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How would you rate episode 203?  

451 members have voted

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

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Wow, just wow. Amazing episode.

I gave it a 10 out of 10. I was happily surprised at how awesome they transferred the book to tv this week. The last's weeks episode I rated it 4 out of 10 because it annoyed me to see all the inconsintancies with the book. This episode however, episode 3 was even better than most of the imagery in my head about how scenes played out.

Like I thought it was awesome how Theon was portrayed and how others reacted to him. Amazing. Theon flips out at his dad and his sister obviously sympathizes with what Theon went through. It also showed that Theon's dad was disgusted at himself for giving up Theon and bending the knee to Robert, swearing fealty. Then the theatrical music with Theon being blessed by the drowned god. I got most of this from the books but seeing it portrayed visually was awesome. It shows why GRRM puts so much effort into Theon in the books.

The Tyrrels were portrayed exactly as I envisioned them in the books. All the Tyrrels care about is advancing their family in the "game". This episode portrayed that perfectly. To be honest I did look away from the screen a few times with the gay crap Renly and Loras were doing, it does kind of disgust me. However I think it was totally necessary to show that stuff so the viewer could understand how gay Renly is. It also shows that the Tyrrels are a united family aiming for domination.

Oh I'll end my speech here, but great episode! I think I'm gonna make it my fave episode so far actually.

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I gave it a 9, but only because I expect some of the coming episodes to top this one. Nonetheless, the episode flowed nicely, the new introductions were well handled and it didn't feel that rushed. I expect we'll see more of Dragonstone and Dany's little khalasar next time, but it felt right to leave them out this time and establish Renly and his retinue. The Baratheon sigil in Tyrell colours on all the banners visualizes his alliance quite nicely.

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Horse budget problems again?

George handed them the melee at Bitterbridge on a silver platter.

When Cat arrives of the hundred or so knights who started ... all have been eliminated...only four left.

Ok, so that could have been cut to two ... didn't Brienne unseat Loras after he had unseated her?

No horses, now one can see some defeated knights in the background.

The rest played out pretty much as in the book, I wonder if most of the audience knew it was a 'melee'?

(A nit, once again a large vista seemed contracted by camera coverage, VFX being saved on doing the 'multiplier effect' of scenes like that? First season I could understand the size of the tourney , even D&D complained about that, but thought maybe HBO would spring for more CGI this season, I guess it's all going into Blackwater, dragons and long shot vistas.)

Not that the Northern Ireland landscape didn't look beautiful, just that some cinematic devices were used.

Man the sigil of house Tarth is almost impossible to see.

The choice of more bronze and no blue enamel is ok with me, didn't figure Brienne's armor would look so elegant at this point.

And so , this is , I think, the fourth pronunciation of Brienne (maybe I have never heard George say it?), ok so now we have the SoIaF dictionary version!

Gwendoline Christie is really into it. I am glad Geroge's uneven cartoonish description of Brienne was not used. In SoS Jamie is always calling her homely , and by damn, Gwen did look that way last night (and she's and attractive lady).

I am glad she is using her own voice and not trying to pitch a deeper one, tho I don't think, could be wrong, Geroge never describes Brienne's voice.

One thing missed , maybe it was there, the insults hurled at Brienne were not in the script last night, expected at least one.

Edited by boojam
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I gave the episode a solid 8 and consider it the real beginning to the season. I expect rest of the season to be incredible.

High points:

1. Theon's plight is displayed perfectly. The fact that he nearly warned Robb is as gut wrenching as I envisioned it.

2. Tyrion as always was spectacular

3. Natalie Dormer (Margaery) was all that I expected. Loved her in the Tudors

4. The guy playing the Grand Maester is doing a great job

5. The scenery of the world of Westeros continues to amaze me. Pyke is simply amazing and Renly's camp was spectacular.

Low Points:

1. I think viewers get the point about Renly and Loras and do not need to be continually bombarded with imagery. I think its totally unnecessary as I had to turn away. However, seeing Natalie Dormer made up for it.

2. Missing Characters continue to plague me. None of the Reach lords are present (Randyll Tarly) when Cat meets with Renly. None of Theon's uncles (Aeron) are present.

3. If anything, why not cut out some of the Shae scenes. She annoys me almost as much as Ros.

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Gave that sucka a 10.

Good bits:

- Tyrell/Cat scenes.

- Sansa scenes.

- Tyrion's scenes.

- Arya's scenes.

- Greyjoy scenes.

ETA: Bran's scenes.

Hell, even Jon's scenes were good thanks to Mormont's speech.

Bad bits:

- I guess the fight scene at the end was a bit underwhelming, but understandable due to budget constraints.

- Sam's scene with Gilly was a bit cheesey.

Edited by TheEvilKing
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Loved it but gave it an 8 (probably should've given it a 9) -- mainly cuz I think with 7 episodes left, at least a few will top this one. Maybe lol.

I am *so glad* that they condensed Arya's travels. Nice way to get her where she needs to be, without us having 8 episodes of travel.

I loved the Jon scene. Everything about it.

Loved the Iron Islands! Am I the only one who likes the new Yara/Asha? I think she was well cast. She fits perfectly with what was in my head. Tough as iron, with a little saucy attitude. I really don't get the hate she's getting.

Enjoyed Varys, Tyrion, and Cersei (but that's nothing new). I think Sansa was good in this episode, too.

The only scene I could've done w/o was the Sam/Gilly scene. (That being said, I can see why they put it in there... viewers need to see his growing attachment to her).

Overall -- very well done!

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9/10. Best episode so far.

Highlights:

Theon's expanded brooding over whether to turn on Robb. Showing that he was this close to warning Robb of the Ironborn was a great scene, even if he thought twice.

The ending sequence. Yoren is badass.

Loras vs Brienne. Great scene.

Natalie Dormer.

"Carry him, he says..."

Lowlights:

Sansa's dinner with the Baratheons seemed rather pointless. I'd have made more of a point to show Tommen as the "nice one" there, instead of a rather blank slate.

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They did make the point. He didn't like the idea of Robb being killed.

Also, Myrcella talking about Sansa's weddings sort of gives context to the central Tyrion scene in which it's all about Myrcella's own wedding, no?

I've got an interview with Bryan going up tonight in which he touches on this and many other things related to the episode. :)

Edited by Ran
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After the first two episodes, I was literally feeling "I am not sure I want to watch more of this". This one (and the next) changed my mind, at least for now. It has great scenes more or less straight from the book and it has a great added scene (Theon's).

The one thing that makes me cringe is Margaery. I can't stand the casting (wasn't a fan of Dormer on the Tudors, I can tell I won't be a fan of hers on GoT either), can't stand the huge change in the character, and her scene with Renly was just one huge WTF moment. It was ... laughable, and not for good reasons.

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I rated it a solid 9, as I see many others have also. Brienne was great!

The only part I wasn't sure about was concerning Margaery (sp?) In the books she's a bit of a cipher. But it does make total sense that she has an "arrangement" based on ambition with Renly. We're not ever let in on the plotting of the Tyrells in the books, so it does really help to flesh this out more for people who haven't read the books.

ETA: Oh, and thanks for reminding me! The scene with Tyrion/Pycelle/Littlefinger/Varys was EXCELLENT! Better than the book. Scenes like this really illustrate how the different mediums have their strengths and weaknesses. The ability to quickly cut to the conversations Tyrion had with each hammered the point home - Tyrion's a BAD ASS. :thumbsup:

Edited by Tears of Lys
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I gave it a solid 8, would have gone 8.5 if the option was available.

Pros

- I thought Theon did a fantastic job, his sister on the other hand is just not how I imagined her, but i'm sure her personality will play out soon enough. Theon is killing it though, I tip my hat to him. When he burned that letter I was like... shit... if only I could tell you what is to come.

- Tyrion's Scene with Little Finger/Pycelle/Varys. I thought they made that scene very well.

I'm sure there are more, but those two really stood out for me when recalling the episode.

Cons

- A lot of people hating on Shae. I would have to agree to an extent. Her character just seems a bit different than how I saw her in the book. She seems like a huge biatch in the show, like she runs the place. It wasn't a make or break thing for me.

- Renly/Loras/Marg I just did not know how to perceive that whole scene. Seemed a bit strange to me. I see where they are going with it, Marg seems a bit more conniving than I ever expected, but that's just my opinion.

All in all, I love the book so much that I appreciate anything even remotely following the story, and honestly I couldn't even fathom making a show out of it, and these guys are doing a great job at it.

Also Brienne was casted well, love that character.

One last thing. Biter/Rorge don't seem nearly as intimidating as I always thought they were. They seems like normal people where as I always imagined them as these big burly vile cruel m*therf*ckers. Just my take.

(Sorry maybe I posted this in the wrong forum

Edited by Howland Reed
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9

loved the addition of Margaery's complexity and Brienne was spot on

the editing of Tyrion planting his seeds was brilliant

the note from theon gave him the initial sympathy I was surprised the books never conveyed to me...

my only complaint, though I understand why it had to be excluded, was arya getting some kills, yelling winterfell, and then the classic "hot pie!" response... perhaps later on they will work it in...

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8.5/10 by far my favorite episode of the season. I voted for 9/10 as it is closer to that than 8 for me.

Mostly for these:

Theon Greyjoy scenes

Yoren and Arya scenes

Tyrion scenes (other than his scene with Shae)

Most of the rest was not bad, there were somewhat good scenes too, but the above are my highlights, and pretty great.

Shae's scenes are my least favorite.

Edited by Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren
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9, whereas ep1 and 2 were 8.

The increase in action is appreciated, because it helps move the episodes along. There was so many memorable scenes in that one - The Tyrion games, Bran being told magic doesn't exist (foreshadowing shiii), Theon going ape, Margaery being hot... , Renly and Catalyn's conversation and Brienne's stuff, and of course a terrific closing scene. I love the way they had Yoren and Arya's dialogue and then quickly cut away to his death.

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Things I absolutely loved that started my grade at a 10:

-Bran's wolf dreams are being handled excellently. I'm actually seeing how they don't need the Reeds this season, Maester Luwin (and probably Osha later) is a great exposition tool. Hodor greeting us from Summer's perspective was so fucking cool.

-Everything Theon-related was amazing. I agree with most of you when I say that my favorite TV-series change was the note-burning scene, I can't get over how beautiful that was. Looking forward to more Theon and Balon, and I don't really even mind Yara that much.

-Tyrion is the star of the second book to me, and that's coming across on-screen. The editing of the council manipulation was brilliant, his arrest of Pycelle was straight from the books (I grinned like a fanboy when he said the goats line), and the conversation with Varys was an Emmy-worthy scene (plus Conleth Hill continues to amaze).

-Also loved all the supporting cast in KL this week - Cersei breaking down, LF getting pissed (finally some solid characterization of him), Varys' riddle (got chills), Pycelle being a whimpering stoat, helping us care about Tommen & Myrcella finally, and even Sansa's plight. Only real exception was Shae (I'll mention later).

-Renly stuff was handled perfectly IMO. Would've liked more Cat/Renly conversation but I think that's next week. I thought the Loras/Renly/Margaery triangle was played excellently, and what I loved about it was that it all makes sense in the context of the plot, we just don't really see it at all in the book. Oh and Brienne was straight from the books.

-Just like last week, Yoren edges out Tyrion for Badass of the Week. I love love LOVE how they give Arya's prayer motivation to Yoren, that story was chilling and badass. And his Boromir-style death was awesome too. Looking forward to more of Arya's stuff.

-------------------

Now, things that took away some points:

-1: Night's Watch stuff just kinda bored me. This really can't be helped at this point cause GRRM didn't give them much to do for a large part of the book, but still, the "climax" of last week ended up being anti-climactic - they were going to leave soon anyway, and Craster didn't even really seem that pissed given the circumstances. Sam moment was cute but it didn't serve much of a purpose, it was obvious that he was crushing on Gilly last week.

-0.5: This is a broken record on this thread by now but Shae just gets on my nerves on the show. I liked the Sansa/Shae scene for the Sansa characterization but I feel like they've been building Shae to be a lot smarter than in the books, and yet she just stands there like an idiot and gives an attitude to Sansa. She's not a hugely important character and always has others around her that are more interesting so I only took off half a point.

Oh, and then +0.5 for Natalie Dormer. So effing hot, you have to be really gay to turn that down. Like, Renly-level gay. :P

Solid 9, best episode of the season probably and definitely in the top 5 episodes of the whole series so far. A lot of good from-the-book dialogue.

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9/10 This episode was really good for me.

Love:

All the Theon stuff

Balon and Yara

Arya and Yoren

Tyrion and Cersei

Brienne!!!

Cat telling Loras off

Tommen being a sweetie pie!

The only thing I didn't really feel was the Sansa and Shae scene, but it was so small.

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I gave it a 9. My complaints:

Really can't stand the Shae portrayal, I dont remember her being so annoying in the book, way to much time dedicated to her too.

I agree that Theon should have been drowned, that would make for good TV.

Finally I hear the word 'Hodor' and it wasn't even him saying it, WTF? Hodor needs to say 'Hodor' on the reg!

The whole Renly Loras thing and sexuality in general is really being overplayed. Have to admit to cringing a bit, maybe thats the goal, to push comfort boundaries.

But hey sex sells....

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