fumanstan

I love the generalizations anytime someone doesn't care for an episode You only want blood and gore! You only want nudity! You only want to see Tyrion!

At least it's come around to only wanting tits and deaths to wanting political intrigue.

Numanoid

I'll tell you the one thing that actually DOES bother me about the scenes at the Wall... why doesn't anyone wear a fucking hat?! There was a shot with Jon and Sam standing on the Wall and the wind is whipping their faces and they were all shivery and all I could think about was how cold their ears must be and how ludicrous it was that they weren't wearing head protection.

bluetoast

True, but it's probably for the purposes of recognizing characters. Tom Hanks was talking about Band of Brothers and was saying that everything was realistic except for the soldiers not wearing helmets, so that the audience could recognize who they are. Not that Jon and Sam are hard to tell apart, but that'd be my guess.

Defiant1

I really enjoyed the episode. On a technical level, it was brilliant. Neil Marshall did an amazing job at keeping the battle coherent while also making it very thrilling to watch.

However, like some others have said, the Wall storyline has never particularly interested me. I blame a lot of this on Kit Harington, who is an average actor at best, although I admit he is improved this season. You can have all the amazing action you want, but it ultimately comes down to the acting.

Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, NCW, Charles Dance et al >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kit Harington

And I get it. What happens up in the frigid north will have great bearing on the southern lands. I fully expect the end of the series to have some sort of titanic clash between the White Walkers, the Wildlings, the Human armies, and Dany's dragons. But for now, the political intrigue in King's Landing is superior to everything else.

Draven

Book reader here and loved the episode. One of the most epic episodes of television ever. Better than most Hollywood movies that depict battles.

My wife just started watching the series so I've been half watching from the beginning again and some of those early episodes are so boring and dull by comparison. They have come so far that it's tough to watch where they started.

dugan

They could solve it the way Black Hawk Down did, and write the characters' names on their helmet...

Celtic Esquire

With sharpies that I am sure everyone had in Westeros?

Lifepawn

My favorite episode of the series so far. One that I'll put on just to re-watch for fun.

I liked it better than Blackwater because no Cersei, Shae, or Joffrey. Sam wasn't as annoying as he usually is and the actor playing Jon is much better at playing leader Jon than clueless Jon.

superdeluxe

Listening to A Cast of Kings Podcast:

http://www.slashfilm.com/cast-kings-...l/#more-237684

2 reviewers: one is a book reader, Vanity Fair's Joanna Robinson, and the other is a non-book reader Dave Chen of Slashfilm.

Joanna says that she might have not liked the episode as a book reader because she knew the 'outcome' of the battle, so the stakes were different for her.

andicus

Couldn't that be said about most of the storylines, for those that have read the books?

Canis Firebrand

Seriously.. In other news, Water is wet, fire is hot, and the sky is blue.

rocket1312

I enjoyed this episode, but I have to agree with those saying that it fell a little flat due to lack of investment in the characters/plot involved. Anyone saying that the level of investment shouldn't affect the enjoyment of this episode is crazy. To me, that's the ONLY thing that matters. That said, it was obviously an important moment for Jon (who I like) and it was nice to see some character progress for Sam, Alliser (I assume he's dead?) and Slynt. I think the fact that the entire episode was focused on this story helped in that regard and it's a strategy I hope they revisit from time to time. I always liked Ygritte, but I thought the impact of her death was muted a bit since we've barely seen her this year. Oh, and the long tracking shot, while nice, unfortunately came right on the heels of the one on True Detective, which I thought blew this one away. Can't blame the show for that though.

Regarding the importance of defending the wall, the way I see it is that it's inevitable that the forces beyond the wall (whether it be Wildling or Whitewalker) make it through. I assume that's the ultimate conflict that will decide the fate of Westeros. In that sense, I almost want the Night's Watch to lose so that the story can progress. I don't know if others feel the same way, but that definitely had an affect on any rooting interest I might have had in the characters.

Hiro11

I can't tell you the number of times I've had exactly the same thought.

Shazam

Mmm, Mannis. I mean, Melisandre!

superdeluxe

True, she said what she loves are the 'character' moments (Discussions), and the fact that she is not as invested with the characters at the Wall, she felt the episode did not work for her, where it worked for Chen (Since he had no clue what was going to happen).

Ropes Pierre

RIP Ygritte anyway.

kissed by fire, fucked by Snow.

Bill Needle

Yew know nuttin' rocket1312.

Deftones

holy shit, that was an epic episode. probably one of my most favorite of the series so far.

davidh777

It's not to tell characters apart, but I always hate this in superhero movies:

DaveyJoe

Yeah we can't see Scarlett's butt in that poster.

dhmac

What The Flick recap:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Qp1_Hqlgr8U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(nice WTF spoiler etiquette clip too)

dhmac

I think Ygritte's final words should've been something like "You know nothin..." and then her words trail off and she dies without finishing it.

creekdipper

http://eil.com/images/main/Pat+Benat...ORD-461720.jpg

bunkaroo

I think this one is closer to GoT in look:

DJariya

Intense episode. Awesome battle scenes. Anyone who thought this was boring was fucking smoking crack.

The giant swinging anchor that hacked up those climbers was

Wasn't too surprised with YGritte dying. I think that was inevitable, especially considering she was out for blood with Jon Snow.