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How would you rate episode 305?


Ran
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How would you rate episode 305?  

700 members have voted

  1. 1. Rate the episode on a scale of 1 to 10

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    • 7
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Um, yeah. He IS out of character right now. Duh.

I don't get it. I've seen hundreds of people complaining about Jon being too naive, dumb, soft. Even the word EMO was used. Now that he is finally getting stronger and "smarter" (and even funnier, I loved how he mocked Orell's warging abilities!), people say he is out of carachter. This sort of thing constantly happens in this forum!

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This was by far my favorite episode thus far in Season 3. I was oh-so-close to giving it a 10, but the Selyse/Stannis scene just hit too false a note to me to give this episode a perfect rating.

What worked for me:

  • Jaime/Brienne bath scene - In my opinion, this was NCW's finest moment in the series so far; he just couldn't have delivered this scene any more perfectly. After this, I would imagine that Jaime should receive a bit more sympathy from the non-book reader fan faction. Gwendoline Christie was once again the perfect foil, her portrayal of Brienne has been stellar this season.
  • Tywin/Tryion/Cersei - This scene illustrated the glorious dysfunctionality (yep, I made that word up, but I could think of no other word that fit so well) that is clan Lannister in a superlative fashion. Charles Dance, Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey hit all the right notes, and then some.
  • Shireen/Davos - A short, incredibly sweet scene that managed to be both precious and heartbreaking at the same time. Liam Cunningham was absolutely charming -- I hope that we get to see a bit more of this side of Davos in the future. Kerry Ingram knocked my socks off -- she was wonderful as Shireen, blonde hair notwithstanding.
  • Stannis/Shireen - Finally, FINALLY, we get to see the warmer side of Stannis. It was long overdue. Great chemistry between these two -- I hope we get to see more of this relationship play out on the screen.
  • Beric/Hound - This was my favorite individual fight sequence since the Bronn/Ser Vardis duel back in season 1. Excellently staged and executed!
  • Beric/Thoros/Arya - Each one of the actors in this scene really succeeded in conveying just how miserable, demoralizing, and isolating each of their own existences presently are. They also really drove home the fact that there is presently no end (happy or otherwise) in sight to their travails.
  • Lady Olenna/Tyrion - Diana Rigg, Peter Dinklage, and ridiculously witty dialogue, what more can you ask for?
  • The closing credit song, sung by Kerry Ingram, was so wonderfully eerie that it deserves special kudos. Now THIS is the way that you end an espisode!

What didn't work for me:

  • Selyse/Stannis - This whole scene was just jam-packed with false notes to me. I can't believe that even religious fanatic Selyse would be quite so hearty in her endorsement of Stannis' infidelity, even if it was supposedly in the service to r'hllor. Also, since when does Selyse exhibit such a great deal of hatred/shame of/towards her daughter that she would actively discourage Stannis from visiting with her? Do I even need to mention the pickled fetuses?? Nearly everything about this scene just felt "wrong" to me.

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I don't get it. I've seen hundreds of people complaining about Jon being too naive, dumb, soft. Even the word EMO was used. Now that he is finally getting stronger and "smarter" (and even funnier, I loved how he mocked Orell's warging abilities!), people say he is out of carachter. This sort of thing constantly happens in this forum!

No. What I meant was "He is acting the part of a wilding" i.e. "out of character".

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A bit harshly, I gave it a 7. While there was nothing really wrong with it and some scenes were great, there were quite a few thing that didn't quite work for me either.

The good:

-Tywin vs. his kids, just guarantees to be a great scene.

-The bath scene was great.

-I'm okay with the way they depicted Shireen

The neutral:

-I thought there was a bit much dumb banging on shields in the duel, but then again it's probably something you'll have in a real fight too.

-It's nice to see Littlefinger do some "plotting", but having someone seduce Loras was pretty simple, and apparently he had to be initiated by Cersei first...

-I had kinda hoped to hear the Candle-line or show his affection for Renly in some other way. Bit sad they cut it out, but understandable.

The bad:

-I've never been too big a fan of the resurrection in the books, and if that kind of story works well depends hugely on the cost. Beric had his line about losing himself...but I didn't really buy it that this was so bad for him. It didn't seem like it was.

-This is more of a fault of the previous episodes, but Jon/Ygritte didn't work for me at all. The scene itself was fine (Though "you know nothing Jon Sno - OH!" is a terribly cheesy line imho, wish they'd have cut that) but their relationship hasn't progressed to that point yet, especially not for Ygritte to say "I want to stay in this cave forever"

-Stillborns in those cylinders...that was just weird and didn't really fit...

The rest was okay, nothing bad but nothing really special either (could be I'm forgetting about some things though)

Edited by insertname
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Great episode again.

The duel between The Hound and Beric is the best scripted fight in the show this far.

Jaime and Brienne keep having great chemistry in every single scene and it was great seeing their relationship grow even more.

Shireen was really good and another positive surprise when it comes to child actors on this show. I loved that she sang Patchface's song and it was really eerie.

Also good to see Selyse as well and they quickly established her as a religious fanatic. I liked the touch of one of the unborn sons being named Edric.

Tywin keeps having incredible presence and his scene with Tyrion and Cersei was great.

There were many other nice things as well, including a good deal of clever foreshadowing.

Edited by Tywin's bastard
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I gave it a 9. Hardly anything to dislike, just all-round excellent.

In general, I liked how things slowed down a little to get some character development done.

The duel between the Hound and Beric Dondarrion. Show that scene to the guy who directed the Jaime / Brienne fight. That's how you do a swordfight. Beric looked awesome, elegant and badass like I imagined him, the fire was a constant factor, even Maisie was present throughout it, they were really evenly-matched, it was easy to feel for the Hound because he got burned yet again... Best fight in the show so far.

Beric: "(He will die.) But not today." -> this is the kind of cleverness from the books I also want to see in the show, loved it.

"The Lord of Light isn't done with him yet" -> this is nice foreshadowing to the role we expect Sandor Clegane to take, as a warrior of the Faith against his undead brother.

Jon again had that wimpy look on his face that just makes me angry. It got better, though his aggression is kind of out of character because it was blatantly obvious he was lying to them and still loyal to the NW.

Tormund sucks. I'm sorry, he just does. How many cheesy lines can this sad brute produce?

Ygritte steals Jon's sword like it's nothing, come on guys!

At the moment Jon and Ygritte engage in sexy times, I believe their relationship hasn't been developed well enough to really consider it something to be happy about. The dialogue following it and the way the scene was handled fixed this for me though. They actually looked like a loving pair, and they know what's outside the cave will tear them apart, which makes a very, very nice metaphor for wanting to stay, the innocence of a loving couple against the cruel reality of the world...

Roose's psychological torture of Jaime was so in-character and downright awesome, the guy who is playing him is too. Locke has something bad coming for him...

I'm a huge fan of Qyburn (the character) so I had my *squee* moment when he appeared too, more, more! I'm happy with the way Qyburn is portrayed - it's like you can't decide whether he's fatherly or creepy. It would've been nice if they could've dropped a line about how he became Roose's maester after they'd rescued him to avoid the bloodied up guy somehow being a medic without too much explanation (it makes him look like a plot device) but then again the foreshadowing of his creepy experiments and the crazy look in his eyes as he's cutting into Jaime's flesh was a nice touch.

Did I mention Jaime's wrist looked absolutely disgusting, even by GoT standards?

I don't mind Loras looking like an idiot. He killed 2-3 men, fellow brothers in arms, because he was angry Renly got killed, and never once showed remorse for them. He is pretty much an idiot. If anything it makes Petyr (who is far more important than Loras) look smarter, which was kind of necessary.

The Queen of Thorns discussing provisions was enjoyable. This is, after all, an important factor to the story and GRRM himself has said he thinks the logistics are all too often forgotten in fantasy.

Maisie's goodbye scene with Gendry was a real tearjerker. Props to Joe Dempsie for making him into such a cool character. He already kinda was, but this Gendry has a little more depth and actual thoughts about what's happening to him and where he's going.

One thing I'll remark is that Karstark being caught immediately kinda takes away the tension and the shock the murdering of the Lannister boys (which really brutal very well portrayed) ought to have on someone - you immediately see Karstark is caught and justice will be done.

I don't think the Blackfish would punch a helpless man... but it's only a detail. Still, this coupled with his reaction to Edmure makes him look more like a thug in service to Robb than anything else.

'Those boys did?' Robb had a nice analogy here with the line Talisa gave him when they first met. It's really well done because showing the effect she has on him symbolizes the larger effect his marriage with her has to his men. 'Let him watch' was also a great inclusion from the book. Karstark was awesome as always, applause for Jon Stahl. Robb's descent into not villainy, but emotional instability reminds me a little of Arthas, the way it's portrayed. Which is oddly appropriate. Arthas, too, brought about the ruin of everything he loved by trying to protect it...

I still think Beric is awesome. They had to establish why the rest of the men weren't surprised he came back to life, so the scene suits me just fine. 'Every time I come back to life, I lose something...' -> this is an important line, because it shows some of GRRM's psychology, too (he said that when characters return from the dead, they're often somewhat weaker characters than before).

I've given my thoughts on Stannis' scenes in another topic, suffice it to say I enjoyed the scenes, but I fear they won't do much for other people's opinions on him. Not that it matters. The relationship with his family is definitely expanded upon and more interesting, though. Oh and I can't stress enough that 'Davos is not rotting!'

NCW gets a 10/10 for performance on this episode, I could feel his pain, and I don't really tend to empathize with Jaime all that much. How he was holding his arm up was strangely funny to me, I imagined all he was needed was a hook and a hat and he could've gone 'yarr!' and started talking like a pirate.

Good to see Davos again. Liam Cunningham is my favourite guy on the show, he's just such a good and funny Irish guy, and a fan, no less.

Going from Aegon the Conqueror to Daenerys was a smart cut.

I could listen to Ser Jorah and Barristan talking all day long. The mixture of respect, tension and apprehension is great.

I thought it was kind of weird that Karstark would have half the army. That would make him more powerful than the Starks and the Riverlords combined. Yeah I get that the situation has to seem very dire to Robb, but come on, who's going to buy that?

Another clever thing was how you could see the silhouettes of the guards in the Cersei - Littlefinger scene.

About Littlefinger though, he has a weird and forced way of speaking, but it never really bothered me until his scene with Sansa where he just sounded many higher degrees of weird. Come on man, you can do better than that!

And of course, we get Charles Dance at the end. As he did in Season 2, he appears for a few minutes at the end of the episode and simply owns everything. He almost makes you wanna wish Tywin would stick around a while longer.

All in all, I enjoyed the slower pace and time for exposition and character development in this episode.

Edited by StannisandDaeny
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A solid 9; nothing can top the ending of episode 5, except maybe a certain wedding. My heart skips a beat for Jamie; incest and paralyzing a child aside, he's just one of the best, most complex characters in this series.. I love the actress cast as Shireen. What a sad little song at the end, but she nailed the scenes and held her own with Stannis and Davos. Selsye and the dead babies was a little too Walking Dead-ish for me, but glad she was introduced as well.

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I gave it a protest 10. What's a protest 10? It's when you have a strong moral principle against judging anything a 10 but feel something was so good in contrast, a message must be sent.

PACE. This episode had an enjoyable pace for once. The scenes lasted a bit longer and had room to breathe. Oddly, it made the whole episode feel longer and feel like a story instead of visual cliff notes.

- Duel scene was fantastic. I was a but worried after the brienne/jamie fight scene, but this sequence was well directed and fun to watch.

- Bath scene was a homerun. Nikolaj nailed it and the direction was gold.

This director should direct them all.

Same here. This episode felt about half again as long as the previous ones (in a good way).

I totally disagree with everyone saying how Arya appeared "weak", I think she was portrayed wonderfully in this episode. The showrunners have already decided she is not going to be 11 yo badass assassin (No harrenhal guard throat slit). I was never a fan of that part in the book and I actually find show Arya much more realistic and believable.

That was a great episode. So many powerful scenes ...

Arya and Gendry ... "You could be my family ....!" :crying: :crying: :crying:

the duel,

Robb and Karstark,

the bathscene (despite the glaringly obvious bodydouble for Gwendoline Christie, I mean she had already had full frontal nude pics published, what is the problem with showing a little butt? Judging by the curves she had the same body double as Oona Chaplin in her scene with Robb last season :laugh: ),

Stannis with his wife (I liked the fetuses, creepy as hell) and daughter ("your best friend in my court is a traitor and I will probably have to burn him alive, just forget him!" Oh Stannis, never change :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ).

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I'm still not sold on how they're portraying Stannis yet, and what on Earth were the pickled babies about? But at least the Dragonstone sections are picking up for me. I reckon they should have included Patchface, though, who I always found creepily amusing, but they may have considered him a distraction. I just realised how badly underused Roose has been before.

Edited by The Killer Snark
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A solid 9 or 9.5 for me (I gave last week an 8). Last night was the best episode I have seen yet. All of the dialogue was meaningful and moved the story along. The fight with the Hound and Dondarrion was amazing. My wife and I felt so bad for Arya and I got tears in my eyes with her and Gendry talking to each other. Maisie was brilliant. Her trying to attack Clegane was sweet. She is such a little bad-ass. Actually all of the acting this year is off the charts.

Tywin is just perfectly cast and perfectly acted. Amazing in every word. His scene with his kids was special. Loved Cersie's smug look at Tyrion and how she then gets a dose of fatherly love too. Ha!

Jon and Ygrette was awesome. I too wish he would have stayed in the fricking cave. Sigh. Grey Worm scene was awesome and gave me chills. BwB was awesome. Robb and his scenes with Karstark were great. Jaime and Brienne scene was wonderful. Just great acting. Queen of Thorns and Tyrion scene was very funny. Loved every minute of it.

Really like how they made Selyse Florent a messed up wack job. The babies in the glass were fricking disturbing. Poor Shireen. I feel really bad for her. Loved her scene with the Onion Knight, who is also perfectly cast.

And Shireen singing the Patchface song at the end gave me the chills. Creepy as all living hell.

One thing is for certain. GOT will be cleaning up at the Emmy's next year. Seriously. As much as I did not like Season 2, Season 3 is some of the best television I have ever seen in my life. The acting is truly top notch and the budget increases have made a world of difference.

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Odd one out, here. I gave it a 5. I have been trying to be generous in my ratings, feeling that as a book reader I will inevitably feel less "ah hah!" or "wow" over plot or character revelations, so I've given the previous episodes higher ratings than I really felt they warranted. In truth, I really feel this series has been on a downward arc since season 1 in terms of excitement, interest, dramatic tension.

There have been some spectacular moments in the last two seasons, yes, but they are too few and too far between, and most of the "character development" scenes are just .... slow, boring.

I keep watching for the spectacular sets, lush costumes and other visuals, and the consistently good acting from nearly everyone - but good acting alone can't rescue a slow and boring pace or meaningless material, of which there is far too much (Roz and Shae being a prime example). At least there was little of that sort of time wasting in this one - the "character revealing" scenes were slow and boring, but at least told us something about the personalities/motivations: there was at least no idiotcy like the Marge and Sansa "porridge-face" joke or totally unneccessary additions like the "Sorcerer in a box."

Since I watch it right after, I cannot help but contrast the pace with that of "The Borgia's," where other than the occasional scene of the lovely young thing who plays Lucrecia prancing about just to show how lovely and entrancing she is, there is no scene that does have dramatic tension, that does not advance the plot, that is not just dripping with sinister.

So ... I'll keep watching - I'd watch for the visuals alone, the lush cinematic beauty of scenes like Rob et al standing in rain for the Karstark execution - but overall I am greatly disappointed so far this season.

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Cersei got gobstopped at the end, didn't she? I feel sorry for her in a way. She's trapped in a woman's body, but has a man's sense of independence, thirst for power, and need for self-determination.

i didn't feel sorry for her because just the second before she received her betrothal she was gloating over tyrion being forced to marry and gave no thought what so ever to the fact that poor sansa would be forced into a marriage with the family that destroyed hers. but suddenly when the arrow is pointing at her, she begs not to have it happen.

that said, i thought the scene was well done. tywin owned them, as he always does.

I wasn't quite feeling the Jon/Ygritte stuff... I don't know why.

probably the fact that there was no real lead up to a sexual romp between jon and ygritte other than the silly chase they had last season. their relationship hasn't been established well on the show, imho. in fact, my biggest criticism is how jon is being portrayed. his character just isn't coming through to me.

but i did really enjoy the episode. jaime and brienne continue to be wonderful and nail it every time. and jaime's line "i'll scream loudly" is one of my favorites. (don't ask me why :dunno: ). i also loved arya and while there have been tweaks to her character as well, she seems more realistic in my eyes. of course she would be sad at losing the last of the gang she started out with. she realizes that she's alone now and the sadness of the moment was well executed by maisie. shireen was fabulous but i agree with ran, i felt she should have been more melancholy. without even patchface, her world must be very lonely and dismal. sansa and littlefinger was interesting. this sansa seems to be able to keep secrets better than the books. in fact, she is a very different sansa altogether and i'm wondering why more people aren't commenting on that. the hound and beris - awesomeness.

a solid 9!

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