Blind Beth the Cat Lady Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I mostly loved the episode; kickass scenes with Clan Lannister and Arya finally getting her murder on. I like that they're giving Sam's character a little more agency in the show, it definitely works for the screen. Really, though, the whole episode had me at "Rat Cook." Such a fab story. I actually told it to my unsullied bf beforehand because I thought it was really critical background for the main story, and D&D apparently agree with me. :cheers:There were a few nitpicky things, but I really thought everything was handled well. Not what I was expecting in a lot of scenes, but they were mostly well done and won me over.Only big downer was 50% of Dany's last scene. I'm really torn about it. Watching it, my eyes were tearing up with deep and epic joy while my frontal cortex was saying "um...racist much?" I kept looking furiously for white former slaves, but I only saw one guy. Everybody else was brown/black people worshipping White Lady. It would be an unadulteratedly fantastic scene IF humans didn't have that whole centuries-long history of white people oppressing more colorful people and then setting themselves up as superior benefactors. I don't think Dany's story is racist, it's just the way that scene was visualized. Yeah, Dany was a slave herself...yeah, we know that white people get enslaved in other parts of Essos...but in that scene it's uber-white Dany getting literally held up above a sea of poor, scruffy brown people.Still, I teared up. And then I teared up again when I saw the clip in the "inside the episode" bit. Very weird mental sensation for me. And it could so easily have been fixed by whitening up the crowd and/or making them less worship-y. Anywho, that's my only serious complaint. I took off one point for that and one for how awkward and rushed the Dragonstone pacing felt (could have gotten some of those scenes checked off in earlier episodes instead of showing so much Theon torture porn), but in regards to Dragonston I'm mostly just glad they got it all in.8/10. Overall quite happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Beth the Cat Lady Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 But I would guess that most of the people claiming that the last scene was "racist" and that Dany is being made into a "white savior" are Brits, not Americans. Multiculturalism in the UK -- in the effort to lay a guilt trip on modern Britons for its period of colonialsm and imperialism in the past -- has spawned some weird ideas about race, ideas that are unintelligible and incoherent to most Americans.I'm American, and while I somewhat agree with your assessment of ideas about race in the UK (based on my BBC World News podcasts and other British news I run across), I disagree that the Dany scene has NO problems in regards to being racist-looking.Emphasis on "racist-looking." Especially as readers, we have the whole context of Dany's story and to my interpretation it's not racist. Well, I do think Dany is sometimes racist in her thoughts but in her actions she's largely fair and unbiased towards people of other cultures. (Largely...she is a teenage girl, objectivity and fairness is not the strong suit of her demographic.)However, the way the scene is set up does *look* pretty racist. I'm not sure why they decided to go with that exact visual, because it is definitely problematic for a lot of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catch42 Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) I liked it...as I have all of the episodes so far. I do agree that "Rains Of Castamere" should have been the season finale though. It was so much more powerful and left you rabidly hungering for what comes next. That would have been the perfect note to end on, in my opinion. Edited June 11, 2013 by Catch42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWhiteRabbit Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) I love how some of you automatically take off points because it's the "finale". Everyone with half a brain knows EP9 is always the real finale of the series so this seems kind of dumb in my opinion.On a different subject has anyone brought up the fact that we never saw Lady Lysa or her son this season? I thought we got some sort of news that they had some scene this season. Edited June 11, 2013 by TheWhiteRabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Son of Ice and Fire Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I voted 1/10, the worst episode of the series, the third season is a let down.[Possible spoilers for non readers]...No coldhands, no Sam the Slayer (yeah he killed but none of his brothers has seen it), the baby named Sam, no waiting to name it come on... no Un-Cat, no PW (and still they are talking about the wedding, what kind of storytelling is that? Balon Greyjoy lives, Stannis is far form the books, from the hesitation about the boy's fate and doesn't kill Davos just because of Mel? Sick and tired of Dany favoring final scenes. Mysha scene was ridiculous. Sam does not promise Bran about telling Jon that he lives. Rickon going under the protection of Umbers, how will Mandarley learn about his fate? If the north will know that Rickon still lives, how will be the outcome, fake Arya and etc.?...[Possible spoilers for non readers]The series is getting worse and worse... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWhiteRabbit Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Wow if you really thought season 2 was better than season 3 I'd probably quit watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subvet Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I gave it a 4 because it basically did nothing that would keep people talking about it during the off season. In my mind the worst episode of this year and it will probably cause viewers that may be on the fence about the series, to quit watching. Huuuuge letdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Son of Ice and Fire Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Wow if you really thought season 2 was better than season 3 I'd probably quit watching.I think the only season worth watching was the first one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blindsie Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 The best bit was Hodor, yelling 'HOOODOOR' down the well. That made my day, and the little smile when Sam said he recognised him, too cute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWhiteRabbit Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) A nonreader summed it up nicely for all you humbugs:What else did people want from the finale?? After last week you're just greedy if you want more than just story progressionWe got:-confirmation of who's torturing theon and his sister trying to save him-reuniting of Jamie and cersei-arya stabbing someone in the neck -Dany fortifying her troops to epic proportion-a new hero in stannis' advisor (blanking on his name)-Jon snow returning to the nights watch/"closure" with Ygritte-tywin pwning Joffrey-an always entertaining cersei/tyrian convo-shae refusing riches to leave kings landing. She will probably end up dead now Pretty solid if you ask me Edited June 11, 2013 by TheWhiteRabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Son of Ice and Fire Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 ok, they liked it and I did not... so? The first problem is storytelling, if you talk about a wedding all the time and do not give it, it's poor storytelling. Second my concerns are about the outcome of the story, I fear that needless alterations may influence the books which are not yet published. Third, In the books there is a rather objective point of view on the characters, but in the series I do not see it. I really cannot see how Shae's end will be now... totally out of character. Jamie's presence is also a huge problem from my point of view... so my concerns are generally about the story and mostly about storytelling... that's my opinion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWhiteRabbit Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) ok, they liked it and I did not... so? The first problem is storytelling, if you talk about a wedding all the time and do not give it, it's poor storytelling. Second my concerns are about the outcome of the story, I fear that needless alterations may influence the books which are not yet published. Third, In the books there is a rather objective point of view on the characters, but in the series I do not see it. I really cannot see how Shae's end will be now... totally out of character. Jamie's presence is also a huge problem from my point of view... so my concerns are generally about the story and mostly about storytelling... that's my opinion...Well that's a valid concern, but we really won't know if that concern was needless till next season. But if I thought only the first season of a a three season series was worth watching I'd move on. But that's me. Hopefully season 4 is better for you. I honestly think it could be the best. I already summed up the major events in another thread and on paper season 4 blows season 3 out of the water. Edited June 11, 2013 by TheWhiteRabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkAndFullOfTurnips Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) This episode would've averaged probably a full point higher had they skipped the crowd surf that everyone apparently hates. I didn't like it either, but that's the last thing we saw and for that alone it had more impact than any other scene. It's unfortunate, because I watched it again and actually really liked it. If it ended on anything but some irrelevant slave freeing as part of a boring and drawn out narrative of a character who is basically dealing with incredible morons (while everyone else in Westeros is trying to out position and scheme around with cunning), I would've thought it was a great episode. Sticking with a 7, though. I believe S4 will be even better than S3 and despite the obviously forthcoming amount of deviation could top S1 if done well. That being said I'd put S3 significantly ahead of S2 whole still quite short of S1, even with the dramatic increase of production value. Edited June 11, 2013 by DarkAndFullOfTurnips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkAndFullOfTurnips Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 ok, they liked it and I did not... so? The first problem is storytelling, if you talk about a wedding all the time and do not give it, it's poor storytelling. Second my concerns are about the outcome of the story, I fear that needless alterations may influence the books which are not yet published. Third, In the books there is a rather objective point of view on the characters, but in the series I do not see it. I really cannot see how Shae's end will be now... totally out of character. Jamie's presence is also a huge problem from my point of view... so my concerns are generally about the story and mostly about storytelling... that's my opinion...GRRM talks about Dany taking Westeros for like fucking 15 years. Is that bad storytelling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBird Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 After thinking about why this episode felt a little fluffy to me, I started to compare how I felt after S1E10, since a lot of folks are comparing the two. Aside from the kickass moment of the birth of Dany's dragons, the shock wave of Ned's death was explored far more. You saw all the Stark kids' reactions. While in this episode, we really only see Arya's reaction (really well done) and Sansa's (a little less well done cuz of previous BFF scene w Tyrion). Bran talks about the Rat cook, but did he green see it? We don't see John getting the news or Theon, which I thought were big missed opportunities. Jamie and Brienne's reactions would have been welcomed as well, not to mention the Tyrells. Instead there were wasted airtime on Shae, Balon and Dany doing some crowd surfing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Shadow Cat Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) I enjoyed the episode while watching it, and I think I would have rated it higher if one thing wasn't missing. I really really really wanted a LSH reveal. I know it happens a bit later in the books but I was at least hoping for the scene where her body gets pulled out of the river Edited June 11, 2013 by Lady Shadow Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkAndFullOfTurnips Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 After thinking about why this episode felt a little fluffy to me, I started to compare how I felt after S1E10, since a lot of folks are comparing the two. Aside from the kickass moment of the birth of Dany's dragons, the shock wave of Ned's death was explored far more. You saw all the Stark kids' reactions. While in this episode, we really only see Arya's reaction (really well done) and Sansa's (a little less well done cuz of previous BFF scene w Tyrion). Bran talks about the Rat cook, but did he green see it? We don't see John getting the news or Theon, which I thought were big missed opportunities. Jamie and Brienne's reactions would have been welcomed as well, not to mention the Tyrells. Instead there were wasted airtime on Shae, Balon and Dany doing some crowd surfing.How would Bran, Jon, or Rickon even know about it though? Any other northerner we like is dead or not featured yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Son of Ice and Fire Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 DarkANdFullOfTurnips, if you have an objection about what I wrote there about storytelling, rather than swearing, I'd like to hear it. I guess talking about something for the whole season and not giving it is a good kind of storytelling for you... well enjoy it then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWhiteRabbit Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Geez everyone hates the crowd surf. Yes it was cheesy. But it also lasted a second and then she's hoisted on a pair of shoulders. I don't see anything wrong with the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Son of Ice and Fire Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Well that's a valid concern, but we really won't know if that concern was needless till next season. But if I thought only the first season of a a three season series was worth watching I'd move on. But that's me. Hopefully season 4 is better for you. I honestly think it could be the best. I already summed up the major events in another thread and on paper season 4 blows season 3 out of the water.Another problem is, when you consider all other long term Tv series, generally the second season is way better than the first, and the third is rather so-so... in the Tv series Game of Thrones, I guess pretty much everyone agrees that the first was the best... so from my point of view, there is a problem here... I consider quitting, but I guess curiosity win... I do hope the 4th season would be better... otherwise, do not know what to say... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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