How would you rate episode 402?

[Talking Hodor]

It was a really good episode, but I don't think they captured the sheer hatred between Joffrey and Tyrion as well as the book did. Some of the 'insults' Tyrion launched at Joffrey were a bit abstract and not nearly as good as Tyrion is capable of, especially TV Tyrion.

[Talking Hodor]

Then again, Bran getting hodored back to reality was pretty sweet!

[gogorath]

Love the King's Landing stuff -- the writing and execution to set up the Murder Mystery was great. The evidence is all there but not super obvious (although so many book readers ran to the internet to post screen shots pretending they saw this real time with no help, no one is likely unspoiled at this point). Almost every character had their motive highlighted.

The rest of the episode was really "leftovers from episode 1." There may have been some loose ties to Joffrey, but overall, to be a 10, it needed to be a bit more cohesive and be equally strong across the board. A 9, though -- the death was fantastic.

[gogorath]

That's a strecth. Everyone who's butthurt over Stannis needs to calm down and wait for episode 9.

Yeah, I don't understand people's thing with Stannis. Someone claimed whitewashing (you keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means) and others are outraged because he watched the burnings.

He showed no particular religious fervor or joy in the burnings; that was Selyse. Book-Stannis is someone with little use for religion that doesn't advance his goals; but I fail to see how Show-Stannis is different. Book-Stannis is lawyerly in his ability to pretend to be following a strict code which seemingly morphs at will to what he truly wants. Again, Show-Stannis seems to be going along with this part of Melisandre because he wants to be King. What's different?

[Andrés Garcia]

I gave the last episode an eight and I gave this one a seven. My hatred for Joffrey isn't so great that his death overshadows all the flaws in the episode. There are many small things that I loved though---e.g. the look of understanding on Oberyn's face when he saw Sansa's grief and humiliation during the jousting, Olenna Tyrell's subtle reaction as Tyrion lifts up Joffrey's cup and brings it to him, Cersei's questioning of Brienne, etcetera.

Edited April 15, 2014 by Andrés Garcia

[Ran]

469 votes in and the episode rates 8.32. Normalized with the top/bottom 5% removed, it's at 8.47.

[Fevre River Warrior]

I loved it. I have been waiting to watch the end of the Purple Wedding on the screen since I first read it.

1) Loved Bran and the tree.

2) Not sure where they are going with Mel and Shireen....I hope she does not do anyting to that wonderful little girl (kings blood and all.....) unless she "cures' the gray scale.

3) Theon/Reek is so sad to see. I hope Yara/Asha gets to him soon

4) Liked the necklace replacing the hair net for Sansa. The Queen of Thornes was fussing with it and the goblet was in front of her later.....we know the rest.

5) Oberyn staring down Tywin was fabulous.

6) That awful, disgusting Joffrey is GONE!!!!!

Give me more!!!!! Sunday can't come soon enough....

PS: Wow, Fat Walda is REALLY fat! She seems sweet, like in the book. Felt sorry for the horse.

Edited April 15, 2014 by Fevre River Warrior

[Inevittable]

I've given it an 8.

The wedding was gorgeous, and seemed much grander than the description in the books. Because I pictured it to be in a big hall it seemed a bit drab in my imagination.

I liked the character interactions during the wedding, and the little moment where Joffrey surprises Tyrion with his thanks for the book. I actually LOLed at Loras's comeback to Jaime ("neither will you").

I thought Margaery was excellent, you can see how crafty she is, and it seems a lot more deliberate than it does in the books. I'm actually starting to root for her.

The building tension between Tyrion and Joffrey was very well done, and Sansa's reaction to the dwarfs was excellently done - as was the smattering of clues before the choking.

I didn't really pay attention to much except the wedding, as you can see.

It could have been a 10 if the events hadn't been so slow though. I thought the whole episode was a tad plodding, and the Tyrion/Shae interaction didn't do much for me.

[clairep12]

I gave it an 8, almost a 9. I am so glad joffrey is dead, he was a great character but man did he drive me crazy. The way in which the wedding scenes played out was good, i liked the very subtle hints as to who is behind joffreys death. Below is a clip of the kings final moment. Good riddance!!

http://connectv.com/vs/18242/happy-wedding-joffrey/

[Daedric Justice]

7/10. It had some great moments but too much flab imo.

[~DarkHorse~]

8/10

Joffrey turning purple was a very mesmerizing scene, disturbing to the point where I almost forgot to be happy. Then followed by the Sigur Vos version of 'Rains of Castamere' in the end credits was haunting. They've turned the sadistic Lannister song into their lament with a 'Karma bitch' vibe to it.

The character reactions to the mockery of the Kings was amazing! I especially loved how Oberyn was spotted amongst the clapping crowd looking pretty sick with the whole thing-clearly establishing him as a decent/good guy.

"And neither will you"- Thank You! I was getting tired of Loras sitting around being the gay joke constantly. That comment was a fist pump moment and made me lol pretty hard.

Sophie was fantastic despite having no verbal scenes. The Starks have suffered so much and their situation is heart-breaking/unbearable....yet, the Starks endure...and Sansa really showed that in her reactions. Last week I was very disappointed with Jon acknowledging Robb's death scene (seemed less bothered than Theon) so I'm hoping Locke will encounter Jon and be the target of some vent up frustrations. I need to know Jon cares about what happened to his family!!

My main beefs with the episode was Stannis being a religious tyrant (my unsullied friend thinks he is the bad guy!). Also, I imagined Cersei's reaction to Joff dying being more raw and heartfelt but it seemed a little rushed. That being said I did love Jaime running to his son shouting 'Joffrey' rather than 'Your grace' even if it wasn't something he would do in the books. I almost wish they had changed it to Jaime saying 'My son' so Joffrey would have died in more shock/agony knowing the rumours were true, haha.

Edited April 15, 2014 by ~DarkHorse~

[flamingothegreen]

I was really excited to see this episode. I haven't read the books yet, but I've read more spoilers than I can account for. Somehow, I'm not 100% satisfied so I rated the episode an 8.

What I liked:

- the scenes with Ramsay. Well, I didn't really enjoy them, but I do like seeing how much of a complete sociopath he is. I pity Theon so much as well - he did wrong, but no one deserves what he got. Not even Joffrey. I thought it added a good amount of development to Ramsay, Roose and Theon though as well, and a bit of insight to their mindsets and morals and such. Good stuff!

- the little bit with Bran was awesome (especially the Hodor bit LOL), though I wish we'd have seen more. I've been really impressed with Bran's development as a character (didn't read many spoilers for him since I didn't think much of him originally). Can't wait to see where it's going. c:

- everything after the dwarf scene - Joffrey and Tyrion's back-and-forth, the chalice going around (especially when Sansa picked it up! Clever doing that, and I like the idea of Sansa softening up to Tyrion).

- Joffrey's death! At the same time, I didn't enjoy it. I thought I'd be happy, but I wasn't. Joffrey's presence will be missed.

- the dwarves! Well, not something enjoyable of course, but it's a good reminder of how cruel Joffrey is.

- the back-and-forth between Oberyn, Ellaria, Tywin, and Cersei - great dialogue, and I do love when they insult Cersei. c: I already liked Oberyn from "Two Swords" but was unsure about Ellaria - I definitely like her personality now though.

- the wedding itself. Everything was gorgeous.

What I didn't like:

- it's already been said, but I think some of the scenes were a bit rushed. The Bran and Stannis ones in particular, I believe. I'll have to go back and rewatch those scenes to analyze them appropriately since I don't remember them as well as I should.

- Cersei's reaction to Joff's death. It started off well but she was so quick to lay the blame on Tyrion, that I didn't even feel sad for her losing her son. I think that's perhaps why I wasn't satisfied with the death of Joffrey. The emotion just wasn't strong enough to be relatable.

- Loras/Oberyn stares. I know the Martells and Tyrells aren't supposed to be on the best terms and that Loras was always loyal to Renly, so the suggestion is somewhat bothersome.

Overall, I enjoyed it but it could have been executed better.

Edited April 15, 2014 by flamingothegreen

[LordElrond]

I think generally, it was a good episode. Of course, Jack Gleeson's performance really did it for me. On the other hand, I expected more of Cersei. In the book, she really loses it, but in this episode, it seemed like she got over it rather quickly and moved her attention to revenge from Tyrion.

I also don't know how I feel about the way they're shaping Shae's story. but again, overall I was really happy to how they did the wedding and the incredible attention to detail.

[Beric175]

This was a great episode. 9/10 from me. If I had a problem it would be the Stannis scenes, only because they did not add much beyond mentioning the Great Other and establishing a love-hate relationship between Selyse and Shireen. The actors are well-portraying what they've been given but judging from what D&D have been saying about Stannis in the most recent Inside the Episode video, I think the problem with the Stannis characterization seems to stem largely from the fact that Weiss has a less nuanced position regarding Stannis than Benioff and that is crucially the problem with the character itself: he's a divisive character (some people think he's a kinslayer for having Renly murdered by shadow, others think he's got the ONLY legal claim when Daenerys also has a good birth right). I mean people reading the books have disagreed about the character, so why wouldn't that potentially be the case with the creators of the show? It's unfortunate that Weiss wants to portray him in a way that is more akin to a religious zealot than anything else, whereas bénioff seems to understand that melisandre is just a means to an end and some of that comes through with the actor's portrayal of the character in this episode to me because he seems disinterested in whatever religious procedure melisandre as going on and he at least says "hands off my daughter" so yeah, the complexity off the show version of the character has to be found elsewhere than in his speeches about claims and thrones. I can live with this portrayal of Stannis because I believe the intent is to have him turning up at the Wall as a hero in the last two episodes be a surprise despite the fact that they've established this motivation at the end of last season. A bit of a shame that the creators are not on the same page about him, but then again, many of the readers aren't. At least Shirreen and Davos are true to their book counterparts. I can live with the show version of Stannis for the sake of simplification and narrative economy.

The rest of the episode was amazingly well-done and kudos to jack Gleeson who has been as good as anyone cpould have hoped for in that hateful role and I'm really liking Iwan Rheon's portrayal of Ramsay as well so here's to the psyhcos of Westeros. may both of them rest in pieces once the story's over. Alfie Allen should really get some recognition for his portrayal of Reek/Theon and now that we have the physical torture behind us it will be interesting to see where he goes rom here and Roose Bolton is also wonderful on the show. Really, all these serial killers of Westeros need is to hug their dads :D. "Who the f***'s Jon Snow?" made me laugh. Locke is one of the better inventions for the show methinks. Bran's story is also getting interesting and it's nice to see them bringing in material from when we first met the Reeds in the books. I think most of Bran's storyline in the books is not that eventful that chronology is strictly required, which could be an asset going forward, as they are inevitably going to have to do something with Bran once they run out of ADWD material so yeah, why not introduce elements from earlier books later on? Well-done. I also like the consistency of the visions because it shows that they have a clear endgoal and that we'll get there sooner rather than later.

I see where the divide usually comes from regarding Lena Headey's portrayal of Cersei because when Martin writes her we get full-on idiot/asshole Cersei, not just deeply condescending/cynical Cersei and it's refreshing to see Lena portray that hatefulness and schadenfreude so well here. I don't have a problem how they usually show Cersei, it's just that viewers might hate her for slightly different reasons in the show than in the books but I can live with that. That scene with Pycelle was hilarious. They're really setting up her disappointment with him so once he gets to be in charge for a while he'll gloat and be sufficiently arrogant, which is always good. Tywin and Olenna are both awesome as matriarch and patriarch of their families, albeit Olenna is deliberately telling tywin to enjoy himself of course so as to make him let his guard down for just that second and then...the king's choking on the floor. All the wedding interactions are wonderful (Oberyn/Ellaria are so wonderfully progressive I would not be surprised they end up becoming fan favourites on the show, Jaime's really in no position to threaten anyone, and certainly wouldn't be able to carry out such a threat and it's lovely seeing Loras having a backbone here too, Brienne is wonderfully awkward and yay we got bowing on the show). natalie diormer is really making margaery much more interesting than she ever was to me in the books and I don't have a problem with Bronn stepping in for Ser Illyn because of, sadly, the actor's health preventing him from carrying on.

...and then of course, the mighty Jack and Peter having at it in what's probably the best building tension we've had so far on the show (I especially liked how the show managed to get around the animal cruelty charges that a pig and a dog would inevitably have brought with them and made us feel sad for both tyrion and Sansa, whilst also playing a nice game of "follow the cup" and if one looks closely, Tywin is eating the pie so for any viewers who might think that it's NOT the wine, there's your answer).

Now to me at least it feels like every wedding we had so far has its own character and atmosphere so yes, I will always stick with my praise for the show's version of the RW because it now makes it a singular event, just as this PW is. A wonderful send-off that was too good for a character like Joffey to deserve but Jack Gleeson cetainly deserved nothing less and I already miss him. Next week is his last scene (as a corpse) so lets see if he can do anything more to make us hate him.

NB: Sansa finally has some agency because her decision to leave is still her decision and it shows the beginnings of hopefully great things to come.

[Knight of Ashes]

Well, I was gonna give it a six but that close-up of Theon followed immediately by Tyrion eating a sausage deserves a point.

At the risk of sounding like Ramsay, they should make that a running gag.

But seriously, last season IIRC left off with Tyrion and Cersei having an almost normal brother and sister conversation where Cersei pretty much admitted that it wasn't her but Joffrey who had Mandon Moore try to kill Tyrion; she gave the impression that she didn't approve of this and the both of them were kind of bonding cause they both felt oppressed by Tywin.

I know the tv versions of Cersei and Tyrion have both made threats to each other and have felt hostilities but in light of that scene, the flow felt off to me when TV Cersei became much closer to Book Cersei when she was at Tywin's side conspiring against Tyrion.

[The Anti-Targ]

Some nitpicks on the episode, and rather an annoyance that Bronn is Jaime's training partner. Makes Jaime even weaker in intelligence, can't even figure out his own training options. I suppose they are setting things up to somehow have Bronn use that information. Anyway, disappointed that I won't get to hear Ilyn Payne doing his toungeless cackle laugh.

[Beric175]

@The Anti-Targ: You won't be hearing nor seeing Ser Illyn on the show again sadly because the actor has terminal cancer and he expected to die already last year but luckily he has not died yet but yeah, out of respect they will probably not recast him and hence, it's best to give his role to another character that people already connected with.

@Knight of Ashes: you seem to be forgetting that in the same scene between Tyriona nd Cersei last season Tyrion mentions how Joffrey could have been smart by using poison to kill him so noone would have known it was him who killed Tyrion, which then now comes back into play because Cersei knows that he voiced such a possibility to murder someone efficiently. Also, have you noticed that every time Tyrion asks Cersei about some hideous deeds (the killing of the bastards, Ser Mandon Moore trying to kill him) she always goes silent and neither denies nor confirms anything? I like that far more because it leaves some ambiguity for the viewers. All the viewers have is Tyrion's assumptions of what happened, no actual evidence or facts to back that up and so why not have the audience led in the wrong direction? Just because Tyrion arrives at one conclusion as a result of her silence, does not mean that he arrives at the right conclusion.

[Three sisters]

I give it a 9 because of Tyrion eating the sausage after the Theon shot, the

subtle 'pling' noise when Olenna drops the poisoned stone in the cup (you have to rewatch it to notice)

[/SPOILER] and the death scene making everybody happy and cheering(exact the opposite of RW).

Edited April 18, 2014 by Three sisters

[Ran]

509 votes in, 8.34 average. Normalized with top/bottom 5% removed, 8.48.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Ran

[naik2902]

Good but not excellent. 8 of 10.

When joff dies only cersei n jamie run for help. I mean wtf others was doing for those 30 sec. Ur king is dying n tywin n margery watching from a far.

Wat can kill u so fast ?? u might choke due to suffocation n problem in breathing.but How one can die bleeding through eyes so fast ???