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How would you rate episode 503?


Ran
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How would you rate episode 503?  

455 members have voted

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

    • 1
      21
    • 2
      10
    • 3
      10
    • 4
      11
    • 5
      24
    • 6
      34
    • 7
      60
    • 8
      112
    • 9
      121
    • 10
      49


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For the purposes of this poll I gave the episode a 9/10.



That's rounding up from the 8.66 I arrived at by averaging how I felt about all the scenes. This is a significant improvement over the previous two eps, which were in the 5-6 range for me. That's not surprising, as the focus has narrowed somewhat, giving the scenes more time to breathe. It also didn't feature any Jaime/Cersei scenes, which were my least favorite parts of the first two eps.



Locations, from favorite to least favorite:



The Wall (~9:12 mins)



These scenes were fantastic. The actors were given enough time to do their work, and they delivered. I still love the way Dillane and Harrington play off of one another. Jon Snow continues to develop as Lord Commander. Owen Teale puts in a great performance even though he doesn't get any lines. Dominic Carter actually made me feel bad for Janos Slynt, which is a credit to his performance. His "I'm afraid. I've always been afraid." was one of the best line deliveries of the episode. The whole scene gave me chills. Loved Dillane's nod of approval at the end.



Slight nitpick: I really would have liked Jon to mention the whole White Walker situation to Davos during their convo. It's like Jon has forgotten that they're the biggest threat that he faces.



Braavos (~9:30 mins)



I like how eerie THOBaW is. These scenes do a great job of letting the visuals speak for us. Arya is out of her element, and answers to her questions aren't forthcoming. They seem to largely be taking their time with this story, and I hope they continue to do so. I quite like Faye Marsay as The Waif, and Tom Wlaschiha's Jaqen continues to be good. I particularly liked Maisie's scene with Needle. Very true to the books.



Volantis (~7:21 mins)



Much as I love Dinklage and Hill, it was nice to get a couple of other characters in this story, and to see some of Volantis. I enjoyed the explanation of the tattoos, and the scene with the red priestess, though Tyrion's line about greyscale seems like a bit of forced foreshadowing. There was some nice witty banter between Dinklage and the prostitute. Tyrion's apparent impotence is an interesting addition. Dinklage plays his surprise particularly well. It was nice to see Jorah again. I look forward to seeing Glen and Dinklage acting together. Now that it seems that Varys and Tyrion are parted (though for how long, I'm not sure) I kind of wish we had gotten more out of their scenes in the previous episode.



Winterfell (~7:38 mins)



The flayed people look wonderfully grotesque. Excellent practical effects, there. Alfie Allen joins Owen Teale in giving a great performance without getting any lines. I enjoyed Roose's speech to Ramsay. Because Ramsay talked with his mouth full I could not make out the name of the lord that he flayed (Cerwyn?). Sansa's homecoming felt a bit anticlimactic, maybe because the scene was quite short. The implication of jealous drama with Myranda is something I'm not looking forward to. I did love "The North remembers." Littlefinger's scene with Ramsay and Roose was my least favorite,mainly because LF's plan doesn't really make sense to me. He just seems a bit foolhardy about the whole thing. I don't see how he can claim to hold the Vale when he gave up his only bargaining chip(Robin) to Yohn Royce in the last episode. I also don't understand how Cersei has yet to learn about Sansa, seeing how quickly information travels in the show (more on that later).



Moat Cailin (~8:41 mins)



The Littlefinger/Sansa scene was all right. As above, I'm not convinced of LF's plan. What would he have done if Sansa said, "Nope, I'm not marrying him. Let's go back to the Eyrie."? His whole "Stop being a bystander, but hey, you should do what I tell you to do." was just confusing. Avenge them? What? Wouldn't that eff up your whole plan? Whatever.



Brienne and Pod was a great scene. I loved how they largely stuck to Pod's back story. Brienne's back story was touching and well acted, but it seems a bit less severe than it is in the book. I wish we had gotten Pod's half of this scene in the first or second episode, and then Brienne's half in this one, giving a bit more time for the KL scenes which seemed to need it.




King's Landing (~14:12 mins)



Despite getting nearly twice as much screen time as the other areas, KL still manages to feel rushed, which is not surprising, seeing as they work in 10 separate locations in that time. The wedding and bedding scenes were fine. Due to the aging up of Tommen it's unsurprising that her influence over him is overtly sexual, unlike in the books. The Tommen/Cersei scene and the following Cersei/Margaery scene are a bit heavy-handed for my taste. I understand making Margaery more of a direct rival to Cersei, but having her be so openly disrepectful seems unsubtle and unnecessary, much like Oberyn's rudeness was at the beginning of season 4. Instead of having a Cersei who increasingly becomes largely irrationally paranoid, we have a Cersei whose paranoia seems completely justified. Obviously they're continuing to make this Cersei more sympathetic, but I think they're just making her less interesting. I'm hoping they at least ratchet up the paranoia a little in upcoming eps. The High Septon scene was funny, but it really just seemed like an excuse for the show to reach its nudity quota. One would think that the High Septon would be smart enough to have prostitutes brought to him rather than frequenting the most popular brothel in KL. It also serves to make Cersei look better, as she has good reason to dismiss him, whereas in the books it plays out quite differently. The High Sparrow scene was probably my favorite, largely due to Jonathan Pryce's performance. I think he was a great choice.




Final Nitpicking: HOLY JETPACKS, BATMAN! I know that they've consistently shrunken the world in the show, but it's getting kind of ridiculous. LF and Sansa get from Moat Cailin to Winterfell withinone episode? I guess they're only like, 20 miles apart. I'd also like to know how Varys and Tyrion make it all the way from Pentos to Volantis riding in a carriage. By far the worst though was Cersei having Qyburn send a message in one scene and having Roose Bolton receive it in the VERY NEXT SCENE, despite the fact that it was first sent to the Eyrie, and a rider had to bring it from there to Winterfell. That's just freaking insane. Either Qyburn has an email link to the Eyrie and the Eyrie has a jetpack toting messenger, or these scenes take place weeks/months apart, or the writers and showrunners have just given up trying to demonstrate the scale of the world. Very disappointing. I want to be charitable and attribute it to time differences between the scenes, but if that's the case I would like them to make that a little more clear.


Edited by MordredDayne
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9/10. It should probably be 8/10 but I'm so happy to not be in Meereen that I'm boosting it an extra point.



It still felt a bit slow, but at the same time, the contours of the season-long plotlines finally felt like they were becoming clear. And I appreciate that a great deal.



The Wall, Braavos, and Volantis were the highlights for me.


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I think LF knows exactly who Ramsey is, he was just playing coy. I absolutely loved "The North Remembers", maybe LF is in on the GNC as well? I was so happy to see the Nod from Stannis, one of my favorite parts of that scene in the book. I give 9/10.


Edited by DJE
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I think LF knows exactly who Ramsey is, he was just playing coy. I absolutely loved "The North Remembers", maybe LF is in on the GNC as well? I was so happy to see the Nod from Stannis, one of my favorite parts of that scene in the book. I give 9/10.

I agree. He also has feelings for Sansa so he isn't going to put her in harms way without there being a huge payoff for himself.

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I think LF knows exactly who Ramsey is, he was just playing coy. I absolutely loved "The North Remembers", maybe LF is in on the GNC as well? I was so happy to see the Nod from Stannis, one of my favorite parts of that scene in the book. I give 9/10.

Quick introduction to GNC - It all starts with Robb's will, which doesn't exist in TV show.

The highlight of this episode - Ramin Djawadi.

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I gave it a 3 out of ten and that's only because the scene where Jon beheads Janos Slynt was kinda badass. No, Jon didn't tell Edd to fetch him a block. Bummer. But the look on his face right before he swung Longclaw was pretty gangster.

The High Sparrow wasn't at all in line with the book's but Pryce did a fantastic job.

The Tommen/Marge scene was pretty bizarre. I'm not sure if a lot of people understand why it's so cringe worthy.

Edited by Cladinator
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So, as self-respecting Stark fan, I simply can't overlook "Fetch me a block"... And apparently, Ramsay was on the loose all over North and LF knows nothing... Heavens...

5/10

I am so angry right now. Im going to hold off on an actual rating for the time being because the rest of the episode (despite that Sansa stuff) was ok. But im irrationally upset over the lack of "Edd, fetch me a block" that any rating from me would be invalid.

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Quick introduction to GNC - It all starts with Robb's will, which doesn't exist in TV show.

The highlight of this episode - Ramin Djawadi.

Seeing how they have altered other storylines, the can still have the GNC without the will

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I'm really enjoying this season. Seems like there's a lot of love for this episode, but is it weird that I still like the first episode the best? My ratings so far: 9-8-8.

It's a little odd for me since Arya is my favorite character and she wasn't in the first episode but has been in the last two. Plus Masie has been doing an awesome job.

Edited by TheWhiteRabbit
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Seeing how they have altered other storylines, the can still have the GNC without the will

Do you know what GNC even is? Do you know how that theory actually came to existence? Do you know that no Northern lord has been cast? The idea that "LF is doing GNC dance" is nonsensical because there are no elements of GNC in the series.

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