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How would you rate episode 402?


Ran
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How would you rate episode 402?  

640 members have voted

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

    • 1
      6
    • 2
      1
    • 3
      3
    • 4
      4
    • 5
      15
    • 6
      37
    • 7
      69
    • 8
      164
    • 9
      190
    • 10
      151


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Enjoyed this immensely and gave it a 9. I knocked one point off for the Bran scene. Awesome as it was for we in the know, I think it may have been a wee bit confusing to the Unsullied. And may the Old Gods forgive me, I know it was poor taste, but I couldn't help but giggle at the Renly and Stannis dwarves. Renly riding Ser Loras, Stannis riding Melisandre. I'm ashamed of myself, but I chuckled.



I was also a bit confused when Bronn assured Tyrion that Shae had got on the ship. I'm assuming it is NOT the last we see of her - it would be disappointing if so.



I notice that some book readers have mentioned that no stone was taken from Sansa's necklace, but it clearly was. I've watched twice now, and it is definitely the stone that was resting on the collar/left-hand side of her neckline that is missing. Over on the Guardian blog (in the UK) a few Unsullied picked this up, so the mystery was perhaps not as cleverly set up as some seem to think. But then again, that may be because we know what we're looking for, and the Unsullied there are too used to seeing detective dramas over here.



There were some outstanding performances tonight, many of them without dialogue. The looks on the faces of the Viper, Varys, Olenna, Sansa and Tyrion at the wedding were priceless. And Alfie Allen continues to make me sympathise with Theon when I loathed him in the books. :)


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8 for me. Not as good as the premiere, but damn good fun. I feel for the ones who can't separate the show from the books, because this is such entertaining television. I can't imagine what it must feel like to sit there and be mad at your TV for an hour every Sunday when this is on. Ugh.

I do think that the show could greatly benefit from following the example Martin set with Feast and Dance, and the episodes should be split up by region/interconnecting storylines.

The Dreadfort and Dragonstone stuff just didn't flow with the King's Landing stuff. It was literally like watching 2 different shows.

The wedding was so colorful and some Dany sprinkled in would have fit much better with the aesthetic and the flow of the episode.

I feel like the show should be trying as hard as they can to keep the Dreadfort, The Wall, and Bran storylines together, and the King's Landing and Daenerys storylines together, with Stannis sprinkled throughout when the theme syncs up.

We've got 2 competing tones/color aesthetics going on in the show right now and it feels awkward when they're mixed up. Obviously you couldn't stick slavishly to this formula, but I think it could help the flow better.

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I see a lot of people docking points for the Bran scene because it was "confusing for the Unsullied." It's supposed to be.



His chapters around this time were confusing to those of us that read the book, but I don't see why that is all of a sudden a problem now while watching the show.



All of my Unsullied pretty much had the exact same reaction to that scene: "Holy shit, Bran is FINALLY interesting, wtf was that?"


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10.


Why?



He's DEAD!



:cool4: :laugh: :smug:



At last!


The right one got killed for a change, and it was nasty.



I give Sansa full credit, and good for her.


Makes me hope she and Arya get reunited, and can chat about the notches in their belts someday.


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8 of 10 -- Solid effort, but nothing spectacular



A few disappointments:



o Stannis burning Ser Axel as an "infidel" who refused Stannis's command to tear down idols...I don't think this is as "fanatical" as most people seem to think, it seems Stannis is justifying it because of disobedience to a Royal Command, not a general religious persecution, but saying, "He was caught trying to negotiate a marriage between Shireen and Tommen without my leave" would have taken as much screen time and been true to the book.



o I missed Tyrion telling Joff that he [Joff] was the only person he [Tyrion] could beat -- as with the Stannis change, it doesn't make the show bad, but it doesn't improve the show, so basically it's different just to be different.



o Shae was painfully stupid, and I feel the time spent on her scene(s) was a waste (but I feel that way about pretty much every second that gets wasted on her "expanded" role)



o Roose/Ramsey was a bit weak (I know it can still come later, but "Don't make me rue the day I raped your mother" would have made this scene a bit stronger



o Brienne's scenes were nice, but awkward (she didn't have to deny being a Lady to make it clear she was awkward being considered as one) -- still, as far as changes to the book goes, I don't think the Jamie/Brienne arriving early is being done that badly overall, and I do understand that a tv show has to give actors more consistent screen time than a book's author does


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I feel that the breadth of narrative being attempted in this series means the shows are reduced to series of vignettes with no sense of flow to the story. For instance the original relationship between Tyrion and Bronn had some substance whereas now they are reduced to charicatures. Based on the literary output of George Martin the producers could have taken the decision to spread the books out over more series as, at this rate, they are clearly going to catch up with the books prior to the conclusion of the written original.


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Didn't like most of it. Hammy acting, lines and sequences felt rushed. I have no idea what's going on with Ramsay's new sidekick. Feminist lobby maybe?! Also, Theon does NOT look like a traumatised mind-raped torture victim, he looks like a good-looking guy in makeup who's "a bit scared". Didn't get the dinner scene with Mel/Stannis/Selyse either. (Had to chuckle at Stannis' line, when he said not to strike his daughter, but he's just come back from burning people alive!)



Having said that, all the Lannisters were superb. Oberyn does very well with the crap scenes he gets (episode 1, in a brothel, wth?!). The costume and set design is just... unparalleled. Beautifully done. The final scene I enjoyed, although they really drew it out in an obvious way. Actor that plays Stannis is brilliant, again given the crap scenes he gets.



Basically my main criticisms of the show as a whole have all come down to one or two things: it feels rushed and/or not subtle enough, i.e. they're trying to appeal to too large an audience but at the expenses of integrity (but look at a show like Deadwood or Breaking Bad, they were successful but kept their consistency, characters, plot depth and overall integrity in tact).


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Oh! Forgot to add: while I don't like any of the build-up scenes with the Reeds (annoying, inexplicable characters IMO), the whole weirwood green dream sequence was truly amazing. Kinda blew me away actually, almost spot on as far as what I had imagined from reading all the books. It was a bit like Frodo's ring-visions.



I watched it back and there are tons of little clues, whispers, book references and so on. I also like how they hinted that Bran might be the "promised prince" (where book readers know where that whole thing is going...). But sorry, I don't like the Reeds' given dialogue, it's too corny, i.e. any of the scenes where Bran is "awake" with them. It all seems rushed and over-staged with obviously "derp derp" lines.



When he's a dire wolf or in vision states it's cool. Also he was great with Rickon, but something about his new adventure seems a bit hammy.


Edited by mrlukeduke
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Gave it a 6. Was quite disapointed with the Purple Wedding. Even though the expectations were a bit high.



The deathscene worked better the second time I watched it (just like Cat's in the RW), but it still felt rushed, like most of the episode.



It feels like everyone have to interact with everyone, and all this constant jabbing back-and-forth often felt pointless.



There used to be sparks flying between Tyrion and his fucked up nephew, but now there was nothing, no intensity, nothing. Just a lot of frowning. That disapointed me the most.



The best scenes where the breakfast with the Lannister boys hanging out, there are so few genuinely nice scenes like this anymore in the series now that all the Starks are either dead or deranged. Also I loved the Bolton&Bastard ones, especially with the Reek shave. Now that Gleeson is gone, I will move my focus and admiration to Allen. He's perfect.


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Straight 7 from me. The opening scene was good, showed just how twisted Ramsey is, but who exactly is that girl he was with?

The scene with Cersei, Tywin and Oberyn & Ellaria was wonderful, probably my favourite, Pedro Pascal makes more & more sense each time I see him.

The wedding scenes were okay, I just felt like wasn't as joyous and lively as in the books. The ending of course was wonderfully done.

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Bran's story is leading to something very important in the books and the show. He is going to be more powerful than everyone in the story eventually.

100% my view exactly. I do have to bite my tongue sometimes when Unsullied say Bran's story on the show is 'pointless' or 'boring'. Same with the book readers who think he's boring. They mustn't be reading the same story as us :)

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100% my view exactly. I do have to bite my tongue sometimes when Unsullied say Bran's story on the show is 'pointless' or 'boring'. Same with the book readers who think he's boring. They mustn't be reading the same story as us :)

Well, Bran's story changed a lot in the last book and the show is just starting with it. To be honest I also had my times when everytime I turned the page and saw a Bran on top of it, it was a "*sigh* not him again, can we rather get back to someone interesting", it changed a lot though and now he's one of the characters I most look forward to. (Dany sort of now has the "honor" of the *sigh*, although the last chapter of her also finally helped a little with that :D )

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100% my view exactly. I do have to bite my tongue sometimes when Unsullied say Bran's story on the show is 'pointless' or 'boring'. Same with the book readers who think he's boring. They mustn't be reading the same story as us :)

Yeah, I love Bran's story - a side dish that fills out the main feast.

However I don't really like how the Reeds are portrayed. They just seem a bit 'off the mark'

On topic. 7.5 but rounded down to 7.

  • I can understand why people might be wondering what on Earth the Ramsay hunt scene was about.

I really liked the Dreadfort scene with the introduction of Fat Walda and the whole 'shave me Reek' set up. It showed a lot of things not least of which is Ramsay isn't going to sit back and be just a bastard.

To me it was clear that Stannis only allowed the burning to appease certain others and isn't a 'true believer', but rationalising it with 'he didn't follow my orders' was a bit soft. I did rate "She is my daughter you will not beat her".

Jaime/Tyrion was good as was Jaime/Bronn.

They missed the mark with Joffrey not saying 'I am experienced with Valyrian steel' and the connection to the attempt on Bran's life. Dunno how they will resolve that now.

Wedding looked good but the words used for every wedding is different in the show. The strip of cloth is the only connecting image between marriages on this show.

Tyrion/Shae - motion hand cam worked well. I don't actually mind Sibel's acting.... but it has suffered from being made into a love story.

Feast - Initially I thought it was too choppy, but on rewatch it was much better. Loras getting a personality is great. War of 5 Kings was great. Joff being a d-bag was great. Jewel handling great. Oberyn was great. Dormer nailed what I had in mind as Marg from the books. Brienne's greeting at the High Table just did not fit in at all. It was painfully obvious that it was cobbled on. "We have this character who is a fan favourite, so lets get her to do something - except the obvious thing which is talk to Sansa.'

Joff's death - Jack was fantastic, Make up and CGI were suitably and satisfyingly gruesome.... but I just wasn't convinced by Lena Headey.

I actually really wish I hadn't read the books before seeing this episode, I suspect I might have given it a couple more points if that had been the case.

Edited by Ser Desmond Wine's Bane
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