How would you rate episode 205?

[Chelly]

I loved it! Jaqen and Brienne are absolutely perfect. I was super impressed with Brienne in her fight scene.

Also, shirtless Gendry.

[Ser Graymax]

8

Good, solid episode if not too exciting.

From WinterWarrior

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that it was great to see Roy Dotrice in the role of the pyromancer Hallyne. As someone who has enjoyed the books in both book and audiobook format I just love Roy Dotrice. And seeing him on screen was just great. I also like the fact that his credit on the screen was not shared with any other name for that second it was up there.

Not familiar with the actor offhand but he was perfect. I loved the way he used his hands. I had to watch him twice.

[edit} Looked him up. Of course!!! Dont know how I didnt recognize him. Now I have to watch it again.

Brienne really brought it in the fight scene. She seemed to finish the second Knight off the same way Yorin was slain. Wonder if thats a coincidence or a common move in that type of fight. Maybe a favorite of the Fencing Master for the series.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Ser Graymax

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

I gave it a 6. After last weeks episode this was by far a lot worse in terms of quality. Last week was on a whole nother level of awesomeness. The sheer tension and adrenaline that was going thru me as the episode progressed was ridiculous and the ending was pure perfection. Even as someone who KNEW what was going to happen I was on the edge of my seat.

Renly's death could have been handled a lot better. And the scenes immediately afterward was pisspoor in my opinion. And I didn't like Loras NOT blaming Brienne for his death like he does in the books.

The creators/writers make a lot of weird decisions that are different from the books and while I love seeing the story come to life onscreen I feel like its not quite as good as it could be. Season 2 so far isn't as epic as 1 IMO.

The scene between Lord Tywin and Lady Arya was what saved the episode.

[ServantOnIce]

I give it a 9/10. I love Qaarth it is just like I imagined it. Also, the Dothraki in the TV show are savages and that is what happens when you bring savages into refined wealth and culture.

The Dothraki are having a hard time with the life while Doreah from Lys isn't. It is good for her to be back in civilization not riding in horse waste and stinky plains. She is a pleasure house slave, meant to be a high end escort wearing expensive perfumes and clothes in a Free City or a kept mistress of a wealthy person not some horse lord lackey.

But the Dothraki feel like Dany is selling out, that they are losing what is apart of themselves being there, they take, they fight that is what they do. They are the land reavers while the Iron Born are the sea reavers.

I like the actress playing Yara/Asha. The reality is a woman wouldn't look good on a stinky ship with a bunch of raping men, she would be husky, dirty, funky and have a bad attitude. That is what it takes to lead rapers and hoodlums without being a prey to them yourself.

The book was too much fantasy. The show is more realistic. The woman can act as well. Heck I would follow her into battle. She looks like the average kick butt woman who serves in our military.

[ServantOnIce]

What a clever sequence at Harrenhal, does Arya have Lord Tywin fooled or what?

She doesn't. What did Roose say in "DWD" to Reek/Theon? He said, "You sound highborn." Look at how Tywin kept looking at Arya, he knows that she is a high born girl of the North and that she was hiding with the Knight's Watch to go North until she could make her escape. She is probably a part of Lord Eddard's house one of his servant girls or one of the daughters of his noblemen.

He's not easily fooled, not fooled at all. Her speech is too clean her knowledge too proper. That could be the catalyst for her to make an escape that and the coming Winterfell action.

[lyvyathan]

I thought it was pretty good. For one thing I enjoy watching the actor who plays Tywin and Bronn a lot.

I was a little disappointed by Renly's death and I thought the actress who plays Brienne didn't do a good job out of it.

Best of all - we were spared another Ros and that other prostitute scene.

I'm not sure why the HBO writers had Cersei being the one who devised the dragonfire idea though. But i did like Bronn's reaction to it.

[Nukelavee]

Cutting the Reeds out is definitely a mistake, I think.

When they escape Theon... what, Osha takes Rickon, and it's just Bran and Hodor?

And, much as I like Osha, book and series, seriously, what's with the whole "fey" bullshit, and that super annoying head tilt she's stuck in? My neck hurts just watching her scenes.

Plus, Renly accepting Brienne didn't kill Renly? Wtf?

[Michaelj]

I thought it was pretty good. For one thing I enjoy watching the actor who plays Tywin and Bronn a lot.

I was a little disappointed by Renly's death and I thought the actress who plays Brienne didn't do a good job out of it.

Best of all - we were spared another Ros and that other prostitute scene.

I'm not sure why the HBO writers had Cersei being the one who devised the dragonfire idea though. But i did like Bronn's reaction to it.

Cersei did plot the wildfire idea originally I thought, or maybe I misread?

[GSP]

Solid 8, would have thrown an 8.5 if it was possible.

Wow, an entire episode without gratuitious sex scenes! Perfect.

I realize the show needs to make a lot of changes from the books, and they often make sense, but to me there were a series of little changes from the book that I just don't understand why they are making them:

Jon begging to go with the halfhand when in the book the halfhand chooses to bring him

The wildfire being Joffrey and the Queen's idea

What's his face in Qarth having previously married for love but loosing her instead of clearly being gay

Just don't know what about translating the epic onscreen is helped by these changes, which kind of screw with the characters imho.

[lyvyathan]

Starts out as an easy, easy 10 for:

• Every. Single. Arya. Scene. Maisie Williams could not be more "Arya Stark" if she tried. The exchange with Tywin (who is also simply magnificent in the show) is probably my favorite scene of the entire season thus far. And her telling Gendry to stand "sideface" was stinkin' perfect. So, Arya gets this week's Badass of the Week award.
  

We are truly blessed that we have Maisie Williams as Arya Stark - she is absolutely brilliant in her role. I hope that she wins an Emmy for that. Contrast her to the kid who plays Anakin Skywalker in Phantom Menace. I still find it astounding that with all the money in the Lucas treasure chest, they couldn't find a better child actor for that role.

But anyway I'm just so happy that we have so many extremely talented actors in this series. As mentioned - Maisie Wiliams - then the actors who play Tyrion!!!, Tywin, Cersei, Jamie (actually I thought that Josh Holloway would have been better :), Littlefinger, Asha!!! Baleon, Theon, Robb Stark, Bran Stark, Cat, Ned!!!, Arya's extremely handsome assasin friend, Dany, Dany's knight from Bear Island, Dany's husband... sorry I don't want to say their actual names because its 3am and I'll probably write them wrong.

Yeah wow, thank you so much HBO for getting this stellar cast of absolutely amazing actors and spend the money to get the props and everything else so beautiful.

I'm a glass is half full kind of guy - so I'm not going to complain too much about their curious choices of giving more screen to Ros and the wilding woman who has that head tilting problem.

But wow, it is just pure joy to see Maisie Wiliams, Charles Dance, Peter Dinklage, Iain Glenn, James Cosmos, Jack Gleeson in action and saying their lines!!!

Edited May 1, 2012 by lyvyathan

[redriver]

Cranked it up to a 9 for this episode.But one quibble,I thought it was customary for the ladies in Qarth to leave one breast exposed?I hate it when they deviate from the authenticity of the books. :drool:

[Lord Ravenfrost]

I thought it was a brilliant episode all things considered. The fist of the first men was a bit more sparse then I had it pictured but that would be my only gripe about Jon's story. I'm glad we got to see Dany's dragons, well at least one. My only problem with them is that we should be seeing them all the time and they shouldn't be in cages.They seem more like her pets than her children. I also think it was odd that Quaithe confronted Jorah and not Dany. I love the Theon scenes I only wish Dagmer was more cleft jawed, that and I want Yara to go away and find Asha. I think Arya and Tyrion continue to shine as the best interpretation from the books. I'm looking forward to the next episode should be a real riot! Solid 9 rating.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Lord Cid

[greywindsrage]

I don't know what people expected from Renly's death scene. In terms of the effect it had on Brienne the filmakers got it right. She really looked like she was in Anguish.

[Wake the dragon]

I really liked tywin in this episode, making him seem like a pretty reasonable character that we can sympathise with

[Giskard Reventlov]

Well, I,ve always seen Tywin that way. He is just pragmatic and men of his time. He never does evil things just for the kicks, he is not psychopath (like Mounatin) . There is always a reason for his actions.

[smo]

I gave it a ten. I thought it was great. Arya is just perfect and the actress is amazing. I love any scene with Tyrion in it, it doesn't seem to matter what he is doing. And his exchange with Lancel had me laughing. Renly's death was just as I imagined, and I had goosebumps knowing that I knew what was going to happen. Brienne is very awkward, but that is the way that I "read her" in the books, so the actress is fine with me. I am so excited to see more!! Oh and Gendry, gotta mention Gendry. :eek:

[Paul Stewart]

9 of 10. More Brienne, more Arya would have pushed a ten, but I'd prefer to leave some room for a future Nadia Comaneci episode anyway, if one happens to be coming.

Halfway through the second season, and people are still using 'it wasn't like the book!?!?!' as a reason to knock down a rating? Seriously.

[zippypoodle]

Meh. I'm not as concerned about the minor changes (axing the Reeds is fine, and whatever re: Jaqen H'Gar's dialect shift), but for episode 5, the pacing seems off. And why wouldn't she have just chosen Tywin? By advancing the timeline and cutting out Arry's side trek, they're making a hash of major plot points.

This barely earned a 7, but its production values were still top-notch. I have no clue what you people base your 9s on. I'll be reading the thread to find out, but call me a skeptic of this season doing well.

Nope. Tywin was there in the book and she neglected to say Tywin, so that criticism is off the table.

And apparently the show keeps hitting records for viewers every week, so that concern is off the table.

[lyvyathan]

9 of 10. More Brienne, more Arya would have pushed a ten, but I'd prefer to leave some room for a future Nadia Comaneci episode anyway, if one happens to be coming.

Halfway through the second season, and people are still using 'it wasn't like the book!?!?!' as a reason to knock down a rating? Seriously.

The problem will always be compromise - we all know that the book and the TV are two different mediums - one visual, one text based. There's always going to be differences - but the reasonable complaint that people can have is the way the TV series differs from the book's plot/storyline - or more precisely, how much difference.

I sympathize with critics who poke at additional plots and dialogues/scenes that do not contribute to the storyline - ie the additional Ros' brothel scenes. And the addition of character like Osha who seems to be intended to replace the Reeds.

Now sometimes additional scenes/characters/dialogue does further the storyline (imho). Case in point is that powerful dialogue that Cersei and Robert (Mark Addy) have about the threat of Dany (the Targaryen girl) in Season 1. Its not in the book, but Robert's explanation of Dany's threat and the reflective conversation they had about their marriage was simply incredible writing - it gave greater depth to the two characters than the book (imho). It showed that Robert was a much cleverer military strategist than the book alluded too - and that gave a greater sense of realism to his rise to power. I also thought their conversation about the failure and pathetic relationship of their marriage and the humorous line that it was holding up the 7 Kingdoms was simply brilliant and even Shakespearean.

Then we come to Season 2 - LF is dumbdowned to a smirky insufferable wisecrack, and we get more Ros and Osha in scenes delivering lines where an actual character in the book would have done better imho. To top it all off - I find Ros/Osha's acting deplorable - that's just me. First time in history that I'm not happy to see a scene with a pretty naked prostitute.

[zippypoodle]

and Loras' grief and rage were very underplayed. Dany's story continues to not grip me, but then it didn't in the book either; though I love how emotive Iain Glen is - fantastic actor.

As for Littlefinger - OK of course they had to have Aidan Gillen popping up all over the place - LF is hardly in ACOK at all, and they had to write him in - but it seems out of place to have him at Renly's camp. And though I love the actor to bits and have admired his work for years, I'm still not convinced by his portrayal of LF, though that is down to script and direction to a large extent.....

Out of place? You mean in the place where he is in the novel, arranging the Tyrell-Lannister alliance after Renly's death?