast from scene to scene. Acting and art dept. score fairly high, if not spectacular. Yunkai looks 'nice' from afar... The quality of the writing, editing and direction, however, was a mixed bag. all in all, a 6.5 so round up to a 7