Olivier

He just wasn't sure she would go with it. The second one. I assumed it was supposedly some x-year old document, that Tywin dug out of some archive to send over, not some new forgery. Duh! Don't you guys know photocopies? I think the point was that The Mountain is just a dumb guy squashing beetles (or in this case Oberyn) just like Tyrion's cousin was. Great guess; I should have thought of it. LOST did a pretty good job of killing off several extremely popular characters.

That seems to be the point, but they're very lucky that nobody send help to Castle Black; had the kingdoms or even some of the lords of the North sent armies, they would have been wiped out. Come to think of it, I wonder if there's supposed to be some sort of metaphor in there, about a band of barbarians terrorizing a much greater nation that could get rid of them quickly if the powers that be only decided to act. The problem is that no one will take the threat seriously until it's much too late: like the top Crow repeated last time, nobody from the North has ever passed the Wall in centuries, let alone an invading army, so it can never happen. It's like that joke: a guy falls off a building and all the way down he tells himself "Everything's fine so far".

I'll read your messages and may reply to some, but I'll write a few words about the latest episode first... Dammit, Daenerys has exiled Jorah. Would she have forgiven him had he confessed and explained sooner, spontaneously? The Hound & Arya: The Hound's reaction to the news and Arya's laughter. I hope they don't just turn around. Missandei: "I am glad you saw me." Grey Worm: "So am I." Thousands of male viewers around the world: "So are we!!!" Really good scenes with Sansa. The Viper and the Mountain: great scene! Damn, Oberyn had him, but this very intelligent man got tricked by the stupid brute! He should have heeded Rathe's advice to young Holmes: "control your emotions or they will be your downfall." Awesome (horrible) death for Oberyn. The fact they both die (apparently; I don't think The Mountain survives; maybe, though) and that Oberyn struck the fatal blow first is naturally overlooked by Tywin; and anyway, Oberyn dies first. Damn. Poor Tyrion. I suppose Jamie will now have to save him; this will be good. We had already seen Jorah reading a secret message before saving Daenerys from the poisoned wine, which was referred to in this episode. Yes, this slight discrepancy rather undermines it. Can't they afford a little CG crowd of Wildlings for one scene? Showing whole rows of them on a hill then charging down on a village wouldn't be so hard to do, would it? [A bit later] Thanks Gloin for the reminder (most of the men are still outside); still, it was easy to get confused by the dialogue. And then, the Crows should have a better notion of the number of men in the raiding parties, shouldn't they? The information they get may very well be distorted, amplified by fear and retelling, though. Ah yes, I forgot about that one. Great little story, but without a moral; will it be revealed later, as in My Name Is Nobody? Maybe they should just never have shown his face, then, and just always feature him wearing a-- wait, I can't remember the word-- you know, a completely closed helmet.

Or, at least, his assertion to Sansa that that was his motivation. Personally, I regard Littlefinger as the second least trustworthy person in the Seven Kingdoms, and take almost everything he says with a pinch of salt. If not the only reason, it certainly was a major added reason. Who do you think is the least trustworthy person?

I did that too! Imagine my surprise when I found out some stores sold the music that was playing in movies! I never recorded anything in movie theaters, but from the television, indeed. Doing this, I noticed that a name came up often: Superman, Raiders, Jaws were all by that John Williams guy, the same as for E.T.. As for stores, I was dismayed by the number of editions of the Star Wars trilogy scores and did not buy any until the Anthology set because it was clear all the others only featured parts of the music, which I wanted in its entirety. Which reminds me a thing I ought to have recalled instantly yesterday: among my very first three score CDs, and possibly the first one I picked, was John Williams Conducts John Williams: The Star Wars Trilogy; it did not have all the music, but had the major tracks. Since then, I've always started by playing the first track on every new device I got that could play CDs (CD player, DVD player, computer CD/DVD/BR drive, BR player).

The very first ones (my mother had the great idea of buying the LPs for me), a long time ago (1982, 1984, 1989): E.T. Gremlins Ghostbusters Batman A great start, wasn't it? My first CDs (1990-1991): Twin Peaks Total Recall I'm not too sure what the other 4 wereI guess I could find out if I thought about it more. Possibly: The Star Wars Anthology box set (not sure if it matches the date of release) Superman (single CD edition) An American Tail Raiders of the Lost Ark

That's so cool! Thanks for finding it!

I'll try to find it again. It might have been a fan-made poster, but it was really well done as I recall. Ah, I've found it: it must ahve been this promotional artwork.

Bah! Humbug! Thanks for the explanation, though. Now, what is going to happen in the next three episodes? We ought to finally see that scene depicted in a teaser poster, of the White Walkers climbing the Wall. And what about that three-eyed crow? As already deplored here, regarding the former, the problem is that what we have seen so far has led to nothing. An army marching, a small slaughter and artistic arrangement of bodies, and that's it. As for the second point, the problem with those long distances is that you may end up wondering whether they (author & screenwriters) actually know what they're doing or if they're just saving time till they think of something to make out of what just a cool image. I think they do know what it's leading to, but the wait becomes frustrating. And how about the Wildling seer that warged into the falcon/eagle before being killed? Will he ever reappear in his bird form, or was it the last of him in the story? Has nobody thought of making a LEGO version of the map? And a mechanized LEGO version of the main titles? Oh, and has anyone had a look at the comic book adaptation of the novels?

I know that, but it's a single "e" only in your name. Is the pronunciation different whether there's one or a pair? To make this on-topic-- uh... Aaron Eckart could play Nicolaj Woster-Waldau's brother in a twist disclosure of a previously unknown Lannister brother.

1, not 2-- Steef And what's with the double "e", by the way?

Stefancos. Sorry. (Hey, it was nearly 2am )

Right, thanks, Stef.

What a great episode! Plenty of excellent scenes: three with Tyrion (!), two with Arya and The Hound; a nice one with Brienne, Pod and the cook; a cool finale; and a really good one with the Woman in Red and Tanis' wife; the one with Daenerys and Jorah was good, too. This leaves out the scene at Castle Back; not bad, but no comparison; more exposition than anything. The scary crazy bitch has finally "flown" down to the rocks! That was another short marriage. I really thought Sansa was going to get it; Petyr's assurance he would deal with Lysa himself was not guarantee she would survive. Whew. What will they do with the equally crazy little brat? Splendid set for the snow Winterfell scene. Bronn: dammit. Quite logical, though. "I like you, I just like myself more" Nice parting. Another quotation from this scene (all those are from memory; apologies for the mistakes): "I guess I'll have to kill The Mountain myself. That will make for a great song." Incidentally, that's no training: The Mountain is just slaughtering helpless prisoners; no sparring, no challenge, not the least bit of exercise, unless it's an exercise in hacking, slashing and chopping through live flesh and bone. Uh. Sissy training. Hound's lesson about killing was a great seen; first because of the dialogue with the old man; then for his line ("That's where the heart is") and thus the fact he's teaching her; and then for the guy Arya killed. "Is he on your little list?" "No. I don't know his name." "What's your name?" "Rouge" [or some such thing] "Thank you. The most beautiful scene obviously was the one with Oberyn: "I was disappointed." "That's not a monster. That's a little baby". Wonderful, perfectly acted by both of them. The problems is that they take the wrong road, don't they? It seems they turn to the right after Pod answers he's not sure The Hound's taken Arya to the Eyrie. There ought to have been a signpost; it's not like we've seen this junction ten times before. But Carice outnudes several actresses. It's a good thing Oberyn declares himself his champion rahter than Tyrion chooses him, which, as I wrote earlier, would have been too convenient plot-wise; this way, it's much more natural. I was surprised he made such a mistake-- or did he? Didn't he suspect or know the jealous madwoman was constantly watching him? He may have had to improvise and rush things, but he may also have seized an opportunity, knowing she would be watching, knowing what her reaction would be, and therefore creating the opportunity to rid himself of her sooner. One week's wait? :\ The worst thing is that the season already is nearly over. It'll be harder on me than most of you because I had just watched the first three seasons for the first time, so the wait for season four had been very short. (Thanks for shedding a tear) Absolutely. Seeing him take on a bull or a bear would have been a lot more impressive, and the guy lacks that somthing that would make him scary, seem unbalanced and vicious-- a larger version of Glossu "Beast" Rabban Harkonnen, whom David Lynch made appear scary in a simpler but much efficient way; the actor's facial expression alone sold it. Agreed. She' was most beautiful in this scene. Great classy beauty.

This would be a really great idea and a ncie trick played on Tywinn.

Sadly. I'm certain if he were in that case, Jaime would pick Brienne. (Do I win a prize for stating the obvious?) Here, he will surely regret not being able to advise Tyrion to choose her.

Shae obviously felt bad saying all this; she was threatened. Even though he only has one hand, won't Tyrion pick Jaime as his champion? Is it even possible, since he's head of the royal guard? Probably not. I'm certain Oberyn will be Tyrion's champion and the Mountain will be Tywin's. Uh. Seems a bit contrived-- just the one he wanted to kill.

They changed the name within the series? I failed to notice. No problem: i had forgotten They should have thought of it sooner. So was that the actual point of the whole sequence?

The point of the scene was that Yara realized her brother became loyal to Ramsay, and so, as she says at the end of the scene, her brother is dead, in a way. She ran away because of that, not because of the dogs. Of course, but she did make some silly mistakes.

I enjoyed this episode a lot. This is surprising; not just because he stated previously that his interest was in keeping the Kingdom as safe as possible by finding arrangements, striking a balance between the desires of all the players, but because he hinted at such a thirst for power in such an obvious way to such a man as Oberyn. I'm not sure how far it was and how long it took exactly, but it did seemed like a long time, and the result was a catastrophic failure. Seeing the dogs, I thought of killing them; why didn't she? And why didn't she simply knock out her raving brother and carry him away? Silly :\ Good scene of Daenerys discovering a bit more what ruling really means: hours of complaints, lots of decisions great and small to make, compromises to accept and possible regrets. About Tyrion: though the trial is suspenseful and Shae's testimony was quite an ordeal for poor Tyrion, and despite his acting here, I prefer scenes such as some of those he had with Shae, or with Jaime (when he visited him in his cell, for instance); I found them more interesting character- and acting-wise.

It's a surprising edition; I prefer the first version. Isn't that precisely what the main titles sequence is about? Showing us what goes on every morning. Like Pixar's documentary Toy Story, which revealed the sort of things going on when you're not watching your toys. Bran ought to have known better than to release him just at that point; the poor man could not but be frightened and traumatized.

Oberyn: she's just trying to turn a jury, just like she did with her father, in preparation of her brother's trial She does have a point (how can she rule over 7 kingdoms if the few cities she has visited and in which she abolished slavery are already under the sway of tyrants?), and so does Jorah (conquering the seven kingdoms is mire difficult than conquering those towns and Kings Landing). They (the characters & the writers) are being realistic about it. They're on their way to Castle Black, as per Brienne's reasoning. I wondered about that too; maybe to bring back a proof of his deed; but then, he would have had to go through Castle Black; would he have just taken the head? And not killing the witnesses was stupid of him. Very good point. Might she be thinking she would make a good adviser? Her father has already won over her second son with last time's speech. Is she trying to avoid his falling prey to a female version of Joffrey? Or has she simply thought of the family's well-being and preferred to keep the tie to the rich Tyrrells through this new wedding? It might just be the latter, without even knowing the Lannisters were ruined. Not just money: the Hound obviously liked Sansa in one way or another. He resented Joffrey's cruelty to her; this was particularly evident when the little #£¤%§ dragged her and forced her to watch her father's head on the spike, and then when the Hound prevented her from killing him and thus being slaughtered on the spot. Later, when he saved her from being raped, he was not just doing his duty. Whether he loved her to some extent is hard to tell, but this shows there's something good and decent in him, albeit buried deep within. While he's protecting an source of riches and mocking Arya, the result still is that he acting a bit like a father to her; he's rough and blunt (all the more so a he's not willingly and consciously playing the father figure, and he's not used to kindness being shown to him, nor having any opportunity to show any), his bleak point of view is debatable, but he's teaching her lessons nonetheless. I was surprised they decided to attack when one of them said it was a full moon night. Moreover, their being all dressed in black really makes it hard to hide in all that snow, despite the trees. I suppose it also goes to show the difference with Robb's better sense of strategy. Martin certainly has told them what he is planning. It may just be that, like Lost, for some time, they reached a point where they started plodding about, making time, but now it has been decided there will be 7 seasons and they have an end date, they will be able to plan things more tightly. Oh. How odd. Thanks for the information!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VViXnrSp5mg

Now we know: they're going to stay here a while as she acts as a true Queen to protect those she has helped to earn their freedom and who have decided to trust and follow her. At this point (end of episode 4) last season Theon's story was about 10 minutes long. You guys seriously timed that? Or did you find some place it was listed? I really like those scenes with Arya & the Hound. As has already pointed out here, and viewers were reminded by the Hound, the swordmaster's death was disappointing, especially as he could have picked up the sword of one of the soldiers he had struck, as I remember. Cat's sister really is crazy, and her stupid son is just as creepy as she is. I was surprised by Cersei's idea regarding Margaery, who expected she would say something nasty, as I did; the fact that she did propose the idea to her father is intriguing: she despised her, did not trust her, but now she's matching her with her second son? Odd. Good little scenes with Brienne and Podrick. Now that Craster won't provide any more babies, what might happen? Do the White Walkers simply have other places to go shopping? Quite Possible, Or will this lead them to some sort of action? Nice death for the leader of the rebel Crows.

I agree on Cloud Atlas and Horner's Spider-Man; also the one from Pirates of the Caribbean, which achieved tremendous popularity, well beyond the film score community-- might it be the latest one to have done so?