BigBeagle

My only disappointment with this episode is we didn't get to see Abby's Halloween costume ... she always has such good ones. Agree with all the other posters who are enjoying this season so much more than recent times. Show has really caught its second wind, it seems.

twoods, did you ever watch Battlestar Galactica? She was a guest star in the BSG movie "Razor."

This show has become my TV guilty pleasure. I don't care about the nonsensical scenes (only one backup of the critically important information? Reaalllly?), the hit-and-miss performances (other than the lead guy and Robert Patrick, nobody's been totally solid so far, and McPhee's been nothing more than a doe-eyed cypher), or the fact that if I think too much about the plot, my brain will hurt. This show entertains me, and you really can't ask for more than that.

I agree with most of the posts on this ep ... I figured out who the bad guy was way too fast, the constant "hey, this is Nawlins, it's really special!" references are beginning to bug the crap out of me and the sooner Bakula loses the fake NO accent the better. I do have faith, however, that the show will smooth out most of that stuff as it goes along, and I like the cast (I'm even warming up to the forensic tech guy a little), so I'm still watching.

This show still stretches credulity, but dang if it isn't still entertaining, also. Robert Patrick kicked all kinds of butt tonight. Ari Stidham did, too. Jadyn Wong is still the winkest link, but maybe she'll come around. I'm still in.

I really like Lucas Black's take on this character ... he's a mixture of southern charm and menace, if that makes sense. When he's hanging with the team, he's all "aw shucks" and his drawl is more pronounced. But when he's dealing with bad guys, you get the sense he wants them to try something stupid so he can beat them upside the head.

It took me forever to place the actor, and then it hit me -- it's Finch from "American Pie!" I will never forgive this show if they don't have a cameo character in the near future named Stifler's Mom.

All things considered, it was ok. I seem to recall the NCIS mothership was kinda uneven the first year, and goodness knows, the LA spinoff was, as well, so I'm going hold any judgment in abeyance for now. I did like Ms. Pounder and Lucas Black ... those two brought it big-time. And I thought Bakula's accent was a lot better than it was in the backdoor pilot. I think the Brody character will grow on me, as well, but I really don't know what to make of that Sebastian guy just yet. Long story short, I'm in.

I'm with NYGirl ... why didn't they just land the stupid plane?

Except for the WTF-ery of the climax at the airport, I liked this, and will continue watching.

I've loved CCH Pounder since first season ER way back in the day. If her character is anywhere near that good on this show, I will be well pleased.

I should have taken acting classes more seriously in high school.

From The Recombination Hypothesis, after Sheldon discovered his life-sized Spock cutout was not of the Nimoy variety: Sheldon: Live long and suck it, Zachary Quinto.

You could use Hodor for almost all the curse words in this show. ARYA: Lots of people name their swords. HOUND: Lots of Hodors.

That's priceless. I might faint with pleasure if that happened. WRT the next Hand of the King, I really have no clue who it'll be. Jaime might get the nod ... he's never wanted it, but he might do it for family; Pycelle's out ... he's a doddering old fool and you need more than a bootlicker as your Hand; as for Mace, I have a feeling (I haven't read the books, so I don't know for sure) that Cersie's going to torch the alliance between the Lannisters and the Tyrelles, so that leaves him out as well. This being GoT, however, I wouldn't be shocked if FrankenMountain ends up in the position.

Poor Varys ... helps Tyrion escapes and has to leave King's Landing because of it ... just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished. Loved the fight between Brienne and the Hound. House Lannister is now in ruins. On one hand, you have Jaime, who doesn't want anything to do with the family, and Cersei, who has no idea how to properly run things. Tywin was right about her -- she's not half as smart as she thinks she is. Goodbye, Tywin, you magnificent bastard. You got what you deserved (I didn't believe his spiel about how he wouldn't let them execute Tyrion), but I'll miss you just the same. 'bout time Stannis turned up at The Wall.

Heh. Just goes to prove that even bear-f***ers have standards. I want to second what Lady Arcadia posted above ... I fully expected to be bored out of my skin by this episode, mainly because the Night's Watch storyline has been such a non-starter for me. Instead, I found this one of the most engrossing hours of the series. The ep started on a light note, with Sam trying to find some legal loophole that would let him get into Gilly's pants, then ramped up nice and evenly until all hell broke loose with the battle. Even then, there were plenty of nice character moments (Sam and Pyp, Grenn Team Six, Boss Crow and Jon, etc.). The only disappointment I had was finding out Gilly didn't cave in Slynt's head with a frozen leg of lamb.

"We should have stayed in that cave." Oh, my poor Ygritte, you really should have. This was the first time in a long while that I gave a flip about the what was going on at the wall. Director and editor did a wonderful job splicing the battle together ... it had a wonderfully tense feel to it.

I lucked out ... the first episode I saw was from Season 3, which is when the show really got rolling ... If I had started watching in either Season 1 or 2, I probably would have given up.

Hopefully, what we saw from Sansa is a girl who is sick and tired of being a victim and who knows enough about court intrigue (from 3+ years of observation) to gain at least of a little power base for herself. I don't believe she's gone over to the dark side (she has too much Stark in her for that), but she's definitely given up on the fairy tale she clung to for so long.

I agree with this. I know this is a dark show, and a happy ending is probably too much to ask for, but if Show continually beats down the good guys while elevating the bad ones, GoT will get just as boring as if the good guys won all the time.

Re: Jorah ... I felt bad for the guy, but he did have quite a while to come clean about his former transgressions. At least Barriston was upfront about things from the get-go. Re: Sansa ... I like that she's finally wising up, but I doubt seriously she can go toe-to-toe with Littlefinger. IMO, he's the most dangerous man in Westeros. Re: The Boltons ... I'm beginning to get bored with Ramsey. He wants to be Joffrey when he grows up, and we all know what happened to King Joff. Re: Arya ... The laugh was totally priceless, and I'm sure Show will conspire to keep her and Sansa apart. Re: The Wildings ... I think Jon and Ygritte's reunion will be one to remember. Re: Oberyn ... Too bad he never watched "The Incredibles" and learn the danger of monologueing. Re: Tyrion ... If he dies, I'm done with this show.

Oops ... my bad. As for my season rankings, I'm going to cop out a little bit and put the trifecta of seasons 3-5 at the top ... there were just so many really good episodes and surprisingly few clunkers during those three years. I can't choose between them -- and you can't make me :) Next, I'd go with season 7, even if it has that dreadful Felgar episode in it (plus, you could begin to see RDA check out of some eps). After that, I'd go with season 9, for the joy of seeing Ben Browder and Claudia Black regularly on my TV screen again, season 10 (ditto, plus the series finale hit most of the right buttons, killing off Thor's race notwithstanding), season 2 (very uneven), season 8 (extremely uneven), season 1 (you could tell they didn't have a handle on their characters yet) and season 6 (Jonas ... 'nuff said).

Any conversation of worst episodes has to include Hathor and the purple smoke of horniness. As for best episodes, there are several which are arguably better, but I will forever love Window of Opportunity.

Nice to see so many familiar faces here. BTW, if Codger won't show up to talk about Vala's butt, I'll be more than happy to. :-)