So it finally happened. THE
BIG MOMENT. This is what we've all been waiting for for sure, and it did not disappoint. I can't say it was handled exactly the way i had hoped. There were some moments that really bothered me, but the impact of killings
vastly outweighed my gripes.
Missed opportunities/missteps:
The most imposing Stark man at the wedding is/was Brynden Tully AKA the Blackfish, and all he had to do was get up to take a piss to avoid getting slaughtered?
Greatjon Umbar, one of Robb's staunchest supporters/bannermen, who was present in a few episodes before this season (a big imposing fighter dude) was not present in this scene, although he was there in the book, and it took a few Frey's to take him down! That would have been great to see someone getting a few Frey kills in before being taken down.
When the Stark's and Frey's meet, they pass some bread (and onion dip

) around and all take a bite. This is of major importance: when you are invited to someone's home, and he offers you food (breaks bread with you), you are now under his protection and do not have cause to fear (especially for your life!). THIS IS BIG. Breaking this oath is considered a MAJOR curse upon your family and would present trust issues in the future. Catelyn is so dead set upon this custom in the book. She insists that Robb ask for a bite to eat when they get there so that the Freys cannot attack them because she's wary of the Freys. It would have been easy enough to have a short conversation between Catelyn and Robb to set this scene up.
Wasting precious time on this particular episode with the Yunkai/Daenerys story. Seriously I could have cared less about watching three guys walk in a back door to kill a few guards, then off camera start a slave rebellion. I wanted more wedding dammit!
What was great:
The repeated stabbing of Talia right in the breadbasket was brutal. The two neck openings were more brutal. The killing of the direwolf was brutal.
The look Walder Frey gives Robb when he sees the pretty bride that Edmure is marrying ("This is what you passed up asshole!").
The look on Catelyn's face when she realized what was about to happen. I think she's a polarizing character: you can directly point to her actions as being major factors in the downfall of the Stark household. I pretty much hate her, but man that was painful to watch her reaction as she saw her only remaining son (that she knows of) get cut down like that…ouch.
The Hound punching the pig farmer.
Jon Snow getting his face raked.
No music playing over the credits. They nailed it with this move.
The look on my friend's face when the shit hit the fan. He hasn't read the books, and I've done a great job of not spoiling anything as we watch the show together. But 10 seconds before the arrows started to fly he turns to me and says "why are they wasting all this time on a wedding reception when they've got so many other stories to get thru?". Priceless!
P.S. Roose Bolton is a fucking gentleman.
P.P.S. Bye bye Rickon and Osha! See you two years from now?
P.P.P.S. FOR BOOK READERS ONLY
So one of the first things that I saw that made me scratch my head was seeing Robb's wife (Talia/Jeyne) at the wedding. How the fuck were they going to get her out of there? I said to myself. Well, they didn't. Which now really confuses me, or maybe it really clears some things up, book wise. In the book Jeyne is left behind at Riverrun, NOT pregnant, and is promised by Tywin (and reaffirmed by Jaime) that she will remarry under the protection of the crown. But her story is a dead end book wise (so far). The fact that she's killed in the show, I guess that means she's not really ever going to be a factor in the books again?