How would you rate episode 306?

[Zar Lannister]

This one is very mediocre on a writing and characterization level, I felt, and it's probably my least favorite of this season. Obviously you need to retool to start gearing up, but... meh.

Really? I thought there were good moments, like the "Boy's" characterization was very good. I thought the change of pulling information from Theon's storyline from Dance into this season was correct (it's also the sensible monetary decision, giving Alfie a 2 year vacation to have him recount his misadventures while away is not as attractive visually as it is reading about it).

Thought Tywin and Lady Olenna excelled even if their interactions weren't cannon. Served to see how two players play their cards just like the Varys/LF scene.

[Ondskapsmannen]

8.

Good episode. I especially liked Littlefinger, but I always do :-)

[Shebara]

one of the best scenes so far...Lord Tyvin and Queen of Thorns discussing tolerance towards sexual orientation haha...

I also liked how the scene LF/Varys was dramatically orchestrated...to play the game of thrones at its best..

and big surprise to see the Red Lady with Arya...very clever how the wood witch from the books and Edric Storm have been replaced by Gendry and Melisandre...Question is now: will Melisandre be one of Aryas victims in the end? hmmm

[Shebara]

one of the best scenes so far...Lord Tyvin and Queen of Thorns discussing tolerance towards sexual orientation haha...

I also liked how the scene LF/Varys was dramatically orchestrated...to play the game of thrones at its best..

and big surprise to see the Red Lady with Arya...very clever how the wood witch from the books and Edric Storm have been replaced by Gendry and Melisandre...Question is now: will Melisandre be one of Aryas victims in the end? hmmm

[Red Knight]

why is everybody so pissed?

it had some excellent charaterisation so far, you can't expect daenerys to burn a city every episode or something

this will serve well as a setting stage for futurte events

[KnightsOfDany]

Not quite the last few episodes but the wall climbing was great. overall i think this is a transition episode turning us towards a high octane sprint too the finish.

[insertname]

Only a few great moments, and several parts that made me go "eh?". Definitely the worst of the season so far, and pretty low in the whole series too. Gave it a 6 (Though the fact that the worst episode still gets a 6 shows how good the show is altogether)

Jon/Ygritte felt cliché and I couldn't help but notice that for their "magical moment" Orell and Tormund seem to have disappeared?

Though the actors were great as usual, the Tywin/Olenna discussion was weird at times, and the discussion of sexual tolerance felt too modern.

I still like the Theon storyline, but I wonder why they spend so much time on it. They still have at least one and a half seasons to go, yet every episode spends several minutes with Theon. Why is this not more stretched out?

Littlefinger...ugh. Yeah, it's consisten with the show character I guess but why is he always the complete opposite of subtle?

The scenery of climbing the wall was amazing though.

[Cheevs]

Gave it a 6. Sansa being told she would wed Tyrion by Tyrion himself was so freaking anticlimatic... Why not have it as a surprise like the book, it would also give sophie a great chance to show her good acting skills once more. I was happy to see Tormund finally make some jokes at john. Hated Ros death.

I really regret reading the books before this season. I used to enjoy this series so much, but now I can't help myself from comparing it to the book... Sometimes I can't even watch a whole episode because I get bored.

I really don't know why people recomend reading before watching. I really don't.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Cheevs

[teemo]

Awful. I almost forgot everything by the time it ended.

[Man in the Black]

For me this is the second weakest episode of the season, I think it is quite a bit better then the season premiere though, which was basically a lame recap episode with only one good scene.

This episode had some strong character scenes, a lot of them were rather low key though. Really dug Loras/Sansa scene. Also I think we should be hitting the meat of the season now which should be awesome.

Edit: Oh and seven for the actual score.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Man in the Black

[The Killer Snark]

They have to cram Theon in for two reasons. Firstly, it gives Alfie Allen something to do. They want to make sure he stays in contract, instead of Theon frustratingly disappearing for a massive amount of time like he does in the books. It would be less interesting to just spend vast amounts of time, for instance, with Catelyn twiddling her thumbs at Riverrun, though I'd like to see Robb being featured more often.

Secondly, the producers bungled by not bringing Ramsay in during season 2. If they simply brought him in a few seasons hence with no introduction, non book followers would be confused regarding who he's meant to be.

Edited May 7, 2013 by The Killer Snark

[Talbot]

Ros's death was perfect. Screw the whole misogyny thing, I liked the unsettling sadism here. Joffrey's been kind of tame this season, and this was an absolutely vicious reminder of what kind of animal he is.

That image of Ros hung up, bolts scattered in the bed posts and over her body, was absolutely haunting.

Sure, the voice over was a bit contrived for GoT, but it's a warning of how mortal the game actually is, and not everyone can become a player.

[shiola]

What? Really? Are you serious?

Yeah, I'm serious. I thought it was hoakey and it just didn't jive with me. "Let's get a slow zoom out of two lovers embracing ~*~ on the top of the world ~*~"... -shrug- The scenery and everything was gorgeous, though, and I do understand how it's symbolic for Jon.

[Vegeta_Greyjoy]

Since I don't think any GOT episode deserves a 7 or less, I'm going with 7.5. The Sam scene at the beginning should have been moved to next week, just makes his arc seem to move at a snail's pace if he's only singing songs by campfire.

[Vegeta_Greyjoy]

Gave it a 6. Sansa being told she would wed Tyrion by Tyrion himself was so freaking anticlimatic... Why not have it as a surprise like the book, it would also give sophie a great chance to show her good acting skills once more. I was happy to see Tormund finally make some jokes at john. Hated Ros death.

I really regret reading the books before this season. I used to enjoy this series so much, but now I can't help myself from comparing it to the book... Sometimes I can't even watch a whole episode because I get bored.

I really don't know why people recomend reading before watching. I really don't.

I feel the exact same way.

[GeorgeIAF]

I gave it a 7, i liked Tywin's scene with Olenna, also Littlefinger and Varys and the fact that they spent more time regarding Jon's storyline, this cant be said about Bran's ... I hoped they would explain some things about Jojen's family and his gift, i sense that they brought up the tension between Osha and Meera to set up Rickon's departure. I'm happy that we will get that Sam The Slayer moment, really nice scene in the beginning, Sam getting closer to Gilly. The portrayal of the Freys was good too, and Ramsay's scene was perfect in showing how vile he is, nice way to slowly uncovering his identity. I hoped more from Jaime's scene with Roose, i expected Roose to troll Jaime some more. I'm glad that they got rid of Ros and finally i was let down by Arya's scene and the BWB giving Gendry the boot. Probably this will be the main reason for Arya to leave them.

[taipan]

Gave it a 6. Sansa being told she would wed Tyrion by Tyrion himself was so freaking anticlimatic... Why not have it as a surprise like the book, it would also give sophie a great chance to show her good acting skills once more. I was happy to see Tormund finally make some jokes at john. Hated Ros death.

I really regret reading the books before this season. I used to enjoy this series so much, but now I can't help myself from comparing it to the book... Sometimes I can't even watch a whole episode because I get bored.

I really don't know why people recomend reading before watching. I really don't.

How was it anticlimactic? Pretty obvious what was going down. And if you hadn't read the books you wouldn't know any different. And then you hated Ros's death.

Solid 8, we needed a set up episode going forward.

[Florina Laufeyson]

5/10 - and that's me being generous.

Problems:

• Once again Loras' sexuality is turned into a joke. Boring and offensive.
  
• Ros, whose entire story has been a vehicle to enhance the story of male characters, dies an over-sexualised death to enhance the characterisation of 3 male characters. Boring, offensive, and probably won't even have a long-term impact on the plot.
  
• Sansa is over-sexualised. Why does the show need to over-sexualise a 16 year old girl? And why would Tyrion just barge his way into her room?
  
• And the leads me onto another problem - the whitewashing of Tyrion. Honestly, by this point his scenes are just tiring (and fairly cringeworthy) to watch. There's no inner conflict there; he's a bland version of Ned Stark.
  
• Once again, Catelyn was sidelined to provide more screentime to male characters.
  
• What happened to all the wildlings? It looked like half of them fell off the Wall, so what's their plan now? Sending a raiding party of 20 was risky enough, but now that half of them are dead it's even worse.
  
• The Ramsay/Theon scene was just gratuitous and a complete waste of time.
  
• The Osha/Meera rivalry is boring and quite insulting to viewers IMO.
  
• No Daenerys. I understand that having every story in an episode is not a good idea, but more than 5 minutes were wasted on Theon this episode... 5 minutes that could have been a scene between Dany and Missandei to show the softer side of Dany that's been missing since season 1.
  

I have no problems whatsoever with the Melisandre/Gendry plot, although I think the writing was a bit off in places. But generally across the episode the acting was okay, the Brienne/Jaime story is good, the CGI was impressive, and the episode didn't feel too disjointed. The writing and story-telling is really letting this show down. And I really don't understand how it's possible... A Storm of Swords is full of non-stop action and plot-twists. How can they have made it feel so boring?

I think the decision to hold the Purple Wedding off till next season is proving to be a mistake.

1. Well cant argue too much here because they just changed Loras' character too much. But i think you missed the point of Olenna's lines there. She basically says "Big fucking deal, Loras is gay. Highgarden doesnt give a shit and neither do i. You shouldnt either. Btw, Tywin, you arent one to talk what with incestuous kids."

2. Wut. That was to show that Littlefinger (and Joffrey) are assholes. It also adds more ambiguity to Varys due to his lack of reaction. He seems mildly shocked and annoyed that one of his birds got shot down. Oversexualized, my arse! Shes fully clothed! Its supposed to be chilling, not titillating in the least.

3.Omg lol. Sansa's very modest smallclothes are now "oversexualizing" the character. PS, you are a RIOT! That scene actually shows some of Sansa's strength where she holds her own against Shae's bleating and Tyrion's intrusion.

Also, if you havent caught Tyrion's self pity wallowing in the show yet, im not sure what to tell you. He seems rather irritatingly whiny to me. Like he should be.

4. Umm...Cat is underutilized, yes, but i hardly think this is about misogyny. Cat gets in a couple of zingers in Edmure's direction that proves shes brighter than he is. Sounds to me that you want to be offended by something that isnt there.

5. /shrug The Wall did it. :P

6. No. Its to establish Theon's "Reeking" while allowing the viewer to try to unravel the mystery of "Boy". Theon suspecting the Karstarks being responsible for that is interesting and fuels some of the Northern conflict fires.

7. How is that insulting? Due to the weirdness of Bran's storyline, i think they are trying to establish why Osha and Rickon split off.

8. :rolleyes: Oh yeah because the entire story is the Daenerys Show.

[Maxthestig]

I gave it 8 out of 10. I thought it wasn't as good as the previous two weeks !

Here is a proper review of the episode.

Loved the scene with Tywin and the Queen of Thorns.

I love Roose Bolton and Tormund

And the Chaos speech was great !!!

Edited May 6, 2013 by Maxthestig

[Keeper-of-the-Old-Ways]

6, maybe.

This was a big step down from the previous episodes. For starters, why did they open with such an insubstantial scene? Why is there no sense of tension or fear beyond the Wall? Why is Sam sitting, grinning, being happy? Are there not bears and wolves prowling? White Walkers stalking the forest? Ex-brothers looking to silence him? Are they not in a freezing, hostile environment with a new born child?

I cringed during the Meera/Osha battle. This conflict feels quite forced. Bran's scenes are really dull, understandably that's more a problem with the content they have to work with.

The Wall climbing was a bit of a mixed bag. Some parts looked quite good, other parts looked obviously

green-screened. I thought the part where it cracked and threw about a dozen wildlings off was super cool though. The final scene on the top was too sentimental, to overblown for me. A quick, desperate embrace when they both reach the top would have been better. Of course, the whole relationship between Jon and Ygritte has been awkwardly handled. That exchange before they scale the wall, that's the sort of thing we needed before the cave scene. It feels misplaced to have them start bonding now.

I thought the writing in that Loras/Sansa scene was bizarre. It really feels like being gay is this guy's only character trait. I liked the scene with Roose, Jaime and Brienne. Those have, for the most part, been the season highlight, there's a great dynamic between them. Next episode should be great.

On a visual note, there was some really lovely lighting. Good contrasts.

I'm getting tired of the same redundant scenes. How many times can they go over the same information? What's Theon's storyline actually amounting to? Are we going to have another season of gratuitous torture every second episode. The Melisandre/Gendry change is interesting, we'll see how it plays out. I like the guy that plays Edmure, though I'm a mite miffed at how side-lined Cat has been.

It doesn't feel like the show is really moving forward. It doesn't feel like things are coming to ahead, at times it feels like not much has even happened. From such a huge, exciting, exhilarating book, that's a strange place to end up.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Andrew_Snow