bralph

That is truly the amazing thing about this show. It seems impossible that anyone could have any sympathy for Cersei (or even Jamie), and yet here I am rooting for them both now. I'm sure something will happen to turn it back around though, and remind me (again) of why they are not people I should be rooting for.

Noonan

I don't know what, if anything was from Dance but I enjoyed the episode. I cheered when I saw the scene with Doran.

stingo

Very well said. I realize that the producers only have 10 episodes to work with, but a bit more intrigue/difficulty in the assassination would've made it ring truer. That said, I can see why they would want it to happen now - people with very selfish/limited views of the world are in power now - Ser Alliser Thorne at the Wall, Roose Bolton at Winterfell, Cersei Lannister at King's Landing and Elia Martell in Dorne. It will be interesting to see if and how those forces can be rallied together to fight the White Walkers.

As for Melisandre, the puzzler to me is, if she is that old and one would guess wise, how is it that she was mistaken in naming Stannis the true king? Unless that was a plot to remove him from the game. Still, she's a red priestess, so I would imagine she's capable of doing what Thoros of Myr has done already in the series.

brainee

This. The hour (50 minutes) flew by for me ... if anything, I might've wished for a longer episode (60-75 minutes). I was impressed how many of the key storylines and characters were touched on. For a series with so many things to keep track of, this was a great way to start the season (getting viewers back up to speed).

Except for Joffrey, all of the Lannisters have (had) their positive points. Hell, Jaime pretty much did a full on "face turn" way back when he saved Brienne. That was an aspect that the series managed to capture very well from the books.

Noonan

That was the premise of the story. Nothing is black/white; who you think is the hero probably isn't. Everyone has their own motives.

B.A.

B.A.

Hiro11

Very good opening episode. The cast is so big that they have to jump around a lot these days, I'm hoping the story will start to draw in on itself this season...

Liked:
- Amazing zoom-in opening shot of Castle Black and Snow's body. One of my favorite shots of the entire series.
- Being out of the books. I like having no idea what's going to happen.
- Sansa and Brienne finally joining forces. It's been a while since something nice happened on this show, we needed a little relief.
- Roose setting Ramsey straight a bit. Roose is amoral and devious but he's also grounded and wise. He's an interesting character and reminds me a bit of Tyrell Lannister. Ramsey's a one-note sociopath and the contrast with his father is what makes ramsey's character that much more effective.
- Melisandre's arc and reveal. She's going through a crisis of faith and the reveal works to demonstrate her humanity and weakness. Also, the reveal makes you think about the implications of this type of spellcraft: what else isn't what it seems?
- The music. Very atmospheric and effective score this week.
- The Dorne coup. It actually surprised me. Very well set up an delivered.
- Davos. The guy playing Davos has that character nailed.
- A minor point, but Dinklage's accent is more consistent now, he really strained in the early seasons.

Didn't particularly like:
- Emelia Clarke. To me, she continues to be the weak point of the main cast, she's just not believable. I understand it's part of her character arc, post Mereen she's lost a lot of confidence. She still sounds like a sorority girl trying to act "grown up" to me.
- The Sand Snakes. They still have no idea how to deal with the Sand Snakes without making them comic relief. Enough with the cute one-liners.
- Hotah immediately dead from one back stab. Waste of a potentially great character.
- Tyrion and Varys wandering around alone in a city on edge where a massive, extremely bloody civil war is going on. This had me rolling my eyes a bit. They try to explain it away with "we are but simple merchants" dialogue, but I'm personally not buying it.

brainee

I'm sure this was something that was already established and I'm just forgetting it ... but how are the Sparrows still in charge? I could see if it was just Cersei suffering how the other leaders could back and do nothing for a while with the thought "she made her bed ... now let's let her sleep in it". But with Maergery and Sir Loras imprisoned, why isn't House Tyrell more active? Even with the commitments of armies elsewhere, aren't Houses Tyrell and Lannister supposed to be strong (at least strong enough to take down a rag-tag group of religious crazies)? Olenna Tyrell has shown herself to be an expert schemer and has great military might behind her ... but she's powerless against the High Sparrow?

CRM114

Sand Snakes fucking rule.

CRM114

I'm assuming because that little shit Maergery married is allowing it to happen. He's the King. Nothing happens without his approval.

davidh777

I liked the episode. Maybe a lot of "big" things didn't happen, but interesting progress was made on nearly every front. I'm glad that John Snow's death wasn't shrugged off, and that Thorne may get his.

HBO Now is now on Xbox One, but for some reason I couldn't renew my subscription from last year on it, nor could I do it via their website. So I had to reinstall the app on my phone just to renew, then watch it on Xbox (last year I watched the season on my phone ).

It didn't seem forced to me. We know Brienne has been shadowing Sansa, and we know (or assume) she killed off Stannis, so it makes sense that she'd be looking for Sansa. I guess she had no way of knowing Sansa was out of the castle unless she was tipped off, though.

I thought this was great. Roose knows what Ramsay has been doing, and pointed out that it's his fault that Theon and Sansa were driven to escape.

This was also very interesting, and made total sense. She knows her craft through age and experience and uses masking spells to keep looking hot.

chowderhead

Tommen actually tried to free her a few times and demanded her release but he was powerless apparently against the sparrows. The sparrows came to power by winning the allegiance of the common folks. They were shown helping and feeding the poor. I think it is not really believable because Margaery was supposed to have the hearts of the people because her house supplied all the food to Kingslanding. They would have been cut off the minute she and her brother the heir to House Martel were arrested. Plus, I really don't think the harsh and religious tactics against everyone would have broad appeal.

General Zod

Hey I am a walking dead fan And someone DID get a spear through the head.

Just some stuff that didn't really go answered I was hoping would. Sansa made that jump from what? 4 stories up in Winterfell with Theon no problem? Was hoping more would be done with Margaery or Bran in this episode. Also despite being called "The Red Woman" she wasn't in it very much.

I think most of it was my anticipation.. I really look forward to a premier opener and this one just seemed kinda of a let down to me. I guess I'm the only one.

Liked the Brienne moment.. but was wondering from the angle in which she showed up who she even knew who she was saving... and if she did know why wait until it was almost too late?

bluetoast

The "Walking Dead fan" comment was a weird "insult", since with shows that huge, there is definitely overlap in viewers, but other than that, I agree with others that it was a great opener.

davidh777

Most of your issues sound like they're because of screen time, and there was a ton to cover in this episode. I do agree about the Sansa-Theon jump, though, and they could've handled that in five seconds with a snow drift or hay pile or something.

B.A.

Not a problem if the snow bank was high enough against the castle wall.

Winterfell is in the north...winter is coming...

stingo

A hay pile would be so Assassin's Creed. Just sayin'...

davidh777

So they made a leap of faith?

creekdipper

And some people wonder why actors don't like to be photographed sans makeup.

Agree with Zod & the overall problem w/ the leap but just went with it along with the rest of the audience. It is a little bothersome that they did it in the way of a cliffhanger teaser...will they make it or not? And Theon could have run a little farther away a bit sooner to lead the hounds away. Bad timing, yes, but they would have been some pretty bloody useless hounds if they couldn't detect her cowering five feet away.

Brienne's rescue was predictable but handled well. And it did make viewers want to stand up & cheer. The vow of Brienne & Sansa's acceptance of her as her retainer was quite touching. Actually made me tear up a little.

IMO, very good opener. Didn't feel too rushed for an episode that touched base with all (well, almost all) major characters.

mwbmis

We saw the big pile of snow at the bottom before Sansa and Theon jumped. What was there to explain? They landed in the snow and didn't get seriously hurt.

dave94

That was my favorite part, and a long time coming!

Neil M.

They did another one of those CGI body doubles like they did with Lena Headey last season. That was a real naked old person with Carice van Houten's head.

DJariya

Well, I guess we finally got the answer.

Jon Snow

Funny how 6 seasons into this show that everyone who was supposedly the main "Hero" of the show is now dead. It's really now more of an ensemble fantasy drama.

at the reveal of Melisandre's true form.


It's been awhile since last season, remind me again how did Arya go blind?

davidh777

After she killed Meryn Trant, she returned to the house and someone wearing Jakken Hagar's face "died," and then we weren't really sure who was wearing whose face, and then she went blind. More or less.