Pete Martell

True. Hopefully that wasn't the exception to the rule. Perhaps he will be the one who has the teary-eyed Bowen Marsh stabbing scene. What do people think of book Mace Tyrell vs. show Mace? Is he supposed to be this stupid? I think the actor said he was playing Mace as only tricking people, but the show never really gets that across to me, the way they did with Pycelle.

I just hope it won't be written as more of hotheaded-but-wise young kid Jon clashing with the stuffy, blind leaders. In the books he makes some very difficult decisions, but he also challenges the Watch on every level even before the moment where he goes too far (wanting to send men to Winterfell). I'm not sure if the show will get that across. I think the way they did it in season 4 at times made both sides lack emotional heft.

I do see that Olly is a Satin replacement (and most likely the alternative would be something like Oliver the plot point being booted from King's Landing to make sex eyes at Jon and I'd rather not see that), but I thought one of the big reasons the leaders of the NW were so upset about Satin was that Jon was choosing a lowborn sex worker as a steward. Olly might be a little young to be a steward, but he should be the poster child for Night's Watch recruitment - a kind, normal boy who joined them because evil ones beyond the Wall slaughtered his village and family. Thorne or Slynt or Bowen (if he's in the story) would look even more ridiculous than usual if they object. Perhaps that story will be dropped, I don't know.

Speaking of what may or may not be left out of the show, I wonder if we're going to get anything of Jon and Arya being able to warg. Or if Nymeria will be back. They laid the groundwork for her to return (in her exit episode), but I'm not sure the show will follow up. I do think they know the value of some supporting/filler characters (like Grey Worm and Missandei, who go a long way to make me care about Meereen and not just see it as white people angsting about how they aren't happy enough after they freed the slaves), although I can see why some characters are cut. I do think characters like Chataya and Satin would go a ways to making the show feel more fresh and opened up. King's Landing and The Wall could both use that, and Satin would show us a lot about Jon and his willingness, if not eagerness, to buck convention.

Greg Nicotero's acceptance speech, with some cameos by a few familiar faces. Melissa interview.

Wish granted. It wasn't that Catelyn was entirely against being Lady Baelish - she hated being called "Lady LIttlefinger" behind her back, but he was certainly devoted enough to her. She just wasn't sure how the whole thing had come about. One day, she'd been pledged to Brandon Stark. The next, he'd returned, announcing that he was the heir to one of the most prized houses in the Riverlands...all of whom had just perished in a boating accident. Catelyn wanted to ask how 10 people having their heads held underwater counted as a "boating accident," but she knew better. Father married her off, with poor Lysa standing outside the sept, thunder, rain and lightning a match for her mood as she watched them through the window. As Catelyn produced his heirs - Peter, Little Petyr, and Patrina, and one Little Catelyn for good measure (he'd insisted...) - she watched her father become increasingly ill. Edmure told her it was just a near-winter chill, but Edmure was not a doctor...thank the gods. Lysa had recently returned home after being widowed by Lord Arryn. Catelyn hated to doubt her sister, but she was suspicious. One day, as her father had become bedridden and she knew time was limited if she did not act, she lowered the lights, put her hair in a short, dark wig, drew a mustache on her face, and spoke in a whisper of 5 different accents. Lysa soon embraced her, thankfully not kissing her, as Catelyn was a Tully, not a Lannister or a Targaryen...or one of the freakier Tyrells after a few too many cups of ale. "Oh, Petyr! Our plan is working! Father will be dead, as Jon is dead! Then Edmure. Then you will kill Catelyn as soon as I go walk in front of a carriage to try to see if I can talk to the horses! You are brilliant!" Catelyn wanted to cry for her sister. For the years they had both wasted. As she encouraged Lysa to go take a long nap, she planned her next move. "I remember how you loved mud pies, my husband." Petyr smiled at her, trusting as always. She wondered how long it would be before he saw her as only another breathing corpse. Likely not long at all. He dug in, not realizing she had borrowed a few poisons from recent Riverrun guests Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand. After his untimely passing, she nursed her father back to health, sent Lysa to live with their beloved Uncle Brendyn, and planned a lengthy visit to Dorne with her children. On her way, a mouthy tavern worker said, "Do we no longer call you Lady Littlefinger?" Catelyn backhanded them. Oberyn and Ellaria winked at her in approval. As she tugged at her collar to fight the warmth overcoming her better judgment, she realized she might just enjoy Dorne...enjoy it very much indeed. I wish Hot Pie was instead known as Hot Baked Potato.

I think if there's a con going on now it's about fooling the people who are expecting her to show up, moreso than people who wouldn't be expecting it.

What's your wish?

To me having both Jon and Cat return from the dead, given their broken relationship, would be good drama. I don't know if D&D would agree though. For some reason I've always assumed Jon will be the one who kills her/sends her to her rest/what have you.

Kirkman interview. http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/26/the-walking-dead-robert-kirkman-season-5/

I don't think the show did a very good job with Bran's story this past season (other than "The Lion and the Rose," which, unsurprisingly, was written by GRRM), but Bran's journey has been one of my favorite parts of the show. I think the first few seasons were the most powerful, as we still saw him with his family, and at Winterfell. Isaac Hempstead Wright added such emotional power to scenes like Bran begging Theon not to kill Rodrik. Even last season, when he had to tell Rickon goodbye, we saw some of this. Season 4, there was his almost seeing Jon again, but the rest was a little too disconnected emotionally. I sometimes hear people say Bran is arrogant or that he uses the people who are with him, and I can understand that to a point, but he's also a boy who was slowly but surely left behind by everyone he loved, and now only has an identity based on prophecies and what he thinks destiny wants to be. He had to make that break once and for all when he left Jon behind, and I wonder how much of his humanity will be left.

Sorry, I guess that didn't have the "corrupt" part so much. It just sort of came out... (and I don't even ship that pairing).

Wish granted. "You look like an idiot." Those were the only words Arya could find when she saw him squeezed into that uncomfortable chair, wearing the antler crown on his head. Gendry deftly pulled the crown off his head, doffing it to her. "No. I'll only be an idiot if I sit on it." Nymeria howled along with his terrible joke. Arya shook her head. Nymeria was supposed to protect her...not encourage Gendry's awful sense of humor. She ran her hand along the direwolf's soft coat, remembering how Nymeria had saved her life that day in Braavos, four, five years ago. She'd felt ashamed at the sight of her loyal friend, but she'd pledged to never let her go again. They'd had their share of adventures after that day, and a part of her still missed the place, missed the chance to create a life somewhere that wasn't about losing everything she loved. When a seer in Braavos had told her her fate was at the Wall, and helped her find safe passage, the last thing she'd expected to find was Gendry. Yet there he was. She'd been furious at the sight of him, furious that he'd abandoned her the way everyone else had, furious that he was still so kind and sweet and solemn and beautiful. Even now, in that ridiculous crown and the ridiculous fancy clothes of King's Landing, he was ruggedly beautiful. They'd fought side-by-side in the battle against the White Walkers, and the battle to drive off the last of the Lannister and Targaryen strongholds, but for all the times they'd saved each other's lives, all the times she'd seen him bleeding and half-dead and covered in mud and grime, he still reminded her of the handsome princes in Sansa's old stories. The irony of Arya believing something Sansa herself had given up on long ago was not lost on her. "You can be his Lyanna," one of Robert's old acquaintances had said to her one day, near the end of the battle. "You are what she always wished to be." Arya had grimaced at the sexism of two women being so easily compared, at the idea of Gendry being his father, a drunken philandering waste of a man, and at the assumption that Lyanna had ever wanted to marry Robert. Still, she hoped she could make her aunt proud. She could not allow herself to go back to Winterfell, to reopen wounds that would never fully heal, but she would always carry her family with her. "What am I doing here? What do you want?" Arya had not intended to sound so harsh, but being around King Gendry I made her angry. She'd almost begged Stannis to reconsider his claim on the Throne, to not let Gendry destroy himself the way his father had, to not let Gendry be destroyed by others, but she'd seen the light shining in Gendry's eyes at the offer. He WANTED to be king. And she wanted him to be happy...damn idiot that he was. "Well," he smirked at her, walking around her and Nymeria in an attempt to hide his nerves, "A king needs a queen." Arya rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you have plenty of fair ladies to faint every time you wink at them." Gendry laughed. "Lady Margaery has made an offer. She is quite comely." Arya tried to hide her fury. "She's been married five times!" "Saves the people money. She already has the dress, the flowers...the flowers are dead, but it's the thought that counts." Arya felt that she was being mocked and she felt insanely jealous in a way that made her embarrassed. "Am I here to find you a wife?" Suddenly the joking stopped, and Gendry looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. "Yes. You are." Arya knew now, and she wanted to flee. She wanted to punch him. She knew she was so close to saying yes, and she could never allow herself to be in this place, this chamber of ghosts and nightmares... "What makes you think I'd be a good queen?" Gendry laughed, his laugh lines more pronounced in the sunlight glittering around them, making him even more handsome, somehow. "You'll be a terrible queen." Arya was about to ask what game he was playing when he dropped to one knee. "I don't want a queen, Arya. I want you. Tear down this damn castle for all I care. We can make this kingdom what it should have been." All Arya wanted to do was help people. She'd thought that was what a queen should do, not learn to curtsey and sing. She thought of all the people like Yoren and Syrio who'd tried to help her, and how she'd be dead without them. If she could help people as queen, then... Seven hells, she was actually going to do this. Gendry was so smug, the smile was about to crack his face. He must have seen it in her eyes. She couldn't have that. She shoved him to the ground, his surprised laughter echoing through the throneroom as Nymeria put a paw on his chest. She kneeled beside him, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. "I will marry you...after I do one thing." She took the antler crown in her hands and threw it across the room, watching it shatter into a million pieces. "That felt good," she sighed, before she helped Gendry up, the two of them petting Nymeria as she wagged her tail. "Just never, ever call me your queen. I'll stab you. I mean it." Gendry shook his head mock-dramatically before he pulled her into a hug. "I promise." He put a finger under her chin, soft and sure. "Besides, you're not my queen. You're m'lady." I wish Davos and Melisandre would open a dating service.

If they don't have Jeyne then I wonder what they'll do to have Theon break away from Ramsay, unless they just don't do that at all now, and go along with those fans who feel he deserves what he gets. They seem to still be hinting that Theon will get out of his Reek persona, and the North story is going to need more players next season (it was pretty sparse this season), so I guess they may still have someone, even if they don't do the fake Arya story. I still feel like they're setting Sansa up to ultimately defeat LF. I know some feel that they are going to have some sort of sexual relationship between them. I really don't think they will go that far, although who knows.

If you want to start it that's OK with me.

Some of those promo posters make Sam look baked...and then the last one has John looking completely baked. Sam really is John! I was going to ask if we should start a ratings and schedule thread here?

One of the problems for me is that without Michelle I just don't care. It's some extra with a lot of makeup on, wearing Catelyn's clothes. If they aren't going to do this with Michelle (and I hope she is just having to lie, as that poor woman on How I Met Your Mother had to blatantly lie), I wish they wouldn't do it at all.

Thanks. I didn't know that. I guess I can see where it may have been taken out for that reason, but I do wonder if they're going to whitewash Jaime's role in this so that he won't really have to face a comeuppance from LF (of course I assume that book story was also done to help show Jaime's redemption, but I can't help wondering if the show feels he even needs redemption for what he did to the Stark family).

There's also a website. http://www.serpessence.com/ The best part is the art he uses on his site is from a popular Supernatural fan artist named Petite Madame. Most of the time it seems like the only time fan artists interact with cast of these shows is if they corner them at conventions or if annoying talk show hosts bring up this fan art without asking the people who made it, all to try to shock the actors.

Houses of the Holy ++ Tall Tales -- Nightshifter -- 49 - In My Time of Dying 49 - What Is and What Should Never Be 45 - Tall Tales 45 - Born Under a Bad Sign 41 - Hollywood Babylon 35 - Crossroad Blues 31 - Nightshifter 31 - All Hell Breaks Loose Pt 2 25 - Folsom Prison Blues 23 - The Usual Suspects 09 - All Hell Breaks Loose Pt 1 09 - Houses of the Holy 05 - Bloodlust Moved on: Roadkill No Exit Heart Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things Croatoan Everybody Loves a Clown Playthings Simon Said Hunted

For me the best thing about the angels was when they were truly mysterious creatures with mysterious motives. Uriel, Cas, to a lesser degree Anna. Once it became "angels are dicks" all the time thanks to one-note Zachariah smirking and scowling in his many interminable scenes, I lost most of my interest. I think that choice did incredible damage to season 5 and future seasons. That's one of the reasons I was happy to have Naomi, although they also mishandled her. The writing for the angels this past season was all over the place - most of them were redshirts, then you have a few misunderstood angels, like Gadreel, who had a lot of tell-not-show writing. They seemed to want to let us learn about angels struggling to adapt to humanity, but didn't know how to show this. Perhaps next season they can, but I'm not holding my breath. The demons always worked best for me as the absurdly pure evil of the first few seasons. Misunderstood, angst-ridden demons and cuddly comic relief demons make me pause. I loved Abaddon because she was such a throwback. And of course she's dead now. They finally got Crowley right this past season for the first time in a while, so hopefully that and Dean as a demon means we may get some good stuff next season.

I feel like one of the problems with the Freys is that we truly only know one of them on the show, and we've only seen him twice. I don't know if the show has forgotten about the Freys - certainly I don't believe fans will ever forget Walder Frey - but the North has been such a generic region in season 4, essentially just this big space where Arya/Sansa almost met and then the Boltons began taking over the rest. I'm not sure if they're trying to whitewash Tywin's role in the RW as much as the storylines have become separated (the season 4 Lannister story was about self-destruction and isolation) and the writing may not have the nuance to show that the decay of the North mirrors the Lannister rot. I do wonder if some of this is about keeping Jaime out of the story, since they already changed one line (telling Roose Bolton to give the Lannister regards, not his specific regards). Do they not want Jaime to pay a price for his sins? Is this part of his "redemption" (which will just continue if he isn't in the Riverlands in season 5)? The irony is this route will just strip the character even further of value or purpose, and season 4 went a long way to doing that already.

I think the only characters who are likely safe until the actors want to leave are Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl. I think Andrea would have been in that group too if season 3 hadn't obliterated her character and the show hadn't messed up Woodbury to the point where she became a scapegoat. I do think Bob and Sasha are likely cannon fodder (although I hope that isn't true for Sasha), but I think Tyreese will probably be around a while.

Andrew Lincoln interview (possible spoilers). Nominee Melissa McBride attended the Critics' Choice Awards; her category was won by Bellamy Young of Scandal.

I hope no one takes that as real...although I'm sure someone will. He has such a good comic sense. I wish we saw the guys in more comedy material. I forgot to say that if you don't like snakes you should avoid the video.