I totally agree, they could have done a better job with both Leaf and Bloodraven.

Can we all agree now that making the Jaime and Cersei sept sorta-consensual sex scene into a less ambiguous rape - back in episode 3 - made no sense? Seriously, what relevance did this have for the plot? To me, that's still the worst adaptation choice for all of Season 4.

I agree with you, Todd, that this season wasn't as strong as previous seasons. However, I think your desire for each episode to have some sort of overall thematic unity is really detracting from your ability to enjoy the show! Also, it isn't a fair way of judging a show that is adapting an epic that spans thousands of…

I agree with Todd that this was a great finale episode, loved the added fight between brienne and the hound, and thought they did a very good job wrapping up tyrion and jon's book 3 plotlines SPOILERS (although jon has yet to become lord commander). Hpwever, like Todd I too was disappointed by the absence of Lady…

To be fair to the showrunners though, it's hard to adapt a story like this into a show. Think about it: at minimum, ASOIAF has three major plotlines - the struggle for control of the Iron Throne, the conflict between the Night's Watch and the threats from the North, and Dany's plotline (which starts out as being…

I agree that the pacing has not been as good as previous seasons. Frankly, I still don't get why they added the mutineers storyline rather than having a longer siege at the Wall that stretched over several episodes. Having Ygritte's death come earlier in the season may have given it more of an impact, since it's been…

Seriously, why did this episode get a worse score from Todd than the episode where they totally undermine Jaime's redemption story arc by having him aggressively rape his sister?

Well, technically, in last night's episode they combined the Battle at Castle Black with the first Battle at the Wall, while leaving the last Battle at the Wall (where Stannis arrives) for next week. Otherwise, I totally agree with your point.

So you would have preferred for them to condense the long series of battles at the Wall in Book Three into one big battle? I think they decided not to do this because it would just seem too much like 0209 Blackwater. Also, I think the way they did it creates far more dramatic tension going into next week's episode.

I don't think it deserved an A+ - there have been better Thrones episodes, like Blackwater - but it definitely wasn't a B.

I didn't think it was as good as 0209 Blackwater, but I agree with you that it didn't deserve a B grade from Todd. I mean, seriously, there has never been such an epic battle as this on television!

Yeah, as a book reader, I think it makes perfect sense to keep those scenes separate rather than combining it all into one big battle. The bigger problem, I think, is that the Wall characters (and actors) aren't compelling enough to carry an entire episode as well as the King's Landing characters. I feel like the…

I don't think the episode deserved a B; it was a pretty spectacular portrayal of the attack on Castle Black and the first battle at the Wall; I thought it very effectively combined two battles from the book into one big battle. However, I do agree there were some weak points (such as Kit Harrington isn't a very good…

Seriously, what are they thinking? It seems like they are really going to run out of material from the books for some of these characters by the end of this season.

Yeah, they seem to have decided to condense it all into one big battle instead of a series of battles and a siege that last for a long time before Stannis comes to save the day.

Yeah, a lot of the characters are well into there Book 4/Book 5 story arcs - Dany, Sansa, Brienne and Theon especially. Meanwhile, the storyline at the Wall has been seriously neglected. I don't understand why they have seemingly decided to compress the entire siege of the Wall into a single episode :( This was one of…

I thought this was mostly a very good episode, but I thought the scenes with Missandei and Grey Worm were unnecessary filler, and the conversation between Jaime and Tyrion just felt weird and out-of-place.

Yeah, but Winterfell is different than Braavos because it is the symbolic center of the show, since it's home to all of the Stark kids (and Jon Snow). However, I would totally be fine with them cutting Winterfell until the characters return there and just showing locations that appear in the episode. This season there…

Wow, I cannot believe he's spending his time on that rather than finishing the series! What a procrastinator!

Actually, what I liked about your review (in contrast with Todd) was that you were more explicit about how the show compared with specific plot points from the book, and on discussing the logic of the adaptation choices. Great job!