FemmyV

I expect it was something very much like that, perhaps even a contractual obligation that they wouldn't reveal Snow's fate until he gets his book published. KH's EW interview looks like it was heavily scripted on his part, and very softball on EW's part. They probably had to agree to do it D & D's way in order to get the interview in the first place.

This isn't so Democratic as Amsterdam; this is a gathering of alpha males, often obsessed with outdoing each other, and they're all going to want to be seen with the hottest babe in the room. As for "ultimate satisfaction," I get the idea that's done in more private rooms.

Or maybe she was banging Blake and just happened to get raped by someone else.

David Morse is her dad. Flashback guy wasn't him. I don't think. If nothing else, flashback guy doesn't look like someone the uber-rich are going to take spirit advice from. Preview for next week, it looks like

Ani being molested (or worse) at the camp doesn't have to be a storyline in itself, could just be character background that goes a long way to explaining her feelings towards her father and the camp. Or maybe I just don't want David Morse to be a Bad Guy in this.

Frank set up two of the major, intersecting, corruption stories: He set up Ray to kill his wife's (assumed) rapist, "go bad" as a cop & become part of his team. Then his waste company devalued the land under the future rail corridor, making it easier for the partners to buy up the land at a cheap price. So, let's try this out: Suppose James Frain and the newly dead chick were the kids in the diamond heist story. And maybe Caspere and Stan pulled it off. But why would Caspere still be holding the diamonds 20 years later?

In EP 2, Ani said there were 5 kids at her dad's commune, and that 2 suicided, 2 were in jail, and the other (Ani) became a cop. How sure can we be, that the other two are still in jail? What if they were victims of Caspere, et al? What if they aren't in jail anymore? And what if Frank's wife's "operations" weren't all abortions, but were medically necessary as a result of childhood sexual assault?

Frank was betting that Ray would go kill the guy. In so doing, he created a crooked cop whose secret he would keep in exchange for future favor. It's entirely possible that Frank ordered the attack in the first place.

For the symbolism fans: When Ray wakes up after his weird dad dream, at the murder-scene house, the song playing in the background is Warren Zevon's "Detox Mansion." Something he recorded after coming out of rehab in the late '80s.

And she's not around anymore. Robin is young and weak and a tyrant. And LF is his legal guardian. The odds of some accident befalling him, before he can come into rightful control of the Vale, are 5:1

That's as good a spec as any, considering all the talk about

Think of Varys riddle and transport it: A priest, Robin and Baelish each command a sell-sword to kill the other two. Who lives?

I can see Roose trying to make a deal with the WWs, a la Castor.

I haven't watched Season 1 (yet), but I did struggle through all of Twin Peaks some 20+years ago. If nothing else, TD S02 is more coherent than TP. So I shrug off most of the criticism I've seen, so far. It's why I'm also fairly content to be a passive, non-demanding viewer, prepared to allow TPTB to unfold the story in their own time. If I was looking for the simplest explanations, the first for motive I'd look at is the Mayor. He's got the most to lose if all the corruption is exposed. As for all the weird stuff, I wonder what Paul's security company was doing overseas? Little torture, maybe? Do they have a CA office anywhere? Still, why did Bird-face allow Ray to live? Speaking of Ray, put me in the column of people who believe Frank set Ray up in the first place; so much that I think Frank even may have paid for Gena's attack, in order to drop a fall guy and create a corrupt police contact for himself. Sure would be interesting to see what would happen when Ray figures that out, finally. The shootout was damn amazing. I was just so not expecting that.

I would so love to believe this, but if the Others can get past whatever enchantments are keeping the Wall up ...

I think her eyes were opened that day at the Trident, but she chose to continue on the path that would make her Queen. Joffrey ordering Payne to cut Ned's head off was the point where Sansa was finally ready to stop kidding herself and consider that maybe someone "brave, gentle, and strong" might be better husband material, after all.

I'd like to see Ramsey eaten by his own dogs.

Prediction: Qyburn is going to wind up at the Wall, one way or another, studying corpses.

I'm going back to re-watch season 1; just wrote up some thoughts in the archive, if anyone wants to play: http://forums.previously.tv/topic/17577-s01e01-winter-is-coming/#entry541989

I'm sure we've all re-watched this a few times. I went back for the first time in a while, and here're the night's thoughts: The first 15 minutes, alone, give us: one of the creepiest intros in TV history (the White Walkers); introduction to the Starks and their family dynamics; who's a Stark, who's not a Stark (Theon), who's half Stark (Jon), and who has a problem with that (Cat); a beheading, and a ridiculously large sword. PUPPIES! Theon establishes himself as a major asshole, while Jon establishes himself as a natural leader (funny, in retrospect, Kit has probably 4x as many lines as Richard Madden (Robb), and in KL, Cersei and Jamie establish They Have a Big Secret. Gratuitous beefcake shot #1: Robb, Jon & Theon in for their shaves. Gratuitous cheesecake shot #1: Tyrion at the whorehouse. Sad foreshadowing: Bran climbing the rooftops. Most unusual moment in any historical fiction I've ever seen or read: A king whose first demand on landing at a fief estate involves a visit to the crypt, so he can moon over the unrequited love he lost 15 years before. Just think about that. How many novels have you ever read where a King comes to visit a vassal, and the first thing he wants to do is lay a wreath for the chick he never got to bang? Sansa: the funny thing about Sansa is, all the things we complain about from the latter seasons, she's doing! She's manipulating people to get exactly what she wants. Problem is, what she wants is Joffrey. Still, at this point, there's no indication about what he's about to become. Jon/Tyrion: Kid, I've got a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship. And man, Tyrion's hair is as light, possibly lighter than, that of his siblings this early in. Surprisingly hot couple: Ned / Jaime. There, I said it. These two have major hard-ons for each other, but Jamie, especially, gives off the vibe he'd drop everything to mount Ned if he could. And Cat did one of her few smart things in this episode, but it was futile: she tried to talk Ned out of going to KL. Finally for WF, isn't it funny that Bran was considered old enough to watch his father behead someone, but is not old enough to go hunting with the big boys? Meanwhile, in the Free Cities, we meet exiled sibling royals, Dany & Viserys, who also appear to possibly have an inappropriate relationship. Certainly an abusive one. Dany's being sold by her bro, so that he can raise an army to invade Westeros and get the throne back. What Dany's getting out of the deal is a few books, a few fossilized dragons' eggs, a gorgeous horse, and a massive husband to ride off into the sunset with, where the show's writers have changed what was a mutually consensual, charged, sex scene, into rape. That, too, may have been a foreshadowing. One of the things that strikes me about the juxtaposition between Dany and Sansa: Dany was the dutiful, submissive one, while Sansa was everything opposite of what she's been since Ned's head came off: willful and working it to get what she wants. It's like the two of them changed places over the course of the show, since Dany got the far better outcome of the two.

You know... that's a really good question. It's not like the story has a slew of unexplained deaths, for them to have accomplished. It could well be that most Westerosi nobles still get their own hands dirty.

ATM, the only ones I can see trying to take that hit out would be the Iron Bank, and I'm not sure they aren't pulling strings of FM, anyway. The loan to Stannis looks like a total loss, but they can still hope to recoup some losses from the Lannisters, if someone other than Cersei is in charge.

I like that; it fits in beautifully with the Brienne = YMBQ theory, which is my favorite so far.

Up until he allowed his daughter to be torched, Stannis at least stood a chance of redemption from Shadow Baby. Until Shireen went down, I'd say Stannis was a grey character, and history is written by the victors. If he's really dead, I will miss Stephen Dillane. He was a good, good Stannis. One word: access In 5 seasons, this was Sansa's sole benevolent act on another person's behalf that I can think of. So, if you want to use this to say Season 2 Sansa was better, I'm with you, but it's still not saying much.

That's just not saying a whole lot.