Here are the notable recaps and reviews of episode 10 of Game of Thrones:
Book Readers
James Hibberd – EW
James Poniewozik – TIME
Mo Ryan – AOL TV
Todd VanDerWerff – A.V. Club
Jace Lacob – Televisionary
Myles McNutt – Cultural Learnings
Elio García, Jr. – Westeros.org
New Viewers
Alan Sepinwall – HitFix
David Sims – A.V. Club
Scott Meslow – The Atlantic
Jennifer Braun – The NJ Star-Ledger
Matt Zoller Seitz – Salon
Margaret Lyons & Adam Paswick – Vulture (newbie and reader)
Larry Williams – OtakuASSEMBLE
We also have the now-customary post-episode interviews and articles:
Writers/producers David Benioff & D.B. Weiss talk the finale and season two with EW
Jason Momoa gives his reaction to the finale at EW
Emilia Clarke talks about the finale with MTV News
Sean Bean gives a very-spoilery interview over at Vulture
And lastly, we have the final (until season two at least) Inside the Episode vid where Benioff, Weiss and director Alan Taylor talk about episode 10.
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81 Comments
Can’t wait to get home to watch Larry’s review! I can’t access youtube at work. If anyone sees it now, let me know if there is any really epic stuff in it!
purplejillyQuote Reply
In the Sean Bean interview… is he confirming R+L=J?
darksofaQuote Reply
Waiting for these!
SuperdeluxeQuote Reply
darksofa,
No..It wasn’t clear..looks like the questioner was talking about it.
SuperdeluxeQuote Reply
darksofa,
Sounds kinda like it to me. Someone really needs to coach that guy about not giving away any spoilers.
ElaineQuote Reply
It definitely seems like Sean Bean’s been given the lowdown on Jon’s parentage, and accidentally ended up confirming it.
How on earth are they gonna reveal that? The flashbacks belonged in season 1. :<
jellydonutQuote Reply
sexpo dump, duh
BrandQuote Reply
So great that Sean Bean saw Larry William’s reaction video.
scribbaQuote Reply
Seriously! I hope Larry reads that interview.
LexQuote Reply
Meanwhile over on Television Without Pity, the Unsullied crowd have started theorising S=J!
(well, they’ve theorised that the guy in the hood is Syrio. But it’s still funny.)
EleanorQuote Reply
From Salon:
I think he likes it.
SuperdeluxeQuote Reply
Reading the bests and worsts at the end of the EW recap reminds me: will there be a post-mortem thread where we can discuss the season as a whole?
Sansa’s LemoncakesQuote Reply
I read Mo Ryan’s review.
She didn’t criticise anything. She said the show was firing on all cylinders. She didn’t even mention Tyrion’s accent!
I’m speechless.
EleanorQuote Reply
– James Poniewozik
Boy, that guy can push a noun against a verb.
Mike ChairQuote Reply
That’s cause it’s the BEST. SHOW. EVER.
Seriously. :)
LexQuote Reply
She has been very positive for the last several episodes, once we got through Episode 4 she liked them progressively better.
Ryan EQuote Reply
It has been a good first season! Hoping to see many a casting clue and gate while waiting.
Petter Kristian VikestadQuote Reply
Sigh… so sad I have to wait till next year to watch this series again.. ill probably lose interest.. NO I WONT!
Omar BibarsQuote Reply
A fabulous collection of videos from some of our cast’s earlier stuff:
http://skyatlantic.sky.com/game-of-thrones/classic-clips-before-they-were-on-game-of-thrones?DCMP=SNT
Johan SporreQuote Reply
I didn’t read it that way at all. I think he was just acknolwedging the theory. I highly doubt GRRM has told any of the cast. I’m pretty sure, based on past interviews, that he hasn’t told Kit, so why Sean?
KalasinQuote Reply
Found this funny video – One and a Half Man: What if Game of Thrones was a Buddy Comedy? Coming soon – just like winter!
Raynette SchroederQuote Reply
Heres a great interview with Jason Momoa, about Conan and a little bit about his role on Game of Thrones and at the end he answers a question about who he would like to be a certain character opposite him in a hypothetical remake of a certain movie, Peter Dinklage =D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh9w-aC86fE&feature=feedu
NikstQuote Reply
Wow, I’ve gotta say that Larry is really insightful about things I wouldn’t expect a new viewer to be, such as how he talks about the potential threat the wildlings pose if they were gathering in one force. Great guy but also great that the show has conveyed some of these slightly subtler points.
Also: “F*ck Joffery and f*ck the Iron Throne”, ha! Love it!
JimQuote Reply
I’m guessing Howland Reed will divulge all . With his penis out.
DaveBQuote Reply
Off topic, but there seems to be some sad little troll spamming Game of thrones metacritic and other review sites with negative ratings, since the 8th June the rating has dramatically dropped. If you read the reviews you can tell its the same person.
Sad f***er
superfandrogoQuote Reply
interesting, whomever is doing this is even used Edric Dayne’s argument and username from the ep 10 discussion (its clearly not him since he is a book reader). Looks like someone is pulling out negative stuff people say on the forums and using to create a negative review.
ingrinQuote Reply
Another post claims it’s our old friend TSK…
DaveBQuote Reply
I noticed that. They even used my RL name for one of the reviews where they talk extensively about enjoying all the gay sex and male butts and exposed penises in the show. The height of comedy!
I actually take it as quite the compliment that I have been impersonated. Nothing says you’ve made it like someone trying to pretend to be you on the internet. Just ask Emilia Clarke!
Winter Is ComingQuote Reply
The nymag Vulture recap seems to have been written in Opposite Land.
GaRQuote Reply
Say whaaaaat?
I think that’s further confirmation in my mind of the suspicion there’s a handful of ‘Unsullied’ at TWOP who have actually read the books. Almost guiding along discussion, or something.
How can they do S=J if J has not even been named yet in the context of the first season? Even if they’re just guessing the hooded third prisoner is S–that is a fantastic leap in logic for a brief few seconds of scene.
Any real non-book viewer in my mind who sees the prisoners shouldn’t even be sure which of the riff raff are significant–minus Hot Pie and Lommy at this point who bully Arya, there are so many of them being carted north. From that to even suggesting, ‘Hooded guy is S?’ I call BS!
kerningQuote Reply
kerning,
Agree 100% from the beginning this thread has seemed way to accurate to be unspoiled.
MoeQuote Reply
It looks to me Sean more or less confirmed R+L=J, yes. If you add the “you might not have my name, but you have my blood” from the show to “Through no fault of his own, Ned took on a lot by taking Jon in” and then some… we know he definitely has got Stark’s blood but he’s also not Ned’s, so he must be Lyanna’s… I wasn’t sure about that theory before although it made sense, now I’d be surprised if it’s not, unless Sean was deliberately misleading us or there was a qui-pro-quo somewhere.
Larry cooled off a lot for this final review ;-) He really got the character of The Hound so even if he didn’t have much screen time, the essential was there, a tribute to D&D. It was a great review Larry by the way, see you next year!
JedaQuote Reply
I’m expecting a pretty good ratings bump. Look at the twitter trends the past couple of episodes:
http://trendistic.com/gameofthrones/_30-days
I guess that means that 0.1% of all tweets at 10pm last night had the gameofthrones hashtag.
Here are the Google Trends for “game of thrones”:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=game+of+thrones&ctab=0&geo=all&date=mtd&sort=0
nattyQuote Reply
I don’t know where to ask this so I’ll just put it in here.
Is anybody else still reading the Unspoiled Speculation thread on TelevisionWithoutPity? Is it just me or is that “Jimmy Cokes” guy such an obvious book reader pretending to be an observant viewer? He even raised the possibility that the cloaked night’s watch prisoner is Syrio.
It’s fun to read newbies speculate but when guys like that are dropping hints its pretty annoying since you’ll never know what sort of crazy theories they’ll really come up with.
cersei’s ladypartsQuote Reply
cersei’s ladyparts,
I did notice that guy and I thought the same thing.
Eric BigpictureQuote Reply
Once again, Larry Williams proves that a non-reader (if they pay attention) can indeed watch the show and understand the story nearly as well as with the books.
LexQuote Reply
I thought the exact same. I read that post earlier today and it seemed like he was 3 for 3 in predicting non-obvious events from next season AND hinted at S=J.
It kinda puts me off the whole thread. There are 2 or three on there that I suspect are Book Readers, but most at least try to but a wrong guess in there to blend in.
However, I go back there because there is at least one I am pretty sure isn’t a reader. I like the way she interprets things, they are usually wrong, but the theories themselves are sound and interesting to watch.
ingrinQuote Reply
Lex,
Exactly! In fact, the times when he gets it wrong is because it hasn’t been made clear in the series yet or just barely mentionned and there is a lot to digest. Even when reading the books, I had to go to the appendixes more than once to make it quite clear in my head. For example, we haven’t even really seen the river lords and yet Larry has clearly registered them and their impact. Ok, the whole thing with the baby is not quite right but I remember myself thinking along those lines as well until the MMD part which clarifies it, a part that is not in the episode. To me, it’s a tribute to D&D that they managed to condensate the essential, and Larry proves this.
JedaQuote Reply
Loved it – but dang, it’s going to be hard to not have the show back until April 2012!
My recap and review are up at The Two Cents here.
Admittedly, it’s 60% me hating on Joffrey…
MegTTCQuote Reply
MegTTC,
“I want to smack him in his stupid smarmy mushroom face and feed him to a rabid herd of hamsters”
That killed me. Great review!
Anthony CordiscoQuote Reply
You all might like this write up from a non-reader (at least I think he’s a non-reader):
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/499/the-game-of-thrones-guarantee
DeanerQuote Reply
http://winteriscomingbitch.tumblr.com/post/6737914315/people-complaining-about-a-1-year-wait-oh-my
found this, very funny. haha
“People complaining about a 1 year wait? Oh my sweet summer child. What do you know of waiting? Waiting is for the long night, when GRRM hides for years and children are born and live and die all before the next book comes out. ”
CroccifixioQuote Reply
So, I’m curious to know what WiC has planned for the site once Dance is released? Book club maybe? Although I’m sure it will be a nightmare to manage spoilers. But I like it here much better than Westeros. =)
MegQuote Reply
Hahahaha that quote is epic!!
Meg
I think WiC said he might do a bit of coverage on the books but considering shooting starts next month there’s tons of coverage this site can do till then (including con converage). We waited for years while the show wasn’t even approved, a year long wait will be cake by comparison. Besides book 5 will make it that much more easier!
DrfunkQuote Reply
Drfunk, that’s true. I checked in at WiC constantly throughout Season 1 casting and production, so I’m sure there will be other things to keep us occupied in the next 10 months.
On another note, this wins the game of thrones parody competition.
MegQuote Reply
Here’s a review of a recently finished book reader/ TV watcher, though i’m not sure he was reading the write book. He criticises Martin for apparently not having a grand scheme for his series, even though it’s not even finished. Then laughably uses the opinion of Ginia Bellafante to emphasize his argument that the series doesn’t have an encompassing issue but is merely an account of some fictionalized history.
isenriverQuote Reply
isenriver,
That whole review that you showed was laughable. I never read a review that was so horrid for the series even on Amazon. It was what like a few paragraphs long and it was about the tv series and the books? LOL give me a break…I agree with you on this review
MagusQuote Reply
For those who can’t wait for the twitter reactions Hollywood Reporter has some awesome reactions from the creators of other shows: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/killing-game-thrones-finales-what-203242
Warning, spoilers for the killing finale also.
Avalanche3319Quote Reply
Love seeing the 4 book set #1 on Amazon for so long…and now ADWD is at #3. Hope the ratings are fantastic tomorow.
From ChaosQuote Reply
Now that is comedy GOLD!
ElaineQuote Reply
Eleanor,
Didn’t surprise me at all. No need to repeat what I said about Mo Ryan in previous threads. Suffice to say that I rather spend my time reading others. Life is too short.
SugarVampireQuote Reply
kerning,
i followed the non reader speculation from post to post and i am pretty sure they really are unspoiled.
the theory about syrio just went like “they didnt show that guys face – there must be a reason – maybe someone we know – lets see, who could it be…..” and then wishful thinking about arya and her dancing teacher beeing reuninited.
why i am so sure about them beeing unspoiled? its not about about what they do figure out, but what they ALSO speculate about – sometimes trying to make something out of scenes that are utterly unimportant etc.
also, lets not forget the show isnt the books. some things come over more easily, other are not even mentioned. they very much stressed the importance of hair colour in the series as well as the question of jons parentage. so the theory about jon being “black of hair” makes him a baratheon comes to them naturally.
i was suspicious of “ulle” in the start. but following his posts i never noticed any mistake revealing he has more knowledge than the others.
BeneQuote Reply
Thanks for posting this video, even if i’ve already watched it. I like reading interviews and watching video interviews of Jason Momoa, cause they are always funny.
I also liked the EW interview and especially his reaction :
“I was reading it and I was like: ‘Holy s–t! F–k, I’m dead!’”
This is so Jason.
And it seems he misses to have the chance to meet again all the other cast and crew members in July. They must have had a great time together as you can read in interviews of the other cast members too.
Otherwise i’m glad for him to be busy again in September.
CavegirlQuote Reply
I love LArry’s reviews. Kudos to the casting & acting of the hound because he picked up on his softer side
Really looking forward to next season
Ser DuckQuote Reply
I contacted the moderators of metacritic regarding this, and they seem to have deleted some of his reviews, if not all of them.
Amir MishaliQuote Reply
That was me. The tone is definitely the same tone, and looking at some of his reviews, it seems like he has something against this forum.
Amir MishaliQuote Reply
Sorry if this was posted and I missed it, but Digitalspy has a series of interviews with Clarke, Addy & Coster-Waldau on their site:
http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s151/game-of-thrones/tubetalk/a325875/game-of-thrones-season-finale-what-everyones-talking-about.html
Here is the direct link to Jamie on Hodor’s giant “Hodor”… wait, that didn’t sound right…
http://bcove.me/7szigrez
Based on content it seems like these were done just a few weeks ago.
Daenerys SaddleQuote Reply
I don’t think all of them are spoiled (though it would be funnier if it turns out all of them were bookreaders in disguise) but there are at least 3 posters that I’m 99% sure are pretenders.
The first guy who drew attention to Jon’s parentage certainly since he mentioned that and never posted again.
‘Direwolfgirl’ – named after an animal we rarely saw on the show and was one of the first people offended when someone implied that there were readers masquerading in the thread.
And ‘Jimmy Cokes’ who was asking people to congratulate him for predicting Drogo’s death. Not to mention bringing up the ridiculous Syrio theory (that he brought up before anyone even noticed the hooded guy in the cage) which made no sense from the TV show perspective.
And I think I’m spending waaay too much time on the internets:) I’m out!
cersei’s ladypartsQuote Reply
hahaha I had to post my reaction somewhere, I just saw the One and a Half Man parody thing.
HOLY DAVOS THAT WAS SOME FUNNY SHIT!!! OH HALFMAN THAT WAS GOOD!!
Back on topic, I liked seeing the twitter reactions about GoT from all those people from other shows. That was cool. We need more famous people talking about this show. I know they mentioned it on Conan the other day. Any other instances? This is important because celebrities tell dumb people what to do.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to apply some proactive…
DavosFTW!Quote Reply
here is a brief, clear-headed, critical in places, but ultimately positive evaluation of the GoT season in the NYT:
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/notes-on-game-of-thrones/
DanteQuote Reply
I don’t think Sean Bean was conferming r+l=jbut more stating he believes it and worked that into his Ned since he did read the book.
SeanQuote Reply
OMG! LMAO! Well player, sir, well played.
Winter RoseQuote Reply
The Sean Bean quote might be taken out of context. When he says that part about ” Ned took on a lot by taking Jon in” , he could still be talking about it as if he was the true father. How many other Lords in the books have allowed for their Bastard children to live with them, especially when they have a close relationship with their wives? We know that the Freys have a bastard or two, but most other bastards are either fostered elsewhere or live out in the world (like Robert’s).
Team SansaQuote Reply
Everyone wanted Syrio to live! It makes sense that they might see a mysterious person travelling with Arya and hope ‘maybe? just maybe?’ And we know the reason he’s hooded is because they haven’t cast Jaqen yet, but from a fresh point of view the natural reaction is, “Who’s hiding?”
Also, Yoren says ‘Stay away from those,’ to Arya. I think the people in the cage are very noticeable. One thinks, ‘what the hell did they do, if rapists and thieves get to walk and they have to be in a CAGE?!’
EleanorQuote Reply
hi all,
I don’t know, if this was already mentioned or not but stevethepirate has a collection of videos on GoT I have never seen before (only bits and pieces of it on HBO’s inside the episode or webdocumentaries). check it out
steve… I know that your part of house gatewatch. thanks for the collection. where did you come across all these videos, dude?
marzmanQuote Reply
Can somebody kick HBO for some eff’in’ casting news?!?!?! BRIENNE????
jwsnasaQuote Reply
Sadly, I think these people are weird losers not to get angry over, but to be pitied. My take is they are craving and seeking some sort of acknowledgment or kudos from anonymous people on the internet when they’re ‘right.’ That they’re spoiling the show for some people is just an unfortunate consequence, secondary to their need for attention, a “Wow man, you’re on fire!”
kerningQuote Reply
OT: 3 million!
Tom HiltonQuote Reply
Yoohooo! 300k more viewers than last episode (2.7m).
Things lookin’ good. B)
IcegazeQuote Reply
Yeah I sure will miss him on the show. Watched him for years on Stargate Atlantis and as soon as I heard that he would play Khal Drogo and Conan I was like “awesome, perfect for those roles!”. Even though I havent read the books, from what I heard about Khal Drogo being a big fierce warrior leader, I knew he would be perfect based on what he did on Stargate Atlantis.
NikstQuote Reply
That was the same for me. But i’ve seen him on Baywatch before too.
Have you already heard he will begin to start shooting for another movie in September?
CavegirlQuote Reply
Anthony Cordisco,
Thanks! I really hope I never pass that actor in the streets. I know, I know – it’s through no fault of his own, he’s acting, etc… but I. Hate. Him. So. MUCH.
MegTTCQuote Reply
Here’s something to file under “GoT mentions popping up in unexpected places”:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6686569
A somewhat tortured analogy between Game of Thrones and NBA draft prospects… hrmmm.
DanteQuote Reply
I didn’t pay as much attention when the actors were cast, but in that link with NCW he mentions people complaining about his nose. WTF, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that beautiful man!
Shadowcat85Quote Reply
The Vulture review was absurd. And just poorly put together. Reads like a transcript of 2 angry teen movie snobs trying to out-cool each other with their “meh”-ness.
Steve the PirateQuote Reply
marzman,
They’re from hbogo. Every episode comes with helpful pics and videos.
Steve the PirateQuote Reply
Kalasin,
Because Ned knows and Jon doesn’t. Simple as that, the reason to tell Sean is so he could use that knowledge in the way he plays the character, while there’s no reason for Kit to know.
David ScottonQuote Reply
Magus,
Eh, I don’t agree with his point, but I kind of understand where he’s coming from. I wouldn’t call it a terrible review. If he feels that way he feels that way. The novels ARE a bit more like a historical chain of events than most novels, I just consider that a positive more than a negative. I love history, not only for the “it really happened part”, but also the dynamicism. It’s obvious (and we know from interviews etc) that GRRM is also a history buff. So this definitely colors his writing. You kind of get out what you put in.
SugarVampire,
Other than Dinklage’s accent, I agree with a lot of the things she said. She changed her tune as the show went on because it got better. I think most of us on here agree that the show got better as it went along. For it to have gotten better, that meant it had room for improvement. Her early less then superlative reviews of episodes 1-4 demonstrated some of the areas it could improve. Most of the ways in which the show got better fit what she was saying early on. Especially these last few episodes. Each one CLEARLY had a major theme which all of the action was staged around, which was her major negative point.
salukQuote Reply
Steve the Pirate,
Agreed. And I know Lyons hasn’t read the books but she must not pay attention to the show either because if she did she would know it’s a direwolf on Jon’s sword and not a polar bear.
Also, thanks for posting all the HBO Go videos as well!
Shadowcat85Quote Reply
No I havent, what movie? What is it about? Unless you mean the one he speaks of in a interview, the roadtrip one that they are trying to get financed?
NikstQuote Reply
Just wanted to share in case there are peeps out there that don’t follow Lena Headey’s facebook page (and I’m sure there are). She posted tonight some of her thoughts..
“Face bookers .. What about the f’in DRAGONS … Holy fuck balls!!!
Emilia Clarke was glorious .. Sophie turner as sansa brought incredible depth to the character in one of my favorite scenes with Joffrey on the roof with the severed heads (my SCREEN son is such a little shit ;) …”
SchmackyQuote Reply