I enjoyed this one thoroughly. Much of the exposition (so deadly in television) is now done. The writers are feeling more free to invent scenes that aren't in the book, in order to explore relationships more deeply--also, in the case of a brothel scene, to explore, er, other things more, er, deeply.
All the actors are doing a good job. I'm beginning to enjoy Aiden Gillen's performance as Littlefinger; his part's beginning to warm up (cough). And John Bradley is beginning to find his feet (or perhaps the writers are...) as Samwell Tarly. It was great to see Charles Dance--nifty bit of casting, and strong writing for his introductory scene. I loved the deer business. I do miss Harry Lloyd--though, of course, we're going to miss a lot of them before this season's done. I would like to have checked in briefly with Bran but I understand the difficulties inherent in this kind of multi-viewpoint tapestry.
A minor irritation: having Ghost bark and run about like a dog. Ghost is meant to be a scary, silent direwolf, not a police dog bounding joyously into the fray.
A question for those of you with musical expertise: has the opening theme mix changed? It sounded different to me this week. I heard the drums more. I'm perfectly prepared to accept that a) I'm imagining it, or b) the fact that we weren't watching the HD version might make a difference in sound quality but it would be great to hear from others on this.
