Before we talk about episode six, a quick word about our sponsor, iBooks.

They have these Game of Thrones enhanced editions of George R. Martin's novels that help you keep

track of the storylines and the characters in a fun and interactive way. In this episode,

John Snow treks north of the wall. And with the enhanced editions, they have this tab called

Journeys, where you can click on a character and it'll show you with lines on a map exactly where they've gone all over Westeros and Esos up until that point in the story.

These books are available exclusively on iBooks. Go to apple.co slash Game of Thrones to check them out. They're not available in all countries, but most

likely where you live. Now, let's talk episode six. Welcome to Game of Thrones Weekly. I'm

James Hibbard here with Aaron Franich, and we're talking about Beyond the Wall, an episode that

I don't know if I've seen a more divided reaction

to a Game of Thrones episode before. Some people are pretty critical of certain aspects.

Others had lavish praise. Some had both. One of our colleagues, Lynette texted me last night

saying it was the best episode the show has ever done. while some of the critics out there like Alan Seppinwall just slammed it.

So I'm really curious, Darren, where did you come down on Beyond the Wall?

I would say that if this had been merely a typical hour-long episode of Game of Thrones, I would have said, you know, didn't hate it,

didn't really like it. I kind of felt like they left a little bit of story on the table.

I think that perhaps the most deflating part of it was the realization that, yes, they were going

to just kill the least important and least interesting character

in this sort of suicide squad.

Had some issues there.

I will say, though, James, that this was a very long episode of television.

And sometimes when TV shows that are usually an hour go longer, there's the concern about,

do they just, like, not edit it down to a could

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