BreastplateWithNipples Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Good episode all-around. I loved the music score. Grandiose closing shot, with Job and Ygritte on top of the wall, looking south - easily the best of the season so far. Awesome melancholy-mood ending to a melancholy episode.Normally I'd find an episode with no action at all boring. Especially coming on the heels of another action-less episode. But this episode was so charged with emotion, in every scene, that I think it deserves a 9. It's just great to see how the directors in this season are giving each episode a distinct feel - in this aspect, providing of great "arches of emotion" they are definitely surpassing the novels by giving a coherence to the story that GRRM's books never had. I love the novels dearly, but you have to admit that the novels' chapters don't tie nearly as well into one another as the story segments do in this season's episodes. Marvelous television!A few minor plot twists however were jarring to me:Loras being made out to be Margaery's only brother. What the hell! That makes no sense. He's not acting like an only son, at all. His character is conceived as the typical reckless younger son, not the guy to whom Mace Tyrell looks as his heir.Tywin threatening to "summon" Loras Tyrell to the Kingsguard. A real WTH x 2 moment, to me. You don't ORDER people to join the KG. How is that even supposed to work out!! Do you really want to have a bodyguard who loathes his job?? What were they thinking! Very weak plot twist.Gendry being taken by Melisandre: I don't object to the slight smirching of the BWB's purity of motives, compared to the books, since it's just realistic that even the most kind-hearted guerilla movements have to make compromises and dirty their hands in order to keep their fight going. And I loved seeing Mel and Thoros talk to each other - ever since reading ASOS actually where they never got to do that. BUT. In the context of the story, it's a bit silly that Stannis' riders can traverse through the Riverlands with a Stanis flag and a red cloaked priestess in tow. Also, I don't see at all where this story arc is going. And if they are going to have Gendry sacrificed at Dragonstone then I am so going to hate D&D for it.All in all though it was a really enjoyable episode. 9 out of 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreastplateWithNipples Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 After some thinking, I realized what the Bran scene was for.Watch it again and look at what Meera and Osha are doing at the start of the scene.Then, skip forward and look at what Iwan Rheon is doing to Theon's finger. :ack: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabellaVidal Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I hated it. I'm still fuming. No one seemed to be in character. Changes are all well and good but Mel in the Riverlands was dumb. The Osha and Meera storyline boring, overall I think Bran and Sansa have suffered the most this season in terms of complexity and structure. And what is with all the Tyrion whitewashing? I love him gray, thank-you-very-much! The Wall-climbing was the best part. I also loved the interaction between Cersei and Tyrion because it actually made sense. But Tyrion telling Sansa beforehand ruins the impact of the next part of the Tyrion-Sansa plot. I'd rate it 5/10 and that's for Dinklage, Heady, Dance and the Jon Snow plot. The Jaime and Robb scenes were also better but too short. I even liked the short but awkward conversation between Loras and Sansa. But I nearly cried at the Mel and marriage reveal scenes. I have the feeling that D&D secretly blame the entire war on Sansa and Catelyn and go to great lengths to punish their characterization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alboin Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 (edited) I don't have so much issues with this episode as many people does. I liked the pace, the rythm of it and that feeling of inevitability of evil's victory for the most and high value of little pieces of happiness for some (Jon and Sam)Particulary I liked whole Jon Snow/Ygritte part. Her revelation didn't bother me a bit. Yes, it was big deviation from the novel, but we cannot be inside Jon's head on screen. They had to show his inner ambivalence, that he's growing fond of these people, Tormund, falling in love with one them and still keepng his oath to the NW. Ygritte, who is clever, figured it out. Fine by me, women know everything about their men.- Liked Riverran scene- liked Jaime/Brienne/Roose stuff.- Ramsay/Theon scene was slowed way too much, but as itself it was very creepy, actually gave me the sense of how Theon was brokedown as we find him later in the books.- Littlefinger truimph over Spider was fun to watch. They are open rivals in the show, when one beats another it is explainable showrunners want to show us how he celebrates his victory.- Disliked QoT/Tywin very very much. It felt like it was taken from some daytime soap opera. Meaningless exchange of stupid insults when tons of inner action and character details are thrown out.- Disliked how Gendry was taken. It almost looked they sold him into slavery, that's not BwB at all, although I kinda enjoyed Thoros' confession- Disliked they didn't show how Tyrin told Sansa. If (!!!) you already choose to include that, which I doubt they should, make it juicy and painfull to watch, not just cut to weeping Sansa, that's some sort of lazy way out for writers and director. Edited May 6, 2013 by Alboin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victim Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 9. Great episode. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I think a lot of people misliked it because it was full of made up scenes, yet they all seemed quite relevant to the story and universe of the show. Expect a lot of episodes like this, especially when they get up to the AFFC/ADWD seasons. This episode reminds me of how the show can be it's own entity and still be enjoyable without relying on the books. Game of Thrones can still surprise me despite me knowing what happens. If all people want is a visual representation of the books, then that's fair enough, but it's not what I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Mark of the East Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I gave it a 9. It is a set up and nothing really spectacular but I still enjoyed it so that is all that matters. Har! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brAnthelAstgreenseer Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Well the butterfly effect will make it to hard for them to make future seasons.Definitely no fake Arya at the wall then.Ros dying gets 1 more point from me.She did some work but she should have been dead many episodes back.Theon torture i dont think they can show more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quotheraving Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 (edited) Well this is the first time an episode has brought me to the forums (bank holiday - time to geek out) with a comment so go easy on me, but I thought it was the best so far.. Not much happening plot wise, but the whole team has to be given credit for an excellent job in riffing on the themes and characters GRRM provided.Clearly many of you novel purists will think this was a (relatively) sub-par episode due to how much it differed from the books. However I thought it was truly spectacular.The sheer amount of subtlety in every scene and the way it respected the characters and plot, while admittedly straying from the purely canon interpretation of the source material, frankly dropped my jaw.For instance, I have watched the Brienne, Roose and Jamie scene at least 4 times now and found new delight with each viewing. minor things such as the way NCW wavers his knife like a balance scale when discussing finances, and then stills the motion when talking about the consequences of displeasing his father, or GC's reaction to his immediate refusal to accept her staying as he is released. Now that is some serious top quality acting (and scripting ofc)!Every scene simply drips care and attention and manages to pull off some pretty major script changes while staying true to the spirit of the source material. The fact that this is averaging 8/10 while doing so, tells me that despite this GOT has writers and actors that are more than capable of elaborating on the source material, plus Alik Sakharov has to be given credit for some superb orchestration... I give this a solid 10/10 Edited May 6, 2013 by Quotheraving Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyful Union Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Well the butterfly effect will make it to hard for them to make future seasons.Definitely no fake Arya at the wall then.Ros dying gets 1 more point from me.She did some work but she should have been dead many episodes back.Theon torture i dont think they can show more than that.I dont think the butterfly effect will be too much of an issue, considering there going to have to make massive cuts/changes for the FfC/DwD material anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickyM Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 6 and it only got that because of Jaime and Brienne, and the sale of Gendry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sword of the Morning Wood Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Absolutely loved the discomfort on Tywin's face when QoT asked him if he'd ever slept with a man. :rofl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volantis Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Meh. Good thing they got rid of roz or whatever her name was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aripyanfar Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 cnote: Loras said "fringed sleeve", not "French sleeve".DolorousKim: "Arya the master archer" came from episode one, season one. She was a tomboy, and her first, best, "boyskill" was the bow and arrows, as she left her sucky embroidery and went and outshot Bran who kept missing the whole target. Only later did Ned get Arya sword lessons as Kinglanding closed in. In Britain for centuries Archery was the one martial art consistently taught to Ladies, for hunting, and for defending castle walls as last resort troops. Archers were fantastically effective in wartime, but the bow was more "Common" than a sword. A lord who was better with a Bow, and used it in battle, rather than a sword, was often looked down on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonstoned Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Gave it a 7, about the same as ep301 and kinda average.Best bits were the Tyrion-Cersei chat, as well as Littlefinger's 'chaos' monologue over the music with shots showing the fates of various characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywin's Honour Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 7/10. Just meh. Obviously a step ladder for further episodes. Mel's prophecy was perhaps the most intriguing. Do D&D know something we don't by having Mel telling Arya that they would meet again? Curious that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyful Union Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I'm curious, why do people dislike the Wall climb? I thought it was fairly spectacular, impressive CGI and direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mondrian Oak Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Obviously a step ladder for further episodes.Pun intended? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Fell down in a few places. But even in the moments that most grossly departed from the detail, or the style, of the books I didn't have that "Oh no you didn't!" reaction as in past deviations. Though maybe I'm becoming numb, or resigned, to these departures. So it was an all right episode by me. But definitely bit of a back-step from 4 and 5.I do wonder if D&D aren't some of the weaker writers of this series. Cogman seems to be the ace of the not GRRM writers.Ros dying was fine, but I wouldn't wish death by Joffery on anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackTalon Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 7/10.Really a 6/10 but bumped it up one because of dead Roz. Melisandre in the Riverlands ... they just sell Gendry to her? Wtf ... highly unbelivable. I didn't like the ice climbing scene either. Terribly fake looking ice and of course they had to include the indispensable dramatic scene with the ice sheet breaking off ... seriously if you have seen one such scene you have seen all of them. So predictable it gets boring you realize what is going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mother of Mini Dragons Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I really enjoyed this episode. I enjoyed the setting up and character development. I know some will be disappointed by changes to the story.But I loved all of the stuff involving the wall and furthering Jon & Ygritte. Let's face it, Jon & Ygritte (maybe aside from Drogo & Dany) is one of the rare love stories in this show, so I am enjoying it. The last scene was beautiful. I like Theon's part of the show as well.The only things I really didn't like is how they are making Loras seem and the whole Joffrey/Ros thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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