Wolf Girl Arya

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I am perfectly okay with Stannis not showing up in this episode. The entire thing was about the Night's Watch and having Stannis show up to save the day would have cheapened it, in my opinion, not to mention would have felt out of place. The set up in the episode was phenomenal. Jon becoming the hardened man to lead the NW, Janos Slynt being the douche that he is, Sam and Maester Aemon bonding, the fact that the NW is actually needed. The CGI was excellent and while there wasn't a whole lot of dialogue, it fit perfectly and got the point across. I'll admit, I broke down when Grenn started reciting the vows. I knocked it down to an 8, mostly because of the lightening. Sometimes, it was hard to tell who was attacking whom, but it wasn't the worst. Stannis' arrival may just be the hopeful ending Sophie Turner was hinting at.

I'd say 9.5, so I rounded it up to a 10. I thought the fight scene was perfection. Ellaria's and Oberyn's screams hit me damn near as much as Cat's during the RW. Oberyn calling out Tywin in front of the entire court...I think it's the first time we've seen Tywin look genuinely nervous, which was priceless. I, personally, enjoyed the Grey Worm/Missandei scenes. I'm almost certain this is setting up inevitable heartbreak, but I can see why it would feel out of place. The Jorah banishment scene was excellent overall but could have used some better editing (hence the .5 drop). My heart broke for Arya. I could totally tell that it was either laugh or have a complete mental breakdown at that point (nervous laughter is a thing). I'm sure the ramifications will be handled accordingly, but I don't think they could have just had Arya and/or the Hound just randomly say "eh, eff the Vale". It was a thread they needed to tie up and I'm sure they'll handle it fine. Ygritte showing mercy to Gilly was freakishly uplifting and this episode needed that. Holy crap, has Sansa come into her own! Plotting better than LF, making her dress her own, she is totally stepping into her role as a force to be reckoned with and it's going to be good. For those saying LF was lax in this episode, would never let Sansa do this, that or the other, well, think of Oberyn and what overconfidence got him. The same thing happened to LF with the Lords Declarant, only LF's consequences were less deadly (for the time being). I think this "coming into her own" has actually been set up very nicely this season. Not to mention she can always point out to LF how she got the Vale lords to her side and she could probably turn them against him if she so wished. That dynamic is going to be incredible next season. The beetle speech I'm still pondering but I didn't dislike it. To me, it was more Tyrion wondering of why such awful things can happen and it could just boil down to it amusing some higher power or the other. It seemed appropriate, given what was on the line for him. On the whole, everything was pretty much spot on for this episode. Some minor things could have been tweaked but on the whole, definately near the top! Edit: Oh man, how could I have forgotten Alfie! He was amazing, as he has been pretty much the whole time. The Roose/Ramsay dynamic took on a whole new level as well. Everyone brought their A game this episode.