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How would you rate episode 401?


Ran
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How would you rate episode 401?  

705 members have voted

  1. 1. What's your rating from 1-10, with 10 being the highest/best

    • 1
      3
    • 2
      1
    • 3
      3
    • 4
      10
    • 5
      12
    • 6
      28
    • 7
      104
    • 8
      240
    • 9
      203
    • 10
      101


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A very solid 7 out of 10. The best premiere since season 1, but I guess that's not saying much, since the other two were very average.



The good



- The Arthur Dayne and Duncan the Tall namedrops were so awesome. Easily my favourite things of the episode.


- Some of the Hound's lines were hilarious, like "what the fuck is a Lommy," "those people are cunts," and "I don't care if he ate your friend!"


- Cool to see the Dreadfort and Meereen in the intro.


- I may have had to suppress a little fanboy giggle when Doran and Sunspear were namedropped.


- The CGI at the end, of that whole war-torn landscape, was pretty amazing.


- Even though it was kind of random and short, I really liked the Sansa/Dontos scene. It was cool to have him hint at the history of House Hollard. And finally Sansa is getting back to her old, not-that-dumb self.



The meh



- Oberyn's introduction. The entire scene in the brothel was completely pointless and served no purpose. I also didn't like Oberyn brutally attacking that Lannister guy. Sure he was a dick, but c'mon. We will see Oberyn's a badass later.


- The Margaery/Brienne scene was completely pointless, since Margaery already doubted Brienne killed Renly, when Loras convinced her.


- Emilia continues to be an actress with zero range of tone and expression, and it made her scenes very dull.


- The Jaime/Tywin confrontation was a bit underwhelming compared to how I thought it would be.



The bad



- Olenna Tyrell is seriously getting very annoying and unfunny at this point. She is coming across less witty and more bitchy every episode.



When that's the only thing that's not that good about an episode though, I'm generally pretty happy. A really good premiere, and hopefully the season continues with this quality.


Edited by Queen of Whores
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7/10



Only bc I hold this show to a higher standard. Compared to most other TV shows, every GoT episode gets 10/10, but compared to other episodes of this show, this gets a 7.



I understand that they wanted to go ahead and give us more context for Oberyn and how he is, but his intro compared to the book intro was not nearly as good. The banter between him and Tyrion while riding into KL was one of my favorite moments from the book, and I am a little disappointed that we didn't get to see that play out on the screen. But like I said, I get it. He will only be in 7 or 8 episodes so they had to hurry up and explain his character to non readers.



I wasn't crazy about the Jamie scenes either. Its going to be interesting having him there for what is about to happen.



Other than that, it was good. Great to finally be back in Westeros, even if its only for 9 more weeks.


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What do you mean by her old, not-that-dumb self? She was dumb at the start, and over the course of the four books she finally becomes less dumb and naïve.

I'm trying not to compare her (or most things now) to the books (cause I'm a couple of inches away from being a purist) but in season 2 Sansa actually carried an air of intelligence and dignity and maturity to her, then in season 3 that dropped right back down to not at all, with several stupid moments like asking if her family could come to the wedding and being far too happy in her marriage to Tyrion. From the premiere it looks like Sansa is getting back on the right track, so to speak.

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I gave it an 8. It was solid. I did not like the Thenns. It will make an awkward situation if they follow the book. The Thenns were not cannibals, but I don't think it is absolutely necessary that a Thenn follows through with what is in the books.



I think the Arya scene was about as good as they could do because it reintroduces the 2nd sword Stark named sword. Of course the first is now two Lannister swords.


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7/10, which is better than I was expecting for a season premiere. Very action packed and the immediate introduction of Oberyn Martell made me swoon. I thought Kit was amazing and I loved the scene. I did not like the portrayal of the Thenns, however. I'm also annoyed with the screwing of the timeline. I thought Sandor's fight at the inn would happen toward the end of the season. Nor am I down with Brienne's interaction with the Tyrells or Sansa's meeting with Dontos.

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- Oberyn's introduction. The entire scene in the brothel was completely pointless and served no purpose. I also didn't like Oberyn brutally attacking that Lannister guy. Sure he was a dick, but c'mon. We will see Oberyn's a badass

Pointless?

Here's what the pointless brothel scene accomplished:

1. Intro to the red viper and Ellaria and their unique relationship

2. Showed oberyn's voracious sexual appetites.

3. Showed oberyn's hair trigger temper and loathing for lannisters

4. Showed oberyn's fighting prowess

But yeah other than that it was pointless and a disgraceful mangling of the holy source material.

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Pointless?

Here's what the pointless brothel scene accomplished:

1. Intro to the red viper and Ellaria and their unique relationship

2. Showed oberyn's voracious sexual appetites.

3. Showed oberyn's hair trigger temper and loathing for lannisters

4. Showed oberyn's fighting prowess

But yeah other than that it was pointless and a disgraceful mangling of the holy source material.

Aye, I loved that scene. Oberyn's sexual preferences are a significant part of his character, and they did a good job making it clear what he's like right off the bat when you can't have the third-person descriptions of him.

I'll watch it again but for now I'm thinking 8/10. Really enjoyed everything about the introduction to Oberyn, Arya/Sandor was fantastic, and I loved the opening scene with Tywin. That scene with Tywin almost single-handedly makes it at least an 8 no matter what the rest of the episode was.

Edited by Scrambled Aegon
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Tywin is getting scarier by the second.

Loved Oberyn and Mercy, great that they brought Dontos back.

Did not like the cannibal Thenns, i so not remember them being cannibals (please correct me if i am wrong)

You are correct they are not cannibals, poor Alys.

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Hard for me to rate without a re-watch, but my initial thoughts...



GOOD:


- No dialogue in the opening scene


- Kit's acting


- Cersei being more insane; Cersei's heavier drinking being referenced


- Sassy Aemon. Sassy Jon.


- The Hound. Everything about The Hound. All the time.


- Maisie. Everything about Maisie. All the time.


- The Dreadfort looking badass in the opening credits.


- Oberyn being intimidating as fuck.


- Shout outs in the Kingsguard



TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT:


- Olenna's fangirling over Brienne


- Something about either the pacing or scene transitions or the way scenes were spread throughout the episode... Something felt a bit off. A re-watch will improve this.


- The hairnet becoming a necklace. How can she subtly lose a gem off of the necklace and not notice it during the wedding? The hairnet was really sneaky. The necklace is more obvious. But, I suppose that's the point for TV. Plus, no one on the show ever wears hairnets. A necklace is more what we're used to seeing.


- I'm undecided as to whether I like Arya's overkill in the book's inn scene or Arya's slow, calculating, cold killing on the TV inn scene. "How many how many how many??" stuck with me and it was really powerful. But on the other hand, we got an overkill scene of her with the Frey last finale. Plus, the slow killing shows a lot of insight into how she's changing.


- I'm happy Brienne was in the premier, but I didn't like any of her scenes.


- I'm glad they're continuing to set up Shae. Coming off of a rewatch of seasons 2 and 3 though, she's like a broken record. She says the same paranoid shit over and over again. Had I not just seen those seasons, I know I'd be less bothered.



BAD:


- The slow reveal that the Thenns were cannibals. By the time they panned down to the arm, I thought the ominous tone was kind of overdone to the point it was almost silly. Other than that, the Thenns were pretty good. This is a really stupid complaint, I know.


- New Daario. Old Daario delivered his lines in such an over the top kind of poetic way but it seemed natural and he was on the right side of the sexy vs. sleazy line. Altogether I thought Old Daario captured what mattered about Book Daario. New Daario has no charisma.


- Tywin vs. Jaime. I thought the book dialogue was better and they could have borrowed more from it. The scene felt rushed.


- Jaime's haircut.



I'm thinking it felt like a 7/10 for me.. But a re-watch would definitely put it higher so I'll just vote 8.


Edited by shiola
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Liked:


Arya/The Hound/Needle


Ice Reforging


Jon mourning Robb and his scene with Thorne, Slynt and Aemon


The Red Viper (could have done without the brothel bit though)


Sansa and Dontos, and the hairnet


Jaime/Joffrey/Trant scene and the old Kingsguard members namedrop


Thenn introduction and Tormund's general awesomeness


Bronn



Disliked:


Margery and Brienne exchange


Jaime and Brienne discussion on what to do about Sansa (kind of a major step back for both of their character development)


Felt the Tywin/Jaime exchaneg could have been better but I didn't mind it


Didn't really dig any of Dany's scenes (especially the Daario ones), although the Dragon CGI was amazing!


Edited by Ice Wolf
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Pointless?

Here's what the pointless brothel scene accomplished:

1. Intro to the red viper and Ellaria and their unique relationship

2. Showed oberyn's voracious sexual appetites.

3. Showed oberyn's hair trigger temper and loathing for lannisters

4. Showed oberyn's fighting prowess

But yeah other than that it was pointless and a disgraceful mangling of the holy source material.

What's with the sarcasm? I directly said I'm not comparing anything to the books, and not a single one of my criticisms were about comparing the show to the books. Did you even read all of my post? Your first two points could have easily been accomplished by having Tyrion and Oberyn talk more, just like how the in the book that one scene completely defined Oberyn's character. He could have easily made a couple of sly references to Ellaria and their ambiguous sexual nature. Your third point can also be done in conversation, and he already clearly showed heavy dislike for the Lannisters in his short convo with Tyrion in the episode. And the fourth point... how is suddenly stabbing a guy in the hand fighting prowess?

Edited by Queen of Whores
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- New Daario. Old Daario delivered his lines in such an over the top kind of poetic way but it seemed natural and he was on the right side of the sexy vs. sleazy line. Altogether I thought Old Daario captured what mattered about Book Daario. New Daario has no charisma.

EXACTLY. Old Daario didn't LOOK like book Daario, but he was arrogant, over the top. He was natural. He had a swagger in his walk, his smirk was perfect. This new Daario, in his limited time seems odd, with little charisma, and no arrogance in his voice or his face.

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Am I the only one so far that DOESN'T like new Daario? I see people saying they like him. I really don't so far. I know it's early, but he's not arrogant enough, and he's missing that edge, that cocky swagger, the smirk, the walk. I don't know. I just don't know.

I can't speak everyone, but personally want them to get rid of arrogant daario or at least make him successfully suave. Daario was hands down the worst character in the book, so making him like the book would be a mistake

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Anyone else feel that Arya's murder of Tickler would have been more powerful on screen? The almost psychotic interrogation while stabbing him. I can really imagine Maisie Williams doing a great job of that. Not that the Polliver scene was bad, but it was underwhelming.



And secondly, what the hell! I preferred season 3 Daario! And that's saying a lot. There's absolutely no charm with this new guy.

Edited by rohit39
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