Robb's post-battle speech was limp, deflated and uninteresting. I got a mild case of geek upset-ed-ness when I noticed Tyrion didn't mention the gold coin in his recounting of the Tysha story (you know what I mean, book readers), but then again it's probably a detail he'd leave out anyway.
But generally?
Man, loved this. Loved it. I'm utterly tired of this show getting so many dead on casting and performances - we had a great Walder Frey this week, and with so much else happening in the episode him owning the role in that one scene flashes by in a blink.
Yeah, the hall was small, but I never got the impression the Freys were that well stocked in anything but offspring in the books, so it worked fine. A dour reception from a doddering old man.
The first two battles of the war, and we see NONE of the fighting, nor does Tyrion even get to fight, as he does in the book.
In fairness, we see absolutely nothing of Whispering Wood in the books either. Like apparently everyone else, I always expecting Game of Thrones to be a little like Rome in that it'd elide the actual battles for budgetary concerns, so I'm not surprised or annoyed.
Besides, Tyrion not even fighting in the battle makes just as much sense as him doing anything, and it allowed the TV drama to flow a lot more smoothly - as the point of that segment, soon revealed, was the trick Robb pulled on the Lannisters.
...still, I wouldn't be surprised if we see
certain battles somewhere down the line.
-Good stuff at the wall. Longclaw! Always loved the revelation that Aemon was a Targaryen.
The reveal of Longclaw reminded me the series has done absolutely nothing to build up Ice, Ned Stark's broadsword, which is also Valyrian steel - but eh, that doesn't matter much. As keen viewers may have noted, he no longer has any need of it...
Anyway I think Aemon's reveal worked a little better in the books because the readers were already fairly familiar with the Maester when the revelation came. Considering how he's been used in the series so far, I'd forgive casual viewers for confusing him with Jeor Mormont (the guy who gave Jon that sword, casual viewers!).
