How would you rate episode 408?

[cade]

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Edited July 9, 2014 by cade

[xpozed]

I feel that most oft this season has been filler material until a small reveal/cliffhanger at the end( this has started to be the norm in most medium quality TV shows).The are clearly trying to cut back costs by using less characters per show and doing scenes that require less money to shoot ( people just walking&talking through a natural setting or a very small room).

The duel was great (and the poison has been shown - Oberyn's squire was rubbing a cloth on his spears; it wasn't so the spear tip was nice and shiny), Sansa's evolution is good and feels natural and the Boltons are always fun to watch.

The rest is just filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler, something mildly interesting happens.

It has become clear to me that HBO will ruin this story if they start filming seasons of books not released yet.

[TheNorth's1stKnight]

If it means missandei is going to keep getting naked then I don't care how stupid it is, hell she and grey worm can have a few lesbian scenes for all I care.

completely agree with you on that one

[clawson24]

7.5. Wanted it to be an all-time classic and yet I found myself somewhat let down by the end. That said I think my expectations may have been a bit unrealistic. I'm now hoping/expecting the next two episodes become the classic, jaw-droppers.

Edited June 2, 2014 by clawson24

[Alboin]

(+) Nathalie Emmanuel beauty. I don't care about anti-nudity hypocrites, she is gorgeous.

(+) I enjoyed how they've changed the Vale. It gave Sophie Turner so much material to play with and she did amazing job. I never was a fan of that singer Marillion explanation.

(+) The rage of Oberyn and the horror of his death - I, actually a 37 years old man, who saw death in real life, had to close my eyes :))) lol!!!

(+) Alfie Allen and Iwan Rheon. This was just first class acting. Didn't need anything else from Moat Cailin stuff.

(-) Beetles. What was that about? It was like I've been suddenly sent to some low class film film festival screening, where everything is so pretentious, you just can't figure out what's their pretension exactly about.

(-)Thor Bjornsson. He is miscast in my opinion. It's not enough to growl and make faces to be scary. A person has to have it or be a brilliant actor to act it on believable level. He is neither in my opinion.

I gave it an 8. would be 9, if bugs would be at least not as long as they are.

[Dragonglass Order]

On the fence between 8 and 9, but I'll go with 9.

I love Sansa's new transformation into a player.

I don't mind the Missandei and Grey Worm stuff. That actress is probably the most gorgeous on the whole show.

I loved Arya's hysterical laughter. It made up for not having Tyrion's laughter, which I didn't expect we were going to get anyway.

Did not like the beetle story. It might have been a half-decent metaphor if it hadn't dragged on for over three minutes.

The combat was good - Oberyn was fantastic as always, but I didn't like the delivery of the Mountain's lines.

[Petyr Patter]

Unfortunately, I had to watch this episode while trying to do a second task simultaneously.

Yet, preliminary I am going to say 7 out of 10. I really dug the fight scene choreography, so that is really what "saved" this episode. I also really liked Roose's scene with Ramsay, when he talks about the North and how they now, effectively rule it. Other scenes just felt average, but then there were some choices that I just felt were stinkers. Having Tyrion talk about why a mentally handicap cousin would spend his days squishing bugs was awful. It felt like an attempt at profoundness of the unknowablity of other people, but went on to long, lacked any revelation, and took away the book scene of Oberyn and Tyrion discussing what to do after the Trial.

I also didn't like the changes to the Vale. Killing Lysa without a patsy was a much, much riskier move for Baelish, especially when he didn't need to kill her right then and there. And this episode comes around and it looks like Baelish is lost... till Sansa swoops in and saves him with an string of lies mixed with some truths. Later, we discover Sansa did so completely on her own initiative. This is deeply troubling, because Baelish is in many ways her captor. He certainly made sure she took some of the blame of regicide. He is also a very dangerous person who betrayed her father. The show somehow wants us to believe Sansa thinks she can "play" Baelish, because he "wants" her. In the books, she needs to keep her identity secret for fear of reprisals from the Iron Throne. Once the secret is out... what good siding with Baelish? The man is dangerous. She has witnessed him kill at least two people in front of her, and knows he killed Joffrey despite the fact Joffrey was an ally who rewarded him well for service.

[Florina Laufeyson]

ANd people wonder why i actually loathe this fandom. Some of you just shouldnt be watching this show.

10 heads of the Ned out of 10 for me. Too much awesome. And its just gonna get better.

(+) Nathalie Emmanuel beauty. I don't care about anti-nudity hypocrites, she is gorgeous.

If anyone is actually whinging about Missandei's nudity, im just going to assume they are just freaking prudes.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Florina Laufeyson

[Relic]

ANd people wonder why i actually loathe this fandom. Some of you just shouldnt be watching this show.

10 heads of the Ned out of 10 for me. Too much awesome. And its just gonna get better.

And then I was all like omfg! Like, oh hellz no!

[igrewupinKL]

Certainly an improvement on episode 7.

The only thing that bothered me was omission of the poison on the spear, which i think will be revealed in ep10 anyway. A scene with qyburn and cersei should suffice and a screaming mountain.

Would've preferred a longer scene with the fighting. This scene would've been so much better with season 1 mountain..the Mountains dialogue at the end just didn't seem as effective and i didn't even hear it over the screams (including my own haha) it didn't seem to capture his rage and psychoticness and they didn't even show his frustration by being tantalised by oberyn.

The reveal of Sansa Stark, maybe a little too soon...but i think all these implications can be resolved. Didn't enjoy LF not being in control though and Sansa being a very obvious player. But i guess they had to make her do something otherwise it'll get a little boring.

Arya/hound scene pretty pointless and her laugh was kinda scary.

Why wasn't there any explanation of WHY the ironborn were dying..bog devils anyone? Was a good chance to connect to the Reeds as well. Didn't enjoy theon breaking down and becoming reek in front of the ironborn.

Many think the missandei/grey worm is a waste of time, i really enjoy them though. Both actors have a chemistry and it is a nice change from all the despair and heartbreak. Wow emilia and iain did a great job with the banishing scene. nearly overshadowed the duel

Tyrions speech was a tad too long. Nice metaphor for the chaos of westeros.

a solid 9/10

Edited June 2, 2014 by igrewupinKL

[The hairy bear]

I've given it a 7, although I'm not sure it deserves it. Certainly, if I were to judge on the basis of my expetations or the comparison to the books I would give it a far lower figure. I feel that they've turned one of the most memorable moments of the books and turned it into something that was no more than OK.

I was uninterested in Grey Worm/Melisandre and beetles. Not that those were was scenes per se, but I was uninterested.

The highlight, for me, was Sansa's "confession". She alone saved one whole point of my episode's score.

People giving it 1-5 are being ridiculous.

IMHO, it's far more ridiculous to give it a 10 or even a 9. I really wonder if people giving this episode a 10, are giving a 10 to most (if not all) of the episodes. I can understand that some people like it, even like it a lot, but can anyone really believe that this is the best that GoT (or TV in general) can offer?

[Queen of Whores]

Heavily underwhelming and poorly handled episode, in my opinion. A 5 out of 10.

Everything was just.... not good. It's easier to list the things I didn't hate, and that would be.... Littlefinger's reference to dying on the privy? That was kind of amusing, I guess. Pascal also gave a good performance. That's...... kind of it, though. Everything else just sucked. I honestly don't even have it in me to keep complaining about this show. It's just so beyond what my worst fears would be. Everything feels so underwhelming and rushed and generic. *sigh*

Edited June 2, 2014 by Queen of Whores

[KalibakCruel]

IMHO, it's far more ridiculous to give it a 10 or even a 9. I really wonder if people giving this episode a 10, are giving a 10 to most (if not all) of the episodes. I can understand that some people like it, even like it a lot, but can anyone really believe that this is the best that GoT (or TV in general) can offer?

I thought this was one of the shows better episodes. This might be my favorite show but I'm honest in that seasons 2/3 were largely uneven and not very great. So it's not like this show has a ton of great episode to really compare this one to.

That said i take the show alone and try to push the book it off my mind while I'm watching, and as a TV show, it's mighty entertaining, and this episode was well done for the most part.

[Queen of Whores]

Shame that practically all other non readers found it amazing

Well good for them. Unlike them I've actually read the books, and loved them, and even with my (much lowed) expectations I was still disappointed. Frankly I don't give two shits what the non-readers think, cause it doesn't make me any less disappointed or frustrated.

[Sun]

I'm not so sure how to rate this episode. I hated bits of it, didn't care for much of it and liked a small portion.

It's worth noting that I usually watch and rate the show as an episode of TV drama, not in comparison to the books. I only call up the books when the show heads in ways that don't make sense narratively for their storyline, no necessarily in comparison to the books.

Hated:

- Meereen:

Please let them stop giving Emilia Clarke dialogue scenes. The girl is cringe worthy, and has been since season two. Just have her walk around looking pretty, that's why they hired her anyway. She ruined the Jorah dismissal scene for me. What should have been shocking, moving and painful to watch ended up being just an exercise in very bad acting.

I have to say though, The actress playing Missandei has potential. She communicates a wider range of emotion in silence than Emilia does with 3 pages of dialogue.

- Sansa's costume change:

Subtlety is a foreign word that holds no meaning to the writers of this show.

Ambivalent:

- The Eyrie:

Sansa revealing herself to the Lords of the Eyrie seems like a very risky move to me. Not convinced Sansa would have made that choice and risked being sent back to King's Landing to die for Joff's murder, especially to lords who failed to support her brother's cause.

- The opening scene of the whore's monologue Mole's Town:

Looked far too staged; nothing natural about it at all.

- Most of The Duel while Oberyn is speaking:

All I could hear him say is "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." I laughed through it all until the very last moment when Oberyn died and then I issued a little yelp. But then again, that was also my reaction to the book-scene, so I can't really criticize the show for it.

- The Wall:

Meh.

Liked:

- Arya:

Arya laughing was a very nice and credible touch. Classic PTSD reaction, imo.

- Orson and Beetles:

Dinklage and C-W and such beautiful actors, I love watching them in quiet intimate moments. Dinklage especially delivered that scene beautifully. It moved me, and made me think. Orson in this case representing the gods indiscriminately crushing people that cross their path simply because they can.

A lovely, lovely scene, and a perfect set up for the duel. It actually gave me butterflies in my stomach when C-W said good luck. I was actually nervous for Tyrion. LOL

I more than liked this scene, I loved it.

- Theon/Bolton:

Well done scenes where all involved, writers, actors, and director deliver.

- Oberyn's death scene:

I yelped, and the looks on everyone's faces as it happened were perfect.

So, having written it all out, I think I'll give the episode a 6. Although I'm tempted to give it a 7 just for Orson's Beetles scene. Still not sure.

Edit:

Ended up giving it a generous 7, though I think on rewatch it will drop to a 6.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Sun

[Premier League]

Sansa dying her hair back definitely has something to do with her embracing her stark heritage and shunning the red haired colors that identified her and robb with being tullies/not looking like lord eddard

[Jon Black]

I feel sorry for the complainers. That was probably the best episode of the season. The duel was fantastic. They nailed it. 10/10

Agreed.

There is way too much hyperbole from the "critics" on here for me. Does a different medium and/or a respect for the adaptation process mean anything??

If you are a complainer regarding the poison than I'm pretty sure that little fact appears after the duel (as the Mountain lays dying in pain). They rolled credits just after Oberyn's death so it hasn't happened yet.

:bang:

Talk about jumping to conclusions.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Jon Black

[Jon Black]

Well good for them. Unlike them I've actually read the books, and loved them, and even with my (much lowed) expectations I was still disappointed. Frankly I don't give two shits what the non-readers think, cause it doesn't make me any less disappointed or frustrated.

Grrrrrr....

[KalibakCruel]

Am I the only book reader that enjoys these added scenes - I don't understand why these people want literal word for word translation of the books

Lets have Bran in 3 scenes for 3 seasons - Lets have 2 Arya Scenes in 10 episodes - because that whats it would be like

Nope I'm on board with you. Not to mention that I enjoy having twists thrown at me that I'm not expecting. People don't get that this is an ADAPTATION. Is it an all time great series? No. But it's above average easily, and entertaining throughout.

[830SnowinHawaii]

7/10 for me.

I didn't like the way they went about Jorah getting banished. They put it off for so long it made me wonder whether or not they were still going to.

The attack at Mole's Town was alright, but I just want to get to the Battle of the Wall already, and I'm kinda thinking that Stannis isn't going to show up until S5. While I understand that they are trying to evenly disperse events for slower storylines to catch up with the quicker ones, most of the non KL story just seem to be dragging on. I wish they would've had fewer, longer scenes as opposed to more short ones for the Wall, Theon, and Dany.

Arya and the Hound is also being dragged on imo, whether the fans like the chemistry of the actors or not. I wish he would just "die" already.

I love the Roose and Ramsey dynamic. It gives Ramsey another dimension other than him just being purely evil and sadistic.

I was ok with the Beetle Speech, although I wish it would've been cut in half in favor of Tyrion and Oberyn's preduel convo.

The duel between Oberyn and the Mountain was the event I have been most looking forward to since I read the books after S3, and it delivered. Pedro was amazing, the fight was amazing and I didn't feel it was rushed at all. I knew the ending, obv, but I was still thoroughly excited throughout. Great ending, picked up the rest of the episode.