I think that scene also served to establish the relationship between Qyburn (sp?) and Cercei, which will become important next season.
Speaking of which, I am foaming at the bit for the KL plot next season. Watching Cercei make that series of fatal mistakes is going to be SO much fun! Her POV chapters were fun to read,…

I believe the poster is being sarcastic.

Lumberjack hippies don't normally slaughter entire villages, though.

Ooh nice one.

Me too, that was the only scene that jerked full on tears.

That was by far the worst death on the show for me (excepting Ned). Still infuriating years later.

No argument here. Just pointing out that there were more characters involved in Blackwater.

OK here's how I see it going down. We get a sequence of Jon treating with Mance, and then the final scene we get Stannis coming in. Then the premiere next season will involve some very exciting scenes of the next battle and the introduction to the rest of the plot.
Remember, there's a shitload of plot that happens…

Yes, but there were more than those six involved in the plot of the episode.

Have her watch it! My mom loves Game of Thrones, and just told me she wasted a whole weekend day and night reading the first book, she was so into it. Somehow this makes me very happy.

+1

He didn't really say more than a sentence if that, IIRC. And I don't think the show really has made clear the relationship between Jeor and Jorah. It only made sense to me when I later read the books.

Agreed. I don't see how else they could have done it.
It may not be Blackwater, but then again, we don't have the cast of characters up here that we do in King's Landing.
And this insistence on generalizing the 'target audience' for this episode is just wearying and limited. I can assure you I fall nowhere near…

I wish the show would've given the backstory of that sword. I loved that bit. But then again, they left out Mormont's crow, who was another great point of interest. Didn't he have something to say about Jon's appointment as Commander?

One problem I have with this review is the idea that if we haven't seen a character in a while, we've forgotten all about them and don't care. Are attention spans really so short these days?

Deus ex Lannister= PERFECT

Not perfect at all. The deus ex machina device was already old in Helm's Deep, which Blackwater closely resembled; if they pulled it here it would be beyond hackneyed. Not to mention what others have noted: that's not the way it went down in the books.

Perhaps they decided to blow their load on the special effects instead of Hinds' fee.

God, I'm just loving this whole thread.

I sincerely hope you never do.