[BOOK SPOILERS] Nitpick Without Repercussion

[Good Guy Garlan]

Oberyn putting his hand ever so slightly over that candle was all kinds of lame. Who the hell does that?

The Thenns and really all that scene seemed like something out of "The Hobbit" (yeah, not even the LotR). Tormund should be jolly.

Clumsy exposition. 2 scenes, one after the other, of characters conveniently listing past plot points (Cersei and Tyrion)

Dontos showing up super late

[Ser Desmond Wine's Bane]

I thought it said he squired for Ser Arthur Dayne?

If you pause the video on Jaime's page in the Book, it says he squired for Barristan. Wasn't there also a quote from Jaime something about Barristan being 'an artist with blood being his paint' while he was squireing for him or something along those lines

[Raksha 2014]

I agree with what others have said. If Oberyn is such a romantic and desirable guy then why would he need to go and hire prostitutes? Surely just travelling to the courts of noble houses and inns/taverns or at tournies in the realm would fit more for whats meant to be an adventurous heroic character. Having to pay for it feels like a poor fit. Especially when he pulls rank on the male pimp. In fact, him and Elaria come across as quite snobbish the way they're acting bossing around the prostitutes and picking over them like choice meat. All that aristocratic arrogance and elitism. Certainly not the general egalitarian and libertarian vibe that the Dornish are meant to exude. Never mind that in previous seasons when Varys n Littlefinger talk it was established that Littlefingers brothels are frequented by pedophiles and necrophiliacs. Do you really want to make this heroic character be introduced in such a place? What does that say about Oberyn? Nothing pleasant.

To be fair, we know that book-Oberyn has visited brothels in the past; wasn't his oldest daughter conceived and raised (her early years) in one? And book-Oberyn is quite arrogant; he's one of the few arrogant characters who is arrogant and elite because of his accomplishments and stills rather than just his rank. One has the feeling, in the book, that he would not suffer fools gladly. But the brothel scene, at least Oberyn and Ellaria's selection of companions, did feel like a meat market. I always pegged Oberyn as someone who prided himself on being a skillful seducer rather than coming across so heavy-handed.

Maybe Littlefinger's brothel is one of the nicest in King's Landing?

I did think that the checking out the bods of Littlefinger's prostitutes was more to satisfy HBO/Game of Thrones' nudity quota than to convey Oberyn's sexual prowess and his and Ellaria's sexual appetites/attitudes. I would have so much rather had more conversation between Oberyn and Tyrion; because there was an interesting tension and respect (from Tyrion at least) between them rather than the rather forced We're liberal Dornish bisexuals, going for sex and blood in the brothel vibe from Oberyn and Ellaria.

[kill alot26]

If they are going to make Dany out to be the be all and end all Emilia needs to get far better at acting she really is not good at all... Kit was incredibly surprising which was great. When we first hear about Oberyn and how he arrived early I was like hmm that's different but in a way kinda bad ass like he don't give a shit but from there his introduction went down the shitter real quick.

The rest of the stuff I can kinda understand though with tv restraints and having to factor in for the average viewer, like the thenns being the villians at castle black to die and the pointless seens in kings landing.

[RoamingRonin]

What drives me nuts is that Jaime and Brienne are in KL WAY too early! There's essentially nothing for Brienne to do so they had her go on some pointless walk with Marg, Brienne and Jaime have a nice chit chat about Sansa (oh Brienne did you hear about Cat? It would have been nice to see an actual scene about it!), and wtf @ Cersei turning down Jaime??? When it's supposed to be the other way around! HE turns HER down then she really hits him where it hurts then their entire relationship changes. It's the big changes like these that should be insulting to GRRM because D&D are essentially saying they can tell his story better than he can. I understand sometimes they need to add or take away things for pacing, but to completely change around this story line is insane. :bang:

I like Jaime and Brienne being in KL now. GRRM dragged that out too long. Just like he drags out Jaime and Tyrion's reunion. Jaime never visits Tyrion despite being in KL before Tyrion is sent to the Black Cells. If he loves Tyrion so much, why didn't he stop by sooner?

I wanted to see Jaime and Cersei have sex that one last time but I

Dany (who apparently has no wardrobe budget)

No one in her crew has a new outfit! :lol: Whoever does their laundry is a pro.

[Le Cygne]

The Thenns were weird. I'm not a fan of when the show decides to be more perverse than the novels.

That's a good point. It's always overkill. It's not like the books aren't perverse enough.

[mcbigski]

If you pause the video on Jaime's page in the Book, it says he squired for Barristan. Wasn't there also a quote from Jaime something about Barristan being 'an artist with blood being his paint' while he was squireing for him or something along those lines

I believe it was more like 'an artist who painted only in red'.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

If you pause the video on Jaime's page in the Book, it says he squired for Barristan. Wasn't there also a quote from Jaime something about Barristan being 'an artist with blood being his paint' while he was squireing for him or something along those lines

It think they mention something about him squiring in season 1 too. When they are in the room sharing War Stories.

[Ser Desmond Wine's Bane]

I believe it was more like 'an artist who painted only in red'.

Yep, that's the one! Many thanks.

[bobbybuilderton]

My only nitpick is that Emilia Clarke is still a terrible actress. It is also frustrating that they clearly want me to like Daenerys, but I don't...

[~DarkHorse~]

Wow, so many people are hating on Emilia Clarke's acting on this board! I wasn't overly fazed by her woody reaction to the child pointing towards Mereen. However, come on! She nails the badass gazes Dany is famous for-

http://img.vayatele.com/2013/05/daenerys.jpg

[MarieAntoinette]

Some minor nitpicks, I liked this epsiode:

Jaime's lack of golden hair. With all this reference to Lannister and their hair I think that they should be blondes on the show. Same goes for Tyrion who also has darker hair compared to season one.

The "Robb was better at everything" speech

As somebody has mentioned it before, I did not like the lack of horses in the scene where Tyrion meets the Martells. It seems weird that they were just casually standing there.

So far, I prefer the Daario of season 3. This may change in the future.

[teemo]

Joffrey starting some sort of tension with Jaime when he was actually dead by the time Jaime got to KL. lol. The Oberyn scene was obviously a gratuitous add-in and I think introducing Oberyn in Littlefinger's brothel (the only type of brothel in the show btw) is a sleazy introduction and leaves a negative first impression. I like the way Tyrion met Oberyn in the books a lot more. We get it, Oberyn is bi and sexually adventurous. Yay. Anyone else see Ellaria and just think of Niobe from Rome? Hate Arya not having a chance to kill the Tickler since they already killed him off. It's hard to nitpick anymore....it's easier to probably name the one or two things I like rather than all the things I hate tbh.

[CarCrashFiance]

As somebody has mentioned it before, I did not like the lack of horses in the scene where Tyrion meets the Martells. It seems weird that they were just casually standing there.

Lack of horses is always going to be a problem. The horses are costly and when they die on set you get all sorts of trouble. HBO couldn't get through a season of Luck without a few horse deaths. And they literally had world class trainers and doctors on hand at all times for that show.

How many animals have died on the set of Thrones isn't known publicly. It's certainly not zero. But at this point, after the disaster of Luck, I don't think HBO wants to film with horses unless they are absolutely necessary. Though on the other hand with last night's ratings maybe a million horses could die and HBO would just ignore it

- - - -

The thing that bothered me about this episode is that they are lifting lines from The Wire again. "A man must have a code". They are removing lines from ASOIAF to shoehorn in Wire lines. And GOT's writing isn't as good as either shows. Why sacrifice ASOIAF lines for out of context Wire lines? Just to be hip? How long until GoT characters are quoting episodes of Silicon Valley or Girls?

[Loerwyn]

Jon's new accent. Holy hellfire where on Westeros did that come from? He spent essentially all of Season 3 with the Wildlings, yet he's only started to talk like one since he got back to Castle Black? On top of that, why did he start to take lessons from Ciaran Hands, whose accent for Mance is beyond laughable?

The Wildlings are shown to have many different accents (I think Tormund's is the best), but Jun Snuhh is nuh wahldlin' mahn, an' his nuhh voice fer wahldlin's is bahd.

[Queen of Whores]

The thing that bothered me about this episode is that they are lifting lines from The Wire again. "A man must have a code". They are removing lines from ASOIAF to shoehorn in Wire lines. And GOT's writing isn't as good as either shows. Why sacrifice ASOIAF lines for out of context Wire lines? Just to be hip? How long until GoT characters are quoting episodes of Silicon Valley or Girls?

Yeah, that Sandor line really annoyed me. It made no sense for him to say it, unlike Omar. Omar says it because he truly does have a code; he only robs other criminals, and he never hurts an innocent, no matter what. Sandor has no such restrictions. He pretty much just does what he wants. I didn't them like using that line at all, and it felt really random and unjustified. I agree the show should stick to using as many lines as possible from the books; which are far better than the 'original' lines from the show.

[Loerwyn]

Yeah, that Sandor line really annoyed me. It made no sense for him to say it, unlike Omar. Omar says it because he truly does have a code; he only robs other criminals, and he never hurts an innocent, no matter what. Sandor has no such restrictions. He pretty much just does what he wants. I didn't them like using that line at all, and it felt really random and unjustified. I agree the show should stick to using as many lines as possible from the books; which are far better than the 'original' lines from the show.

Does he? He protects the two Stark 'pups'. He disobeys his king. And many of the larger crimes landed at House Clegane were due to Gregor, not Sandor. I think he does have his own code. Have we ever seen him steal? Have we ever seen him murder without some semblance of a reason? Maybe his code is to find the best opportunities, but I think there is some sense of a code behind his actions. I can't see him protecting Sansa or Arya if he didn't.

[Stan the Man Baratheon]

Emilia's acting was torrid.

Daario Nefaris' introduction was stupid and the flower scene was ridiculous.

[Ran]

Episode 3 will touch on Sandor's code again. I'm not sure whether people will be happy or annoyed.

[Nictarion]

edit: and New Daario.

Well we finally disagree on something. Had to happen eventually.