i guess it just depends on the direction they take it...i'm surprised they're waiting for season 3 to introduce blackfish; but jackref must've just felt something down there.

not sure if you touched on this dewskie?..the hound is terrified of fire..that is why he ran like a bitch, when a torch passes by his face he gets jumpy, and few other references make it obvious he is terrified of fire..was his face burnt by fire?...

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Yes 312.

His brother Ser Gregor burned his face when they were but wee lads.

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It's kind of obvious when he says he wants to go somewhere that's not burning, but the book emphasizes that much more brazenly. I believe it's Tyrion's chapter and he looks at the hound and sees that the man is absolutely petrified, and elaborates a bit more on just how his retreat impacts the battle.

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i'm already stoked for season 3.

I think the House of the Undying was handled ok.

-Pissed that they didn't do the foreshadowing.
-Xaro at the end was awesome. Khaleesi getting nuts on his ass.

i liked the last shot of "clash of the wightans."

So we got Jon on his way to becoming a Wilding.
We've got Arya and pals wandering around.
We've got Robb's oathbreaking.
Looks like Dontos is out of the story as Belish revealed himself to Sansa a whole book in advance.
Tyrion completely marginalized despite his role in saving the throne.
Daenarys has her dragons and is starting to show a little moxie.
Might we be seeing a different path for Ricken/Osha than in the book?


All in all, everything is set up nicely for next season. Wonder if they will do it justice and split book 3 into 2 seasons. Way too much happens.

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The Walking Dead invade Westeros!

Not a bad finale at all.

And we got the valar morghulis scene with Jaqen and Arya.

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I don't see how that scene can happen now.

2 pretty awesome episodes to finish the season.

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You know me like that.

Theon with Luwin was an awesome scene. Theon sections of the book aren't my favorite but that guy is tremendous on the show.

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You know me like that.

Who was that in bed with Xaro?

And the way it ended with him makes me hopeful that Meereen may be avoided.

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That was Doreah.

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You know me like that.

Robb's Queen is pretty cute but hideous in profile. I didn't think it was the same actress.

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You know me like that.

Was Rickon the same actor? He seemed 4 years older.

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You know me like that.

It was cool to see her and Drogo again. I liked that Undying sequence better than the book.

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You know me like that.

Me too.

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Season finale observations (mundane SPOILERS may lie ahead, you've been warned)

- Ian Malcolm would be fairly impressed with the size/quantity of that horse shit pile, but it obviously can't compare to that of a sick triceratops.

- Speaking of which, not sure of the Tywin-on-horse thing. Being praised as the city's savior and anointed Hand seems certainly worthy of a royal entrance, but then he just kinda plods off back into the pile of shit from whence he came.

- Margaery Tyrell is fucking insanely hot. Good fucking lord. Holy. Fucking. Jesus.

- It was nice to see Sansa smile again, but only slightly disappointing to know they're transmogrifying the Dontos angle. I'm all for it if it means more screentime for the ever-creepy/awesome/conniving Petyr Baelish.

- Did I mention that Margaery is hot as shit? God fucking damn. Just look at her, for fuck's sake. Holy shit.

- Joffrey's certainly got the "no-fucks-given" throne lounge mastered.

- Varys/Ros. Hmm. Ros is one of those characters whose role is malleable, and what exactly Varys has in mind for her is beyond me. I can't recall if Varys was aware of Littlefinger getting Harrenhall in the book, but it's always interesting when Varys is caught off guard by anything.

- Also, LoL @ Ros finding no penis/balls to fondle.

- Tyrion's scar was surprisingly more gruesome than I half-expected. Obviously the wound is still raw, but it's far more pleasant/badass than having his shit ruined per the books. The scene with Shae was actually really touching, which will certainly make the presumptive end to season 4 all the more interesting.

- The Jaqen H'ghar farewell scene went about as I figured. Simple way to cut budget, didn't have the intriguing bang of the book, but got the point across. Disappointing, but excusable. Sad to see Jaqen go, they cast his part perfectly.

- Jon and the halfhand they intentionally left open to interpretation, disappointing that it didn't have the pop and sizzle of Clash of Kings, but it covered the bases with enough grace to merit a fanboy nod of begrudging consent.

- And thus the fall of Theon Greyjoy begins. I wonder when we get to meet Reek?

- Robb's wife has a gigantic nose, but that ass of hers is worth a red wedding. Hit it, Young Wolf!

- I find it extremely interesting that Maester Luwin's dying under that particular weirwood tree. I don't recall if that happens in the book (I want to say it doesn't) but if not, I tip my cap to the writers for maintaining that set's importance going forward.

- And finally we get to the major event of the finale, the House of the Undying. Here was my thought upon it's conclusion:



Todd VanDerWerff of the AV Club puts it best:



They did a clever job of using existing sets, dressing them up with CG, and giving us a pretty awesome follow-up with Khal Drogo before returning to the cell where we find out why all this shit's going on.

So the basic principle is that the return of dragons means the return of magic, and Pyat Pree (who's apparently gone renegade?) is ensuring the magic remains by holding them in this magical prison. What I find confounding is that Pree, who survived a fucking sword just the other week manages to burn to death from the ever-squealing Drogon's fireball. Did anyone else feel like that scene was weak? Didn't really do it for me.

Either way they end up going back to Qarth to find starting NFL tackle Xaro Xhoan Daxos nailing one of the handmaidens, reveal that he was actually broke, and then locking them in Capone's vault (writers working hard to cut characters from the already cluttered script). Subsequently Jorah gets a hard-on as they plunder all the booty from Qarth before peacing out. Was it great? No. Could it have been much, much worse? Absolutely.

-----

I'll post stray observations when I'm re-watching it again later on tonight.

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Stray observations:

- I know I've brought this up before, but I think the original mix of the GoT score was used for this episode. It's really mundane, and for all I know I could be totally, totally wrong, but the season 2 intro theme I've argued was either re-recorded or remixed by Ramin Djawadi. That is up until this episode. I'm pretty sure they used the previous mix here, but I'd have to listen more scrutinously once I watch these eps all together, which is my plan for next week.

- For all the hate laid at Joffrey, I'll give him this - he knows how to present himself as a king when he's holding court. He has a commanding presence, even if in reality he's a little bitch. When he's on the throne, it's hard to doubt that he's the king.

- Margaery....I can't even.... unbelievably hot. I can't even....ahem, sorry. What was I talking about?

- I like how evident it is that the whole interchange between Joffrey, Cersei, and Pycelle is blatantly scripted. They did it a bit in season 1, but it's refreshing to know they still can put on an act to impress the mob.

- Thanks for the tit, Ros. We haven't seen those wonderful jugs since season 1, so it was fun to get a peek. Also quote of the show goes to Varys for describing her as a "collection of profitable holes." This pairing and Littlefinger and Sansa in season 3 is something I'm looking forward to, since it's clearly going to feature a lot of in-house writing by the creative team that isn't really part of the books.

- For those who haven't read the books, I won't give too much away, but I'm really hoping they do Jaime justice. His storyline is one of my favorites. This little taste of the Jaime/Brienne shows a lot of promise, so I'm encouraged.

- I get the feeling we're not going to be seeing too much of Robb next season outside of the various tidbit here and there to remind the audience of what's going on. The setup for the major season 3 event is paramount, but shouldn't demand a ton of screen time to establish.

- Stannis' scene tonight was pretty mixed. I really liked the anger and the "where is your god?" thing, but goddamn - she got over that pretty quick. The doubt we see from Melisandre was a nice bit of insight to her character, but I do love how they're leaving this large portion of who Stannis is and his part to play in this a mystery.

- The horn-blower outside of Winterfell cracked my shit up. It was great fun to see Theon get driven to madness by this doofy sounding horn.

- It was a good speech, to be fair.

- Such a great contrast for how we see Tyrion from the beginning of the season to now. It's unusual to see Tyrion hopeless. Peter Dinklage shines here, and the emotion he conveys with the final few things he says to Shea are profoundly powerful, and acted masterfully.

- That dragon screech is fucking annoying.

- How is it that Shaggydog and Summer are still pretty young and fair-sized yet Grey Wind is fucking huge? They're all the same age. I guess Grey Wind's been feasting on Lannister bannermen for awhile, though.

- "Fuck your milk of the poppy! Take that goddamn knife and stab me."

- The Drogo/Dany scene was easily her best of the season, hands down. Which sucks, considering what it was and why it can't be. On her own she's simply not as good when she has someone to emotionally work off of, and I have no idea how they'll handle her situation with Jorah/Whitebeard.

- Pyat Pree may be a wise warlock, but the fact that his plan didn't have a plan for dragons spitting fire means he is easily the dumbest fucking warlock to ever live. His death reminded me of this:

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i don't like her smirk. way too aware of how "sexy" she is. i like the more innocent look. she doesn't do anything for me. but i'm looking forward to her vs. cersei in the future.

Great episode, I thought they did a great job of wrapping up most of the main storylines.
As someone who didn't read the books, and with all of your help I think I pretty much understand
all that is going on. The only thing that left me scratching my head was the last part where all
the zombies were marching towards the wall. Are these guys affiliated with the guys that have
Jon Snow or are they a different group all together? I will watch this episode a few more times
before deleting it off the old DVR. I bet Sansa wishes she would have left with The Hound now.
Sounds like maybe they will run into one another again in the future from what some of have
mentioned in this thread.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

The Others or White Walkers are not affiliated with the wildlings. They're the ultimate evil in the series I think.

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T-Bone...just read the plot summaries on Wiki.

Dragons!

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@audioidkid

Ok, I will try to check that out Doug.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I risk spoiling myself so I'd like a "yes or no" answer if you'd be so kind.

Are we supposed to know who the Whitewalker on the horse was that they focused on?

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You know me like that.

the beak looked real bad from the side

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In the book they find him dying by the weirwood just like in the show.

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Peter Dinklage is awesome. He has assured himself of real acting roles in the future beyond a token dwarf character.

SOlid but not as good as last weeks episode. I am so excited for next season. A couple things going forward though...

Arstan Whitebeard and Belwas should have been introduced this season. It is going to be an awkward transition next year.

How in the hell are they going to drop the Reeds in north of Winterfell?? The whole thing with the Crannogmen is that they dont travel often...

Why wasnt Ramsay Snow in the list of characters for next season? He isnt like the Tullys where you can skip over them and make Jackref sad.

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I thought for a second that it was supposed to be Snow's Uncle.

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Team Cutler.

I hope that wasn't Coldhands.

But if it wasn't, why doesn't he kill Sam?

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