Lord_Pepsi_Cupps

10/10 The battle had me in knots, and that hasn't happened on the show in forever. It was just a very well-made piece of TV. I *love* how they're reminding the viewers of all the main players and how their stories relate, but are actually making an effort so it doesn't jar: Tyrion and Dany was perfect for this, and a great scene all round. Shame they felt they had to give Emilia Clarke another GRANDIOSE pompous line (you break that wheel), she is so much better when she tones it down a couple of notches. I don't blame the actress, she gets written some wooden lines. Cersei is.. coming together better than I thought. The whole thing has been rushed, which is such a shame - Cersei in Feast and Dance is just one of the juiciest storylines in the books. But then they subtly played a few bars of The Rains of Castamere, as Cersei Lannister is on her knees, sucking water off of a filthy dungeon floor. Those couple of moments approached how I've felt at certain key points while reading the books. Top marks.

Strange that we didn't see Arya in an episode called The Gift... It was a perfect episode name if Jon had settled the wildlings on the New Gift, and Arya gave the gift to someone. I was surprised neither of those happened. Dorne... at this stage, why did they even bother with this storyline? It gets so little airtime, and what it does get is so average, that it really seems the writers just thought they "had to" do Dorne, but totally didn't see the point of it. Other than Cersei, everything else was just setup, so it's really a bridge episode. I guess exposition is unavoidable in a show this size, but they don't really make a masterpiece of it... Some gripe with the Queen of Thornes. We're told she's this big schemer, but she keeps getting shown up at every turn. And those sassy lines got old with last season's "eat this food I paid for".

Can't rate the episode, still processing the end. I switch between 1 and 10. The good: - Cersei finally feels like a real person, and her scenes with LF were some of their better scenes (which isn't saying much, I know) - the KL plot line in general felt a lot tighter this episode than it usually does; I'd even say they handled the Marg arrest twist well. - Arya finding the faces The bad, basically DORNE: - Dorne... oh my lord. What a disaster on every level. And Trystane!!! Did anyone else notice how they kept cutting away from closeups of his face because of his ridiculous pout?? - the Sand Snakes are just a joke. - that fight scene was appalling - why are they wearing clothes you'd wear in the desert if Dorne is apparently green with a gentle bit of sunshine (overcast too!). Which goes to how bad the settings were done. Still processing Sansa.

9/10 Favourite episode this season so far. Finally some top-notch dialogue! Best bits: (1) Winterfell - very interesting to see how they're developing it. Only weird bit was Sansa talking back to the Boltons at dinner. What happened to stealth? (2) Jorah and Tyrion - very good. This show couldn't handle her another travelling odd couple, so it's nice they pulled back from that. The poem was actually quite lovely. (3) Stannis and Sam Tarly. It was a short exchange, but I thought it was nicely handled. The show would usually just plomp two characters in a scene and have them interact with no background - taking the time to establish why Stannis would acknowledge Sam at all (his father) was a nice touch. (4) No Kings Landing! I didn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it's nice to be away from Cersei's mangled plot line for a bit. I'm not sure about Dany's storyline. It could be interesting, and there were a few moments where she actually seemed like a real person, rather than a statue spewing grandiose threats. The moment when she gets off at feeding people to her dragons is certainly interesting for where they might be taking her.

This was a terribly written piece of TV, and couldn't be rescued by some good performances (although a lot of the performances are part of the problem). Dorne What to say? There is no a trace of character believability in Ellaria or the Sand Snakes. They're just caricatures. Vaguely racist ones. "I want-ah my-ah revenge-ah!", lol. Why does the show keep resorting to these unnecessary exaggerated characters? They have a huge, HUGE advantage of already being provided with incredibly complex, formed characters by GRRM. They need to trim down the story for TV, but instead of trimming story, they dump all character complexity. Jon and Mel "Do we NEED to show her boob here?" "We don't "need" to do anything...". Just, I mean, is TV Mel like a legitimate sexual predator? Winterfell Aiden Gillen is difficult to watch at the best of times, but especially so when the writers change their mind about who they need Littlefinger to be this episode. Because then you're totally confused, you're like "Is this just the usual bad acting, or is it also bad writing this time??" because it's hard to say! lol. Cersei By far the weakest link in the show. The show can't seem to decide who Cersei is (or maybe Lena Heady can't deliver it consistently, I don't know - either way, the job of having a believable and interesting character is not being done).