[No Spoilers] Daniel Minahan and action sequences.

[SerMilady]

Am I the only one who thought the manticore looked awesome? Loved the false face, the vibrant colors. Very cool.

Yeah... I honestly can't see how anyone can call it "badly CGI'd", that's some of the best CGI you're like to get on a TV show.

[Teren_Kanan]

He also butchered my favourite scene from the books - the scene where Ned confesses to Cersei, which should have been one of the most memorable scenes of the series but isn't. So it might be that I just hold a grudge.

I agree with pretty much all of what you have said, and what has been said in this thread. But this line made me curious. How was that scene butchered? The scene was like identical from the books, kind of like the Tyrion/Tywin scene in this episode was.

[I do not sew]

Yeah... I honestly can't see how anyone can call it "badly CGI'd", that's some of the best CGI you're like to get on a TV show.

Agreed and contrary to a few people's suggestions, if they had just used a scorpion that's when I would have called bullshit.

[The Dragon has three heads]

Manticore was cool, no doubt. But the scene it was in was badly edited.

I'm not quite sure how d and d let it go through to the keeper like that...

[Khal Pono]

I was weirded out by Selmy's teleportation abilities too. One second he's being held by Mormont, the next he's stabbing the manticore. So obviously a shot of him escaping the bear's clutches is missing.

But then what is Mormont doing? Is he just standing back and watching this Obe-Wan impersonator advance on Danny with a blade? Its not like Selmy even seemed in much of a rush. They either forgot to shoot some stuff on the day, or its just a terrible job of editing the scene together.

Yeah, I was super confused as well. The first time I watched it I wanted to scream, "Jorah! Your Khaleesi is in trouble; why aren't you helping?! Protecting her is your one job!!" Then when I rewatched the episode I had to squint, but I saw that Jorah is busy restraining the cloaked Selmy, who has a knife. But then he apparently just kinda lets go of Selmy and sits back watching the action, eating popcorn. Maybe Selmy used a jujitsu move to get out of Jorah's hold, off camera and Jorah is reeling, seeing stars. That's all I can think of.

Am I the only one who thought the manticore looked awesome? Loved the false face, the vibrant colors. Very cool.

I loved the creepiness of the hooded figure, the adorable girl, the mysterious ball and the scary manticore. I thought it all added up to nightmarish feeling of paranoia, despite the botched action sequence. If you haven't read the books, you think that the hooded guy is in on it until the last minute. I loved the blue mouth, the evil hiss and the warlock's escape.

[Khal Pono]

I agree with pretty much all of what you have said, and what has been said in this thread. But this line made me curious. How was that scene butchered? The scene was like identical from the books, kind of like the Tyrion/Tywin scene in this episode was.

No, the scene in the book is better (and longer, of course). Cersei sort of comes onto Ned, and he rejects her, and she slaps him, and he says "I'll wear that like a badge of honor." It's pretty cool.

[Loras]

I just think that Minahan makes a lot of poor decisions during the sequence - particularly at the start. We have wide shot followed by upward PoV shot, followed by wide shot, followed by PoV shot.

Then we get a few 'from the foliage' shots. It is like a tennis match - back and forth, back and forth. I just don't think he captured how intimate the scene is meant to be. Cersei lays herself bare, he makes it a competition. I don't think Minahan understands the scene at all. Compare it to the Cersei/Cat scene from 'The Kingsroad' and you'll see what I mean.

Fwiw I don't really like the location either.

[BlackTalon]

Am I the only one who thought the manticore looked awesome? Loved the false face, the vibrant colors. Very cool.

No, you're not. It looked nightmarish and the CGi was great. I paused the HD video on my laptop and looked at it really closely, even then it was barely possible to tell it was not real (the shadow it threw looked a bit dodgy and one got the impression that it barely touched the ground on its tiptoes, but other than that it was great).

The false face was a great nod to the scene in the books. Over on TWOP one of the Unsullied was freaked out by how "the headless scorpion suddenly popped out its head on a stalk", LOL!

[Throng of Mice and Mire]

I didn't really like that it rose out of the ball like a terminator out of an explosion and posed for a hero moment rather than acting like an animal and I didn't like that Danny lay there with her face next to it for an exorbitantly long time. But the CG was fine.

[Net-Viper X]

I thought the scorpion looked fine but it was how Barristan acted that ruined the scene for me. They had him hunched over doing this evil villian tip toe walk with that dagger and it justed looked very silly. Then he continued to use that walk when he chased after the girl/warlock, it just didn't look natural at all and gave the impression that the director was trying way to hard to make us think Barristan was a bad guy to the point of turning him into an evil cartoon character.

[BlackTalon]

As someone who used to collect knives and was interested in the technique and tactics of knife fighting I was also a bit annoyed by how Ser Barristan was holding the knife. No one who knows the least bit about knife fighting would ever hold his knife in a grip like that. The "ice pick" grip is strictly for dramatic movie scenes and pretty much useless for anything else.

[Sun]

I agree, the action sequences in this episode were a bit of a mess. The final scene, the fight and the Barristan reveal, was extremely off both in the direction and the scoring.

[DragonAge93]

The manticore did look amazing. Really good CGI. Be thankful we didn't get "BBC CGI" where the CGI doesn't even blend into the environment right, and looks terribly rendered. They did fantastic with it, IMO.

But the cuts were out of whack, I agree. We don't even really see Dany fall to the ground, and they should've shown Selmy maybe elbowing Jorah to get free to stab the manticore. Or maybe Jorah saw the manticore, froze, and that's when Selmy sprang into action. Either or, it could've been handled better.

[cade]

I didn't really like that it rose out of the ball like a terminator out of an explosion and posed for a hero moment rather than acting like an animal and I didn't like that Danny lay there with her face next to it for an exorbitantly long time. But the CG was fine.

This is something that has bothered me in so many action sequences across tv/film, the way directors have actors look at incoming danger for far too long. But I liked the Manticore CG.

[hazlnut]

He also butchered my favourite scene from the books - the scene where Ned confesses to Cersei, which should have been one of the most memorable scenes of the series but isn't. So it might be that I just hold a grudge.

How exactly was the scene "butchered"?

[Hellfell]

I'm worried about brienne/Jaime fight. From a preview video, it looks like she casually fends off his attacks then she advances in relaxed position, disarms him and Jaime falls to the ground.

In books it was a really close fight and a draw at the end. Jaime manages to stand his ground even though he spent several months in captivity

[Abaddon]

As someone who used to collect knives and was interested in the technique and tactics of knife fighting I was also a bit annoyed by how Ser Barristan was holding the knife. No one who knows the least bit about knife fighting would ever hold his knife in a grip like that. The "ice pick" grip is strictly for dramatic movie scenes and pretty much useless for anything else.

How many knife fights have you had with a scorpion? I can imagine it'd be useful for stabbing a small creature on the ground, at least...

[BlackTalon]

He was already holding the knife like that when Dany hadn't even opened the ball yet, and he went after the child holding the knife in the same manner.

[Abaddon]

Fair enough, I've only seen it once and didn't remember that. In any case I wouldn't expect the show to be very accurate in terms of faithfully representing armed combat, but I get that it would be grating if you have any practical experience.