Now that the purple dust has settled...
The Independent (UK) thinks the Purple Wedding was more shocking than last season's Red Wedding. Meh. They're Brits and what do they know anyway?
The AV Club notes in their review for the unsullied that "to actively revel in [Joffrey's death] is to be no better than the horrific boy king himself." (Btw, if you're not reading AV Club posts regularly, you should, you horrible unwashed person(s)!)
Jack Gleeson talks about Joffrey and his decision to leave acting altogether. Various castmates have also discussed how much they're going to miss Gleeson. It's so nice when life does not imitate art. :)
Now that he's gone, would you say Joffrey was this universe's worst person? Worse than Viserys? Worse than Ramsay Snow?
There have been some departures from the book, even just around this wedding? For example, for those of you who have read the book, how do you explain Joffrey's death, since the "murder weapon" is different/altered?
Also, does Jaime's presence at his son's death change him? In the book, he only hears about it after the fact and his reaction suggests he's only sad because Cersei is sad, that he's mostly indifferent to his children. But show!Jaime actually ran over to Joffrey and looked almost grieved to see him choking. Is this character development ("look how far he's come? he pushed a kid off a ledge in Season 1") or just another thing the writers may have gotten a bit wrong?
What did you think of Cersei calling Brienne out re: her feelings for Jaime. Never so explicitly stated in the books, it does seem reasonable that Brienne has feelings for the Kingslayer. But is this a warning from Cersei? How far will she go?
One of the highlights of the episode for me was that we finally see a softer (almost maternal) side to Melisandre, which was unexpected. I also thought Stannis sticking up for Shireen was a nice touch.
Your thoughts? Share them!