Welcome back Mimi! It's good to have the whole gang together again.

About the Varys scene: it's not confusing or out of the blue, it just seems that way to Tyrion at first. Tyrion walks in on Varys as he's opening the box that just arrived from Essos. Varys knows what's inside so he starts telling the story of the sorceror knowing he'll open the lid at the end of the story to reveal the subject of the story. I thought it ws actually better than in the books because in the boks I thought Varys just kind of brings up the story out of nowhere. Here, Varys has a reason to tell this particular story (the sorceror is in the box in front of them) and he's giving Tyrion advice on revenge, which Tyrion asked about when he first came in.

It seems like a lot of people think Varys is keeping the sorceror in the box for fun. As if he's had him for a while and just opens the box up now and then to look at him. No. The box was shipped from essos. Varys has spent years trying to get his hands on this guy and now his spies have sent the guy to him.

The range of hosts is what this show is all about. I'll happily respect the opinions of others, but I love all you folks (Ashley, Amin, Mimi, and Kyle) as well as the people on this forum and the many opinions that are put on display.

Very interesting. It does make sense he would tell that story right then, because his special package just arrived. And I also agree that it JUST arrived. It's confusing to me why lots of people think he's had it for a while.

The Bolton men were never dressed as Greyjoys. In fact they don't have any house sigil on their clothing. Also, since ramsay killed all the men in the forest, the men back at the castle have no idea what happened in the woods. All they know is that the boss told them to pretend he's not the boss in front of the prisoner. They probably believe Ramsay's lie and are more motivated to torture Theon.

They are wearing the same coats, hats, and helmets that the Greyjoys wore earlier. I have no idea why.

Nice catch. Though could those coats just be standard issue soldier wear of the north or something the Greyjoys picked up in Winterfell? Still no house sigils to specify their allegiance. And Theon would know they weren't the men he was with at Winterfell.

Well said Pod's.

Why would anyone ask someone else to censor themselves or be insincere?
Maybe it is just the echo chamber society we live in but are people so insecure that they can not listen to opinions that differ from their own? I strongly disagree with Mimi's take on the quality of ADwD but I always value her conclusions. I am incredulous that people would find life more interesting with LESS Mimi in it.

Glad to have you back Mimi! Congratulations on your upcoming graduation. Hope you have a great trip. Look forward to your next return (brynden -how many podcast returns is this for Mimi now? ) and continued Chasing it up.

Thanks for the episode guys, made a bus ride substantially better for me. Also very nice to hear that Fred and Greg Lannister are canon now, thanks Kyle.

I think people may be exaggerating Mimi's negativity in this episode. Her recap of Season 2 was an added bonus on the episode, one that I'm sure the majority of the listener base wanted to hear, I enjoyed it. In general her appearance did mix up the formula of the earlier S3 review episodes, but Kyle kept things flowing along very well. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Mimi, even if there will be a 3 week gap, so episodes 9 and 10?

@Adriene:

Varys told his story to Tyrion in ACoK to emphasize his hatred of magic, Stannis was approaching KL, presumably with Melisandre in tow. Ideally, in the HBO show his story would've been in the Blackwater episode. As it stands, I'm going to wait and see what, if anything, they'll do with the wizard-in-a-box before passing judgement.

The men in Theon's cell in his first scene of S3 are wearing Greyjoy garb, identical to what Theon's men wore in S2. The main torturer does not however, nor do any of the hunters in the forest. I agree that it's not explicit at all, I didn't catch it before reading it on the forum and rewatching.

I got the part about his hatred of magic in the books. It just came off as very non sequitir to me in the books, whereas in the show the reason for bringing up the story was that he was opening up the crate right then.



I just tok it as soldier garb, not Greyjoy garb, as there's no sepcific sigil on it.

That's what I was trying to point out with the picture I posted, their breastplates do have the Greyjoy kraken on them. Admittedly, I only noticed it because it's the same armor Theon wears for most of S2.

My take on it is that when Dagmer and the other Ironborn went to give Theon to Ramsay, he just killed them all and took their clothes and gear, dressed his men up in them and started his mindfuck masquerade. Ramsay reinforces the deception in S03E04, fabricating the story of him being from Saltcliffe.

Ah. I missed that. That would make it evn more fucked up and even sadder when Theon says the men told him his father knew what was happening. I thought he meant his father knew he'd been captured by someone else, not that his father had thrown him in a dungeon and sanctioned his torture.

I enjoy the podcast overall, regardless of who is on. However I think with the show review/recaps you've got to be a bit more accommodating towards how the show runners have chosen to do things (we're on the third season now after all), and perhaps put a bit more thought into the 'why?' behind those decisions rather than getting fixated on what was or wasn't included in the books in truth. Sure, it's great when they are faithful to a book scene, but the show is its own thing now. The books are still there.

Getting irate about lack of Jayne Westerling when we're several episodes past the introduction of Talisa Maegyr is kind of inane really (sorry). Why did they do it? Well probably because they needed to give Richard Madden something to do beyond standing around in a suit of armour for an entire season looking moody and going nowhere, and given Westerling is a throwaway character swapping her out for someone new who could give a bit more dimension to the world beyond Westeros with her tales of Volantis as well as act as a natural exposition foil (as in her scene with Cat) because she's largely unfamilar with Westerosi ways is beneficial when trying to put across certain concepts to an audience, the vast majority of whom are unfamilar with the books.

Dany season two? To a pure viewer they need to see some story line development. Season one, Dany goes from passive child to taking charge of her Dothraki and becoming 'mother of dragons'. Season two is about her hitting the reality that she has nothing of value save her dragons and she is a very long way from the iron throne. The whole dressing down she received from the Spice king was all about highlighting these hard truths to her in no uncertain terms. Certainly she doesn't initially take being rebuffed very well (she has dragons..surely that is reason enough to support her in her conquest of Westeros no? She's certainly playing to Viserys tune in that regard), but ultimately when she is required to act with reason when confronted with the false temptations in the house of the undying, she does so because the cries of her children draw her back. Certainly not the greatest scenes for sure (I'd of liked more and different Warlocks), but having come off the money pit that was Blackwater..snowed out throne room and surprise Drogo appearance wasn't that bad. Also the exercise served to highlight that a special bond exists between Danys and the Dragons, which is important for the viewers to understand as the series progresses.

I'll be honest ...this is not difficult stuff.

OMG Mimi is BACK . Podcast was worth the wait.

I welcome Mimi's the nerd rage and negativity, its a refreshing change of pace.

Did anyone else feel intense pain whenever Mimi used the word "my boyfriend" ..or was it just me

you make a good point about using talisa as a point of exposition for how westerosi customs differ from the free cities. i guess i just don't enjoy her character, and think that developing jeyne westerling would've served most of the same purposes (excluding introducing volantis, obv).



i genuinely wince and am filled with self-loathing whenever i start a sentence with "MY BOYFRIEND" because it's so obnoxious, but i figured nobody would know who i was talking about if i referred to him by name and he'd probably be offended if i referred to him obliquely as "the person i watched with."

Yeah, but the thing I don't like about Talisa is all the weird shit her presence says about gender roles and shit. You're right about serving as a useful exposiition dumping site though.

I was just jape-ing , now i feel bad

I think it's endearing that in the age of the ME-ME internet (pun only partially intended) someone might make the conscious choice to sit out on a regular podcast for an extended period of time because they were concerned about tainting the views of newcomers to the series. I just thought real world concerns had been a'callin.

It almost makes you want to reach out and say: "Don't go Mimi. We newcomers apply our projected feelings of misanthropic hate and irrational paranoia across the podcast equally."

It's a hallmark moment.

Seriously though, I do think that's touching.

Fun podcast and great to have Mimi back even if I tend to disagree with her. Great and strong opinions are always welcome!

Good question - I really do not know. Especially because we will get the next "Mimi stikes back" Episode in about 4 weeks. This Mimo-girl surely does not know when it is enough

BTW: Your question got me thinking about another bit of statistics: I looked up which host has the longest continuous list of appearances - no big surprise on the first place: Amin who has been in the last 34 episodes! (no episode without Amin since ep. 72, and to be fair: 71 was GirlsNO - would have been impressive if he had been on that also). The real surprise was the second place: Chase - he has been on 17 episodes in a row (20-36).

The episode itself was good - Ashley is somehow very grumpy, it looks she is taking the show and its diversions from the book more and more to heart. Cheer up a bit - nobody is taking "your" hound away - there will always be the books (and to be fair: Martin does not describe courtly life appropriatly at all - not enough bowing in the books also).

It is great that mimi is back - and as she pointed out: For her normal feelings on the show she was very positive in this episode.

Kyle was shiny as always, I like how he tries to "moderate" those TV-episodes. It would be great if he sometimes could tell a bit more "behind the scenes" stuff - as an actor you surely have more insights in certain aspects of which scenes have to be fun/hard/whatever for the actors...

Amin/Ashley: How was the convention?

And again: What did you change with the audio - it is great at least in the last 2 episodes (we even hear Kyle's little birds now)...

First off, I really enjoy Mimi, and I thought she was great this episode. She had a lot of positive points to make about this season and last, and I agree with several of her criticisms. I think I had the wrong impression of her. Last year, it seemed as though she had dismissed the show outright, which bothered me, because, while there have been missteps, I still regard it is an excellent TV show, and very solid adaptation of an impossibly complex series. I love the fact that she has caught up with the show, and can now lend her much valued opinion to the show.

However, I feel like she still needs to accept the show on its own terms. While the showrunners have tried hard to stick as closely to the material as possible, they are still adapted thousands of pages of material into a ten episode season. Things will be condensed, and things will be cut. We can't start flipping tables over every change. A word for word regurgitation of the books would be an incoherent mess. That said, there are definitely changes I did not like. In my mind, they botched the Halfhand story. Having the wildlings chase the scouts, picking them off one by one, would have been far more cinematic. But there is no way they could have included the bloody mummer subplot. It's easier to just have them be Roose's men from the beginning. It also builds up the sinister reputation of the Bolton's, and subtly connects them to Theon's torturers, without revealing the overall treachery.

As for whether the show will ever eclipse the scope of the show, I have to agree with Amin (I think it was him), who said that as long as they get to the point where book 3 ends, I'll be satisfied. There is sense of closure there anyway, with the ending of the war, and the accession of Dany and Jon to power.

P.S. Why does everyone hate the Hound in the show? I realize people were annoyed by the lack of SanSan in season 2, but his scenes in season 3 have been great. Rory Mccann has such an imposing presence, and his guttural delivery of lines is the perfect mix of anger and bitterness. And that fight scene in episode 5 was the best so far. He was like a wild animal. So when Ashley says, "He's not the Hound," I'm not quite sure what she means. Is he not mean enough?

Great to have Mimi back but I felt that the other 3 members of the podcast had, at the beginning of season 3, kind of accepted that the show and the books will be different from each other, whereas I got the impression that Mimi hadn't really been able to separate the two yet, mainly because she was not present during that discussion you guys had in episode 1 of season 3 and I thought that was a real shame because I wanted to hear her thoughts on all that but I guess we sort of touched on it this time.

I like it when a show can surprise me and some additional scenes are great (see everything Margaery/Olenna). Other changes I don't mind because everyone interprets the characters from the books differently (insert "the Hound" or "Tywin enjoying prostitutes" here) so everything that touches on character assassination, etc. is purely subjective to me because most of the people who read the books have a very distinctive idea about what that character should be like. I for example didn't like Dany in the books from the very beginning because she's so beautiful and honourable and then suddenly entitled and cruel and crazy and everyone forgives her for her excesses blablabla..that's for another day. Point is, lots of people would probably disagree with me when I tell them that to me Dany would whine and complain about not getting what she wanted in season 2 because that's how she came across to me in ACOK. That does not make the show bad. It's just a different interpretation of her character. And when they change stuff around in the plot (like Cersei marrying Loras instead of Willas or the Theon stuff) I'm always curious as to where they are going with it (and not in a dismissive sort of way) and how, if ever, they will bring it back in line. The Ramsay/Theon stuff this season is, as far as I understand it, a real mystery for non-book readers and has them guessing, which can be fun. Plus, it helps that it's very well acted obviously.

On a sidenote, is Mimi now a sadomasochist for finding Ramsay cute ? You're definitely right: Martin must have had some bad experiences with wormy lips...

Once agin, great show guys; keep 'em coming.

PS: is the review for episode 5 also coming next Monday or is it going to be released sooner? Just asking because we can all agree that we can't get enough of your interesting discussions.

Thirding and seconding this, respectively. I'd much prefer uncensored and unvarnished opinions from everyone, whether I agree with them or not. If listener sentiment were reversed, I'd hate for Kyle to push down his enthusiasm for the show just as much as I don't like for Mimi's rage to lose any of its edge.

I actually think Ashely takes the prize for nerdrage this episode, both for the sudden burst of fireworks over the Don Juan de Pod situation and the slow burning underground conflagration over the Hound that we caught a glimpse of.

This was awesome was great to have all of you guys on! I hardly know anyone else who has read the books as well as watched the show so I appreciate the nerd rage - I feel like there are people that understand me! Everyone has their pet plot point, scene, character etc that they really connect with so everyone is going to get mad at different changes - doesn't mean they're being irrational, it just means that the show can't please everyone. Why do people have to be rational? Sometimes I just hate something that they've done/changed from the books in the show and I can't get over it. Obviously Ashley is going to be more annoyed at changes to the Hound in the show because that's one of her favourite characters.

It's also fine to be annoyed at things from previous seasons, especially if those changes have snowballed and have bigger ramifications down the line. I don't so much care that they changed Jeyne to Talisa because I particularly care about the character, I'm just not a Talisa fan because her attitude just seems so out of place and not believable in the show, and the Robb/Talisa relationship is just really stereotypical and something we've seen a million times before. I don't want this lame love story, and as much as I like that they decided to make Robb more prominent in the tv show, they didn't have to go down this route. I know I need to get over it, but I'm STILL annoyed that they changed Bran and Rickon's 'deaths' being common knowledge, and now it seems that Robb and Catelyn think they're probably dead but they might just be missing? It just completely changes their motivations and the reasons for their mistakes in ways that go against their characters.

Anyway, keep the nerd rage coming is what I'm trying to say!

Agreed. I'd like to say for the millionth time that we love all of you just the way you are. Don't change!!

THIS X 100. i know that ashley is much more sensitive to changes that deal with the hound and san/san, whereas those deviations don't stress the rest of us out as much. i was pretty oblivious to the things a lot of people consider huge problems with jon snow's story north of the wall, because it wasn't a plotline i connected deeply with in the books. and this is why dany is breaking my heart right now, when the majority of the viewership is generally fairly satisfied with the interpretation of her plotline.

Very true, I have nightmares about what will happen with Dorne next season and the North in two or three seasons. It's scary not knowing how they'll handle it

To be fair, I don't think you have to be a massive Dany fan to hate what they did to her character in season 2. She is so much better now though! I've decided that Emilia Clarke should always just speak in Valyrian from now on and I will forgive her anything.

You've got to give her credit for learning not one, but two made-up languages for this role.

I am a newcomer to the podcast and think you guys do a great job.


Just really wanted to say this piece about Stannis being on the front lines. I feel like this was a very good addition for the show as we don't really get a sense of how righteous he is in the show. While most generals command from the rear there is something extremely powerful about those who command from the front. Stannis wholeheartedly believes he should be king and whats more, he'll be the first one up the ladder to TAKE his kingdom. His men have to literally drag him away when they get routed. I thought this was huge on character building for show Stannis.

Yeah, I think I said at the time that it makes sense: Stannis doesn't have the charisma of his brothers. Ned Stark was not particularly charismatic, but Stannis doesn't even have whatever little Ned had.

Therefore the only real way he could inspire loyalty is to get out there and lead by example. And is it just me, or does he have less bodyguard protection than, say, Robb or Tywin?