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  ===Critical reception===
  "Second Sons" received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 20 reviews of the episode and judged 100% of them to be positive with an average score of 8 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, " 'Second Sons' shines through efficient storytelling -- and a comparatively low number of storylines to keep track of this week." Writing for IGN, Matt Fowler rated the episode a 9.0/10, and wrote "This week's well-crafted and wonderfully acted Game of Thrones gave us a cold wedding, a hot bath and a blood-letting." He especially praised the scenes between Sansa and Tyrion and between Ser Davos and Stannis. David Sims and Emily VanDerWerff, both writing for The A.V. Club, gave the episode "B" ratings. Sims was frustrated by the episode's meandering pace, but praised the end of the episode, with Sam killing the white walker, as "the most crucial, fascinating, electric moment of the night". VanDerWerff praised the use of nudity in the episode, writing "...I actually think Game Of Thrones has gotten quite a bit better at utilizing nudity and sex in the midst of everything else as a method of telling its story. It’s come a long way from the 'sexposition' days of season one, when it sometimes seemed like the series would toss some breasts into the background of a scene just in case we got bored of hearing somebody talk at length."