Sure, Tywin Lannister's conversation with Arya Stark, his new cupbearer whose identity he's unaware of, was phenomenal work by the screenwriters and the actors. Agreed, Qarth is just as fabulous in this episode as it was when we got a quick glimpse at it in "Garden of Bones". Just as important, the mindblowing landscape shots in Iceland, the setting used for the trek of the Night's Watch. And as always, the debate between Tyrion and Cersei is such fun to watch.
But there is another major story part that ruined the whole episode for me: Renly's death. I disliked the ending of the previous episode already, however, the story worsens again and I ended up being more disappointed than at any other occasion in the whole series. It's not that I'm enraged about his character dying, but in my opinion, this was so cheaply done by George R. R. Martin and had me losing my faith in Game of Thrones for a moment. A mythical shadowy creature coming into Renly's tent, killing him, and then disappearing again? Are you kidding me? I couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of this scene and even more so the ones that followed. Brianne pledging fealty to Catelyn somewhere in the woods looked like the beginning of a bad lesbian porno movie, Finn Jones did a terrible job at portraying the emotions of his character after his lover died, and Aidan Gillen bugged me due to him reading his text like a vegetable. Natalie Dormer was very interesting, however, as we unexpectedly got to see a new side of her character.
Stannis and Davos conversing wasn't especially well-made either and the protracted scene got a bit boring. Same goes for little schoolboy Theon getting repeatedly bullied by his pals, his sis, and his daddy – lame! But then, the pros of "The Ghost of Harrenhal" made it worth my while after all, even though it took some time to get them. During the episode's first 20 minutes, we were presented an assemblage of everything I disliked about it and the quality only slowly improved after that. Near the end, though, we got Jaqen H'ghar defeating Tyrion in terms of awesomeness, while the very token imp was busy discovering a huge secret Cersei tried to hide from him. Informant for that was, by the way, the prettiest girl in King's Landing: Lancel Lannister.
What made me fell in love with at least the second half of this episode were the scenes at Qarth. The rich independent city somewhere in the complete desert gives us some of the coolest character introductions of the whole season and one of television's most beautiful settings with its market place. Additionally, Khaleesi Daenerys finally gets to be pretty again and, as we've seen in parts of season one, her impersonator, Emilia Clarke, is extraordinarily talented at that as long as she isn't stranded in the dirt without anything to eat.
Now, how profound are the scenes I disliked in my rating? It adds up to the worst rating I've ever gave a Game of Thrones episode, yet the looming war makes me stay positive about the series' and this season's future.
But there is another major story part that ruined the whole episode for me: Renly's death. I disliked the ending of the previous episode already, however, the story worsens again and I ended up being more disappointed than at any other occasion in the whole series. It's not that I'm enraged about his character dying, but in my opinion, this was so cheaply done by George R. R. Martin and had me losing my faith in Game of Thrones for a moment. A mythical shadowy creature coming into Renly's tent, killing him, and then disappearing again? Are you kidding me? I couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of this scene and even more so the ones that followed. Brianne pledging fealty to Catelyn somewhere in the woods looked like the beginning of a bad lesbian porno movie, Finn Jones did a terrible job at portraying the emotions of his character after his lover died, and Aidan Gillen bugged me due to him reading his text like a vegetable. Natalie Dormer was very interesting, however, as we unexpectedly got to see a new side of her character.
Stannis and Davos conversing wasn't especially well-made either and the protracted scene got a bit boring. Same goes for little schoolboy Theon getting repeatedly bullied by his pals, his sis, and his daddy – lame! But then, the pros of "The Ghost of Harrenhal" made it worth my while after all, even though it took some time to get them. During the episode's first 20 minutes, we were presented an assemblage of everything I disliked about it and the quality only slowly improved after that. Near the end, though, we got Jaqen H'ghar defeating Tyrion in terms of awesomeness, while the very token imp was busy discovering a huge secret Cersei tried to hide from him. Informant for that was, by the way, the prettiest girl in King's Landing: Lancel Lannister.
What made me fell in love with at least the second half of this episode were the scenes at Qarth. The rich independent city somewhere in the complete desert gives us some of the coolest character introductions of the whole season and one of television's most beautiful settings with its market place. Additionally, Khaleesi Daenerys finally gets to be pretty again and, as we've seen in parts of season one, her impersonator, Emilia Clarke, is extraordinarily talented at that as long as she isn't stranded in the dirt without anything to eat.
Now, how profound are the scenes I disliked in my rating? It adds up to the worst rating I've ever gave a Game of Thrones episode, yet the looming war makes me stay positive about the series' and this season's future.