How Would You Rate Episode 108?

[maxlongstreet]

My first 10. Filled with awesomeness - not a wrong note hit.

Now we just gotta buy GRRM some of those pep pills truckers use so that he can write all of next season's episodes while simultaneously cranking out Winds of Winter.

[Tywin's bastard]

I gave it an eight, too. That says, to me, that it's 20% worse than the best episode of GoT I could imagine. (For the record, I've been giving out a lot of 9's, and would probably give Episode 6 a 9.5, but I'm waiting on a perfect 10). I already think it's better than 99.99% of TV out there, but just saying "well, the series is great, so every episode is a 10" seems pretty shallow to me.

Why would it be shallow? If someone finds the episode better than 99,99% of the available TV and it still only gets an 8 it seems like a real waste of scale resources. To me it seems much more logical to define the 10 as the most enjoyable TV shows you've seen. Putting the 10 as something perfect is the best way to make sure that grade will never be used. Personally I prefer the 1-5 scale, where only the 1 is dedicated to bad things (if it's bad I don't waste more of my time defining how bad it was). That way I don't have to fuss so much over that each grade will inevitably contain works of different quality (something which will happen eventually on every scale). If I want to differ works of art from each other on a fine scale I'm better off explaining myself with words than just telling arbitrary numbers to people.

As for the best episodes we can imagine, it seems like a very harsh comparison for a show. I can imagine quite a lot and I don't think I get any more depth in my reasoning that way.

[ragin_rebel]

i thought it was really good one of my fav episodes so far. it jumped around a fair bit, but when the books near there end the chapters also get shorter and even reading seems to get hectic. ill give it a 9, i didnt sh!t my pants or anything but i defintly pissed a little. no but it was good o and did any one else notice hodor is hung like a freakin mule on cialis. just saying couldnt help but notice.............hodor.....

[The Anti-Targ]

Great, a little disappointed at some of the cuts. Most disappointing is Sansa's first betrayal of Ned in going to the Queen to fess up about the escape plan. I liked that step as her hitting bottom with her infatuation with Joff, and now slowly (then not so slowly) the film is removed from her eyes and she sees Joffery and the Queen for who they truly are.

Still a great episode, and it seems to have had the fl00bs all a flutter with heart pounding.

[tarantella]

10. There are loads of badass scenes this episode: Syrio beating armed Lannister goons with a wooden stick, Barristan's resignation/dismissal and of course Drogo. And it was a great set-up for the next episode. Only complaint might be there was too much jumping around this episode from place to place, and a couple of scenes didn't have the impact they could have. Arya's first kill for one felt rushed.

[Renasko]

I was completely pissed off with the standard of the last episode (I gave it a 1 rating), so for this one to be following straight after was just great. Best episode of the season, so far. 10 out of 10.

[Daenerys]

Episode poll ratings (minimum 100 votes, top and bottom 5% thrown out):

Epi | Title                                   | Rating | 6.........7.........8.........9.........10
----|-----------------------------------------|--------|-------------------------------------------
101 | "Winter Is Coming"                      | 7.9    | ********************
102 | "The Kingsroad"                         | 8.2    | ***********************
103 | "Lord Snow"                             | 7.9    | ********************
104 | "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" | 8.2    | ***********************
105 | "The Wolf and the Lion"                 | 8.8    | *****************************
106 | "A Golden Crown"                        | 8.8    | *****************************
107 | "You Win or You Die"                    | 8.2    | ***********************
108 | "The Pointy End"                        | 9.2    | *********************************

Overall series average - 8.4

[Ser Warpechowski]

Im giving this one a 10.

I hope the crew realizes the best episodes are the ones that are most faithfull with the source material and that the next seasons should be more like this episode.

No Roz and extra stupid sexplotation scenes, please.

In fact this episode was the only one where I felt it was realy true to the source material.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Ser Warpechowski

[valacirca]

Maybe just maybe some people are interpreting the scale differently from you. Is the scale linear or logarithmic? Is the show being compared to other television shows or some idealized imagined form of the book? Different judges, using different scales get different results.

So far, I am convinced that this is the best bit of speculative fiction ever put on television. Frankly, I don't think there has ever been a well-done fantasy series before this one. The best of sci-fi (B5 and BSG, in that order, IMO) aren't as strong as this. The only two shows I have seen that I am absolutely certain are better are The Wire and the old Shogun mini-series. That makes it a ten in my book. Proudly. It isn't perfect, but television is a medium that seldom allows for the perfect.

You say this is an eight. I say that means you think that 20% of the stuff on TV is better than this. Then I'd say you are wrong.

It doesn't matter how one interprets the scale. When you consider the ratings that the previous episodes got on this site compared to this one (which takes comparisons against any other TV shows out of the question), it's just crazy how much higher this episode is rated over the rest. Nothing particularly special happens, the action scenes are clumsily handled/directed/edited... really couldn't see how anyone can consider this a 10 relative to the previous episodes.

[YoDaddy]

I kind of expected beforehand because people know this is written by George and I figured that at least some people would have their perceptions altered by that fact (in the same way people are viewing the show in light of the book).

Personally I found the episode to be great, although not sure if it's the best of the season.

I'm not trying to tell you how to vote but personally I think a scale of 10 is far too rough to have a grade dedicated solely to perfection (perfection is a strong term and if I had a scale where one grade simulated that I would never use it). To me it seems logical that a 9.9 would be rounded off to 10 rather than 9.

This bit accurately shows the biggest flaw of public voting though; that people don't even view the scales similarly. I reckon some people see the 1-5 grades as shades of poor, while others go by the devise that it's irrelevant to grade something poor and instead use more of the scale to talk about what's interesting, i.e. what's actually good.

So THAT's why I loved it and felt like it followed the books so well. (As stated on page 1) I honestly did not know George wrote it. I haven't paid attention to writers and directors. That being the case....I'm all for George writing the rest.

[zippypoodle]

Im giving this one a 10.

I hope the crew realizes the best episodes are the ones that are most faithfull with the source material and that the next seasons should be more like this episode.

No Roz and extra stupid sexplotation scenes, please.

In fact this episode was the only one where I felt it was realy true to the source material.

In case said people read these boards, I am posting this to formally disagree with you. I think the added material is one of the best aspects of the show. We get to see these characters outside of the locked-in perspectives of the POV chapter characters. I loved the Cersei and Robert in his solar scene. I enjoyed the Varys and Littlefinger in the throneroom scene. The hunting scene where Renly went off on Robert adds so much to Renly's character. I don't want the writers to think that all book readers get upset when they take one step off the path.

ETA: I gave this episode an 8. Very good, but I liked two or possibly three of the others better.

Edited June 7, 2011 by zippypoodle

[tarantella]

In case said people read these boards, I am posting this to formally disagree with you. I think the added material is one of the best aspects of the show. We get to see these characters outside of the locked-in perspectives of the POV chapter characters. I loved the Cersei and Robert in his solar scene. I enjoyed the Varys and Littlefinger in the throneroom scene. The hunting scene where Renly went off on Robert adds so much to Renly's character. I don't want the writers to think that all book readers get upset when they take one step off the path.

ETA: I gave this episode an 8. Very good, but I liked two or possibly three of the others better.

I'd agree with that, at least for the most part. My favorite scene in the last episode was one of the original ones, the opening scene with Tywin and Jaime, which I thought was a great way to introduce Tywin's character. I'd be disappointed if everything I saw in the adaptation was a one to one match to the books.

However, these scene have to add something to be any good. Littlefinger's pimp scene in ep 7 didn't add a thing. In fact I thought it took something away, by having LF spell out just why he acts like such a bastard instead of having the audience figure it out for themselves. And the lesbian softcore backdrop made me feel like I was watching a high budget fantasy-themed porn for a few minutes. Hopefully the writers have learned their lesson from the reactions to that scene, both from readers and non-readers.

Edited June 7, 2011 by tarantella

[R & R]

[warning] Off topic [/warning] (one pleads n00bishness).

Didn't know where else to post this, so....

A minor nitpick that affects the story not in the least. Yet my question would be: is anyone else troubled by the fact that the actress playing Arya, who imho is amongst the best of the lot, is clearly *not* left-handed? Yes, book-Arya is a lefty, but the impact upon the story is insignifcant. Maisie Williams, the actress, slays the stable boy right-handed. In an earlier episode she threatens Joffrey with Needle in her right -- her clearly dominant -- hand. And so forth, there are a few other examples for those who are anally retentive about such detail.

I suppose my point is that I admire the HBO peeps their attention to detail, but that in some cases they're just setting themselves up for continuity errors. If one is willing to trim waste, say in terms of direwolves being huskies, then why not allow young Maisie play her part as naturally as she can? Why compromise her obviously phenomenal talent?

[frameshift] As for Daenerys, she has (in tv land) proven once she has a certain resistance to damage by fire, and will again prove so (in book land, and obviously in tv land, else the hatching of dragons plot simply won't work). Jon Snow, not so much; as in tv land the lantern hurts him, though much less than the burns he suffered for months in book land. If the ability to resist harm from fire is indeed one of the prime requirements for piloting a dragon, I'm gonna go with those who are out of favour with Jon being a future dragon rider.

Anyway, why does it matter book-Arya was left-handed? Are there hints I've missed?

ETA: (damn, my very first post & I'm correcting stuff). As to hints I've missed, having read the books to date, I humbly concede I had nae clue as to the intimate nature of the Loras/Renly relationship. I missed all of the clues dropped in the books, whatever they were... if there were really any to be had. Thus I am open to criticism.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Rest & recreation

[Ser Yberon]

I think it was meant to be in the last episode, rather than this one, but haven't they missed out Sansa running off to the queen about Ned's plans?

Other than that I think they hav done an admirable job in the whole series, other than the porno lesbian scene. Everything else has been done very well. Sam was ace when he gets his compliment. Good actor.

I gave it a 10

[Lord Godric]

There was a story going around a few months back about how Maisie Williams corrected the producers that Arya was supposed to be left-handed. And more recently I remember reading something where she said "Sorry, but I tried to make Arya left-handed." For ease and for specific shots they make her use her right hand.

But wasn't she using her left hand in her scene in The Pointy End with Syrio?

[iheartseverus]

There was a story going around a few months back about how Maisie Williams corrected the producers that Arya was supposed to be left-handed. And more recently I remember reading something where she said "Sorry, but I tried to make Arya left-handed." For ease and for specific shots they make her use her right hand.

But wasn't she using her left hand in her scene in The Pointy End with Syrio?

And the weird thing (I'm a leftie) is that when Cersei handed Sansa the feather-quill to write the letters--Sansa reached out and took the pen with her left hand! As a life-long leftie, I know that some of 'us' do some things 'rightie', although I don't. Some lefties bat right-handed in baseball, shoot right-handed in target practice, pull the bow right-handed in archery, stuff like that. But, writing? Lefties write left. Ergo, Sophie, not Maisie, is a genuine leftie. Just a weird little bit of trivia...

[snookyrump]

Nine/Ten.

The wight scene could have been given a little more attention to detail.

[Nick Of Troy]

Arya's scene where she kills the stableboy was terrible IMO. Other scenes were quite good, I loved the one with Septa Mordane meeting the Lannister guards, and finally getting to see Drogo prove why his braid's so long was a treat

[Isis]

My favourite ep so far. I especially liked the 'ambiguity' of Syrio's scene with the Kingsguard, which was true to the book. I can't wait to watch it again actually.

We laughed at the INSTANTANEOUS arrival of the raven carrying Sansa's letter to Rob - it's like e-mail... so then all of those crows sent by Robb when he calls the banners was like a massive outpouring of spam. :)

[Ealdorman Halasahr]

Gave it an eight! My highest score, so far (I think). A very solid episode, where I liked Tyrion's meeting with his father, accompanied by his new friends. (And even if Charles Dance will be a great Tywin Lannister, I don't think I'll ever get used to the Lord of Casterly Rock smiling.)

I also liked the development of Robb Stark, and his kind of tensed meeting with his mother was great, I think.

Mr. Martin gave the characters life and depth.

And, the dancing lesson ended pretty much the way it did in the book, so no complaints there.

So, a solid, honest work.