[Book Spoilers] Catelyn @ the end

[Harnisfechten]

I thought the line was a bit dry myself. Was looking for a more young boyish "Mommy" or something with more feel. It was kind of a soulless "mother" and I was expecting something youthful and sad, a boy wanting his mom to make the pain go away....

I really didn't think when he said it that it was a return to childhood. I think he was trying to tell her that it was over, to just give up. That's what it sounded like. I don't think it was a boy crying for mommy. It was a man telling his mother to stop fighting the inevitable.

[Q the Cat]

Robb's "mother" was also excellent. Since clearly it can be interpreted in different ways.

1.) Robb has just seen his wife and unborn child brutally murdered and his men are dying all around him. He is broken and devastated and knows this is the end. He is telling his mother to stop fighting the inevitable.

2.) Robb has just seen his wife and unborn child brutally murdered and his men are dying all around him. He is in shock and is jarred from being King in the North to a sad, frightened boy.

Maybe it's not 'either/or', but it's a 'both/and'. If so, well played Mr. Madden (and D&D).

[bobbybuilderton]

I really didn't think when he said it that it was a return to childhood. I think he was trying to tell her that it was over, to just give up. That's what it sounded like. I don't think it was a boy crying for mommy. It was a man telling his mother to stop fighting the inevitable.

I thought he just sounded confused. Like he was standing there thinking "wha...what just happened?"

[The Mountain That Posts]

Robb's "mother" was also excellent. Since clearly it can be interpreted in different ways.

1.) Robb has just seen his wife and unborn child brutally murdered and his men are dying all around him. He is broken and devastated and knows this is the end. He is telling his mother to stop fighting the inevitable.

2.) Robb has just seen his wife and unborn child brutally murdered and his men are dying all around him. He is in shock and is jarred from being King in the North to a sad, frightened boy.

Maybe it's not 'either/or', but it's a 'both/and'. If so, well played Mr. Madden (and D&D).

Exactly. Richard's acting post-Talisa murder made the episode. He was brilliant AFTER all the mushy stuff.

[Lord Ben]

I guess I read the book differently so Robb wasn't as impressive. A second viewing maybe would change my mind but I kept expecting the finall call of "Mommy!" moment and it never arrived.

[Montey14]

At first I was dissapointed that they didn't portray the scene as it was in the book. But after watching the re-airs a couple of times I think they made the right move in not letting Fairley claw off her face and go into a deranged laughter. What Martin writes in the book is perfect to portray the sense of utter carnage and savagery and eliciting raw emotions in the reader that made you want to fling the book across the room . I guess you need the over the top violence to stimulate your imagination on just how bloody and villainous this betrayal was ....If they portrayed it the same way on screen they would have made it look like some B movie gore fest. So upon further evaluation I think they did a great job with the RW....Maybe we'll see Cats face chewed off after the fish her out of the river ...and hence the Lady Stoneheart born. I'm sure there are plenty of hungry critters in the riverlands looking for a pretty face to chew off.

[CKPS63]

From the interviews I've been seeing, Michelle is making it sound like this is "it" for her, and that her contract for GoT is now over -- Lena Headey also said something like "it's been so wonderful working (past tense) with Michelle." Is this just coy, anti-spoiler "pretend" talk from HBO and the stars, or is Michelle really not coming back? That would certainly impact the theory of many that next week's episode will end with an important surprise "reveal." Worse, it fills me with this sudden terror that the reason they spent two seasons (problematically) building up the Talisa character is so that she can be transformed into . . . uh, well -- you know . . .l instead of a certain other actress who may have decided to bow out of the series altogether. Which sounds like it would be simply dreadful. Maybe they'll just have Michelle sit Season 4 out until the last episode or something? Anybody got any inside info on this?

[Harnisfechten]

if they make Talisa into lady stoneheart........UGHHHHHHHHHH

[Faint]

From the interviews I've been seeing, Michelle is making it sound like this is "it" for her, and that her contract for GoT is now over . . .

Yeah, as I mentioned before, I even heard today that she only had a three-season contract. Along with what Lena Headey said on Twitter and all the interviews after the show, it does look like Fairley is done with the series. I don't know whether that means they will re-cast, or whether they are dropping the character, or, as you suggest, changing her into Talisa.

[bobbybuilderton]

Lol if Talisa is Stoneheart, I would quit. It may be pissy of me, but I would quit. I'd rather have no Stoneheart than unTalisa. After the in my opinion unnecessary changes to the wedding (not bad, per se, just unnecessary), if they make her Lady Stoneheart I will legitimately quit because the rage at this adaptation would be far too great. The bonus for that though would be that its impossible to spoil me because I would just assume anything that happens in the show after it passes the books is made up out of nowhere LOL

[Faint]

I think it more likely that they simply re-cast the part. Catelyn after death looks so different from Catelyn in life, that it won't matter that much.

[CKPS63]

if they make Talisa into lady stoneheart........UGHHHHHHHHHH

Exactly. And apparently, this was not quite the absolute crackpot theory I was thinking it was when I was posting -- I've now run across a few other posts on this forum expressing the same creeping horror of an "Un-Talisa." You know -- I kept my mouth shut and tried to make the best of it last year as the absurd re-write of Dany's Qarth adventures pulled the rest of the season down with it; but I really think I'd have a hard time with a change to "Lady Doctorheart."

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

Recasting major characters on TV is terrible, especially if you're supposed to sympathize with that person. Quite simply no one will give a shit about her because she's not the woman we saw suffer and get killed.

I'm really disappointed now :( Feeling like LS isn't going to happen. Would've been one of the better things to play out on TV versus the book since we have that visual connection. And if its UnTalisa which I'm 99% sure will never happen I will lose it.

[Sun]

Michelle Fairly and Richard Madden were both brilliant. Catelyn's confrontation with Walder at the end redeemed her as a character. She was magnificent. The scene also sets up well Catrlyn's transformation into cold, vengeful, unremitting Lady Stoneheart.

I thought that final scene was what saved RW and the episode.

[Q the Cat]

I will not give up hope in Michelle as Lady Stoneheart.

Please, HBO/D&D, and Michelle - we want the REAL Lady Stoneheart!!!

[Kobayashi Maru]

I too want to see Lady Stoneheart hanging some Freys. It wouldn't be the same if they recast.

[Lord Ben]

if they make Talisa into lady stoneheart........UGHHHHHHHHHH

Why though? It doesn't functionally change all that much. That it's as accurate as it is with nearly 3 seasons completed is quite a virtue. But really they're making something that should be able to stand on it's own, not a companion piece.

[Throng of Mice and Mire]

Considering Lady Stoneheart is just a back ground presense and really only has one or two scenes, I don't think it would be too hard for them to have her return for a guest appearance later on down the track. Even if she gets another gig (which I'm sure she will, she's fantastic) They didn't need to recast Walder Frey and got David Bradly back for another scene seasons later. Its seems like they'd be able to manage the same with Michelle Fairly.

[Call me Odie]

By the way the "Not my hair. Ned loved my hair" line while super touching whilst reading, would've just been really awkwardly cheesy in that scene, I think. Perhaps it could've worked but the general speed of how everything happens on screen would've made it strange, and plus that's not really something you say out loud.

Yes it probably would have seemed taken out of the blue. Why would she start thinking about their hair all of a sudden? Why would she be afraid that they would cut it?

[Woman of War]

They replaced the "not my hair..." line with that little story of how Ned spared her the bedding, which was equally touching since Ned here had gone out of his way in order to avoid her getting humiliated.

Edit: Was Bran's dream - or vision - about tree climbing and that terrible Cat not a hint at Lady Stoneheart being in the story?