he thought brienne's father was buying her back at the time he left. he only returned when he realized she wouldn't be bought back because locke expected sapphires, not gold.

Plus the sapphires bit gives him the extra push since now it was his possibly fault that this was happening to her.

Yeah but all of that could have been taken care of while he was still there. Making him turn back only dragged out the plot longer.

I don't think it could of. The way in which he forced his captors to go back after he had already left was essential.

Still a guess on my part but to be fair you basically already know he has to be at the Dreadfort (not only was Bolton's bastard the one who was sent to take him but he's on a fucking cross which is the sigil of their house). It pretty much has to be him since he is in command. Also having read the first and second books Theon's arc in the second book plays out a bit differently and he's already met Bolton's bastard by the time he gets captured.

How so (unless the answer would spoil something)?

i think its intriguing that jaime as the prisoner has all the control.

sorry, im just jumping in here. never thought to go to a game of thrones thread here.

But he also exercises that control when he jumps into the pit so I still don't see why the whole leaving and turning back thing was necessary.

How is it not necessary? It's all part of his character development.

He was finally headed home and had his captors take him back because he realized Brienne was going to die because of him. That's different from "hey guys don't kill her while I'm here. Or you know what, Brienne, just tag along." It's a more meaningful gesture. But he couldn't do the latter anyways because it seemed like briennes father would be paying her ransom when he left.

I don't think Creeps way saves any time. He needs to hear the ominous words from Locke but still think she's valuable so won't be harmed and leave. If he doesn't leave he hears the words and then he's still got to find out that she's not being ransomed (suggesting a dialog) and make the decision to go save her. He makes two decisions here. First, he manipulates them into going back because he sees she's in danger (and that he put her there). Then he needs to (when Locke refuses to release her) actually decide to put his own life at risk.

I think the episode could have been easily tweaked so all that could have been accomplished without having to back step. The jump into the pit and his unyielding resolve to secure her safety afterwards are enough development on their own. If the creators weren't bound to the strict format of a television show, superfluous scenes like that and Theon's torture could be consolidated into a more concise presentation. The fact that they aren't cutting those kinds of scenes is probably a result of having to kill some time in order to stretch the book out into two seasons.

If I were to rework that scene it would involve Jaime getting ready to leave, then hearing the crowd around the arena. He runs up and asks why her father won't pay a ransom or whatever, and that's when he finds out he's responsible for her situation, so then he jumps into the pit, using his personal value to protect her and then out of the pit exercises his clout to ensure her protection from thereon.

They've been doing a really good job making every moment useful up until this point (aside from the Theon) so hopefully they're just adding a little filler in the middle so they can carry on with the quality of the previous episodes.

I think you are forgetting that Jamie had been imprisoned for over a year and lost his hand. Most people in that position would want to leave and never look back. That makes his returning that much more significant.

They also wouldn't want to jump into a bear pit. I thought his turning back was necessary until the bear pit scene. It trumps everything else he did in that episode.

Also that episode was 59 minutes which is longer than the others. Including that scene didnt have anything to do with dragging out the material.

Theon, while tedious, doesn't appear in the third book because this stuff happens offscreen. But they want to keep alfie Allen locked for the show so I think they feel obligated to give him more than just a few scenes. I think the torture scenes are also there for a somewhat spoilery reason I won't get into.