Poll: How would you rate Episode 103?

[John (Snow) Doe]

4

This episode was an actionless onslaught of two-person extended dialogue scenes. Although a lot of important plot points were advanced, and characters introduced, there wasn't a lot of creativity with the directing, or anything to keep you engaged beyond the topic at hand. I respect that they're trying to stay close to the book, but a smart director/producer would have the characters actually doing something whilst conversing. The highlight was the Syrio scene; it was a great scene because he and Arya were doing something besides talking to one another. This episode gives a lot of ammunition to critics who pan that the show is just an unfolding of superfluous exposition.

After how awesome last week's episode was, I can say I was honestly disappointed with this episode, and felt as close to "bored" as I have been thus far.

[Renly Baratheon]

I gave it an 8 with the two previous episodes getting 7's. No action yes but oodles of character development.We know more of Jamie Tyrion Arya Dany and Drogo and are now more invested in them. That gives things that happen later more emotional impact. Syrio/Arya was just awesome and I felt the emotional impact of the parting of Ned and Cat knowing it was the last time they would see each other

[reiver]

Best yet imo. I may not have liked a lot of the deviations from the book but there were some excellent scenes that were allowed to last longer than previously and even back to back scenes involvng the same character. Less of the skipping around between stories made the show feel more settled and less like a sugar high kid with a remote.

[Kaitscralt]

7.

Despite it being my favorite episode so far, it deviates the most from the books (but I LOVE the added scenes) and left me wondering why little things were not mentioned or clarified, mostly, peoples names. I want non-readers to love this show so we get more seasons, and this episode seemed confusing.

Edited May 2, 2011 by Kaitscralt

[Tywin]

*Implied miniscule, light spoilers here... watch out*

Good episode, but the scene with Viserys was the weak point for me. Joffrey's actor redeemed himself for me in the scene with Cersei though.

For some reason Harry Lloyd just doesn't cut it for me as Viserys. I don't see how Daenerys could have been terrified of the guy all this time. Fair enough, I as the audience don't have to find him frightening but it seemed like a key moment to really push the whole thing of Dany coming into her own. Fair enough there's the pre-conversation with Mormont to provide a sense of this but in the book it shows that Dany pushes Viserys away when he shouts at her.

I think the scene could have been cut better, more close ups on Viserys face or something and better intonation in Lloyds lines - he's meant to be mad, but his anger seems... laughable. As is, he seems like a pantomine baddy when he should in my eyes provide more solid basis for audiences to understand what Dany has graduated from.

He was alright in the first episode granted.

The council scene where Ned is being told how much money the treasury is in debt... Iffy, lines came out a bit too quickly between Ned and Littlefinger. Small issue though.

Dany seems to just accept her pregnancy like Oh, I am pregnant... Oh well... That's life eh? and she seems to have gotten 'friendly' with Drogo a bit too easily for my liking.

Bran in my mind could have been made to look more sick and frail, perhaps some makeup to make him look pale, sweaty etc - on the edge of death. The lack of dream exposition for the character may weaken his impact in the story in my view - since he's a very mystical character later on.

Rest of the episode was good. I think Kit is a good fit Jon Snow.

Best bits:

Syrio/Arya sparring. Syrio's actor is spot on in terms of his mannerisms and way of speaking, though in my mind he's a slap head.

Tyrion banter is always good. I chuckled when we saw him pissing off the edge of the world.

6.5/10

Edit:

I rewatched the scene with Viserys in again... I think maybe I have been a bit unkind to Harry Lloyd. Though I still think it could have been shot better. At least after Ned choked Littlefinger a bit, we got Littlefinger's quiet little retort as he straightened himself up.

I think some kind of close up on Viserys' face to show the growing impatience he's being made to suppress would have been appropriate - as a sort of equivalent. It would certainly make what's coming have more impact.

Edited May 2, 2011 by Tywin

[Abaddon]

I gave it a 6. (For comparison, I gave 1 an 8 and 2 a 9). Might be a little over-harsh and I might adjust it upwards one on rewatch, but it just didn't do it for me this week.

I should add I liked the Dothraki arc for the first time, and I liked the Wall. Despite some nice high points the Kings Landing stuff just felt disjointed and off although without watching it again I can't really say why.

[Tywin's bastard]

I liked that the lowered the pace as that was needed after the high pacing of the first two. Now they instead focus on letting the characters sink in, plus establish the Wall and King's Landing. More character focused and less focused on driving on the plot is very much in line with a lot of passages in the books. Then again I'm usually a person who just sighs at people who say "nothing happened".

I liked this as much as the other two, but for a bit different reasons.

[KhalHodor]

I have to vote "4".

Love the series so far. So many great actors in great roles: Jaime, Arya, Ned, Jon, Viserys, Tyrion, Cersei, Joffrey,Robert, and Bran are pitch-perfect and a joy to watch. These people really know their characters! I'm thoroughly impressed.

Enter Renly, Varys, and Littlefinger. What happened?!?! These guys are zombies. Phoning it in all the way. Who's decision was it to have Renly and Yoren switch personalities? The small council scene was painful to watch. I was embarrassed for the actors.

These three characters add tremendous flavor and interest to the books. What a shame they are not given the same treatment in the series.

A true disappointment. I am praying that this is fixed...especially Littlefinger!

KH

[Greywolf2375]

I liked it a lot - gave it an 8. I liked that fact that there wasn't "action" - this was one of the crossroad episodes that gets everyone in place and creates the foundation of what is to happen. My biggest complaint to this point has been the inconsistent ID'ing of people in various scenes.

[TheEvilKing]

Loved it from start to finish. Best episode yet by a mile. 10.

[Kaitscralt]

I have to vote "4".

Love the series so far. So many great actors in great roles: Jaime, Arya, Ned, Jon, Viserys, Tyrion, Cersei, Joffrey,Robert, and Bran are pitch-perfect and a joy to watch. These people really know their characters! I'm thoroughly impressed.

Enter Renly, Varys, and Littlefinger. What happened?!?! These guys are zombies. Phoning it in all the way. Who's decision was it to have Renly and Yoren switch personalities? The small council scene was painful to watch. I was embarrassed for the actors.

These three characters add tremendous flavor and interest to the books. What a shame they are not given the same treatment in the series.

A true disappointment. I am praying that this is fixed...especially Littlefinger!

KH

I agree that the small council was pretty painful. Littlefinger and Eddard's dialogue about the tournament funds seemed very, very forced. But I have a ton of faith that the Littlefinger actor (name escapes me currently) has what it takes. Especially after seeing him later in the episode.

I like Renly and Varys' casting though, and I am sure Renly will get more time to shine.

[Songlian]

Sticking with 7 for this one as well. I thought it was a mixture of great scenes and not so great scenes. I generally tend to agree with what Ran wrote in his analysis.

[Fantasma]

To me, it was clearly the best of the season so far. Great acting by some of the most important characters. I'm gonna give it 9/10.

[Davieboy]

I vote 7.

Wasn't totally happy with the first few minutes, did not think the introduction to the Council worked well. No sense of Renly's character for a start. Littlefinger had chances to shine later.

Didn't much care for the Cersei/Joffrey scene, but Jaime is spot-on for me. Liked all the talk of the old King and his crazy doings, and the mention of Ser Simon Toyne was a real bonus.

Thought the goodbye scene between Cat & Ned worked well, very poignant. Arya is just a total delight for me, as are Jon, Tyrion, Robert, Sir Barristan, Benjen, Joren.

The Dothraki scenes worked well in this ep - less time on screen, but quality time. Slightly disappointed by The Old Bear (was this raven around?), but he hasn't had much time yet. Jorah is flying the family flag higher for now...

Syrio - perfecto! And Jon's ascent of the Wall was pretty epic.

Of course every ep gets a 10 by any other standard, but so far it's 9-9-7. Difficult to drag myself back into reality at the end of the episode... why can't it just keep going?

[Maltaran]

I gave it a 9, but there seemed to me to be a lot of stuff which would fly over the heads of non-readers - I could watch it and say "yes, it's that bit, and oh, we saw that scene in Jaime's memory in SoS, and they mentioned Dunk", but non-readers could well be confused.

[Kalbear]

I gave it a 7. While I dearly loved Arya's scenes - and there were some of her very best - the show itself felt really disjointed and oddly edited to the point where it distracted me. Why is Dany getting off a horse? Why is Robert sitting in some random room talking to Kingsguard and just hanging out? We need to spend a minute looking at Jon walk through the Castle Black to get to..an elevator? So much exposition, not enough dialogue.

I liked what they were trying to do - the warstory as exposition and backstory is really awesome in that it captures the feel, keeps the budget down and gives us the always good unreliable narrator. But in this case it felt so out of place. Why are we just hanging out with Selmy and Jaime? Why is Robert even in this room? Guh.

So many good things - Arya, Arya, Arya, Cersei and Joff, Jaime's war, Jaime and Ned (and Ned's brilliant summation of Jaime: serving when service was safe!) but a lot was just so oddly blocked that it didn't hit as well as the prior ep did.

[Tywin's bastard]

I liked what they were trying to do - the warstory as exposition and backstory is really awesome in that it captures the feel, keeps the budget down and gives us the always good unreliable narrator. But in this case it felt so out of place. Why are we just hanging out with Selmy and Jaime? Why is Robert even in this room? Guh.

What's odd with him being in his bedchamber? Seems like the most natural place to get away from everything, save leaving the castle. Short way to the bed when you've gotten too drunk as well.

[Papa Manderly's Meat Pie]

I gave it a 7. While I dearly loved Arya's scenes - and there were some of her very best - the show itself felt really disjointed and oddly edited to the point where it distracted me. Why is Dany getting off a horse? Why is Robert sitting in some random room talking to Kingsguard and just hanging out? We need to spend a minute looking at Jon walk through the Castle Black to get to..an elevator? So much exposition, not enough dialogue.

I liked what they were trying to do - the warstory as exposition and backstory is really awesome in that it captures the feel, keeps the budget down and gives us the always good unreliable narrator. But in this case it felt so out of place. Why are we just hanging out with Selmy and Jaime? Why is Robert even in this room? Guh.

So many good things - Arya, Arya, Arya, Cersei and Joff, Jaime's war, Jaime and Ned (and Ned's brilliant summation of Jaime: serving when service was safe!) but a lot was just so oddly blocked that it didn't hit as well as the prior ep did.

I actually thought it was better than last week's episode, especially as it pertains to editing, so I bumped it up to an 8 from 7 last week. So I have 8/7/8 so far.

I agree, I thought Robert's battle stories scene was both awkward and brilliant. It did some good things, but why is Robert just sitting around drinking, by himself, and talking to Berristan Selmy? And why would he call Jaimie in and belittle him so much? They could have been riding in the woods hunting or something. Maybe that would have been too expensive, but they way they set it up was very awkward.

I also thought Dany stopping the whole 'horde' was not executed properly. Why did she stop everybody? (not the reason from the books, the show gives no explanation whatsoever for this impulse).

The council was very underwhelming, to say the least, and I thought Littlefinger was a bit of a disappointment. He was so monotone with his delivery, it just didn't mesh with me. I understand he was trying to be dry, but this didn't seem dry to me, it seemed like it was lacking in feeling.

I think those things could have been done better, but I think overall the episode was better than last week. Old Nan's scene was pretty awesome, I thought.

[Hyper]

My take... The weakest episode so far, but I still liked it. Mostly setup and character introductions. I wish they would have cut out the long Robert/Ser Barristan/Jamie scene and spent the time elsewhere.

My ratings so far:

"Winter is Coming" - 8

"The Kingsroad" - 9

"Lord Snow" - 7

Edited May 2, 2011 by Hyper

[Dru]

I gave it a 10. Loved the added scenes and the character development was great. Although lack of wolves makes me grumble but not enough to demote a point.