The wedding was particularly well handled, with plenty of peripheral scenes and great subtle "sleigh of hand" moves performed on screen by Lady Olenna, that I doubt many non readers will have caught on before the culprit is revealed next week and they've rewatched the scenes. Diana Rigg was excellent throughout the whole thing, with plenty of little body language moments in the background during the episode.
Sophie Turner was another who was excellent in her non verbal acting in the whole episode. I'm very divided over what they've done so far with Sansa on the show, but at least the actress is able to convey much more non verbally then the writers have given her to work with. I hope she emerges as a more important character once she's with Littlefinger. That said, I really liked the moment when she risked angering Joffrey by fetching the cup for Tyrion.
Some great interactions at the wedding. It shows from the lot of great lines that Martin was at the helm for this episode. Jaime/Loras was fun, Oberyn/Cersei was fun, Olenna pulled a good act with Tywin (she was through the whole thing a consummate actress, making it credible her family, that appear to lose everything and gain nothing for the time being, won't be suspected much by the Lannisters).
The new Tommen looks suitably innocent and boyish. From reactions from early viewers I was worried they cast him way, way too old looking, but he's still young enough for some serious contrast with Margaery to remain. I'm eager to see how they'll adapt to the fact he's 4 years older than in the books, though. They'll have to make him much more immature than he looks, and than his already immature late brother, if they intend to keep some of his traits from the books, but I guess there's plenty of substitute stuff they could use for the kitties or outlawing beets and such, that would be more in line with the interests of a 11-12 y.o. That said, book Tommen really is a momma's boy and terribly immature for his age, and the TV show kind of implied that Cirsei kept him out of the way and cocooned, so we'll see where they go with that.
Another big success of the episode was the way Tyrion's humiliation was handled. Rewriting the jousting scene they couldn't possibly film (unless using fairly expensive CGI for pig/dog and riders) into the war of the Five Kings with dwarves was a really great idea from Martin, and they really pulled off a great scenes, with great reactions from the characters, from Tommen to Sansa. Martin also adapted really well to the show's differences, such as including a direct slight to Loras.
I'm not quite sure where the Oberyn/Loras thing is heading, though I suspect Oberyn had ulterior motives other than sexual desire. Knowing that Loras is Mace's only son on the show and there's no reason for big resents between the Tyrells and Dorne because Oberyn never crippled their heir, it makes me wonder if Oberyn won't give a cause for Olenna/Mace to hate the Martells by doing something to Loras.
I rather liked the exchange over Cersei between Loras and Jaime.
That too set my mind running.
In the book, the Tyrells refuse Tywin's offer of Cersei's hand for Willas. In the series, however, they appear not to have refused a wedding proposal since Loras and Jaime are now discussing the question openly. I really wonder if this won't lead to Loras being named to the Kingsguard in this season after all, which with him being heir to Highgarden and engaged to Cirsei would have much more impact and repercussions than it had in the books and that they could exploit, either to further strain the Tyrells/Lannisters relationship, or to further tear apart the Lannisters themselves. This would also echo Jaime's own back story.
Didn't like:
- I'm still not very fond of the way they develop Stannis. He appeared none too enthusiastic in comparison to his fanatic wife, but I still prefer book Stannis.
- Tyrion-Shae. They're really turning this into a soap opera.