HBO: Game of Thrones

[YRBB]

Carl, you said it all. Apart from your dislike of Arya, her story, and her relationship with the Hound, we completely agree (right down to how gorgeous the snow and the castle looked. GORGEOUS).

I was dying to see the Littlefinger/Lysa/Sansa scene and, by the Gods, old and new, they completely pulled it off.

All I want from the show is to give me the episode 9 event(s) that I think they will and the season cliffhanger that I NEED, because that would be the best one yet, no doubt.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

I don't understand why they're potraying Breinne to be so stupid and smug though. It is idiotic for Brienne to go around saying, "I'm looking for Sansa Stark". I don't know why its so hard for them to follow the book in this one regard and have her say, "I'm searching for sister whos 10 and 4" or whatever it is. The scenes with Pod are a lot better at least.

Excited to see the Trail by Combat next week! IF they end it the way it normally does people will be pretty shocked but I think it has to end that way lol....

[Bright Eyes]

Did anyone else want Lysa to wise up right at the last minute and push Littlefinger instead? I'll always love Aiden Gillen for my favourite movie, Buddy Boy, but when Littlefinger gets his comeuppance, assuming he does, it better be glorious. (Please, no one spoil if he does or not!!!)

What happened to Michael Huisman? He did not look like that on Treme. Yum.

Oberyn has so quickly turned into one of my favourite characters ever. I have to watch everything he does and says, explicitly. I'm also happy Loras wasn't who Cersei chose to fight for her. It would've meant the end, presumably, and I don't want him to go yet.

[DRW50]

Is that the guy who never liked Jon and was putting him in a subservient role before Jon and the others left to go beyond the Wall? I always got him and Mormont (RIP) mixed up.

I just don't see any chemistry between Dany and Jorah. I never have. I do think the first one had more spark. If they're selling this as Dany just wanting a good time and wanting to have a piece of ass as a reward for being queen, I can accept that, but I don't think I can ever buy any OTP-type relationship between them.

I think they're trying to make most of the scenes count since they don't have as much time as they do in the book. I agree that it can be forced. In this case I think she mostly just opened up more once she knew he might know something.

[DRW50]

He'd tried to kill The Hound, so I guess that was her justification. I felt like this scene was just a tad rushed (the part where she killed him). I did like that we saw the contrast between a "good" killing and a "bad" killing in this world. The old man was mercy killed. This guy was just gutted.

I saw someone saying the entire episode was about various forms of death, which is true, when I think about it.

People who felt Cersei was being whitewashed - I wonder how they felt about this episode. She was barely in it, but what we did see and hear of her was extremely dark.

(I kept wondering if she wanted to hook up with The Mountain...)

[YRBB]

That would actually make sense, especially in the world of GOT. lol

Wanted to add that I just love that piece they play during the Melisandre scenes, and Sansa walking out into the Vale garden was beautifully scored as well. Beautiful, beautiful music.

Also, the casting is scarily good in terms of appearances sometimes. Not only has Sansa continued to remind of Catelyn more and more but Robin looked scarily like Lysa. Wow.

[DRW50]

Robin did look like Lysa (and MTV DJ Jesse Camp, and Emo Philips, and the youngest daughter on Gimme a Break...).

I love a lot of the music. The music over the closing credits is very effective (as was the music over the season 3 finale credits).

[Juliajms]

OK, now it's my turn to make a minor gripe (to those who don't like these comparisons feel free to scroll) In that story Oberyn tells how Elia cooed and fussed over Tyrion and saw nothing except a baby when she looked at him. I wish they had mentioned that it was Elia specifically who showed Tyrion affection. It would have humanized Elia a little more, instead of having her just be the woman The Mountain raped and killed. She was a good girl with a loving heart who didn't deserve what Tywin did to her. It's a small thing, but considering Elia is the whole reason Oberyn is in King's Landing about to fight the man even Bronn fears, it would have been a nice touch, imo.

I guess I don't consider it that bad given that she was a young child herself. I can give her a pass for bad behavior as a child, she didn't have the reasoning ability of an adult. I'm not saying she's all bad now either, but she has a hell of a mean streak at times.

I liked the scene between Bronn and Tyrion. Bronn was brutally honest, but not unkind. I believe their friendship is real, but Bronn isn't Ned or even Jaime. He's not going to die (or lose a hand) for honor or friendship.

I thought is was interesting that Dany decided to show some mercy, she usually doesn't once someone has crossed her.

Nope. Lysa was crazy as a bedbug. Little Finger isn't a good guy, but he was smart enough to know Lysa was going to kill Sansa eventually. He might have talked her down this time, but there would always be a next time. Plus, Robin is another Joff waiting to happen. He enjoys seeing people "fly" a little too much. Someone has to take him in hand before he's old enough to send half the Vale out the moon door because they "annoy" him.

[Vee]

Probably Arya and the Hound's best scene all season tonight with the dying man. Very well done.

[DRW50]

Not just the story of what she did as a child, but her casually stepping over the guts of the men Gregor killed and almost seeming turned on by it. I've heard so much fan debate about whether the show was making Cersei too sympathetic, so I kept thinking of that during some of these scenes.

I agree with about Elia. I wish we got more about her, who she was, rather than just being Oberyn's vengeance quest.

I also wish we'd gotten more of Sansa building the snow castle and remembering Winterfell.

[DRW50]

Some of you Breaking Bad fans may enjoy this. Sophie Turner and Aaron Paul met up at the BAFTA awards tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU69J1YIEMU

https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/468233570440732672

[Vee]

Daenerys knows exactly what she's doing with Daario and Jorah. And it's very smart. I also appreciate that they don't appear to be selling Daenerys and Daario as true love. NuDaario has grown on me - he's there to be the conventional pretty, somewhat glib piece of arm candy for her, but Daenerys, while taken with him, clearly knows she needs Jorah and his devotion as well as his pragmatism. He was right about Yunkai. His speech was also something that, again, like so many pieces of this show, resonates into the modern and touches on a lot of the reactionary left-wing bullshit I see online and offline today, especially social media. And I'm glad Daenerys understood it. I know some people find her plotline in Meereen boring but I couldn't care less - I find watching her learn the nuts and bolts of governance fascinating, and Emilia Clarke pitches it just right.

That scene with Oberyn probably won Peter Dinklage an Emmy. That was incredible work. I hope the Viper doesn't die fighting the Mountain. Wonderful stuff. Hope this is not the end of Bronn - I doubt it, since we even got to see Hot Pie this week. I love when people in this vast world pop up again. I hope Brienne and Pod get there in time.

The cold smile Sansa gave Littlefinger was the first time I thought Sansa has finally come into her own and could, someday, for better or probably worse, be his wife. All her suffering has brought her here, in a different way from Arya, and I think she could, depending on the circumstances, end up being far colder and more dangerous. I know Carl thinks Arya cold but I don't think she's really like that at all - Arya wants to be armored up but she still has so much feeling and sympathy for the smallfolk she and the Hound come across, still works to humanize the Hound - wonderful stuff with Rory McCann and Maisie Williams this week, BTW, that beautiful, melancholy scene with the dying man as well as the scene with the two of them alone. I didn't mind her killing the !@#$%^&*] who'd harassed her in the past. I think Arya is walking a tightrope in her own character, but she is learning, slowly, the difference between killing because you can or killing for the right reasons (as with the dying man). I think the Hound is deeply traumatized as a human being, always has been, has contempt for himself and his weakness that he projects onto everything else - but he's still a human being, and this episode made that clear.

I thought they rushed the Lysa stuff along a bit - I got accidentally spoiled for her fate a few weeks back - but it was still very well-done, as was that brilliant scene with Sansa and Littlefinger alone beforehand. I hope crazy Robin doesn't cack it too, at least not too soon. But the stuff with Sophie Turner and Aiden Gillen is fascinating.

I liked that Melisandre finally acknowledged what I've suspected all along - at least half of what she does is simple tricks and mischief for the benefit of the easily-swayed, and she is a practiced con woman as well as, surely, based on what she's said in the past, a courtesan or whore before taking up her current calling. All those street skills of manipulation contribute to the work she does; that's how so many "messiahs" start out, doing quick cons on the pavement. I think there was a hint of attraction between her and Selyse, but I also think Selyse is just plain unbalanced and has forced herself to fall for Melisandre and the Red God to keep her keel mentally; she has forced herself to desire Melisandre and fallen completely under her spell because she's just that desperate for something to cling to in her lonely life. You could see her willing herself to accept and embrace Melisandre [!@#$%^&*] her husband, and for the first time it looked like a strain on her part. It's Cults 101, as was Melisandre telling Selyse that she didn't need any tricks, she could 'make' herself see 'the truth.' Is she just brainwashing her further or can Selyse actually see it? I think it's both. But it is a fascinating interplay, and an incredible scene - I find that whole group fascinating. And I'm glad Shireen is becoming more a part of the plot.

I am so over that !@#$%^&*] at the Wall. I have been over that guy since Season 1. Is this really his priority right now? Cockblocking "Lord Snow"? Where's Osha when you need her?

Anyway - great episode.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Vee

[quartermainefan]

This was a good episode. I loved the Oberyn (or however you spell his name) scene. The guy who plays him his excellent and in hindsight this was a twist that was telegraphed earlier but never occurred to me til he walked into the cell. I felt sorry for Tyrion as he listened to just how much Cersei always hated him. You gotta love Cersei. I was reading on Huffington post that through an unscientific poll they determined Cersei is now the most hated character on the show since Joffrey died. She does make a great villain.

Nice to see Hot Pie again, and the seen where The Hound explained his burns was good. Then the Sansa crew: I felt sorry for her crazy aunt. Yes she is crazy and would kill Sansa and has killed, but she was crazy and there was no help for her. She actually loved Littlefinger and didn't deserve to die. They have no psychiatrists in this world but I imagine if she was walking around now in 2014 all hr problems would be solved with a solid prescription. Now her kid is another one who needs help but there is no help.

Sansa could do worse than Petyr considering he clearly has her best interests at heart as long as they include him. Looking at all she has been through since the show started, being with a sinister schemer that actually doesn't want to kill her is a step up. I think we can see what will happen at the finale though: Arya arrives and she and Sansa don't meet. Starks never do.

[Cheap21]

Now that ending was shocking. Considering all the rest of the Starks have been getting killed off left and right, I thought Sansa was about to die

what a beautiful shot

IA that he is very generic. The last guy had swagger and stood out as more charismatic

Edited May 19, 2014 by Cheap21

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

They really don't get Cersei at all. Hence why they can't seem to decide if she's totally a cold hearted b*tch or some weak sad person who deserves pity 24/7 for all the wrongs done to her by Tywin and dead King Robert. Its quite sad how utterly one note they portray her. Despite it all Lena Headley makes it work most of the time.

Julie I agree with you re Elia. Did Oberyn even mention that she was on the trip with him like in the books? For some reason I think I heard him say he went by himself or with his brother.

"Only Cat" - SMDH....