How would you rate episode 502?

[PhoenixfromAshes]

9/10. Much better than the last episode, although the pacing is a bit fast.

[Dez]

It was an entertaining episode. I get why they truncated Jon's election, and substituting an Aemon deciding vote was a nice touch to make up for the drama the book has with the raven popping out of the kettle. I liked the Dany scenes as well. I also like the Cersei scene with the Council and Kevan. The Arya stuff is dragged out a bit but I don't see it as much of a big deal.

Biggest complaints would probably be Jaime/Cersei (which seems chronically screwed up) and Ellaria. If they kept Obara, they might as well have introduced her in this episode. D&D would probably defend it on the grounds that Dorne is so unfamiliar to the audience that they need a familiar face to make the introduction. But I'd reject this on the basis that she was in like 3 episodes last season, they cut her hair and therefore there's no reason why should she couldnt be just crying in a corner during the introduction to Doran.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Dez

[Ser Creighton]

8

More exciting than last episode

Things I liked:

Sansa being all regal

Dorne!

The NW election (Especially Aemon casting the last vote)

Jon & Stannis

Kevan telling Cersei "You are the queen mother, nothing more."

Shireen teaching Gilly to read

Daario, he is really growing on me

Dany & Drogon

Bronn & Lollys :lol:

The Slayer calling Janos out & Maester Aemon laughing at it :lmao:

Things I didn't like:

Dany killing the former slave :(

tHoB&W Arya is my favorite & I love seeing Maisie on camera but the whole thing in Braavos was weird

Pod & Brienne I was a fan of them in the books but I don't like them on screen

Ellaria demanding vengeance... Should have been the sand snakes

Jaime going to Dorne... Wait... What? Maybe this will pan out decent but for now I'm not digging it

Dany had to do that to the freeman, not sure why it was done in public but the law is the law. It was the same in the books, some freemen did get executed for murder, it was just never a scene. Robb had the same problem sort of problem and the show is setting up a parallel.

“The law no passion can disturb. ‘Tis void of desire and fear, lust and anger. ‘Tis mens sine affectu, written reason, retaining some measure of the divine perfection. It does not enjoin that which pleases a weak, frail man, but, without any regard to persons, commands that which is good and punishes evil in all, whether rich or poor, high or low.”

I feel this. Im giving it a 6 right now. But i may change my vote when it really sinks in. There were things i really liked and things i want to die in a fire. So...i have the conflicts.

I squeed. Its been a while since i squeed. I loved that. It really did brighten things up.

I thought both actors played that scene well, Jon smiled and Stannis onthe show is being less demanding, and more understanding and flexible than in previous seasons. Which is odd after what Varys said last episode. He was fair with Mance, didn't go off on Jon for killing Mance and plaed the letter like a well placed Gin card. Come on buddy you can be a Stark we can get the North to support us and lets go kill Boltons together, the North loves you Starks Jon, they need you. Come on buddy, this will be great. Winterfell misses Starks like the Sun misses the Moon Jon. Won't you be it's moon Jon?

[Daenerys Must Die]

Voted 7. About on par with last week for me.

While I think I might enjoy the deviations to Sansa's storyline (based on what we've deduced from the season trailers etc.) it currently feels like Brienne and Pod are just being shoe-horned into it due to not really having much else to do.

It was great to have Uncle Kevan back and sitting on the small council.. for like 5 minutes anyway before he left...

Episode definitely could've used a 2nd scene in Dorne,

Dialogue between Varys/Tyrion was solid even if I'm grumpy about the direction they took with his storyline.

Maester wars between Qyburn & Pycelle will always be fun.

Jaime's hipster leather jacket feels out of place.. but it's awesome and I want one.. I'm so torn on this..

[Ser Karis]

8/10 much better than the first

[Sun]

Personally, I loved the portrayal of Doran. I though it was perfect. Ellaria though... is very troublesome.

[Guest]

Gave a 9/10, so relieved to find they've cut all of Brienne's pointless wandering.

[James Arryn]

7/10

C&p comments

Doran's gonna be great; glad Charles Dance's shoes at least being partly filled.

Bit disappointed they went with the Karstark dilemma in Mereen, kinda lazy IMO, though they've done a great job with the look of the place. Tyrion and Varys are going to be fun; Bronn and Jaime have potential.

Am getting tired of Sansa's 2 available facial expressions...heading into Kit Harrington territory. Missed all the political hijinxs at the Wall, it went down pretty Disney. The Shireen/Sam/Gilly trio is way too Melba Toast. Zero chemistry; less interest.

Jon & Stannis might equal book chemistry. This was Dillane's best performance IMO, though pretty low key.

Braavos looked cool. Arya/JH just okay. The pigeon decapitation was well done.

Cersei's scene was very good, but again at the expense of making Jaime pretty mundane. It's like they have decided only one twin can shine at a time.

Overall, pretty good. Slight uptick from 1st episode but general feel still 'nothing to hate, but nothing to really grab me either'.

Tyrion's line about futility best of the season so far.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

A very strong 9/10 for me. Everything at the Wall is amazing to me, and Kit Harrington plays off of Stephen Dillane fantastically. The election was fine, but I thought it should have been more of a landslide. I think it shows the men at the Wall are able to vote more on merit and not necessarily on character, and that's a good thing.

I don't care about Tyrion and Varys right now. I hope that changes. The Meereen stuff was very good, particularly with Daario explaining to Grey Worm how fear can be used in a practical sense. The execution of the former slave dude made sense too, and I thought it was the right call.

I can't wait to see more of Jaime interacting with Bronn, as they traverse Dorne. That's gonna be amazing. I marked out a bit when Doran said that they do not mutilate little girls. Damn right y'all don't.

Cersei interacting with Jaime was strong. I'm not overly interested in show Arya right now and I hope they do something to change that. Brienne finding Sansa with Littlefinger just...shocked me. I like it.

[BearQueen87]

This one was really hard to judge. Like, really hard.

I gave it a 6/10. Didn't enjoy it as much as last weeks.

LiKED

--Braavos. Love Arya. Just love seeing her.

--DORNE!!!!!!!! Doran!!!!!!!! Siddig!!!!!!!!! (I was excited for Siddig)

--Tyrion and Varys have great moments

--Gilly and Shireen

--Kevan vs Cersei

--The Election! YAY LC Jon Snow!!

DISLIKED

--Oh boy. What on earth are they doing in Meereen? I say this as someone who is a Dany supporter through and through but...what are they doing? Did they read the books? Like...at all.

--Jaime going to Dorne. *sigh* I really wanted his Riverlands adventure.

--Brienne and Pod. What is your purpose right now?

--Making Ellyria into someone who wants revenge. Just...NO. It's a total disservice to her book character.

NO IDEA HOW I FEEL

--Sasna. We're so far off the book map for this that I don't know what do with it.

Edited April 20, 2015 by BearQueen87

[MMOWarrior]

gave it an 8/10 I really don't understand why Jon and Sam would ignore the fact they Know Bran and Rickon the heirs to winterfell are alive and Stannis would have Jon usurp him.I didn't have any other major problems with the plot logic in this episode although the dialogue in the Prince Doran and Ellarie scene did make me cringe a little it seemed a little too much like cartoon villains meeting up after their latest defeat.I liked the Varys and Tyrion scene the most

If John is legitimized and given the name Stark, being the eldest he becomes Heir.. Only the King can do this... Stannis thinking he is the one King is offering.. I think the bigger debate is if Stannis has the authority.. at the moment.. not really...

[of man and wolf]

Bear Islands knows only one king....

This made the episode great.

The King in the North!!!! STARK!!! STARK!!!!

[Fjordgazer]

There's a lot i could talk about on the episode, but i just want to go out of my way to state that, as weird as it may be, they've managed to make Brienne/Pod duo even MORE boring than in the books. Brienne's AFFC storyline was supposedly so dull because we knew she was in an impossible mission, well, she's now run into both Stark girls and her failure doesn't feel more narratively satisfying. We know where she's going now, but i have no idea how they will use her.

6/10

[Watcher_inthe_Woods]

I gave it a 6.

I know there was still a lot to get on the plate but still felt jumpy and the courses were served to quick...lol.

Really liked Maester Aemon's chuckle and Sassy Sam!!

Love everything at the wall although was disappointed at the compression.

Braavos and the Water Gardens looked lovely.

Wanted more Arya!!

[Fjordgazer]

--Oh boy. What on earth are they doing in Meereen? I say this as someone who is a Dany supporter through and through but...what are they doing? Did they read the books? Like...at all.

She's been known by her rash and sometimes bad decision-making, both in books and show, but executing a freedman in front of a crowd of fellow freedmen, for the crime of making justice by his own hand and defending all that Dany stood for in the first place?

I mean, who the f*ck among show-only watchers is going to deem her anything less than stupid and square-minded? If they wanted to draw a parallel between the Mad King and her (hence Barristan's dialogue later), fine. But she's gone too far into Stannis' brand of justice, without Stannis' background.

[Dragonglass Order]

I'm giving it an 8, which is a bit generous, but it was better than episode 1.

Things I liked:

-Jon and Stannis and the election

-Tyrion and Varys

-Kevan

The rest was just okay.

[Pashernate Reader]

I almost gave this episode a 5, because for every decent thing there was something awful dragging it down. The only reason I bumped it up was because of Bronn and Lollys. Instead of being broken up, they should have gotten a spin-off. Still, this means more Jaime & Bronn, which is awesome.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Pashernate Reader

[Nictarion]

This one was really hard to judge. Like, really hard.

I gave it a 6/10. Didn't enjoy it as much as last weeks.

LiKED

--Braavos. Love Arya. Just love seeing her.

--DORNE!!!!!!!! Doran!!!!!!!! Siddig!!!!!!!!! (I was excited for Siddig)

--Tyrion and Varys have great moments

--Gilly and Shireen

--Kevan vs Cersei

--The Election! YAY LC Jon Snow!!

DISLIKED

--Oh boy. What on earth are they doing in Meereen? I say this as someone who is a Dany supporter through and through but...what are they doing? Did they read the books? Like...at all.

--Jaime going to Dorne. *sigh* I really wanted his Riverlands adventure.

--Brienne and Pod. What is your purpose right now?

--Making Ellyria into someone who wants revenge. Just...NO. It's a total disservice to her book character.

NO IDEA HOW I FEEL

--Sasna. We're so far off the book map for this that I don't know what do with it.

I think they're handling Meereen quite well. :dunno:

[YouKnowNothingJonSnow]

Five. Not optimistic about much of anything at the moment. Dumbing down and condensation of characters continue. Nothing real bad except the Jaime/Cersei line, which has been mangled since the 'rape' scene.

Mereen is what it is. Daario 2.0 continues to undewhelm and now is Brown Ben and Belwas as well. And we have the Grey Worm/Missy sort of romance taking time away from things that could/should have been developed better. Ditto in Dorne with no Arianne or Quentyn. The abandoment of the Iron Islands plot (is Balon still alive in the show?), and the Riverlands being completely different. Was looking forward to Arya and the House of Black and White, and was a bit let down. And ANOTHER MEETING AT AN INN. Yikes, come now.

Really sour since D&D messed up the Tyrion/Jaime scene to end S4. That was really inexcusable. I actually liked the first episode better.

[Pashernate Reader]

I think they're handling Meereen quite well. :dunno:

I never thought Mereen would be the most interesting part of any episode. Not sure what that bodes for the rest of the season.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Pashernate Reader