polyhymnia

I am hoping that Khan (he is still Zaf from Spooks to me) is not working with Tasmeen and I also noticed Carrie noticing her behavior at the sit down and am looking forward to some payoff from that moment, if Carrie ever becomes lucid again. Khan seemed mildly disturbed that the airport footage was missing so perhaps he is conducting his own internal investigation. I get the kid who played Aayan (who was in Life of Pi, right) mixed up with Dev Patel a little so I've been calling that kid "not Dev Patel." I thought Haqqani having sex with Saul in the room was a lot over-the-top.

I don't remember why we started watching it. My husband likes horror. I don't. But zombies don't scare me, so I can always watch zombie shows without getting scared. I think I had just finally read WWZ right when AMC was advertising the pilot, so we watched, loved the pilot, and have subsequently been disappointed with a lot of the rest of the show. But we keep watching, so it isn't THAT bad. My teenager started watching with us last season because apparently everyone her age does watch it which now makes me view it through the "this is not appropriate" Mom lens. But we still watch.

Hey, an MI-5 operative from Spooks in the first promo video!! I remember liking him from that show.

Nine is also my favorite. I was not a fan of the old Doctor Who. I found Four and Five tolerable, sometimes, and occasionally enjoyable but I suffered through the old Who because classic Degrassi came on right after on our local PBS (shallow tween that I was). I liked the Doctors and some of the plots but the terrible special effects were too much for me. My mom and brother were huge fans. They have both been reluctant to watch new Who but I know my brother finally took the plunge and loved it. I have a better appreciation of old Doctor Who now, and I do enjoy watching them from time to time. In some ways Tom Baker is also the doctor I always think about first. However, Eccleston brought such tremendous energy/terror/madness/fun to the role that he really, really rejuvenated all the good in past doctors and put his own stamp on it in such a way that I still miss him more than I miss Tennant or Smith. His interaction with his companion and her family, his suspicion of Jack, his dark side and light side were all magnificently done. I think the very first New Who I saw was a Tennant episode but it was interesting enough to check it out and discover that Nine really was fantastic.

I totally agree - the set up was great. Creepy, tense, interesting and then it just fizzled plus no answer to the mystery (if there was a mystery). I enjoyed all three characters this time, which was nice, but the story just didn't have anything in the last third.

My daughter (13) also thinks he is a lot like Nine. She has only watched New Who. Husband and I think Four plus Nine with a little bit of some of the others thrown in so I like that he is capturing those different elements. Storyline hasn't come together quite yet but I like him so far.

Other people have said much the same but I think he isn't really sure how to bring it home, so he just delays. I am pretty lukewarm about the quality of his writing, so am not usually all up in arms about it either way but it is very frustrating to read series that are in progress and have to wait and wait. On the other hand, I really did not like Feast of Crows or ADWD on first reading but liked the first better on re-read (probably because I skipped all of the ironborn crap, which made the Dorne story a little more tolerable) and actually like reading Brienne's tortured journey all over the map. I don't think he owes anyone anything, but I understand the frustration. I think he has an aversion to finishing it. I think there is a great story in there, somewhere, and sometimes he hits on it and sometimes the show hits on it.

Two things that I didn't like that I did not see discussed: how did Brienne and Pod not hear The Hound and Arya going on and on (well, mostly The Hound)? You'd think Brienne would be able to locate them with The Hound doing that much shouting. Jaime and Cersei hooking up in the Tower of the Hand made Jaime's freeing Tyrion seem bizarre if you had no book knowledge. He reunites with his twin only to turn right around and do the one thing that she will really hate him for? There needed to be an extra scene or some dialogue (true with many of the scenes in the finale). The Two Dragons Who Are Not Drogon made me sad. They gave Dany a weird mix of a sad puppy/betrayed kid look that was pretty well done considering they are not real. And the crying was haunting. F'ing Drogon indeed.

I enjoyed Arya laughing but I liked the bit of dialogue right before when she said something about thinking Joffrey's death would make her happy and the Hound grumps "Nothing makes you happy." That made me chuckle more than her hysterical laughter. I averted my eyes before the actual skull crushing. Was Sansa's hair a different color in her Mockingjay getup or was it just the lighting?

I'm not sure that many unsullied are making the connection between the leeches and the king deaths, but maybe that is just the unsullied that I know. I have to say that it is sort of fun and unsettling being unsullied/unspoiled for some of the new plot twists.

Am I remembering correctly from the books that when Arya picked Polliver as one of her three names it was largely in response to the story he and the Mountain's other men were telling about raping the innkeeper's daughter? So they used the same scene, just had the Hound and Arya intervene. The innkeeper kept telling the Mountain that his daughter wasn't a whore, the Mountain paid the innkeeper, raped the girl in front of him, paid him, and then made him give the Mountain change. Polliver thought the story was hilarious and Arya's picked his name (instead of torture guy, who she picked in the show). Right? They did a great job with Oberyn and Ellaria, I thought. I really hope we get a Tyrion/Jaime scene before the Purple Wedding. It will be a wasted opportunity if not.