Nice!
The Walder Frey actor pulled off the spitting image of the old, slimy, pedo character that I pictured in the books. His “squirting” reference to one of his sons has to be one of the more crude lines of the series (so far).
I was really expected the beheading to be much more graphic given the description in the book and the fact that the series isn’t shying away from gore. I wasn’t looking forward to it and quite relieved when it was just a black out.
The way I see it, Ned did what he thought he had to do for the safety of his daughters. He didn’t confess just to save his own skin (that would have been a travesty). Ned’s death was a testament to his character.
Honor didn’t die with Ned. And this series isn’t made up of ‘good guys and bad guys’. If that’s what you’re looking for you’ve ordered the wrong meal. I imagine that the scales of justice will swing a number of different ways before they finally balance out.
I understand your grief though. I was pissed off when Joffrey punched Ned’s ticket too.
Heh. “Ned’s dead, baby. Ned’s dead.”
Damn it. I wanted to use this joke in my recap next week.
Camelot is on Starz.
Taking back the Camelot snark. Not because I feel bad but because it is inappropriate. Hubby is watching Camelot and they’ve made Merlin into a right bastard, so it might be a non-starter.
It is a pretty bad show, but yeah it doesn’t exactly fit the kind of snark you were going for. King Arthur is a bigger douche than Merlin also.
HBO are doing a fantastic job of this imo.
I don’t think it’s fair to suggest that HBO are saving money on battle scenes when there are few in the books. The author uses characters to explain the outcomes and HBO rightly does the same. Same with the characters… Ned dies in the book, what else could really happen? If you’re upset about the lack of justice so far I’d stop watching now 'cause it doesn’t get any better!
The scenes with Arya were heart-rending. I knew what was coming but still almost as traumatic as when I read it. Will miss Sean Bean though…maybe he can do some cameos a la Obi Wan ;).
So, you’re telling me that Frodo isn’t going to get the ring to Moria and save Middle Earth from Sauron???
It looks to me like they’re setting this up for next season to be only about the kids, since they’re killing off all the (male) main character parents.
I am such a dum-dum.
Last week, when Robb sent the Lannister scout back to tell Tywin he and his men were coming for him, I thought it was just a threat - 'get out your chamber pot, you’re going to need it when you see us coming down on you! - this week, I thought no more of it…
Until 5 minutes ago, when I realized - he wasn’t just threatening him, he was feeding him false intelligence. Should have realized that when Tywin was telling Tyrion how the battle had gone. But…nope, not until just this moment. :smack:
Isn’t that what John Snow said to the old blind man? The old guy asked whether Ned Stark would chose honor or family, and Snow said he would do whatever was right.
For once I think Ned made the right decision, a little too late perhaps.
That would be pretty cool from a story telling perspective. Usually the story starts out with the tragic death of a parent, or we hear a heartfelt story midway through the movie. Game of Thrones gets to devote a whole season to it.
It would make the child characters of next season a lot more relatable, since the audience felt the impact of Ned’s death almost as much as his children. It would add a new dimension to the regular motivated-by-the-death-of-a-good-parent story trope.
Ned *had *to die. I have read the books but I realized this even before I read any of the others. If Ned doesn’t die the whole series becomes Ned’s story. He is too good for it to be avoided, and the series isn’t and shouldn’t be about Ned. It’s about Westros and the Seven Kingdoms and the whole of the world. The most important line in the series so far (IMO) is Vary’s line “I serve the realm”. That’s this story, it’s the story of the realm, not any one particular player. Ned was too big to live in that world. He is a product of an era long since gone by and the story can’t move on to tell the story of this new era without first killing off the last of the old one.
The story so far is all prologue. It’s the Hobbit to the rest of the story’s Lord of the Rings.
There was a part of me that was still expecting Arya to ninja-flip onto the steps, stab the obnoxious boy king in the throat, kick Sansa for good measure, sling her dad on her shoulder, and then fly off into the sunset for cooler climes.
I’m still not sure I understand how Robb captured Jamie. I understand he split his forces, but how was Jamie caught?
Jamie was taken unawares, and even then he killed 10 men before they subdued him.
I cried a little when Ned died, even though I knew it was coming. 
I’m reading and watching at the same time and hadn’t gotten to this … until now. At the end of this episode it was not 100% clear that the execution had actually taken place.
Am I the only one who was getting tired of Ned’s failure to do anything useful, ever, except for make speechs about honor? He was just as crappy a Hand of the King as Robert was a King. I guess he was “the good guy” but he was also the most boring character IMO and I was getting tired of him continually making the worst possible choices in every case.
Not true… You see the sword coming down right against his neck for a split second before it cuts away. That + the crowd reaction made it pretty clear what the outcome was.
There was also a clear “head chopped off” sound effect.
Did anyone else notice all the Freys were wearing some kind of goofy looking hats? what was up with that?