TooMuchCoffee

I agree that Jon makes it out alive. Sam, perhaps. Hopefully he will find Gilly and the baby but where the heck would they go? Perhaps to the house that Rickon was headed for. Ghost is a possible loss. The rest of the Watch is barbque on a spit. The burning question - will there be ravens?

This is the first commentary I've watched from this guy. I generally liked it and agreed with him on most of his points. I disagree with him on Arya's laugh - he seemed to think it was too cynical and inappropriate as a response to hearing about a relative's death. I thought Arya was laughing more at the fact that the Hound (who is still technically on her death list) failed again to cash in on her. That's a subtle difference that makes me like the reaction. Arya's also, what, 10 or 12 years old? . But I can totally see his point. We should all be allowed to have our opinions and many of us only have the show on which to base our opinions.... which is appropriate on a site for tv shows. The gods forbid anyone criticize GRRM! I remember participating in usenet and AOL newsgroups in the late 90's about the first and second novels. There were quite a few fans of fantasy and sci-fi who really didn't like the tone of the books and seeing evil rewarded and good thwarted in a very unbalanced manner. We understood that the series was just getting underway but five years between books is much worse than waiting 9 months for the next tv season. Many, like me, decided to quit reading until the book series was completed and then read them back to back because we couldn't tolerate being bummed out for decades to see if there's an ultimate payoff. I joked that since I am GRRM's age, I might not live long enough to know the ending. We had no idea, of course, that someone would produce a tv saga before the novels were finished. I digress but I understand this guy's frustration. To anyone thinking about watching the review - - Warning!! He does include a slight spoiler about future events that his bookwalker friends told him. I wasn't bothered by it because I felt it was obvious.

If Sansa saw Brienne and Podrick approaching, I don't think she would assume they were there to help her. I think she'd hide. Despite them not appearing threatening, both B and P were last associated with Jaime and Tyrion (if Sansa remembers them from King's Landing). In fact, are Brienne and Pod in a bit of danger? (taking that question to the spec thread).

Ha! There's the justification for Tyrion's appeal, citing the precedent set by the Hound and the riverlands farmer (the one with the daughter). The Hound interrupted the farmer's prayer at the "Stranger" and finished it for him. Foul! The prayer was only partly effective - stolen silver but spared life. Pycelle didn't get to invoke all of the Seven so they didn't all show up to keep Oberyn safe and render the correct verdict. Tyrion needs a good death penalty attorney.

It certainly seems that the prudent thing to do is try to work with Robin and see if a psychopath tries to emerge before spiking his milk. Away from his mom, coached by the council members, LF and Sansa 2.0, he could be relatively normal and avoid any fighting for top bird of the Vale.

Yes!!! :) I guess I need to visit the internet more often for parodies and such things, but it can be dangerous out there.

For me, yes to both. The odds of Oberyn defeating the Mountain were astronomically slim to none. No one defeats the ruthless Mountain and we unspoiled generally understood that. I might be alone, but, yes, I would have preferred a straight-forward defeat after a valiant effort by the heroic figure that made the touching speech and incredible pledge to Tyrion in the dungeon. I appreciate bookwalkers using spoilers but I do have to say that it seems from a small sampling here and among real life friends that bookwalkers accept this outcome more readily than the unspoiled. (I realize that many unspoiled and unsullied are fine with the way it played out.) It appears from reading between bookwalker lines that there might be differences in the physicality of the Book Mountain and the attitude and personality of Book Oberyn that make it much easier to embrace the scene as portrayed by the show.

I was thinking more along the lines of Real Housewives of Westeros.

I've been thinking more about Arya and the Hound and the experiences they've shared. The foreshadowing is strong with these two. I sort of hope my speculation is wrong but here's how I'm writing her next chapter. There is really no where else for them to go. The guards don't know that Sansa is at the Eyrie so Arya and Hound will turn around. The Hound is a marked man so he has limited options for shelter and no good options for ransoming Arya. I suppose they could head back to the Brotherhood. They might try for the wall. But they won't make it wherever it is. The Hound is wounded and the foreshadowing about the seriousness of an infection from the bite was quite strong. I had a flash of their scene with the dying farmer where the Hound gave the guy some water before he basically taught Arya how to kill quickly and as mercifully as possible. (And right before he got the bite.) I think that the Hound is going to die soon. And I think Arya is going to kill him... in a twist on her desire for revenge and an ironic checkmark on her list. I think he will become fatally ill from the infection and she will echo that scene from the dying farmer and pierce him - with no joy - through the heart. (similar to Dany's mercy killing of Drogo) Arya's last lesson from the Hound might be that things aren't as black and white as she's thought. ( The Mountain is dead/dying and we've already had the scene where the Hound relates his story to Arya. That ties up any Hound loose ends. He can go now but I will miss him if this happens because I want to see him with Brienne!) And because perfect wolf bread should not be wasted, two things are signalled. 1. Brienne and Pod meet up with Arya (I think after the Hound dies) and 2. the wolf bread means Nymeria finds Arya. After all. the Hound has been her surrogate wolf.

Veering a bit off topic but speaking of Aiden Gillen's hoarseness, I hope it's due to overuse or something benign and not something serious.

kurlygrl - I don't think that Gendry's last name, if any, was given on the show.

I'm pretty sure that's what I looked like while watching.

Lysa's hair was red. I was thinking at first that Sansa might be trying to look more like a Stark and less like a Tully but it also makes sense that she would try to look more like her black-haired "Uncle" Littlefinger.

I very much like the idea of this thread. Just to be clear, will it be based on Show only with no book talk unless spoiler tagged?

I've been waiting for the reaction videos. Thanks... those were great!