How would you rate episode 301?

[Ser Creighton]

Gave it a 4 and thought I was being generous. Dany's scense were ok, but not much going on. Arrival of Selmy was expected and fell flat for me, didn't feel any emotional context there. Selmy's feeling about the Targs was never explored on the show, but now it's very important to him.

Got a quick look at Drogon, that was great, all five seconds of it.

In the North, the Wildlings felt flat, boring, and grey. Jon once again not getting much time on screen, makes perfect sense, after all he is not really in the books at all. Sam suddenly sees his story change, totally failed his job. I am pretty sure the producers, directors, and writers are using cliff notes written by a person with ADD. Mance and the Giant member felt generic in terms of their personalities.

Shea and Ros got a scene, that's super. Who wants Sansa and Littlefinger together, when we can have Shea and Ros?

Bronn, could care less about the multiple scences he found himself in.

Tyrion, has about the only note worthy scene in the entire episode, Tyrion and Tywin. It's nota great scene but it is very good.

Harrenhall with Robb and Cat??? The show is just going fully off script at this point.

Davos, for the first time I did not really enjoy his scenes, it felt a bit forced and rushed, and of course rather different from the books wasn't it. Thought Stannis held up his end of the scene but not really a strong scene. Davos and his exploding temper? Whatever.

Felt all in all like a bunch of flat scense strung together and only one of them had any real impact.

Oh wait almost forgot Marg and the orphans, no wait I forgot on purpose.

[Florina Laufeyson]

8 heads of The Ned out of 10. I dug it quite a bit.

Good stuff here. Some things like Robb and Cat being at Harrenhal was mostly to put Roose at Harrenhal.

Show Marg is great!

[Moët]

10/10 only because there's no 12. And yes, I've watched it twice. So far.

A smoking Winterfell in the opening credits! That was 10 points right there.

Love the opening with Sam. He can't become

The Slayer

right out of the gate. It's a great setup for Sam's arc. We know who is alive, and where Ghost is.

Giant! Tormund! (Actually giggled at "the little skeletons buried..) Mance. Perfect.

Bronn + Pod = YAY.

Cersei scared, and not completely in control anymore because Daddy is home.

Repairing Kingslanding, and all the shipwrecks.

Davos!!! Salador! ("And you drank with me on four of my wedding days!" haaaaa!)

Robb at Harrenhall. Anton Lesser as Qyburn! Oh yeah. Bolton already creeping me the hell out.....

The Tyrion/Tywin scene was such a brilliant setup for what's to come. All I kept hearing throughout was the sound of a

crossbow

. 1000 points.

Loved Shae and Sansa - since Tywin has threatened to kill her.... and Ros being protective of Sansa to Shae. Great setup. So did Littlefinger recognize Arya? He never confirms Sansa's question.

DRAGONS! What an incredible sequence. Those poor Dothraki!

Stannis has been Wormtongued.

Gleeson is next level! His little-boy face watching Margaery walk fearlessly through the streets of Fleabottom, making friends... great setup.

Dinner with Cersei, in armor! Joffrey slamming her, Cersei underhandedly slamming him back about his "father." Oh my.

ASTAPOR! Wonderful scene with the High Valyrian-speaking douchbag. Another awesome setup. I heard Missandei say Mhysa.

Love the sequence with baby warlock.

Can't believe anyone is complaining about Barristan. The disguise wouldn't play in a visual medium. If the audience recognizes the actor, Joreh would look like beyond stupid if he didn't. and it's a waste of time. That part of the plot has no bearing on the long game. Get to the point, and get on with the story. It also give more time for Barristan to tell Dany about her family, especially Rhaegar perhaps?

Not sure if anyone has caught the between-showings "this season on HBO" shots, but there's a short clip of Jon & Ygritte in a hot spring in a cave. :D

Edited April 2, 2013 by Moët

[Er Rn]

Gave it an 8.

Love show Margaery.

[Ser Creighton]

Gave it a 4 and thought I was being generous. Dany's scense were ok, but not much going on. Arrival of Selmy was expected and fell flat for me, didn't feel any emotional context there. Selmy's feeling about the Targs was never explored on the show, but now it's very important to him.

Got a quick look at Drogon, that was great, all five seconds of it.

In the North, the Wildlings felt flat, boring, and grey. Jon once again not getting much time on screen, makes perfect sense, after all he is not really in the books at all. Sam suddenly sees his story change, totally failed his job. I am pretty sure the producers, directors, and writers are using cliff notes written by a person with ADD. Mance and the Giant member felt generic in terms of their personalities.

Shea and Ros got a scene, that's super. Who wants Sansa and Littlefinger together, when we can have Shea and Ros?

Bronn, could care less about the multiple scences he found himself in.

Tyrion, has about the only note worthy scene in the entire episode, Tyrion and Tywin. It's nota great scene but it is very good.

Harrenhall with Robb and Cat??? The show is just going fully off script at this point.

Davos, for the first time I did not really enjoy his scenes, it felt a bit forced and rushed, and of course rather different from the books wasn't it. Thought Stannis could of done more than stand or sit there. Davos and his exploding temper? Whatever.

Felt all in all like a bunch of flat scense strung together and only one of them had any real impact.

Oh wait almost forgot Marg and the orphans, no wait I forgot on purpose.

You know I made Jiffy pop for this and this was not Jiffy Pop worthy.

[_Oberyn_]

7. Ok overall but bad writing, most of the dialogue felt forced and even cheesy at times.

Edited April 1, 2013 by _Oberyn_

[Pinkie Baelish]

I gave it an 8. I would give it an 8.5/10 if it was possible. Really disappointed that we got no battle at the Fist, but I felt most of the other scenes made up for that.

Pros:

-Tyrion/Tywin was the standout. Good to see Dance was as dickish as the book version. I was worried season 2 softened him up too much.

-Loved the Margaery scenes. The great thing is that we're not entirely sure whether or not she actually cares about the orphans or it's just a publicity stunt. Also loved how Joffrey seemed genuinely confounded at the display of royal charity.

-Liked the Cersei/Marge rivalry, especially the fact that Cersei also now chose a more provocative dress to rival Marge. It's the little things that count, HBO.

-Good to see a Tyrion and Cersei rivalry in seeking Tywin's approval.

-Really enjoyed Davos' arrest. Liam Cunningham conveyed Davos' grief over losing his son so well :crying:

-Well, there was no way they were going to do the whole Arstan Whitebeard shtick, so having Barristan reveal himself worked just fine.

-I liked the subtle shots of Roose's face at the Harrenhal massacre and of Tywin's letter. A nice touch for those who know what's coming.

-Ecstatic to see the giant. I was convinced that they would have been excluded.

-Good that they kept the whole Kraznys translation bit. The non-readers seem to have enjoyed it quite a bit.

Cons:

-NO BATTLE AT THE FIST. At the very least, they could have had Sam kill the Other. Hopefully we still get that.

-Jon's reason for joining Mance was a bit of a headscratcher. His resentment over his bastardy as it was in the books was a far preferrable reason, imo.

-Pointless boobs in Bronn's scene. But I guess it was needed to fill HBO's boobs per episode quota

-No Arya or Theon. But that's just a minor gripe.

-The backdrops in Dany's scenes looked pretty fake.

-Bit worried whether LF was bullshitting about Arya or whether he actually recognised her at Harrenhal

But those are mainly small nitpicks.

Overall, I was satisfied. The first couple of episodes always lays the foundation for the season, and this episode did it quite well. The filming seemed a bit different to previous seasons-did anyone else notice this? The writers have gotten more confident, fleshing out characters like Margaery, which I do enjoy.

And the scenes from the books were done justice for the most part. Can't wait for next week!

Edited April 1, 2013 by Pinkie Baelish

[Dank Jedi]

I gave it a 6.

I thought everything was great, BUT how can you skip out on the Battle of the Fist of the First Men!? Our first chance to see the men of the NW fight a real battle against their true enemy and HBO decides that wasn't important. Isn't the underlying theme of the show/books since Season 1's prologue Men v Evil Ice Demons and their Zombie Thralls?

[Conchobar]

9. It shat all over most of S2.

To all the losers who gave it a 4 or less, you will never enjoy the show, enjoy life!

Edited April 1, 2013 by Cellio

[Dma2282]

I give it a 5.

I've read the books, but I tried to think of this show from the perspective of someone who hasn't, namely my wife who only watches the shows. The Fist of the First Men, budget concerns aside, needed a bit more fleshing out. The Wight at the beginning could easily have been mistaken for a WW, and most viewers wouldn't know that White Walkers are not flammable as tinder as are Wights. Harrenhall was expected, viewers can't be expected to follow all the locales, plus nice intro of Qyburn...

...tl;dr the point being, I have a seed of concern planted in my mind about this season. I've thought that season 3 would be one of the best seasons of television, period. The source material is some of the best literature I've ever read, and ASoS deserves to be treated as such. However, ASoIaF is beginning to show it's size, and I wonder how much of the book will need to be cut, and rushed, to move the story along properly. I still have high hopes, but how will viewers take Season 4, if it is not merged with Dance with Dragons? And if it is, what could possibly be the big spectacle selling point of each season. Dany's beseigement? A long boat ride with Tyrion? Cersei's slow decline? I love this as literature, but I fear for the show that must try to piece this all together, whilst keeping pace with the books, whilst not cutting too many characters and causing a butterfly effect on books/season 6 &7.

[Corvinus85]

I think 7/10, with the Tyrion/Tywin dialogue and Barristan being the high points of the episode.

Margaery playing Mother Teresa and Robb at Harrenhal the lower points.

[DolorousKim]

I gave it an 8 -- some great scenes, some not so great scenes, but overall a solid beginning to the season.

What worked for me:

• Davos and Salladhor Saan - I always enjoyed their relationship in the books, and I'm glad to see that its been given time in the show. Great to see Salla back again after the 2 minute teaser introduction last season and then nothing....
  
• Tyrion and Tywin - This showdown was epic in the book and they delivered it strongly in the show; Dance and Dinklage were superb; probably the highlight of the episode for me
  
• Bronn - I can't help but love both this character and Jerome Flynn's portrayal - easily the most likeable character to me in this episode
  
• Barristan Selmy - I am soooo glad to have Sir Barristan back again, I don't even mind that they cut to the chase in exposing his identity so early on
  
• Sansa and Shae - I'm not a huge fan of Sansa, and I detest book Shae, but I'm very surprised that I find the show's take on their relationship to be intriguing. Never thought I'd find myself enjoying their interactions.
  

What didn't work for me:

• Robb being a total dick to Cat -- talk about character assassination! This surely is not the Robb Stark who united the North and the Riverlands, is it? I'm finding myself hard-pressed to understand why anyone is following him at this point.
  
• Stannis being a total douche to Davos -- where's the bromance?? While Stannis is hardly the emotive one, his reaction to Davos being alive was a bit cold, even for him, and then sending him to the dungeon like that -- not liking it
  
• Ros as Littlefinger's right-hand woman -- no, just no! Since when does Littlefinger go about sharing his plans all willy-nilly with anyone and practically everyone? Littlefinger is acting more like Ser Dontos than Lord Baelish
  

I'm reserving judgement on Margary and Mance, since I'm not really sure how I feel about their characters and the actors portraying them at this point.

[buff daddy]

Didn't like this episode much at all.

The Fist of the First Men wasn't even really an event, the wights attacking Mormont in season 1 had more impact. This felt like Sam went to take a leak and missed the whole thing in that short amount of time. I understand not being able to do a huge battle this early, but they could have done a much better job at least showing the aftermath and it's repurcussions.

The assassination attempt on Dany felt like something out of one of the Star Wars prequels, down to Barriston being a Jedi, some girl with force powers, and some robotic looking thing being the main threat.

Loved the Davos scenes, especially his interactions with Salladhor.

Edited April 1, 2013 by buff daddy

[Nezzer]

This was my favorite premiere so far. I don't know if it's because I knew all about the episode before watching it, but I have nothing of importance to complain. I gave it a 9. I just don't give it a 10 because Jon's introduction to Mance was much, much better in the book, and because of the lack of the battle of the Fist (which bothered me much less than I expected). Still, I loved this episode.

[StarkDragon]

It's an opener, so I suppose it can't be too amazing.

But I'll be damned if the Lannisters didn't steal the show! The Iron Throne just aint enough for them, is it? Srsly, 10/10 just for them!

Harrenhall should prove an interesting fork in the road for our perception of Robb's justice against Catelyn, and other diverges between Book and Show Robb. Should be fun.

Littlefinger and Sansa creeped me out. Maybe it's because I like evil LF.

All in all the Lannisters destroyed all other actors. I'd give it a 10 just for them, and I actually enjoyed the Robb counter perspective. Hell, I loved Barriston and the girl, I almost died laughing! Mance was amazingly dissapointing, and I didn't even care for him as a character. Disliked Stannis himself sentencing Davos, and confuses me as to why they went this direction when Stannis turns around and... well, that would be telling eh?

Littlefinger and Sansa really destroyed the episode for me though, simplification or not :(

So, 8/10.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Considering all the stuff they f*ed up last season, I'll keep an open mind about changes because they have a lot to fix, so, I guess they will HAVE to make more changes. I think we'll see where are they going in a few more episodes. I'll watch it again with subtitles, and then, make a better opinion.

But, generally speaking, I was pleased. My only complain was that I felt they flipped all Dany pages in about 5 seconds in front of me. Jon scenes were a bit boring to me, too.

[Greyjoy the Reaver]

I gave it a 9/10. I thought it was a great episode. The Tyrion Tywin scene was really good. Dany in Astapor was sweet as well as the dragon catching the fish scene. The appearance of Mance Raydar was excellent and Jon Snow's dialogue with him turned out nice. Over all I feel like it was a very promising episode and I can't wait until next week. I may even dig out my book and start reading it again. I'm about 70 pages from the end of what I'm reading right now. hmmmmm

[Words of Winter]

I gave the episode a 8, but I could easily be persuaded to go higher to a 9. 10's for me are a rare feat, so an 8 is really high. Season openers in a drama arc are very hard to do and they did it well and for me, did it surprisingly close to what I remember from the books with minor tweaks of scene placement and character placement.

Pros

Tywin and Tyrion

Shout out to book lovers about Tyrion's nose.

The entire Astapor scene. While watching I remembered the book seemed pretty close. They kept the nipple scene.

Shout out to book lovers about Tyrion's nose.

Cons:

Margery's tv scene isn't in the book, I don't think. (It's been a while sense I read it) I like the juxtaposition of her vs Joffrey. Both want power but Joffrey loathes his subjects and while Margery probably doesn't care for them either, she know she has to win their support and she has to do it publically. Nevertheless, it slowed the pace down.

Tormand better say Har. That is all I have to say about that.

[bent branch]

I gave it 8/10. I thought the opening with Sam interesting. As everyone is saying the scene with Tyrion and Tywin is incredibly powerful. I liked how they handled all of the Dany material. I actually liked the assassination attempt and the reveal of Selmy a lot. When Littlefinger was speaking of Arya I thought it was a veiled reference to

Spoiler

Jeyne Poole

, I had actually forgotten about the almost meeting of LF and Arya in Season 2 until I read other posts. I liked most of the wilding stuff, but Mance Raydar was a bit difficult. The actor doesn't look like how I imagined Mance to look, nor did he have the demeanor I imagined Mance would have. However, the disconnect between the show Mance and book Mance is not so great that I can't reconcile the two. The difference between book Jorah and show Jorah is so great that I think of them as two entirely different characters. I don't think it will be that bad with Mance. I like the guy portraying Tormund. I like what was done with Margaery and Joffrey. This is one place where the show can actually add something more to the books. Both Margaery and Joffrey are nonPOVs and the show allows us to see them from a different angle. I find it fascinating how enthralled Joffrey appeared to be. Margaery's take on noblesse oblige seemed to baffle yet enchant Joffrey. I really liked how both actors handled their scenes. The only part I really had problems with was at Harrenhal. It just didn't feel right to me. I'm kind of not liking show Robb. Edited April 1, 2013 by bent branch

[Holdfast]

Agree with those that thought it was a little slow. Disappointed we did not see the battle from the NW at the start - felt this was a let-down after where we were left at the conclusion of Season 2.

Jon's scene with Mance. I don't know, felt a little....awkward.

Liked: the look of the growing dragons, Tyrion's scene with Tywin.

But looking forward to next week.