SilverShadow

I was amused by the double-take the Apprentice gave Hook. Poor Hook.

NY! And it is the year Disney died.

To give the writer's a teeny bit of credit, I think Isaac may have just been manipulating her and telling her what she wanted so she'd let him use the ink. "Yeah, sure, life was totally worse for you than say that rando peasant you killed on his wedding day and his grieving not-quite-widow. So...how about getting me that ink?...You got the ink!...Oh we're not using the ink? Later, loser." We also saw him pretend to be friendly to Snowing in the flashback where he steered them toward Babygate. And if Regina had followed through I think she'd ultimately have found to be hollow. Because once again it'd be re-writing reality to suit her whims, and violating the free will of everyone to do it, Robin's included. I kind of wish that'd have been brought up in the show itself. Her first artificial happy ending didn't bring her any joy at all.

Continuing the trend: Now that the show's renewed I wonder what we'll view In the next season of Galavant With Gal and Dickie's flubs make them the best of buds? Will Madey and Gareth spark or not? Then there's Isabella's creepy cousin providing everyone with housin' Oh, And Sid's left all alone Will Chef and Gwyn fin'lly bone? This wait would make me moan But it's so hard to groan When I know there'll be more Gaaaaaaaa-laaaaaaaaaa-vaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant!!!

I had a feeling we were going to get it since Dan Fogelman has been so positive in his statements, when the ratings didn't seem to inspire that confidence. But yay! I'm so looking forward to Gal/Richard buddy comedy and the Gareth/Madelena power couple and how Isabella escapes the pink nightmare. And Chef and Gwyn's blossoming romance....and more SONGS! I am just very excited.

It wasn't just the characters themselves, it was also the shady anti-magic "Home Office" with their can-do-anything tasers and anti-magic 'technology' bracelets. It was a weird Scifi swerve that was jarringly out of place and the audience collectively went....No. Just no. So the "Home Office" became Pan tricking them and it was never spoken of again. Hooray!

H is for the pimped out hats.

I wonder if they're basing it off the actor's age? But yeah, unless there's a conclusive source, I'm not buying it.

If you've read the rest of my post you've seen that I agree with a lot of your points. Westeros is not the real world.

In the show universe Margaery was not part of the poisoning plan. She only found out after the fact. Which isn't to say she'd have balked, just that we don't know one way or the other. In the books, it's implied they were actually hoping to blame Oberon, since he has a famous reputation for using poison, and crippled Marg and Lora's brother Willas in a tourney. It's also worth mentioning that Littlefinger was heavily involved in the plan in both cases, and he'd have every reason to want to make Sansa feel scared and desperate, so she has no choice but to trust him. In the books, I think the Tyrells knew Sansa was carrying the poison, but probably didn't expect her and Tyrion to be framed, and Littlefinger's objective was for just that to happen behind their backs. In the show Olenna and Littlefinger probably mutually agreed to allow Sansa to be suspected as an accomplice, but didn't want her caught. Of course for all that I don't really disagree with the ruthless part. I think they try to avoid killing when they can, for sheer practicality and PR reasons, but if it has to happen, it has to happen.

I agree by real world standards Margaery is essentially the same as a teacher who sleeps with her middle school aged student and it would emphatically be not okay. By Westeros standards it's one of the least damaging relationships on the show. I think, in general, Margaery tries to be a good person when the situation allows, and she does have some empathy for Tommen. In Season 4 she backed off the sultry routine when she could see he wasn't ready and left him with a kiss on the forehead. But now that they're actually married, with Stannis still out there, and Dany in Mereen, the best way to secure the legitimacy of the 'Baratheon'-Lannister/Tyrell dynasty is consummate the marriage and to give birth to an heir as soon as possible. As we saw with Sansa, in the show verse, no consummation means the marriage isn't valid. It would also be very damaging for both her and Tommen's reputation. 'The king doesn't know where to stick it' and/or 'underneath her gowns Margaery is secretly repulsive' is not a message anyone in that camp wants sent throughout the land. The singers would take that up in a heartbeat. And though we didn't see it, presumably there was a bedding. Trying to get Tommen sperated from Cersei and on her side is just smart. Cersei's made it clear on numerous occasions that she hates Margaery and wants her gone. Way back in Season 1 Renly tried to convince Ned of the importance of getting then-heir Joffrey out of his mother's control and into theirs. And we saw how refusing to consider that ended for Ned. IMO Margaery's reasons for going along are 100% practical and carefully planned moves in the Game of Thrones. Connsumating the marriage is politically essential and It would be incredibly stupid to not try and ensure Tommen's loyalty and pry him from Cersei's clutches, but I don't think she has any ill will or malice toward him. I could even see her trying to coach him into being a better king and leader. Not that she wouldn't put her interests over his if push comes to shove, but of the kinds of brides he could have ended up with, it's probbaly for the best. A totally submissive and ignorant bride a la very early Sansa would mean they'd both end up pawns of other people, and someone more agressive might actually hurt him or try and browbeat him into following her wishes in more direct ways.

I think you mean Ellaria. Olenna is Margaery's grandmother. Show!Ellaria seems to have been merged with Arianne Martell, to play the role of the person in the Martell circles gunning for war and apparently getting back-up from the Sand Snakes. ("The Sand Snakes are with me.")

I think it's partially kind of a Tolkien/Shakespeare call-back. Shakespeare, in Macbeth, had the prophecy "No man of woman born" can kill the title character. The dude who does it was brought into the world via Medieval C-Section. Tolkien thought he ignored the more obvious answer, hence why the head Ring Wraith, who "no man" can kill is felled by a lady (with an assist from a Hobbit.) So if no man can do X, a woman could. And if all men X, a woman is exempt. I don't think Dany literally meant she and Missendi(Sp?) were immortal. It was just a more poetic version of Arya's "not today."

IIRC it was Loras who said that, but still. So if we're generous and say Tommen was almost 9 at the start of season 1, by her wedding to Tyrion Sansa was still 14, unless she was lying. So, again, giving leeway and assuming she was almost 15, that puts near the end of season 3 at 2ish years. If we add another year for season 4 (though it was probably more like months) Tommen is 12. If we want to ignore that, New Myrcella's actress was born in October 1999, and assuming they want something close to the character's age, she's 14ish, so I'd say at absolute max Tommen could be that age, if they decide Myrcella is 15.

This was great! Small nitpick though: Sansa never married Joffrey. They were engaged through "Blackwater" but Margaery got the dubious honor of holy matomony...for the few hours before Joffrey died anyway.

I enjoy the animated Hercucles so much. Even the lesser episode are fun and the cast/characters are amazing. Cassandra the cynical psychic pseudo-goth is the best.

Arya's a rough and tumble kid though. I can imagine her coming home all the time with bruised elbows and skinned knees. And Sansa would know that.

Didn't watch the episode, but I had to post to say that I cannot believe they literally Matthew Crawley'd Derek. Car crash involving a truck and all. I've only watched Grey's intermittently for a looong time, but I doubt I'll ever go back after this.

Sam confessed to meeting Bran and the Reeds in the show, unlike the books.

I thought

I think offing Cruella on its own is not meant to mean Emma's heart has completely darkened, just that it was the first step down a slippery slope/the road of good intentions, or however you want to put it. Rumple wanted to save his son from growing up without a father and his actions snowballed into him ending up with a charcoal for a heart. Regina initially wanted to learn magic to escape her marriage and her mother, but went back to Leopold and kept practicing, losing bits of herself along the way. I don't think it was an accident she responded to Snow's justification with essentially "I would never ever hurt a helpless person no matter what." Emma didn't know Cruella was helpless, and she was trying to save Henry, but that's still not, "no matter what."

I think Alister's the frontrunner for "Most Likely To Stab Jon" but there's been a lot of Olly, the boy whose parents got killed, these past two episodes. And he's clearly put Jon on a pedestal. What if Jon knocks himself off it, maybe by showing too much clemency to the Wildlings or doing something else that "betrays the watch." I think the kid's a dark horse that might just be the one to do it. Although, since he's such a good archer, maybe he snipes Jon instead, which would also call back to Mance. Maybe it would even be a mercy killing in a similar way. Though I don't think Jon's gonna be really most sincerely dead in either books or show.

Favorite episodes (From absolute favorite down): "Snow Falls" "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" "Snow Drifts"/"There's No Place Like Home" "Ariel" "Dark Hollow" "Heart of Darkness" "Poor Unfortunate Soul" "Second Star to the Right" "Rocky Road" "The Apprentice" Least Favorite Episodes (From worst up): "Best Laid Plans" (Bullshit baby reveal) "Breaking Glass" (Emma licking Regina's boots and Regina being a bitch in return) "In the Name of the Brother" (Solely for the Cora/Regina team-up. Sorry Victor/Whale, your plot was fine!) "Bleeding Through" (Retcon. Heroes are just as bad as the villains early preview.) "Quiet Minds" (It was laughably transparent how quickly they wanted Neal gone. And I say that as someone mostly indifferent to him.) "Kansas" (Regina saves the day.) "Selfless, Brave and True" (This and the rest don't make me angry, they're just so badly written.) "The Snow Queen" "Enter the Dragon" "The Tower" Favorite characters: Snow (When they aren't trying to character assassinate her), Emma, Hook, Charming, Ariel, Will. Least favorite characters: Regina (when they're trying to canonize her), Neal, August, Tamara. Favorite couples: Snowing, Captain Swan, Ariel/Eric (in the 30 seconds we got of them) Least favorite couples: Outlaw Queen Rumpbelle when it's being played as if it's functional.

Actually I could buy Ron going bad more than the Snowing nonsense, because there is actually some minor basis for it in canon. Ron has, from his introduction in Book 1, always had a big problem with jealousy. The two biggest examples being him deserting Harry in Goblet from when his name comes out and the big fight that ends with Ron leaving the camping trip from hell in Deathly Hallows. So if, in an alternate draft, Rowling had Ron not learn from his mistakes and instead had the jealousy spiral out of control etc. it could be done without it seeming straight the fuck out of nowhere. This situation is like Rowling writing a new book, set after the Epilogue from Deathly Hallows and revealing that back in Book 5 Ron gave the Death Eaters information that lead to the death of someone Harry cared about, only that character turns out not to be dead, so it's still pretty terrible, but didn't actually kill anybody. Because morally gray characters are more interesting, right? I can't even feel too upset about the Zelena twist because the Baby twist is taking up all my rage reserves. It's cheap hack writing that desperately wants to be cool and dark and complex without understanding the slightest thing about why those choices actually work in other shows.

Frozen I find frustrating because they clearly knew what they were doing but A) They cheat. The biggest example is after the boat flips over and you see Hans smiling besottedly after Anna has already left. It's not smirk, it's a swoony face.There is nobody in the scene with him but his horse. Who is he putting an act on for? The viewing audience. CHEATING! And B) The reveal happens very quickly before the resolution and it's not explored very well. "Kay I'm evil and leaving you here to die. Byeeeeeee." Dramatic final confrontation, punch, Happy Ending. There's not a ton of exploration of his motivation and he doesn't get a real villain song. It's a planned twist, but it's underdeveloped. Which, don't get me wrong, is still better than twists that make no sense with, oh, everything that's been previously established, for the sake of cheap drama and 'graying' heroic characters. If I hadn't basically decided to ignore what Snowing did to Mal's baby by imaging the author did it (and I don't care what the writers have said on Twitter or elsewhere) I'd be giving up the show.