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How would you rate episode 502?  

475 members have voted

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

    • 1
      11
    • 2
      10
    • 3
      16
    • 4
      12
    • 5
      37
    • 6
      64
    • 7
      83
    • 8
      145
    • 9
      65
    • 10
      32


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I'm not suprised, I personally found Dany's ADwD chapters quite interesting.

It's a harsh scene, so it's hard to go this is good or bad. It's not suppose to be either, it's about the inner and external conflict. The law has to be blind, his life is tragic, but the law has to be blind, she does not want to do it, but she has to, that is part of ruling. Question is how do you get the freemen and slavers past it? Because they are always going to hate.

I didn't like the hissing myself, like when did that start? Did they use to do that to the Masters? I doubt it, and every one of the slaves did it.

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DING DING DING!!



I' am giving this one a 10!! Lot's of mind explosions in this one for us book readers. I watched the first 3 seasons before I read the books, and spent all of season 4 expecting certain things to happen a certain way. Now I have no idea what the hells going to happen next. I feel like an Unsullied again, and that's kinda cool.



To be sure, I can't wait for TWoW to come out. But no matter when that happens I know I can enjoy both the books and show completely and without reservation.


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I think a 7 is fair. I was considering a 6 but:

  • Valyrian Steel shattering sword. Nice touch, and they didn't even have to explain it.
  • Harington and Dillane continue to act well off each other.
  • Shireen teaching Gilly to read was kind of a pointless scene, but it was kind of endearing too, until Sylese showed up.
  • Qyburn getting the dwarf's head
  • Kevan's exit
  • Jaqen

    Still, the was quite a bit that through me off, namely
  • The lack of water in the Water Gardens
  • The condensing of the Lord Commander election (disappointing to say the least)
  • Brienne/Littlefinger/Sansa scene. People do know Sansa is wanted by the Queen for murdering the king, right? Wouldn't half the people in the inn start running to King's Landing the minute Brienne started shouting "Hey, Sansa Stark!" So why is Baelish traveling with her so openly?
  • "Master of War?" Cersei as Hand of the King? More of a nitpick(s), but it irks me so...
  • Ellaria Sand threatening to go all Bolton on Myrcella. Why???

Some things I'm still on the fence about.

  • Braavos. Kind of a waste of time, considering. Not visiting the city which looks very Braavosi, but the whole Arya "plot" in this one. "Oh no, Ayra made it all the way to the House of Black and White and they won't let her in. I guess that's the end of that!" -No one ever. I refuse to believe anyone shuts off their brain THAT much when watching tv. For the sake of humanity I do refuse.
  • Varys and Tyrion. Considering they discussed nothing new, also a waste of time. Fun to watch though.
  • Castle Stokeworth being so gigantic. Never got that impression from the books.
  • Mereen. Anyone else find it weird that "Kill the masters" is always written in the Common Tongue (let's not kid ourselves; in English) rather than Ghiscar/Valyrian? It seems a little patronizing. And then there's Dany's justice. Now, I happy that Daenerys has been given something to do besides sneer at people. However, the whole sequence of even was sullied (sorry) by the fact that IT WAS JUST THE BLOODY KARSTARKS ALL OVER AGAIN. In a show where they're struggling to cram the story into ten fifty minute episodes a season, that they would be so uninspired to tell the exact same story again is baffling. But again, at least her story is moving in some sort of direction.

    All in all, fine for an episode 2. I'm ok with the early stuff being okay. Just give me something worth watching again when comes to episodes 4 through 9.
Edited by Turinsbane
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I'd rate this somewhere between a 7 and an 8.



Likes


- Bronn & Lollys & their convo w/ Jaime



- Brienne/LF/ Sansa inn scene



- The banter between Varys & Tyrion



- The dwarf head scene... "We don't want to discourage the other hunters" lol



- The small council meeting, particularly Kevan. I was bummed that Kevan is leaving KL for CR, but damn I loved how he didn't put up with Cersei's BS! "You're the queen mother, nothing more." Hell yeah!



- Everything up at the Wall



- Pretty much everything in Mereen, including the Drogon-Dany scene!



- Sailing into Braavos



- The look of Dorne & Doran




Dislikes


- I didn't find the Brienne/Pod fight-chase scene compelling. It seems like it was thrown in there just cuz.



- Ellaria...I guess I'm ok w/ the fact that she's seeking revenge & seems willing to use Myrcella to get it. But I just don't think it's the best choice the writers could have gone with. I understand that the people running the show maybe feel like they "need" Ellaria to introduce Dorne, but as others have mentioned, I think it would have been better to have her as the grieving widow, & have the Sand Snakes confront Doran.



- The Dorne scene went by too quickly IMO, especially since we were just getting our first introduction to it. I feel like when you introduce a new locale, you need to give the viewers a little extra time there to get accustomed to it. I know we'll be back in Dorne, maybe even in the next episode, but it just felt like we were thrown in-and-out of an entirely new place way too quickly.


- I feel like, even though we did get two scenes in Braavos, they didn't amount to much. Arya being locked outside & roaming the alley just felt like squandered screen time, IMO.



- Overall, I think that the show is doing an admirable job navigating all the different storylines from the books. I guess this is just a criticism of the books: having so many different story lines & perspectives is a real hindrance to the flow of the narrative. We're with one character for five minutes before we cut to a completely unrelated character for another 5 minutes...and the time it takes to progress anything just takes, to quote the Sandlot, FOR-E-VER. Prime example is the Tyrion-Varys scene. Absolutely nothing happened. We learned that they are on their way to Volantis, we got some good banter, & that was it. I miss the narrative structure of the early books & early seasons.



EDIT: Also, I didn't mind he hissing. I thought it was actually kinda cool.


Edited by imp_slap
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7/10



Positive:


The Wall, every character shines; Election of Jon Snow was an example how a book should be adapted on the screen. A rare example.


Ser Kevan Lannister, excellent comeback scene. We knew he was Tywin's brother.


Braavos, good introduction


Drogon, we need good CGI to untangle the Meereenese knot



Neutral:


Jaime and Bronn seem to pull of even the stupidest of scenes



Negative:


Introduction of Doran too brief


Brienne/Pod + LF/Sansa, nonsensical plot and character relations


Meereene, bad acting


Cersei, too much screen time


Edited by Modesty Lannister
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7/10

Positive:

The Wall, every character shines; Election of Jon Snow was an example how a book should be adapted on the screen. A rare example.

Ser Kevan Lannister, excellent comeback scene. We knew he was Tywin's brother.

Braavos, good introduction

Drogon, we need good CGI to untangle the Meereenese knot

Neutral:

Jaime and Bronn seem to pull of even the stupidest of scenes

Negative:

Introduction of Doran too brief

Brienne/Pod + LF/Sansa, nonsensical plot and character relations

Meereene, bad acting

Cersei, too much screen time

Who was the bad acting in Meereen? I thought everyone was great, especially Emilia Clarke.

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I thought this episode was a significant improvement over episode 501. I voted 8. The episode was longer yet felt much shorter than the previous episode. Sometimes deviations from the books are badly drawn. Other times, they are very intriguing. I loved the discussion of grey scale. That sent a chill down my spine in anticipation of what is coming next. I suspect the disease has a significant role to play in WoW. The Water Gardens were gorgeous, as you would expect. I understand that they are trying to roll the character of Arianne into Ellaria, but the sudden change in Ellaria's personality form Season 4 felt forced. I think Indira is an excellent actress, though. The moments when she played it straight and questioned Doran's resolve as Arianne did rather than twirl her moustache in anticipation of child-murder were more effective. Hopefully she gets more chances to show naivete rather than cruelty.



I loved Sam's speech, and in an episode so packed it was probably the most he could shine in his role in facilitating Jon's election. Still, one more brief scene showing a bit of electioneering and introducing the audience to Mallister might have been a nice moment for Sam to shine. Overall, I thought the election was handled about as well as it could be in a ten episode per season format.



I enjoyed the scene at the Small Council. Kevan's scenes were very well done, as well as Qyburn's. The scene with Varys and Tyrion, while well acted between two of the show's charismatic characters, accomplished little besides telling the audience that Volantis is the next destination rather than Mereen. I thought that Brienne's scenes were well done. I am intrigued by the goings-on surrounding Sansa, Petyr, and Brienne. I suspect Brienne may play a role similar to that held by Mance, or even the Hooded Man. Maybe Sansa will be part Wyman, part Jeyne Poole. Either way, the casualty in all this is Littlefinger. I suspect he's not going to be around much longer. His character has been completely destroyed. Still, that might be a price worth paying if it means that it gets Sansa where she needs to be faster and if that all means that the GNC and the ouster of the Boltons is being accelerated.



Dany's story is shaping up to be an improvement over previous seasons, in my opinion. Emilia is starting to show the same humanity she displayed in Season 1. I'm excited to see how the arc plays out. Part of what GRRM was doing in ADWD is that he wanted Mereen to be an answer to the question, "What happens after Aragorn becomes king?" Well, it's not happily ever after. This episode accomplished much in showing the difficulty Dany faces as a ruler, and provides the lessons she needs to arm herself with before going to Westeros.



Arya's story is playing out pretty much the same as in the books, with obvious minor differences. Jaime's story is obviously completely different, but it should be a fun little adventure story with Bronn. A bit less Riverlands is somewhat refreshing. The arc of Jaime growing apart from Cercei can still be accomplished.



Overall, an intriguing episode with a surprising amount of book lore (loved Lyanna Mormont's letter). I quite enjoyed it.


Edited by roryclague
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DING DING DING!!

I' am giving this one a 10!! Lot's of mind explosions in this one for us book readers. I watched the first 3 seasons before I read the books, and spent all of season 4 expecting certain things to happen a certain way. Now I have no idea what the hells going to happen next. I feel like an Unsullied again, and that's kinda cool.

To be sure, I can't wait for TWoW to come out. But no matter when that happens I know I can enjoy both the books and show completely and without reservation.

This is exactly my opinion. Word for word.

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Liked this one way way more then the first episode. The highlights for me were:


- Masandor's story (or whatever his name is) , which vividly represents the complexity of Dany's situation, not digging too deep inside Mereen's politics


- Election at the wall, which were perfectly staged and were not at the same time weighted by all Sam's conspiracy from the books


- Drogon, which is as a badass dragon as it could possibly be


- Brienne and Pod's fight which was very very well choreographed


- Prince Dorane


- Arya



Minor setbacks for me were:


-Tyrion and Spider in a carriage (it would be much better scene if Tyrion would manage to liquor Varys and learn some of his secrets)


- Weird behaviour of Jaqen, who shuns Arya for unknown reason and then immediately takes her back. Why? I didn't get it.


- Indira Warma performance with her hand gesticulation of a silent movie melodrama actress.



Somewhere between 8 and 9


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Good

Now I wont have to sit through her boring AFFC storyline and watch her spend an entire season searching for Sansa

only to not even come close to finding her lol

Brienne is not able to find Sansa in the books because LF is shielding her from everyone going as far as to change her name and place of origin and placing her at the Vale.

The storyline in the show takes a completely different route where LF takes the risk of exposing Sansa by making some sort of arrangement with Bolton.

If Sansa does manage to make it to Winterfell then where does that put LF in the grand scheme of things.

Bolton can easily kill LF and use Sansa like Joffrey/Cersei did.

LF is not a fool and Sansa will never acqueisce to such an arrangement.

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At last we in the UK get to see the show at the same time as our US cousins now - so that's a plus. That Sky Atlantic STILL inserted two commercial breaks is not - but that's for another time....



I actually voted 8 for 501 but have only given this one a 7. I had to take off a whole 3 points for what was a dreadfully clumsy and contrived scene at the inn with Brienne/Pod and LF/Sansa. As others have said here, Sansa is supposed to be incognito and Brienne has a voice like a foghorn. But that apart, the sheer coincidence of Brienne and Pod coming to the exact inn where Sansa was....I don't know. I expected better than this, Poor writing.



I'm also not too sure about the Jaime/Cersei scenes this year so far. I think the show has rather shot itself in the foot with these two by changing the dynamic between them at the end of last year. Their scenes seem awkward now, and the dialogue poor. I am glad to see Jaime depart for Dorne. I've always thought these two were better apart, but nowhere has it been more obvious than in these two opening episodes - for artistic reasons, if nothing else!



All the rest I enjoyed. I think the wall story has truly benefited from the presence of the sainted Dillane, and I actually felt sorry for Dany in Meereen this week. She couldn't do right for doing wrong, but she is learning that rulership is always going to piss someone off. I think the scene with Drogon at the end was a hint. 'Come with me, Mum....' That's how I saw it anyway, but obviously the bookless audience wouldn't realise that.



Sheereen continues to be a delight, and it was also nice to see a little cameo of Lollys Stokeworth. Like others, I cheered when Lyanna Mormont's letter was read!



Still largely a setting up episode, but as usual the production values continue to be excellent. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.


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7/10



It was a decent episode. One problem seemed to be the complete lack of weight anything was given. Jon's Lord Commandership is dealt with in a matter of minutes, the conflict and his emotional responses are mostly brushed aside, although the scene itself was quite good. Dorne felt like an add-on, unimportant, uninteresting. Kevan standing up to Cersei again felt unearned and limply developed. It just happened. Ellaria appears to have adopted the Sand Snakes' personalties, why, I don't know – just have the Sand Snakes confront Doran. I liked Lollys.



I've given up on seeing Brienne reflect her book character. The chase was one of the better action scenes in the show, however, and I liked seeing the sharpness of Valyrian steel emphasised. Arya's material was fine. I liked the shot of the Kindly Man putting on Jacquen's face. Why did the street thugs sound so British though? Daario's little speech was cheesy, that whole scene was just ridiculous.



The production elements continue to impress. Drogon was wonderful.


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