Gladiator of Dorne

No one complaining about the lack of Stannis (as far as I have read) has said a word about the battle being underwhelming on its own, though killing off two of the established and recognizable Wall characters isn't going to help any next season. Our issue is more with the narrative and wasted time on other irrelevant issues. I'm a Stannis fan, though I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and this episode should have been his moment by rights, as Episode 9 of Season 2 was Tywin's moment.

People saying Tywin's death is going to happen next year are forgetting the preview scene we saw with Shae looking up surprised from a bed with a crossbow in plain sight behind her. It's happening next episode... my only hope is that the final scene, going in the pattern they've had since Season 1 in the finales (Fire, Ice, Fire) is Stannis turning the tide at the Wall is the final scene of the season. What we'll likely get instead of Stannis showing up after the majority of the fighting is over, claiming all the credit, and the Children of the Forest/Bloodraven to close out the season.

Also, confirmed D&D are going to make it look like the Night's Watch did all the work and Stannis showed up to take all the glory. Really close to dropping the show after this season. Stannis is all we have to go with cardboard (in terms to the actors) Jon Snow and blank-expression Dany, and if the added scenes are any indication of what we're going to get once D&D take over material after passing up the books... it's not going to be pretty. Again, missed opportunity to deliver Stannis's finest moment. I watch the show with my father and he thinks Stannis is a shit commander who got his ass kicked at the Blackwater and that's it. Was so excited for tonight for him to see why I love the character... and then we get the credits six minutes early.

Truly a missed opportunity. Why spend the entire episode at the wall only to end like that? At this rate they should have included at least Arya or even Dany's arc... this just feels like an incomplete episode, a massive letdown from last week, and we can only assume next week is going to suffer in a massive way without time for those major plot twists (Tywin's death, Stannis's arrival at the Wall) to breathe on their own. Also, wtf HBO? Was a advertisement for True Blood REALLY necessary enough to cut into your premiere show, which, on top of that, is already cut six minutes short?

Making my first comment here on the forums. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I felt the Red Viper/Mountain duel, in the end, delivered the thrill of the fight and suspense of Oberyn nearly winning and then losing in such horrific fasion. I was watching with my father and he jumped up when the Mountain went down for the count, so in that way I feel it lived up to the books in making you believe that the Mountain is finally going to meet justice. Then, just like that, the energy left the room as Gregor pulled Oberyn in and finished him off. Tyrion was sentenced to death, and I felt it got the emotions it needed to get. That being said, I feel the fight suffered from the new Mountain's lack of acting ability and the episode suffered from a lack of build-up for a fight that the episode itself was named after. As to the new Mountain, sure he was massive, but I think we can all agree that the guy they had from Season 1 would have made this scene a fight worthy of the hype. A lot of the dialogue and motions just felt clumsy and absent of that blind-rage we saw from the Mountain in Season 1. In a later interview where Conan Stevens spoke on Clegane, he seemed to have as good a grasp as you could get on such a violent, brutish character. A shame he couldn't come back for Season 4, but alas, we were left with what we witnessed Sunday. I think Pascal carried the fight well enough to make it a memorable fight-scene all-in-all though. He really nailed it this season, capturing the essence of our beloved Red Viper and delivering that swaggering bravado to Game of Thrones fans each and every week. He shall be missed.