The Boar of Gore

Gave it a seven. Enjoyed it overall, and relieved it was better than last week. I didn't understand why Melisandre suddenly left Stannis. No explanation, completely out of the blue, goes against everything her character has done up to that point, especially what she did last week. Did she see something in some flames that made her reevaluate her vision? Stannis' army seemed too small to lay siege to Winterfell even if the Boltons hadn't suddenly got hold of a lot of cavalry (Stannis' deserters, presumably? We are left to infer this). The Bolton army in past episodes looked at least equal to double Stannis' forces even without reinforcements. Since we didn't see Brienne kill Stannis, she must have spared him. Why on earth would she do that? Why did the show have Daenerys meet the Dothraki horde without her dragon? It's much more dramatic, and more impressive to the Dothraki, the way it's done in the books. They do not respect people who go about on foot; they do respect people with a good mount, and a dragon tops any horse. Why is Drogon so easily wounded by spears, as opposed to in the books, where it's clear spears will melt if they pierce a dragon's flesh? Why did they film a scene taking place north of hot, dry Meereen in what looks like a northern Irish landscape? Barristan would have made a more credible viceroy than Grey Worm let alone Missandei. Just because you're a trusted confidante doesn't mean people will accept your authority, far from it. Too bad the writers decided they had no more use for Barristan. Why make it so obvious that there is something strange about Ser Robert Strong by having his eyes visible? Who on earth poisoned themself just to teach Arya some kind of lesson? Was it supposed to be literally no one, or just another person showing up at the House of Black and White for a mercy killing, or an actual Faceless Man? You'd think the latter would be too expensive to waste. I loved seeing Arya kill Ser Meryn Trant, but really how many stabs does it take to kill a man? If he's still able to sit up and whimper after all that, he's still able to kill her, just like the Mountain killed Oberyn. Cersei certainly has a great body, and didn't they give us plenty of time to look at it? Sansa and Theon needed a much bigger pile of snow to jump into, and a lot more tree cover and/or fog to have a hope of escaping. Are Ellaria and the sand snakes going to ride off in case the ship turns around and tells Prince Doran what happened? If they are, why not show them doing that? Edit: Reek was good. One of the best performances of the season.

This. Although it's starting to seem more like a crude way of repelling viewers.

Couldn't find the nitpick thread, but it just struck me that Oberyn doesn't have an escort of soldiers. He's a Prince of Dorne, so he should have a retinue including armed retainers. Details like that show that the writers don't really get how power works in this world. It was like in Season 3 when the sellsword captains were allowed to get up close to Daenerys and disrespect her, which would never happen to someone in her position. It's a shame because this is something they did so well in Season 1, with the Starks and Lannisters. The Lannister guardsmen have a great look, and the Starks do too. So where are the Dornish guardsmen? Come to think of it, do the Tyrells have guardsmen?

Oh wow. Great episode. Lots of epic scenes. Loved the opening with Dany taking the city thanks to the slaves revolting. Strong scene with Grey Worm and Missandei too: I wanted it to go on for longer. There was chemistry between the two and it reminded us of their motivation for killing the Masters. Great location for the city as well. Nitpick: no dragons! A dragon swooping down and perching on the harpy would have been perfect. Nitpick2: no blood when the slaves killed the master in the street! I miss the days when every death was gory. It's not just that it makes it exciting, but that it makes it more real, and reminds us what the stakes are, what death is. Loved the scenes with Jaime. I thought Jaime was going to hit Bronn with his golden hand for a second, but it turned out the other way around. Don't think Jaime was ever a 'clean' fighter though, to judge by the way he stuck his dagger in Jory's eye. Great dialogue between him and Tyrion, although his excuse for not letting Tyrion go seemed a bit thin: surely, he should have just said they should wait until after the trial? Jaime and Cersei's scene was good. Cersei was really on form and convincing in her hatred of Tyrion. There was zero reference to the rape, but, if the idea is to forget that ever happened, I'm happy to go along. Nice to see Brienne sent off on a mission too since hanging around KL didn't suit her. Nitpicks? I seem to have included them all already. Great scene again between LF and Sansa and particularly good acting from Sophie Turner. So good to see her showing some intelligence and gumption! And you could tell by her acting she knew what LF wanted from her - no more naivety. Olenna and Margaery were great as always. I thought Margaery was going to jump Tommen's bones, especially after that speech by Olenna, but she stopped short. Is Tommen supposed to be a boy or a teenager? He seemed more like the latter until they brought Ser Pounce in. Nitpick: when Tommen asks her how she got past the Kingsguard, her reaction is just 'Pfft! Kingsguard!'. Really??! Interesting changes from the book at the Wall. Love it. They finally addressed what Jon knows about Bran and how he feels about it. Sam now regrets sending Gilly to a whorehouse in Molestown, as well he might. Nitpick: Locke got there unbelievably fast and what's he planning to do all by himself (is he by himself?)? Craster's ex-Keep was perhaps not quite on a par with the rest AFAIC. I love Burn Gorman, he was electrifying in Season 3, and it was good to see him back...but they've turned him into more of a cardboard cut-out bad guy. The constant raping seemed gratuitous, pornographic even. I don't know...would they really be doing that day after day after day? Not sure about Craster's women turning into devout White Walker cultists, not after they were all for saving Gilly's baby last time. And Rast may be scum, but even scum ought to hesitate before *sacrificing a baby*! It's only human. Nevertheless, despite my criticisms, the scenario worked for me on the whole and there are all sorts of interesting possibilities with Bran & co. It was dumb the way they got captured - and how come they had a wolf trap? and how come they kept Ghost alive? But it moves the plot along. Epic scenery in the last scene, and good to see White Walkers again. Nitpick: that looked like some temple in the heart of winter, so how did he get there so fast? Overall, my favourite episode so far, and bodes well for the rest of the season. I gave it a 10.

Solid 8. Didn't like the rape of Cersei. Is Jaime going to be a bad guy again now? Return to type for Arya, so I liked that. At the end of the first episode she seemed to have gone to the dark side. Liked the scenes in the north, but I'm not really sure why we need them. Are they slowing things down to give Stannis time to get to the Wall in time to save the day? I thought he was going to set sail immediately at the end of Season 3, but he's still down in Dragonstone, so I guess he needs time. Nice opening and good to see LF again. Also some of the best dialogue since it came from the book. The dialogue in most other scenes was solid but not inspiring. Liked Dany's scenes. Where'd she get those ballistas? Good episode overall, but the book was better,

Good episode but could have been a lot more epic, like the finales to the last two seasons. Could have had an epic shot of Stannis' fleet setting sail for the North, could maybe have had UnCat opening her eyes, an overhead shot of Bran &co in the middle of the white wilderness. I wonder if they wanted to do more but were constrained by the budget, or if they just chose to wind it down gently.

Just realized something: as hard as this episode is to watch, it's still less hard than watching politicians on TV.

Not where I expected it to end, not much of a climactic scene compared to the last two seasons, and I can't help thinking they could have taken the season a bit further if they hadn't wasted so much screen time in earlier episodes on Theon torture. And they did have time for a post-credit sequence showing Nymeria pulling Cat's body from the water, so I suppose that means no UnCat? And no wolf dreams for Arya, and no Nymeria ever? I feel that the pacing went downhill this season after episode 5, and, except for episode 9, hasn't recovered. But it's interesting to see how they're taking the story in new directions from the books. I appreciate all the new scenes which are all about dialogue between characters, emotions and character development, but they managed to have those in Season 1 too without making it feel slow at all. All in all, this episode was just about winding down, reminding us where the characters are and what directions they're heading in now. Nitpicks: Cersei is great, much more sympathetic than in the books and to me that's actually a relief, but does that mean she isn't going to quarrel with Jaime? Does it mean she isn't going to paranoiacally accuse Tyrion of Joff's murder? Tyrion and her seemed to be getting on quite well in their last scene! Arya: I expected her first deliberate killing by her own hand to be more emotional, for there to be more adrenalin. And it's ok to lose the Inn at the Crossroads scene, but what about Needle?

UnCat FTW. They are really passing up an opportunity here if they skip UnCat. Just imagine the look on Michelle Fairley's face as she points the accusing finger at her pFrey. It would be like watching The Ring.

Why is it that the RW in the books was epic, but seeing it on screen was horrible? Michelle Fairley, you're just too real. And maybe a bit more fighting back would have sweetened the pill.

Next season, Game of Thrones will start killing off your favourite characters from other TV shows.

I guess it was too late for the show to change this, but they really should have had more northern lords - Maege Mormont, Greatjon Umbar, the Manderlys, at least. A scene with them leaving their arms at the door. The wedding hall noisy and chaotic with shouts and bellows of rage and people trying to protect Robb, the Greatjon upending a table. Cut to a big tent outside and a troop of Freys going in with arms. They nailed Robb's death and Catelyn's death, but not the rest. The show lacks the sense that the book has that Robb is loved, that he has loyal people devoted to him, that the North is devoted to him, that the North will remember. All we see are people betraying him. Betrayal has more impact when contrasted with loyalty, we need to see these two conflict, and a bit of cathartic Greatjon rage to go with the overwhelming negative dying of the light.

Very nicely done. Just watched it and I'm in a bit of a state of shock.

One of the reasons Season 1 is so great is the same reason that Book 1 is so great. You have a team to get behind and they're in a war, with lots of fighting going on. Sansa gets a lot of hate because she doesn't seem to be doing anything to help the team - in fact, she's a liability. Later on, Cat gets hate for hurting her team, and even Robb gets hate after kiboshing a certain marriage alliance that was important to the team. Season 2 still has a lot of fighting and a lot of Tyrion - who is interesting partly for comic relief value, and partly for the fact that we know him being in power would be a good thing for our team. However, it's not as good as Season 1 because most of the fighting takes place between Stannis and the Lannisters, and no one really supports team Stannis - except insofar as what he does affects our team. Season 3 doesn't have as much fighting and both the war and our team seem to recede into the background, It has a lot more of Daenerys, who was always kind of our second team, and Jon, who is on our team but isn't really in the war - or at least not until the Others start doing something. It still has a lot of characters and intrigue going on and that was always interesting - but that was never really our main concern, again except insofar as it affected our team. By this point, just as in the books, we're moving away from the thrill of feeling as if you have a stake in this war, to the still-interesting but less immediate feeling of reading about war and politics in history. After the RW, Stark loyalists, like myself, read on - and view on - to see how the Greater War between Ice and Fire pans out, and in the hope of vengeance (for our butchered lords, for our murdered princes - vengeance!).

QFT. Gratuitous sex is one thing. Sex by someone with neither desire nor reason to do it is just stupid. So is letting people get up close to the Mother of Dragons and not guarding her tent. So is sneaking into her tent at night and threatening her maid when you could just ask to see her. I could go on. What is wrong with D & D? They've written such good episodes in the past. They should know better!