Just ignore him. There's a combination of factors at work here:

1) He's trolling because he loves to get a rise out of people.
2) He doesn't understand what makes the show good and what people find appealing about because he judges the merit of shows on some other aesthetic base (action).
3) I'm not sure that he's a "smart" enough viewer to really pick up on the intrigue and foreshadowing that's taking place, so to him it just looks like a bunch of people talking.

The primary factor at work here is #1.

This show has more in common with the Soprano's than with Lord of the Rings.

The show isn't for you. It isn't about action in the least. It's about the crafting of many branching and interweaving storylines. Just stop watching and stop trolling.

I was wondering if they were going to finish the tourney in this episode. I thought they would since it seemed like only a half hour elapsed and then....end credits.

It was a great scene because Tyrion was at first very happy to see Catelyn since he missed her at Winterfell. Then it all went badly for him.

I loved how they captured Catelyn polling the room for support prior to moving on Tyrion. It was great tactically because she was not going to make a move unless she knew the odds were to her advantage. They translated that bit from the book masterfully.

You guys should just put Wendler on ignore. Works for me.

I can't get over how well Game of Thrones is paced. As the credits for each episode roll I can't believe that an hour has passed.

Yeah, it shows that she's also a shrewd politician and manipulator and perfectly capable at the Game of Thrones (more adept than her husband... after all... she is a Tully).

Watched it early this morning. Good episode. I think that next week is going to continue to be mainly buildup with the big badass episode coming in EP6 (I know that someone posted a synopsis of each episode, but I don't really remember what it said).

One thing I noticed about this episode:

They did a good job of filling in a lot back story without hitting you over the head with it. The Septon's quizzing Sansa in the throne room to get a bit more info about the Mad King, Viserys talking about the dragons, Sam talking about his relationship with his father, and Littlefinger telling Sansa about The Hound and The Mountain.

Good stuff. I just wish they would have built up the tourney a bit more. Hopefully there will be more in the next episode.

Hodor!

I liked the episode, but I think they were too subtle for the death at the tourney to have the proper weight with people unfamiliar with the books.

The scene with Catelyn at the end had me holding my breath though.

The show ended with me expecting more tourney next week. They have characters that still need to be introduced (Loras...). Only featuring a single joust would be a bit of a let-down.

shorty's in trouble

Sam might be the biggest pussy in HBO's history.

Hopefully he grows a pair or at least becomes interesting.

Sam becomes pretty important, but it'll be a while.

Yeah, they're doing a great job with him. I remember completely hating him and being annoyed by him while reading the books. I think it gets worse before it gets better, if I remember correctly.

I remember seeing things in the previews before the start of the season from the tourney so I assume they will finish it up next week. They probably broke it up because they needed a cliffanger to end this episode, and the arresting of Tyrion was perfect for that.