As usual, Tyrion was great. Not sure why they focused so much on Robert talking about his first kill, and the ending was a little strange as it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I quite liked Syrio, too, even though I always pictured him having grey hair.

Still no Hodor, was bummed about that.

Hodor, said Hodor
yeah, he will be on the 4th episode, i'm sure, i love Littlefinger too, but Renly isn't pretty enough

Oh yeah Renly! I pictured him having luxurious hair and bright clothing, at least. All well. Syrio was perfect though, I knew who that was as soon as I saw his fruity ass. I caved in and watched the next week teaser and really if you're current this shouldn't be a spoiler but

The scene with Syrio is officially my favourite. It was perfectly executed. I grinned like a foolish fangirl the entire way through.

Why didn't Dany push back Viserys herself? That is a very important scene for her character development.

Yeah, I was very looking forward to that one and was not disappointed. But wasn't Syrio bald in the book? I certainly didn't imagine him with an afro. His mannerisms and the scene's chemistry were pretty much perfect though.

Probably my favorite episode so far; many good scenes, and not much that was egregiously wrong.

Still, as possibly the resident series zealot, I'll complain anyway. The only major fuck-up though is Dany not pushing back Viserys. A seemingly small detail, but as Morri said, this is a major turning point for her character: the first time in her life she openly defies her brother. It would have taken ten more seconds of screen time to put that in. I really don't understand those script writers sometimes. They cut that small but significant interaction, but then they go on and invent a fairly pointless and long scene with Robert just basically being an asshole to everyone and talking about kills.

The scene between Cersei and Joffrey is... weird. I mean, she's basically encouraging him to be just like Robert is to her if he wants? Really?

And another admittedly tiny nitpick, while I can certainly understand them cutting Catelyn's sea voyage, couldn't they at least have shown her getting off a ship when she arrives in King's Landing? It's just silly that she arrives in the city around the same time as Ned when she left Winterfell weeks later.

But anyway, Syrio. <3



Yeah, but I guess the actor didn't want to shave off that glorious afro.

Glad to say I'm enjoying the series a lot thus far! Turned out to be way better than I expected. The art direction's very tasteful, acting is solid, and the cinematography and directing/writing are also very nicely done. Looking forward to seeing where it goes! I suppose one of the advantages of having never read the books is that I actually get to be surprised .

Viserys is the brother right? Isn't it a little too early in the series for a power struggle with that horsemen tribe?

yeah he's her brother and the legitimate heir to Westeros as he's saying and no the power struggle is happening at the right moment, remember there's only 10 episodes for a 1000 pages or the like book, each of the books are very thick, especially Storm of Swords, i hope they'll not forget important things

I'll have to pick them up. Pretty sound characters so far.

Tyrion's performance is just amazing. So far he is one of my favorite characters in the TV series.

I really want to watch this serial.. SO FUCKING COOOOOL i saw the images and the comments about this movie.. thats sounds pretty much cool !

I just watched the fourth episode and I'd say it's the best so far.
I like the actor who's portraying Samwell Tarly, such a comic relief ('So... You didn't know where to put it?' ), I giggled quite a lot during his scenes. I liked Hodor but actor portraying him doesn't seem retarded, Hodor is supposed to simple-minded at least? And of course, 'The Mountain That Rides' was introduced, but I expect to see more of him and more of the tournament in the next episode, this can't be all of the tournament?

I agree - Renly so far is the only character whose apperence I have issue with - I always pictured him with long, straight dark hair. The actor playing him looks a bit forgettable. The scence with Syrio was kinda cheesy I thought (the accent was, uh, a little too weird) but in the end it made a fitting transition to the next episode, and, yes, it pulled on my heart strings.

*SPOILERS FOR 4th*

Just got done watching the fourth - love it! It made up for the rampantness of the third. What does everyone think of Hodor? Big shoes to fill (chuckle) but I think the actor does the "blank stare" pretty well. Hodor, hodor.

I wished they had shown more of the joust - it might have been impossible to fit into a single episode, but so many important characters get introduced there that I was hoping there would be more. Not that I'm complaining - the killing of Ser Hugh was just as I imagined it (actually a little bit more brutal). Gregor looks perfect.

Sam is great too - I always had the sneaking suspicion the Martin relates to Sam more than other characters - Sam's story is so personal and well developed. I beamed during the warm buddy-buddy scene between him and Jon Snow.

good 4th episode, Hodor, Sam and Gregor were cool, BUT WHERE IS THE KNIGHT OF FLOWERS? I hope he gets introduced in the next episode

I agree that it was the best episode so far, but Hodor is not Hodor unless he looks more like this:

Just done watching the 4th. *Spoilers ahead*

I was a bit dissapointed that the tournament seemed so rushed. The fact that Ser Hugh got killed almost seemed normal for a joust (although it went brutally slow, wow..) Sam is great, just as I imagined him to be and I get a kick everytime Daenerys stands up to her brother (just like I did with the books) I hate his guts.

Also, did I miss something the first three episodes or was this the first time Theon Greyjoy got named?

Great episode... except that once again they have to fuck something up. Sandor tells Sansa the story of how he got burned, and it's significant because he has never told anyone, and he tells Sansa in a drunken moment of weakness and threatens to kill her if she tells anyone. Why oh why did they change this so that it's Petyr telling the story? Makes no sense.

i agree about that, forgot to mention it, it's not like Petyr didn't had enough lines in the episode, but maybe they want to establish a relation between him and Sansa for the future?

Yeah, maybe they'll have an even better Sansa/Sandor scene in the future to make up for it... but somehow I doubt it'll be as good as the original material.

On the plus side, we got Hodor! which is cool (I don't mind that he's older, he was perfect), and GHOST! Finally!

Can't wait to see the rest of the tourney. The scene with the knight of flowers, the Sandor/Gregor fight, and hopefully we'll even see Thoros and his flaming sword.

I love the way he jogs/runs into the room after being called. Made me giggle.

Ok so new episode spoilers all over the place.

After watching the 5th episode, The Hound is starting to become my favorite character

I dare say... best episode yet? Action-packed, to be sure.

Pros:
- The Hound / the Mountain fighting. Bad. Ass.
- Bronn being also badass.
- Varys vs Littlefinger's battle of wits was a bit forced, but still great.
- Poor Jory
- Arya chasing cats
- Lysa's different than what I imagined, but she's still a creepy, disgusting bitch. *approves*
- Jaime kicking that soldier's ass over the cheap shot to Ned's leg. Nice! And yet somehow very in-character, I thought.

Cons (minor):
- more exposition through silly nudity (Theon / Ros). Way to make sure people don't pay attention to the dialogue guys
- no Dany / Jon. no time for it in the episode, but still, pity.
- non-canonical "I loved Robert once" Cersei still annoys me, but I have to admit Lena plays her pretty well. I just have to get used to the fact that Cersei's a different character than from the book...
- okay, so Loras / Renly are non-ambiguously gay and very much so, I don't mind that, but why did they make Renly such a pansy? come on now

Re: Renly and Loras, minor spoilers from A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords:

*Spoilers for ep.5*

Yea, the Renly/Loras scene threw me for a loop too - but considering that it is HBO I figured they included it so there's a little something for everybody. Bit premature for the sequentiality but eh, whatever, it was cute.

Lysa was eerie (ha!) as fuck. They gave her this harpyesque look - bare breast, sinewy and strained, up on a dead tree (?) throne -pretty appropriate considering her home. I always imagined her as saggy and overly made-up, but this is far, far worse than I ever imagined. Love that this series has been outdoing my own imagination.



I second this.



I know! First big death of the series for me Funny that the last thing he ever did before his final fight was stare at pair of breasts.

Jory dying made me sad. I didn't know his character very well, never read the books, but he seemed like a decent fellow.

I agree with what all people posted here about 5th episode, but I have to take a notice about Theon's flaccid penis immediately after sex, that doesn't seem right to me.
I think they force nudity too much, books are also filled with that but, but I don't see the point in the series, in books it's used for characterization and such.
And about Loras-Renly relationship in the books:

I expect more episodes to be even better, I can't wait till real action begins.

awesome episode, Renly's relationship with Loras is well done, subtility isn't something that HBO loves. For the rest, i agree with pretty much what Morrigan said and yeah Jaime/Eddard's fight was great so is Bronn (really good casting for him, the rest of the show as well for sure). This episode is really the starting point of the action in the season.


preview for episode 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4_6Nqgzskw

Definitely.


That scene was goddamn awesome. I had to watch it over and over again.


This this this. Bronn is one of my favourite characters and I was really anxious to see him on screen. The casting is great as usual and him slicing and dicing the bandits was indeed appropriately badass. His role as the opportunistic, pragmatic mercenary bastard was nicely conveyed. I'm keen on seeing him interacting with Tyrion in the future, always loved their trade-offs.

Now I just want a yes or no answer on this. Do they White Walkers ever fight with the free people?

I saw a picture of Renly, and apparently he doesn't have his long hair? I've only read the first book so far, and I pictured him as being like a more European looking Mitsuhide Akechi (I'm thinking of the Samurai Warriors version of Mitsuhide).

Spoiler from first 4 books:



Syrio Forel should be bald iirc. Series don't match with books completely.

You are correct; Syrio is described as bald in the book. They also didn't give Littlefinger his "slimy bastard" goatee.


I noticed that, too. Funny how it's difficult to pay attention to other things when there's someone's todger flapping comically around. I call this "Watchmen syndrome."

Speaking of all the people who should be bald (like it's an issue), shouldn't Tywin Lannister be bald as well? I seem to remember that from the books. Oh and Morrigan about the Sansa/Hound interaction I believe that they had Littlefinger relaying the information because they were easily able to tell viewers about the Hound and Gregor while they were both on-screen and it took half the time. I never really thought it was that important of an interaction and they already had Sansa talk to the Hound to set up later interactions. And I forgot who the fuck Bronn was, thanks for reminding me! He's fairly important as well.

Tywin and Syrio aren't bald and Renly doesn't have long hair in the TV series, and Bronn isn't dark and slender, but honestly that's the least of my concerns.
I wish Tyrion were uglier, though. People are supposed to find him repulsive. I hope they don't screw up Brienne in season 2...

What's interesting is that they did the Hound/Sansa interaction during the auditions.

When your character is a dwarf, it somewhat narrows down the list of potential actors. I think that trading in the ugliness for acting talent in the form of Dinklage is forgivable.

I agree, but characters can be "uglified" with make-up, though.

yeah, that's why i'm choosing Charlize Theron to play Brienne