I purposely avoid this thread until I have seen the week's offering OnDemand. That was indeed an awesome ending to a great episode. Lots and lots of plotting, conniving and underhanded dealings going on! Daenerys Targaryen is amazing. I love what they have done with her character. I have not read any of the books and I enjoy being surprised every week with the story lines and plot twists. I am officially a "GOT Nerd".

Game of Thrones was Sunday's top cable original with a 2.6 up from last week's 2.4 adults 18-49 rating. The NBA Playoffs came in second with a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating.

Ratings

Ramin Djawadi Interview

Thanks for the link Lilo! He has great taste and is cute too.

Brotherhood without banner worships the same lord of light that red sorceress is preaching. Weird.

I had no idea to this episode why Jamie was called the king slayer. I thought they were talking about him killing Robert. He seems to have a nag for killing kings.

Seeing the decisions that Rob Stark is making, I've stopped caring about him.

^^^
I liked how the show peels the onion back to give you different perspectives. Melisandre and Thoros worship the same God. But one of them is a whackjob that burns alive people who refuse to believe as she does, while the other one seems to have a much friendlier way of spreading the gospel.

Remember that Jaime's sister killed Robert, or at least set him up.
Speaking of that how about that Lannister family confrontation near the end? Tywin Lannister is an extremely domineering man..

Yeah, Cersei set up Robert, but didn't Jamie finish him off? Anyhow, I'm not sure if people found out about that anyway, but since they kept calling him kingslayer, I assumed they knew.

Man, tell me about Tywin. Cersei's first husband said another woman's name during sex, just imagine how sex would be if she marries Tyrell. Tyrion got the sweeter part of the deal really.

Remember that Jaime had already assaulted Ned, killed his guards and ran out of town when Cersei arranged Robert's "accident".

If Loras and Cersei got married and were expected to produce an heir that would be a very long and likely very uneventful wedding night.

Do you think that either Tyrion or Cersei could say no to their father as far as marrriages? I was wondering about that. It's one thing to have an arranged marriage when you're a kid but they're both well into their thirties. What would happen if they each refused Tywin's order?

I've to watch that episode again.

I think they could say no if they really didn't want to go through with it. Case in point Brienne. But they like their birthright and their money too much to displease their father and risk living in poverty. At any case, makes me grateful that I'm not part of any royal house, to be treated like an incubator for some royal offspring.

Will True Blood get dethroned?
Following the previous week’s dragon-unleashing stunner, HBO’s Game of Thrones climbed in the ratings Sunday night for the fifth episode of the season.
Thrones delivered 5.3 million viewers for its first airing at 9 p.m. That’s up 8 percent from the previous week, which was also a record high, and had built on a previous record high this season. The show was watched by 6.7 million across two plays. So far, Thrones is averaging 13.4 million viewers for season 3 once all airings and DVR playback is accounted for — almost 2 million more than the season 2 average.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/04/30/game-of-thrones-hits-another-series-high/

Tyrion's response to his father's marriage edict is priceless! He reminds him of how Sansa has been "tortured" ever since Joffrey brought her to King's Landing. I am not surprised how popular this series has become. I often told Mrs. Mark that she missed the boat on this one... she gave up after the third episode of season 1. Bless her heart - she tried! Great show - best show on HBO and in many ways better than Sopranos. Yes, I did say that.

Tywin would fit very well in any organized crime family..

I did watch the first episode of Sopranos, but it didn't peak my interest to follow that series. And Trueblood has a throne in HBO? Oh, my! Now I'm thinking why HBO didn't have a decent show for a while that something like Trueblood take that honor.

If Game of Thrones were on Facebook

Someone put a lot of time into this. Hilarious stuff.

I liked the sparring between Lady Tyrell (Diana Rigg) and Twyin Lannister (Charles Dance). Neither one gives an inch. They will do what is best for their respective families and aren't overly concerned about who gets hurt in the process.

Tell me about it, that scene was much more exciting than a sword fight.

This is so funny

Baelish's speech on chaos is a ladder in this episode was epic.
It was used in this preview, weeks before season3 started.

After this week's Bear episode I am finding more reasons to like Jaime Lannister... I don't want to but he just keeps doing the right things.

What do you think of the pace this year Mark? I have seen some complaints of too many storylines and not enough action.

this is the way that i feel. i'm not say the show, or this season, haven't been good, but the storylines are just so complex that the more they delve into it, the more of a clusterfuck it becomes. why not exploit todays amazing cgi, and give alot of the hardcore fans what they want: insane medieval battle scenes? there is plenty of room for both, but personally i think the audience deserves more than 1 per season!

Me and Mrs. Dicknose watch this together all the time

Lilo - I am enjoying this season very much! Like I said before, I didn't read the books so I am entertained without any preconceived bias. I agree that there is a lot going on with many different characters and it can get a bit confusing but I find that if I have a question about something or someone, it usually gets clarified within that episode or the next.

I have heard this increasingly. The show runners have made some significant changes to source material. Some of this was good, some of it, ehhhh. The ratings were a little down for last week's episode but I expect that to change. Maybe next season they can rearrange things to minimize down time.

Hey Mark!
In last week's episode when Margaery was going on at length about the different kinds of men and sex and clueless Sansa asked her about how she knew about any of this, you could almost see the wheels spinning in Margaery's brain as she was thinking "how dumb is this girl?".

It's great writing but I hate how we're seeing some of Jaime's redemption. I'm not sure you can be redeemed from sleeping with your sister and trying to kill a kid but it's a very gray world..

He did say "you can't choose who you love" to Brienne. And also told her to kill the guy that saw them, had she done that, they wouldn't have gone through what they did. He has his own set of morals. He is a practical man, not necessarily moral, but he isn't downright evil to need redemption. This is how he has always been. Doing the right thing when it doesn't cost him much, but his safety and that of those he cares about come before any other sense of morality.

Interesting take. I may be biased since I am a Stark fan but shouldn't Jaime have tried a different solution than throwing Bran out of the window? And once his sister got married wasn't it selfish to continue things with her?

His solutions are very short and uncomplicated. He didn't say for example to capture that man and take him with us, or without killing the king, he didn't find another solution to disarm him. He does what he think is necessary fast and without emotion. Also, he is a king's guard, so he can't marry or have children. These houses marry for station, not love. And his sister doesn't like Robert one bit. She loves him and he loves her in return. Do you remember him saying to Cat that he at least has always been faithful to her sister, unlike Ned who has strayed? I'm not saying he isn't selfish or he is moral. But given the chance to do something good when it doesn't cost him much, he does the right thing, he is loyal to those he cares about and he is not downright evil like his offspring.

I don't think his brief bouts of thinking of others make up for a lifetime of mostly thinking of himself.