clawson24

Also, kind of awesome/scary to imagine Bran's potential once he actually learns to really use his abilities and trains under Bloodraven and the CotF. This is not a new revelation by any means, but actually seeing him effortlessly use Hodor to annihilate someone like that really rams home how powerful and how much influence he could have by the end of the series.

Hahaha well said.

I guess this episode cements Karl Tanner with the likes of Barristan, Arthur Dayne, Daemon Blackfyre, etc. as far as warriors go.

Yeah when the Ravens first appeared en masse around Sam and Gilly last year, I thought for sure we'd be getting our introduction to Coldhands. Since then we've had numerous scenes with pronounced raven sounds out in the woods, sometimes when it's implied that White Walkers around, sometimes when they aren't. Really struggling to figure out what the implied connotation is, though it'd definitely be awesome if it was Bloodraven related.

My least favorite episode of the season, but wasn't awful or anything. Didn't move things forward all that much though it caught us up on the Vale, etc. Was that a strong implication that Jojen (who has already seen his own death) is going to die by burning? Maybe burned by the CotF in some ritual? Crazy stuff. Also, what's the significance of the ravens cawing on the show at this point? Hints towards BR? WW? No particular significance?

You are more than entitled to your opinion. I just find it staggering that some people seem utterly shocked by the changes and perceived quality of the show. To call the show mediocre and fantastically dumbed down is again, an opinion you're perfectly entitled to, but one very few people seem to agree with. The show is a MASSIVE success both critically and in terms of viewership, with incredible production values for TV, some reputable actors giving terrific performances, and about as massive a scale as you're likely to see anywhere but in feature-film epics. The show is shooting concurrently in multiple countries around the world each season with the biggest cast of principal actors in TV history. To even attempt to condense a story and a world as unfathomably large as ASoIaF into the space that they are forced to on the show is already an impressive feat. Changes are necessary to both trim the fat AND engage viewers who have no previous knowledge of the series and will never pick up one of the books or even come close to being able to remember most of the ancillary character's names and back stories. HBO owes book readers nothing. It's encouraging that D&D seem to legitimately be massive fans of the books and seem to be trying to bring GRRM's vision onto screen without utterly catastrophic changes, but that won't always be the case. They are trying to make as compelling a television show as possible, using an adaptation/variation of the ASoIaF stories as a basis.

, pay attention to the mediocre typical-hollywood background music, acting, directing, camera work... sums up the whole show which is incredibly hollywoodized version of phenomenal and original novels. So hollywoodized, mediocre, fantasticaly dumbed down and adjusted for mass appeal. Starting from dialogues, visualisations [Others, Giants, wildings ...] (which will now stay in collective memory even though many commisoned artist presented world much, much closer to Martin's vision, but that was expected anyway) coreography, characters adjusted to popular tropes of hollywood drama and quasi-realistic drama series. No wonder this show is so popular. OH NO! A FORM OF MASS MEDIA BOUGHT THE RIGHTS TO THIS NEARLY UNFILMABLE BOOK SERIES AND MADE A LARGELY FAITHFUL ADAPTATION WITH SOME VARIATIONS ON IT TO MAKE IT APPEAL TO A WIDER FAN BASE! THE SKY IS FALLING!

Anyone else even more excited now to see how they portray Bloodraven and the Children of the Forest? Their reveal and seeing what their physical appearance is like on the show has been one of my most anticipated moments for quite some time now. I know some people aren't in love with the appearance of the Night's King/Other that changed the baby, but all of this stuff has me even more excited for the end of this season. Not expecting it to be exactly what I imagined but the CoTF and BR's descriptions are so awesome that I think it'll be cool nonetheless.

Unsullied were never and will never be particularly big or strong. They're freaking castrated. Incredibly fit and disciplined maybe, but smaller than a normal man.

Why do people keep calling the shows changes "fan fiction"? There are significant changes sure, some I like, some I don't, but they are being written with explicit knowledge of how the series ends with freaking GRRM himself as a consultant and a 1-ep per season writer. People are acting like the show doesn't even vaguely resemble the books in any way any more.

We already knew that the Others come from the Land of Always Winter. We certainly don't know how ALL the Others are made. Are every single one of them converted from humans? Highly unlikely. What does it mean that we know "who they are"? We have no idea if that Other was the Great Other (I highly, highly doubt it as the Great other is a God and not an average sized corporeal being). Quit trollin'.

I actually liked it too. I was really worried it would go in an over-the-top sexual direction, but the way they did it was perfect and not distasteful. Re-casting Tommen as a pre-teen/teenager basically means you HAVE to do it this way. There's no way that kid WOULDN't be infatuated with Margaery.

Don't think it's "the Great Other". As far as we're aware at this point, "the Great Other" (if it does exist) is not a corporeal being but a god that's warred for all eternity with Rh'llor. I doubt it's some slightly different looking version of the other White Walkers we've already been exposed to. I'm guessing the thing that touched the baby was a more important, more powerful, or different variation of White Walker.

HBO and the show runners aren't concerned about the feelings of book readers, like it or not. They own the rights to the books and can go at any pace they choose. They will make whatever changes and present whatever information to viewers that they feel moves the story along in the way they want it to. If book readers are uncomfortable potentially learning information on screen before they do when WoW comes out, they pretty much need to watch at their own risk.

Agreed. With Coldhands cut, all Bran had on the agenda was walking through the woods for the entire season, which simply doesn't cut it. He's one of the most important characters in the entire series, and needs to remain onscreen and interesting/important to viewers. I want to see how they move forward with this Bran/Craster's/Jon plot first, but I'm fine with the change.

That baby lying alone crying in the snow was probably the hardest thing for me to watch in all four seasons of the show so far.

I for one don't think so. George has said none of the "Gods" would appear in the series in physical form, and I'm assuming that goes for the show as well. I'm guessing that was some special or more powerful Other.

Spot on. Enjoyed the Oberyn conversation with Tyrion and enjoyed Pedro more in the role then I thought I would. Very good choice. Found Tyrion/Shae and the Sandor fight choreography a little underwhelming. Seven, overall. Solid start to the season. Did well to set the stage for all the amazing moments that are coming.