How would you rate episode 301?

[Alboin]

About 5 I guess...

(-)

Where is 2nd season finale Ros-Varis cliffhanger resolution?

What a weak way to get out of "we-have-no-money-for-another-battle-scene" situation... Don't invent an army of TWD zombies to begin with, so there won't be a problem to deal with it.

I just didn't get whole Herrenhol massacre thing... Are we supposed to think that Northern forces took over it somehow and then someone defeated them? Where was it explained? Yes, i know whole Roose Bolton and the brave companions story from the books, but on the screen it was just messed up.

Charity (by Margery) in a middle ages setup? It looks just plain wrong, even if she has smth in mind

Davos/Saladoor scene was just extremly boring.

(+)

Tyrion/Tywin scene is amazing (always happens when they stop inventing stuff)

Dinner with Margery was ok, expect I found funny how they played that Cersei is so old and Margery is so young, when both actresess are lookikng pretty much of the same age (although I guess Lena Hadey is about 10 years older, but that's 30 and 40 older, not 15 and 40). And why not to give Loras at least smth if he is already included in the scene?

Drogon and giant were cool, good job CGI team.

Liam Cunningham hate to the Red Woman was very well played

Whole Selmy scene including creepy little girl was great. I'm totally ok with skipping Arstan story, that could work in Shakespear theatre not on 21st century television.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Alboin

[Tywin's bastard]

About 5 I guess...

(-)

I just didn't get whole Herrenhol massacre thing... Are we supposed to think that Northern forces took over it somehow and then someone defeated them? Where was it explained? Yes, i know whole Roose Bolton and the brave companions story from the books, but on the screen it was just messed up.

I think this is a case of that many book readers seem to start thinking about explanations in very werid and complicated places, instead of starting with the simple ones (not meant as an insult, just an observation). There's a war going and Harrenhal was used as the stronghold for one side for a time. In a war you take prisoners, directly shown by the last season, so the simplest explanation would be that the Lannisters had a bunch of northerners as prisioners and decided to kill them when they left (and leaving them to be found like that). That's definitely not so complicated that they need to spell it out. The books leave far more complicated things than that for the readers to figure out and perhaps that's why some people start thinking about complicated solutions right away.

There's of course also the possibility of am additional thought behind the Lannisters doing that, but it's just speculation until we see what happens later on.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Tywin's bastard

[Alboin]

I think this is a case of that many book readers seem to start thinking about explanations in very werid and complicated places, instead of starting with the simple ones (not meant as an insult, just an observation). There's a war going and Harrenhal was used as the stronghold for one side for a time. In a war you take prisoners, directly shown by the last season, so the simplest explanation would be that the Lannisters had a bunch of northerners as prisioners and decided to kill them when they left (and leaving them to be found like that). That's definitely not so complicated that they need to spell it out. The books leave far more complicated things than that for the readers to figure out and perhaps that's why some people start thinking about complicated solutions right away.

There's of course also the possibility of am additional thought behind the Lannisters doing that, but it's just speculation until we see what happens later on.

That's a good point except we saw prisoners as prisoners in robes etc, but in the scene we see fully armored forces with pikes and swords etc

[DragonsHungry]

This was an outstanding opening to the season.

The continuing struggle up north, Robb and Roose. I liked Sansa/Shae playing the game about ships, I thought that was a cool scene.

It is nice to see the Tyrell/Lannister rivalry rearing its ugly head right from the onset, that is awesome, the long Cersei/Margery arc beings. Tyrion and Tywin, nice to see that exchange.

I liked the fact they just put Barristan right there with Dany, that was awesome, the whole Arstan story won't work on TV, so it was cool to cut to the chase. It will give Dany and Barristan more time to sort of connect, it will make it interesting with Jorah, and more Barristan is awesome.

Edited April 1, 2013 by DragonsHungry

[A Redeemed Hound]

fantastic TV adaptation. I feel much more enthusiastic about this season than I did after watching episode 1 of season 2.

That is exactly what I said last night. I gave the episode a 9 out of 10. It has to change here and there for the show and I was fine with that last night. Loved the episode. It feels more energetic than last season already.

[Dragonstoned]

Thought it was average which for GoT is 7/10 rather than a 6.

Liked

- Lots of Roose

- Dany scenes were good

- Tyrion-Tywin, mainly cos they kept the book dialogue

Would have liked

- Fewer pointless scenes. Bronn, Cersei-Tyrion, Bronn-Tyrion. Genuinely, what was the point of these?

- Decent opening scene instead of a cop-out. Why not spend less on CGI for dragons eating fish and show us an undead fucking snow bear clawing some bloke's head off at the Fist of the First Men.

- A Mance-Jon scene which isn't so simplified. Don't think it's too much to ask for him to have an instrument or to tell Jon how he's already met him twice so we can think 'right this guy's cool'.

- Roose calling someone friend and Tywin laughing!

Also does anyone else get the feeling that

1) they're making Joff-Marg into a romance

2) they're really going for the 'common people' thing with the orphans, Ros-Shae talking about getting out of the gutter etc.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Dragonstoned

[Sun]

6/10

The episode felt flat.

ETA:

Highlight of the ep was Tyrion/Tywin scene. Tyrion's face made my heart ache.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Sun

[teemo]

i liked it more than i expected. surprisingly, i liked it a lot more than my non-book reader friends, who for the most part thought it was boring as hell.

[Tywin's bastard]

That's a good point except we saw prisoners as prisoners in robes etc, but in the scene we see fully armored forces with pikes and swords etc

I meant that we were shown that they had prisoners there in general. In the first season they of course just have random villagers but it seems like a pretty short step to them capturing some enemy soldiers as well as we do know that there's a lot of minor battles being held.

[insertname]

8/10 I'd say

I liked most of the episode though I worry about how some of it is going to develop further into the season, but that's no reason to lower this episode's score

Positive:

Tyrion-Tywin scene was AMAZING. I was worried they were going to make Tywin too nice in the last season with Arya, but here he brings across perfectly how much he loathes Tyrion.

The Astapor scene overall worked good, I expected Valyrian too sound different somehow. Less...throaty? But that's a minor quibble. Although it bothers some, I think cutting the Belwas/Arstan storyline was a good decision, it really doesn't do much and saves some time.

I liked the dinner scene with Joffrey/Cersei, shows how much she lost control over him, and while it wasn't in the books, it could very well have happened that way, especially with an older Joffrey.

The compression with Davos was also done well I think - the talk between Salladhor Saan and Davos was uninteresting but I guess needed as setup.

Negative:

The charity scene felt very out of place...too modern in a way. It's not terribly out of character though. I wonder how much of it they're going to attribute to political cunning and how much to altruism.

Littlefinger is as blunt as always in the show, though I guess you could call it a virtue of not deviating from what's already been established.

The scenes in the north did not work for me.

They should have had Ghost staying with Jon. Him being a Warg was a large part of accepting him to the Wildlings. The entire storyline would have to work different for that though.

The "battle" on the fist was really weak. I do understand budget reasons but that just didn't work out....especially with the "huge wight army" cliffhanger from last season. (Also, here Sam doesn't send of the Ravens? How can you do that to him? Poor Sam! Didn't like that at all)

Mance and Tormund were a bit off to me, though that can be rectified. I did not buy Jon's "reason" to join the Wildlings at all. That just felt like BS to me. It just doesn't make sense. The book reason worked soo much better.

Neutral/Wonder where they're going with this

Huh, so Robb's at Harrenhal now...and Qyburn with him? I'm skeptical on this, especially since I don't like this storyline in the show to begin with (At least the only thing Talissa does here is tending the wounded and nothing more...)

Also, I still wonder how they're going to play out Roose Bolton now...Is Robb going to leave him at Harrenhal? I'd guess with Qyburn too and then they capture Jaime and hack his hand off?

[Cas Stark]

I thought it was somewhat flat. The scenes with Tywin and Tyrion were good and the dinner with the Tyrells and Lannisters was great, as was the scene with Margaery doing her Lady Di impression. The Dany stuff was good. The rest was kind of weak. More Ros, and Shae continues to become more and more a completely different person than in the books, and a pointless scene with Bronn and a whore. Considering they only have 10 episodes they manage to waste a fair amount of time on purposeless scenes.

And, forgive me, but where did the dead Northmen come from? Who killed them? There was no mention of any Northmen last season being kept prisoner, Arya never mentions them and no weasle soup to free them, she frees nobody but herself, Hot Pie and Gendry...so, color me very confused as to what was supposed to have happened at Harrenhall.

[A Redeemed Hound]

I can have no hate for this episode at all. I gave it a 9/10. The Giant was awesome. Tyrion/Cersie was awesome. Tyrion/Tywin was one of the best scenes ever. The unsullied scenes were amazing. They actually showed all three dragons. Selmy back in the fold was amazing (no issues with the passing on Whitebeard). Ghost was amazing. I really like Margery Tyrell a lot. Way more confident than Sansa was. You can tell Joff is in over his head with her and the Tyrells. Bronn/Kingsguard was a great scene (although it deviates from the books). Harrenhall scene made sense to me in that I am guessing the Lannisters killed everyone before leaving for Kings Landing. Welcome Qyburn!!!

Only wish is that they showed some sort of struggle at the Fist of the First men but what can you do? You can tell the production dept. got more money to use this season. And of course I wish it was longer.

[SulliedOne]

Much agreed re the charity scene. But I guess it provides and quick and easy method of establishing her as the People's Queen".

LOVED the Tyroin/Tywin scene.

But why was the red-haired whore with Littlefinger on the docks? I thought that Cersei had emprisoned her, and was going to do to her, whatever happened to Myrcella? Why would Cersei have given her back to Littlefinger?

[Lux in Tenebris]

It looks like I was in the minority, but I was really disappointed with this episode. 5.

(+)

The Giant

Tyrion & Tywin scene

Dany & Jorah with the unsullied

Nixing the Artsan whitebeard to Barristan Selmy transition

(-)

Fist of the First Men -- seriously? You know this is going to be a slower episode with so many story arc's going on at once so they nix what could have been an epic fighting scene with sounds of swords?

Jon's scene with Mance -- I understand cutting some stuff, but the TONE was all wrong. It just missed the mark

Robb imprisoning his mother at Harrenhall -- this never happens, and it makes no sense for it to happen in the show

Margery with the children -- there are many other ways to make it clear Margery is loved by the commons. In reality, Margery picks flowers and goes on picnics, not giving toys to flea bottom children

Loras' quote -- "Margery does quite a bot of work with the poor back at Highgarden" I laughed out loud. Honestly the most idiotic line in GOT history.

The Roz/Shae scene -- pointless. gods i cannot stand Roz.

On another note, Im really going to miss Strong Belwas. I understand that it might be a bit much to put in the show, but damn he was hilarious.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Lux in Tenebris

[Jamie Lannister]

7/10. It reminded me of S2's opener; not jawdropping, but laying the groundwork.

Tywin's hate speech was about as stinging as I wanted. Props for that.

[A Redeemed Hound]

8/10 I'd say

I liked most of the episode though I worry about how some of it is going to develop further into the season, but that's no reason to lower this episode's score

Positive:

Tyrion-Tywin scene was AMAZING. I was worried they were going to make Tywin too nice in the last season with Arya, but here he brings across perfectly how much he loathes Tyrion.

The Astapor scene overall worked good, I expected Valyrian too sound different somehow. Less...throaty? But that's a minor quibble. Although it bothers some, I think cutting the Belwas/Arstan storyline was a good decision, it really doesn't do much and saves some time.

I liked the dinner scene with Joffrey/Cersei, shows how much she lost control over him, and while it wasn't in the books, it could very well have happened that way, especially with an older Joffrey.

The compression with Davos was also done well I think - the talk between Salladhor Saan and Davos was uninteresting but I guess needed as setup.

Negative:

The charity scene felt very out of place...too modern in a way. It's not terribly out of character though. I wonder how much of it they're going to attribute to political cunning and how much to altruism.

Littlefinger is as blunt as always in the show, though I guess you could call it a virtue of not deviating from what's already been established.

The scenes in the north did not work for me.

They should have had Ghost staying with Jon. Him being a Warg was a large part of accepting him to the Wildlings. The entire storyline would have to work different for that though.

The "battle" on the fist was really weak. I do understand budget reasons but that just didn't work out....especially with the "huge wight army" cliffhanger from last season. (Also, here Sam doesn't send of the Ravens? How can you do that to him? Poor Sam! Didn't like that at all)

Mance and Tormund were a bit off to me, though that can be rectified. I did not buy Jon's "reason" to join the Wildlings at all. That just felt like BS to me. It just doesn't make sense. The book reason worked soo much better.

Neutral/Wonder where they're going with this

Huh, so Robb's at Harrenhal now...and Qyburn with him? I'm skeptical on this, especially since I don't like this storyline in the show to begin with (At least the only thing Talissa does here is tending the wounded and nothing more...)

Also, I still wonder how they're going to play out Roose Bolton now...Is Robb going to leave him at Harrenhal? I'd guess with Qyburn too and then they capture Jaime and hack his hand off?

Robb will leave Harrenhall with Roose while he and his Mother (and others) travel to Riverrun where her father finally dies. Then all else will happen with Jaime, a bear, Qyburn, etc, etc, etc. Vargo Hoat will be in the show since Bolton already said his best person is looking for him (I forget the exact quote).

Edited April 1, 2013 by A Redeemed Hound

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

i liked it more than i expected. surprisingly, i liked it a lot more than my non-book reader friends, who for the most part thought it was boring as hell.

My non-book reader husband loved it. can't wait for the next one and the characters they didn't show this time.

He would have given it a 10 (but he says that about all the episodes).

[Sun and Moon]

Despite having a few quibbles, I enjoyed the episode, and gave it a seven.

The main scene that caused me to mark down, was that of Margaery with the orphans. Whilst I appreciate what the writers were trying to do, I thought the scene was ridiculously heavy handed.

Like so many others, I was a little under-awed by the scene with Jon and Mance, and yes, I was looking out for the lining of his cloak. I always viewed it as a symbol of Mance's defiance. I was quite surprised when I heard of Hinds being cast... he is certainly not what I pictured in my head, but he's a actor of considerable charisma, so I'll be interested to see what he does with the role, nonetheless.

The Unsullied? ...hmmm... babies? ...hmmm? For the time being, I'm going to reserve judgement, but was the original idea not that they would carry out orders, even those that were of personal detriment? I don't see that this change adds anything, but manages to detract plenty.

There was much to like, however, and many of the departures from the source material, for e.g. Selmy not bothering with his pseud, was a good move, and made sense. Why attempt the pretense, when screen time is so precious? Okay, so we've lost Belwas, but I can live with it.

Great scenes with many of the other characters. I especially enjoyed Tywin and Tyrion, Davos and Saan, to name but two.

Massive kudos, to the guys responsible for the C.G.I. I was so impressed how wonderfully they handled the depiction of the Giant. Tasteful and not over played in the least. When I first heard ASOIAF was making it's way to the telly, this aspect troubled me most. I was afraid, if done badly, it would make it harder for those watching who are not of a fantasy bent, to take the series seriously, and as these aspects will only become stronger, the further into it we go, sympathetic handling is essential. Going on what I've seen, so far, I'm quietly optimistic.

And now... a repeat viewing is the order of the hour.

[Stannis the Menace]

Gave it a 9/10. When i don't see great moments from the book in the show i get really disappointed but i have to remind myself its an adaptation and a lot of those moments wont make the cut. It was a strong first episode, it felt very rushed but it was all set up for what seems to be a great season 3. The beginning with Sam and Ghost coming out of no where i thought was the weakest part. Excited for next week and what i hope will be a great dracarys moment!

Yea if they somehow mess that up, I will not watch the show anymore

no i still will watch it lol, but after they botched the battle of the blackwater im a little apprehensive

[Tony Soprano]

9/10

I loved the episode.The new characters were great, especially Tormund. To be honest though, Ciaran Hinds wasn't the kind of Mance I expected. I mean, he's a great actor and all, and he did a great job, but Mance isn't supposed to be so...regal. I don't know, maybe it's because of Rome, but I think Hinds made Mance look like Caesar.

I was very happy to see that they're giving Michael McElhatton more screentime. Roose is a crucial character this season. I hope they expand his story a bit. He's a brilliant actor, and I can't wait to see his character development leading up to the Red Wedding.

Also, I fell in love with Astapor the second I saw it. It looks so beautiful, and yet, so terrifying. For a second, I thought the actor who plays Kraznys was Ben Kingsley. :P

He didn't fit the description in the books at all, but I don't think that's a bad thing. In fact, it's an improvement. I also loved the Valyrian dialogue. I'm so glad Dany's ruse made the cut. :D

Stannis and Davos didn't get all that much screentime, but I was still very happy to see them both in the first episode. Both Dillane and Cunningham did a great job. They're defeated, they've lost everything, but they keep on fighting. The actors did a great job of portraying that.

The only downside to the episode was the absence of Jaime, Brienne and the Stark kids. It's understandable, but I would have liked to see a glimpse of Jaime and Brienne nonetheless.

Anyway, it was a great season premiere. Game of Thrones is just blowing every other show out of the water. I can't wait for the second episode. .