The Useless Critic 2.0

There has been a lot of build up to the third season of Game of Thrones. The first season was absolutely stellar, the second season, ehhh, a little not as stellar, and now we have the first half of the big, fat fatty book A Storm of Swords, where all hell starts breaking loose and - in case you thought everyone you loved was safe, you little Sansa - people start dropping like flies. The thing about all this reading and watching and spoilering business is that I hoped to take the edge off the hunger pains I was having by the first of March. It did not help. I had the bar set pretty high in terms of expectations, only to lower them slightly after reading a review of the first episode that said there was a lot of talking and exposition, to get you set up for the rest of the season. But it didn't matter, in the end. Because Game of Thrones. So I'm also building on what Kurt already wrote -- and his review is awesome, btw -- and I'm trying not to repeat so much or at leas...