How would you rate episode 301?

[Eira Seren]

not sure what will come of the whole Ros and Shae thing, have to say that's the one part that seemed fairly superfluous. i don't think the audience or Shae needs anyone to tell us to watch out for Sansa around Pervy Petyr.

[insertname]

first of all I am very excited about The Season premiere.

Nothing really happened at the first episode except a nipple removing process and Khalesi assassination attempt. however the main questions for me remains why Is the episode titled 'Valar Dohaeris'? I mean, I know what it means and who its related to. But how, in seven hells, is it related to the episode?

Sure you are not confusing it with Valar morghulis? Valar dohaeris means "all men must serve" - mainly refers to Dany and the unsullied of course but can be connected to other plot arcs as well.

[Ser Drizztos]

Valar dohaeris means "all men must serve"

How do we know that? I thought the books never explain what that phrase means.

[boojam]

however the main questions for me remains why Is the episode titled 'Valar Dohaeris'? I mean, I know what it means and who its related to. But how, in seven hells, is it related to the episode?

Valar Dohaeris is a common phrase (in High Valyrian?) that is a response to Valar morghulis.

Valar morghulis is name of episode 10 of season 2, so it is a natural segue between 210 and 301.

However while it is spoken 4 times , twice by Jaqen and twice by Arya in 210..... to my surprise...

it is not spoken in that first episode of season 3.

From memory it is defined when Dany is given Missandei.

I think Missendei uses the phrase and Dany translate it to common tongue, tho before that Dany is speaking Valyrian to Missendei who does not realize for a moment that Dany is speaking Valyrian.

Valar morghulis is not explained in season 2 episode 10 but at least it is spoken out loud on the screen, I guess only book readers know the phrase , still it's used as the title for the episode.

Why not spoken episode 1 season 3 is a puzzle to me.

[Maxthestig]

Here are our thoughts. I loved the episode all the scenes were short but they needed to introduce everyone back.

Tormund was great and I loved the Giant.

I hope they include Strong Belwas!!

[Tywin's Honour]

As seems to be the norm, I gave the show 8/10.

The Tyrion/Tywin scene is one of my personally favourites from the book and I was somewhat skeptical of how it would be portrayed on screen. Thankfully, it was performed seamlessly with Dance coldly irate, whilst Dinklage almost overpoweringly sympathetic.

Most other facets of the episode were moderately well done. As already aforementioned by others, I didn't really care for the opening scene.

I continue to be surprised as to how much screen time Ros gets. Like, really?

Oh, and Stannis with a beard = awesome personified.

[Sir Noone Sword Of The Day]

I thought it was a solid start, a nice building block. I'm just so bloody excited for the rest of the season though, there are so many scenes that i want to see so to have to wait another whole week for the next episode is a killing me. plus this episode didn't reveal the epicness that is going to happen, which i suppose is good for non book fans,

didn't expect to see giants though which was cool and of course the dragons looked awesome

[Ser Drizztos]

Stannis' actor is pure awesomeness with or without facial hair; too bad he only got so little screen time and almost no dialogue this episode.

[K1T]

Sure you are not confusing it with Valar morghulis? Valar dohaeris means "all men must serve" - mainly refers to Dany and the unsullied of course but can be connected to other plot arcs as well.

Valar dohaeris is the answer for greeting Valar morghulis in high valyrian. It's used by specific people in specific places. In season 2 Jaqen instructs Arya to say Valar morghulis and gives her a small coin. I've read all books, and I know exactly when it's used. Thats why Im asking why did they name the episode 'Valar dohaeris'???

[Maxthestig]

As seems to be the norm, I gave the show 8/10.

The Tyrion/Tywin scene is one of my personally favourites from the book and I was somewhat skeptical of how it would be portrayed on screen. Thankfully, it was performed seamlessly with Dance coldly irate, whilst Dinklage almost overpoweringly sympathetic.

Most other facets of the episode were moderately well done. As already aforementioned by others, I didn't really care for the opening scene.

I continue to be surprised as to how much screen time Ros gets. Like, really?

Oh, and Stannis with a beard = awesome personified.

Stannis is great :) Ros im my eyes (Spoiler so do not scroll down)

Will take the place of Ser Dontos. Anyone else think this?

[Reposado]

Valar dohaeris is the answer for greeting Valar morghulis in high valyrian. It's used by specific people in specific places. In season 2 Jaqen instructs Arya to say Valar morghulis and gives her a small coin. I've read all books, and I know exactly when it's used. Thats why Im asking why did they name the episode 'Valar dohaeris'???

a because the finale was valar morghulis, and b because the theme of serving is present a lot in the scenes

that style of episode is possibly the thing i like the least about the show. have several of these unconnected scenes share a theme, as opposed to giving the episode any form of cohesion in plot. it gives critics something to write about doesnt do much for quality, imo

[Senor Drogo]

I thought it was a great opening, My only complaints were of some of the changes and deletions like selmys reveal and the battle on the fist of the first men. plus robb in harrenhal was kinda random.... All in all a good episode I'd give it a 9/10. Oh and yea It could have been longer, like what was all that they were saying before that season 3 episodes would be like 57 minutes.... we got ripped off of 3 good minutes....

[Hound Dog]

Long time lurker to this site, and finally decided to register and submit a post!

Apart from a few scenes, I was disappointed by this episode. I'm not quite sure what it is about the show that bothers me so much, but it really does (that doesn't keep me from watching it though).

I don't get why they introduced Dontos in S2 and then ignored him after that. The scenes with LF always seem to me to be so obvious and scream: "Hey, viewer! This guy is a snake! Look what a snake he is!" When I read the books he was so very enigmatic and his scattered scenes throughout the series only made me enjoy him that much more. I suppose that's hard to replicate on screen, when you don't have the advantage of specific character POVs. Dontos on the dock (or just go to the bloody Godswood at night!) with Sansa would've been so great. Non-readers would've asked "Who the hell is this?" Why deny them the surprise of having LF on the boat? It was great in the books, it'd be great on TV too.

Can't stand Ros... she drives me nuts. I resent that she's been given such a huge role in the show, especially when you're leaving out characters like the Reeds. I know, I know, they're coming this season, but that isn't the point. In the books the Reeds were so integral to Bran's character development! Ros is just an annoying set of boobs and has a confident swagger about her that I resent (because she's not in the books).

No Fist, but everyone's commenting about that, and rightly so. That was just... poorly mishandled. I suppose budget had something to do with that.

I imagined Mance to be grittier and to have a bit more of an edgy swagger to him than he did on the show. The scene between he and Jon was all right, but I didn't feel that sense of, "Ohh, the King Beyond the Wall! Here he is!" that I got when reading. I think it's due to the guy they have playing Jon. He always has that stupid dullard look on his face and I find that all of his scenes lack emotion or intensity.

The scene with Tywin and Tyrion of course was great. And Davos is awesome. They cast all of those roles splendidly! I thought Jaime would be in this episode as his is the first POV chapter in SOS, but it only means he'll show up next episode, so not a big deal.

I think the biggest peeve I have with the show is that it leaves nothing to the imagination. In the books you're constantly guessing, whether that be plot direction or character motives. The TV show lays it all out for you, eg, that Davos and Stannis reunion scene. Davos just could've gone to a cell like in the books, leaving viewers to wonder wtf is going on with Stannis, letting you anticipate the moment when they finally do speak again.

Ah, I don't mean to sound so negative about it. I just greatly favour the books and I really resent any deviations from it.

[Abaddon]

Gave it a 1.

Your rationale is very convincing. After reading your stunning conclusion I feel like I am going to change my vote of 8 to a 1 as well.

[flyersfan2588]

A couple things. I felt the Barristan reveal was necessary - I mean, we would've recognized his face, and it would have been awkward if they waited 8 episodes. But then, it messes up his purpose for revealing himself so late, because he wanted to see if Dany was as mad as her father. I just hope we're not in for a whole season of Jorah being jealous. And when is Barristan going to call him out for being a snitch?

The Tywin/Tyrion scene was one of the best scenes in recent memory. Just knowing what happens down the road (I assume season finale of 4) made that epic.

But I was disappointed with Jon Snow's first encounter with Mance. In the books, Mance tells him about when he climbed the Wall and attended the feast for Robert. And Jon goes into that spiel about "Well, did you see where I was seated?" etc. etc. I felt that this was much stronger than his reasoning in the first episode.

Yea, it was a bit of a slow episode, but understandable because in 54 min., they need to remind the viewers where every character is at. (But no Bran, Arya, Jaime or Brienne, curiously.)

On a side note, I think that it's great to take the show for what it is, and not compare which is better - the books or the series - but enjoy the fact that they compliment each other. It's great for us to watch the show because we know what is generally going to happen, and we have that dramatic irony in our pockets, so we're able to pick up on all the little things that foreshadow what's to come. I'm actually surprised that the show is so popular, because I can't figure out how people keep up with all the characters, settings, and such. I talk to my roommate about it, asking what he feels about Margaery, or Davos, and he's like "Who's that?"

[House Balstroko]

A very strong episode. Either an 8 or a 9

The Tyrion/Tywin scene was great.

Mance made his debut and we got to see the first giant

Astapor is looking promising. Hopefully Dany's scenes will be much better than the Qarth ones.

[A Redeemed Hound]

Stannis is great :) Ros im my eyes (Spoiler so do not scroll down)

Will take the place of Ser Dontos. Anyone else think this?

I am thinking so too but Ser Dontos was introduced last season. Maybe he will still be used and Ros will join Littlefinger on the trip too? But I can see them just using Ros. But I don't see her ending up like Dontos.

[WardenOfTheNerds]

I gave it a 6. Imho:

1. The prologue scene was really bad. In first season they managed to introduce white walkers in a convincing fashion, but this scene was outright idiotic, like from a 3rd rate zombie movie. Apparently Mormont decided to make it worse by saying the most cliche line we have yet heard of him.

2. Wildling scene was ok i guess, i feel like Ygritte's acting declined a bit compared to what we saw in 2nd season, though that might be just me. I dont like the change the made to Tormund at all. The dialogue with Mance wasnt particularly mindblowing either, i actually liked how it turned out in the book that he has seen Jon twice before. I feel like cutting that out was a bad idea. Basically non book readers got a lot of foreshadowing, and when the King Beyond The Wall finally appears, he gets like 2 minutes of screen time, without anything significant to say.

3. Bronn in brothel, Tyrion vs Cersei all ok. Contrary to many opinions i've read, i actually think the delivery of "still makes me smarter than you" was the weakest link to that scene. Just so obvious to say that, Peter Dinklage can do waaaay better.

4. Davos's scenes are for me the strong point of this episode. Mind you, I dont like the change they made, with Stannis personally imprisoning his Onion Knight, but i do think that Stannis/Melisandre/Davos/Sallador Saan's parts were all very well played. Good stuff.

5. Robb in Harrenhall. Not bad, not great either. The one thing that really annoyed me is how Robb looked at all those bodies and suddenly went "oh right, imprison my mommy plx". That just looks naive. You either punish a crime or not, he's not supposed occasionally express how angry he is for freeing Jaime.

6. Tyrion&Tywin, another strong point for me, Charles Dance perfect as usual, with Peter Dinklage performing way better than in the Cersei scene.

7. Shae&Sansa. Well i just dislike heavily the plot changes they make here, and i find it rather unlikely LF would parade in KL with a whore but whatever. My opinion would be too biased on this one i think, didnt like it.

8. Margaery - those kind of scenes bore me, but Natalie Dormer is a very strong addition to the cast, she really nailed the character i think. And i guess they need that orphanage crap to show how the Tyrells are perceived in the capital compared to lannisters.

9. Jorah, Daenerys, Unsullied, Barristan. What made me write this post is basically the Unsullied scene. God that was so great, "my master points out that men dont need nipples", i forgot how much i loved that in the book. For me the last 5 minutes of the episode saved it. Barristan appearing also pretty badass, though i guess few non book fans will recognize him at all :D.

[The Monkey]

first of all I am very excited about The Season premiere.

Nothing really happened at the first episode except a nipple removing process and Khalesi assassination attempt. however the main questions for me remains why Is the episode titled 'Valar Dohaeris'? I mean, I know what it means and who its related to. But how, in seven hells, is it related to the episode?

It probably refers to Davos and Barristan, both of whom resume "serving" their respective monarchs.

[shiola]

7/10. The low points: The battle at the first, whatever happened at Harrenhal, and most importantly Stannis throwing Davos into the dungeons instead of Davos just going there in the first place. Stannis looked like such a bitch.