Lord Tywin

Episodes 6, 7 & 8 were all just so-so. Maddeningly inconsistent, with moments of excellence and others of sheer dullness. I'm not feeling the North: the Fist of the First Men is not at all how I pictured it. Strike that. Doesn't much matter how I picture it, or whether it's picture-perfect, as long as it translates on screen. It's nowhere near close enough to how GRRM described it. It's supposed to be a rugged, relatively inhospitable boreal forest, not some arctic wasteland. It doesn't help that I never liked the Jon arc in the first place, let alone what they've done with Ygritte & the Halfhand. While Coster-Waldau is doing a fine job, I'm ambivalent about how they handled the escape attempt & his release, especially when considered in tandem with he somewhat bizarre changes elsewhere. Maybe it'll seem better after further viewings. And at least we'll be able to easily skip the Robb-Talisa scenes on the BluRay (OnDemand tv's fastforward sucks).

Episodes 6, 7 & 8 were all just so-so. Maddeningly inconsistent, with moments of excellence and others of sheer dullness. I'm not feeling the North: the Fist of the First Men is not at all how I pictured it. Strike that. Doesn't much matter how I picture it, or whether it's picture-perfect, as long as it translates on screen. It's nowhere near close enough to how GRRM described it. It's supposed to be a rugged, relatively inhospitable boreal forest, not some arctic wasteland. It doesn't help that I never liked the Jon arc in the first place, let alone what they've done with Ygritte & the Halfhand. And at least we'll be able to easily fast-forward through the Robb-Talisa scenes on the BluRay (cable OnDemand's ff sucks).

9.5/10. Oddly, Lena Headey (sp.?) made this episode for me. As far as I'm concerned, she's now joined Dance, Dinklage, Cosmo and maybe a couple of others at the head of the class in a series that features generally strong acting all around. I don't know what she did between seasons 1 & 2, but she's really brought it this year. This whole season has seemed really dark (as in the picture quality, not the thematic tone). Since this one happened exclusively at night, it was hard for me to make out some things. I have perfect eyesight, but perhaps my environment or my tv is not-so-perfect (although it's been the same on my lcd monitor). The battle scenes were especially murky. Or was that intentional? It wouldn't be unreasonable if it were. That aside, my only quibbles are Stannis the Barbarian charging up the ladder with no protection, the Sandor-Sansa scene lacked intensity or a reason for her to stay in King's Landing (and what's happened to Dontos?), the lack of an Imp Chain, and Tyrion's wounding. Ser Mandon is supposed to slip before striking, hence his botched assassination attempt, and there appeared to be no reason for him to only slice across Tyrion's face. Again, I could have just missed something due to the darkness, though. I couldn't see a reason for it at first, but by the end I thought the Sandor-Bronn scene was just meant to re-emphasize that the Hound is bold enough to challenge Bronn, so his "fuck the king" scene wasn't just him being a chicken shit when the going gets tough. That illustration would be more for non-GRRM readers, since other viewers would know exactly why he leaves. GRRM's reaction to any claims that the writer of this episode doesn't know jack about Westeros would be priceless.

I will shit gold before the leaves get any sniff at Cup glory. Go George Go.