The Companion

Oh for sure, but he wasn't an option in this battle. I don't disagree about Jamie, but I guess my point was that they seemed to want to give him some sort of redemption arc. You could even see a few weeks ago how much it hurt to be told he was a bad person. He clearly wants to act with honor when he is around Brienne. I am never going to classify him as one of the good guys, but I guess by too far gone I mean too far gone to try and do something to stop his sister. I fought giving Theon even the slightest bit of credit for a long time because he seemed to think it was okay that he killed a couple of little boys because their last name wasn't Stark. I do think he has shown remorse and I have somewhat softened my position (though I still think he is terrible). Jamie hasn't even gotten to that point. He doesn't seem to feel remorse for the worst stuff we have seen him do, but they keep hinting that he might at least try to redeem himself if he wasn't so obsessed with his sister.

I was so happy to see Jorah! It was such a great moment when he returned. I don't really understand why anyone would volunteer for this bizzare mission. What is their plan? The dead march together. Are they going to grab one and run really fast? Tormond's request for clarification was absolutely amazing. It was great to see so many characters get together, and to get Gendry back. The Eastwatch jail scene had me laughing so hard I had to pause it. Hey, I hate you. Hey, I hate him! I really really really don't want Arya to fall for Littlefinger's bs either. I like the idea of them combining their talents. It would be way more boring to see them torn apart. I definitely read this as Bronn and Jamie made out and thought I had missed a key scene. I don't really understand how they purportedly got to the other side, especially with Jamie falling with no attempts to swim. Seriously, this entire post has me giggling. I love the alternative baby options. Still more likeable than Joffrey. It was a big deal, but not relevant and he was clearly caught up in what had happened earlier. I like to think he felt a little bad as he looked at all those stairs. Even if he had paid attention, it wouldn't have made a difference as far as he was concerned. I am sure it will come back at some point. I also loved the meeting of Jon and Gendry. I do wish they would all compare notes. Surely there is some down time during travel. It would have been nice for Ser Jorah to say, "oh, you served with my dad? So did the guy who healed me." Or Gendry to say "You know, I knew another Stark. . . . " He did look nice. Even Dany seemed to notice. I would love to see a day in the prop and makeup room for this show. YAY, I CAN FINALLY LOOK AT THIS AND IT IS EVERYTHING. I agree on the Tarlys. Randyll was a terrible person, and he refused to consider taking any action that might have saved his son, despite turning on the house to which he had pledged allegiance. I feel a little sorrier for Dickon, who seemed like an okay guy, but even his awful father (the one who threatened to kill his firstborn) gave him an out, so it is a little hard to work up much sympathy. Heh. This was another great moment. I am enjoying watching these characters come together. The GOT world is getting smaller. I think, for me, she legitimately did what she could to mitigate the damage and that is the best you are going to get for a ruler in this world. She gave them more than one opportunity, she seemed to consider the wall, and she got absolutely no joy out of the execution. The raw moment she had with Jon after, in which it was clear she did not enjoy shows of force, was very telling. She wants to rule and she doesn't believe there is any way to do so that doesn't involve some bloodshed. However, she didn't cook all the survivors, and she pulled out the leader first to see if she could convince the others with a singular show of force, and she even gave both of them ample opportunity to change their mind. Contrast this with Cersei, who blew up a ton of innocents just to get at her enemies, or Joffrey who cut off Ned's head even though he agreed to bend the knee. Since about 2008, or so. The comment about Gendry was pure gold. I can see the concern about the optics, though I do think that the execution looked to be substantially quicker than the other methods we have seen. That being said, as noted above I think she behaved in a way that mitigated damages far more than prior rules. It was a good reminder that alliances shift and that everyone is carrying a lot of baggage at this point, wasn't it? I thought it was really telling that Jamie thought they had no chance. The sheer destruction that the Dragon could rain down upon the battlefield had to be like nothing they had ever seen, but I also appreciated that he recognized that the Dothraki are warriors. While the Scorpion did hurt Drogon, it didn't take him out completely. There are three dragons, and their best chance was probably before Danaerys knew about the Scorpion. At best, they were going to be stuck buying a bunch of mercenaries who would have to defeat an aerial attack and a group of vicious warriors. This may be asked and answered for you, but annulment is still very much a legal way to dissolve a marriage and lack of consummation is only one of the reasons you can seek an annulment. Each state has different reasons (and religions vary as well), but other common causes are: fraud or misrepresentation, incest, bigamy, and issues of capacity). I believe most religions recognize an even broader range of reasons. Annulment was more common before no fault divorce became both prevalent and acceptable, but it is still around today and still available for several reasons outside of consummation. Y'all, I am so excited I have finally caught up!

ALL OF THESE THINGS. The battle sequence was amazing. I love Drogon and this finally delivered on the promise made when baby dragons emerged from the fire. The Dothraki were amazing. I admit, I have a real weakness for the Dothraki, and I loved Khal Drogo (bad acts notwithstanding). Something about the way he called Dany his moon, and the way he seemed so damn proud of her. Why won't the sun rise in the west, just once? Together, they looked unstoppable. I think the psychological effect of that loss may be the real victory for Team Dany. It is going to be hard to convince soldiers to fight against the Dothraki and the dragons. Here is an example why I love these boards. We rewound the show three times and could not figure out, for the life of us, what he said. I get why people had the "bend the knee" thing, and it honestly seems a little silly given that bending the knee does not appear to always ensure loyalty. I think that Dany is trying to rely on formality because she has been told for a long time that it is important. I see a growing respect between Jon and Dany, so perhaps she will decide to move forward in an equal alliance, especially once she is convinced that the threat to the north is the true threat. I feel a bit for Dany. She is part revolutionary and part old school queen. I think she is trying to find her place in the world. I did find this comic to be absolutely hilarous: It drove me nuts that she approached head on. Lining that thing up is really difficult. I can't imagine it would have been possible had she approached from any other angle. The dragon yelp made my poor dog sit up. I don't want to see any more dragon yelping, please. Man, I desperately want him gone but I am worried he is gonna survive like a cockroach in the apocalypse. I wish someone would call him on his point regarding the Battle of the Bastards. Oh yes, thank you so much for showing up to help squash the family whose power you consolidated after you left Sansa there to be systematically raped and tortured. You are a saint. I would watch the hell out of Tyrion and his dragon flying from pub to pub. You just know at some point he would have to pee off the side of the dragon. I agree. Unlike Ramsey Bolton, she doesn't want to take out her own men. She can control Drogon, but it is going to be a lot harder to tell her other dragons where to aim from afar. It would have been fun to have all three, but I don't see a plausible way to have all three know where to attack. I am not sure that he wasn't anticipating a potential attack. He seemed concerned about the Dothraki, but not stunned. Perhaps he was in the rear guard because that was the direction from which a threat was likely. After all, the front of the line had already reached King's Landing. He also appeared to be in the rear to address a specific issue (the slow movement of the troops). I go back and forth on Jamie. To be sure, Jamie seems to have more of a conscience than his sister. He also seems to take no pleasure in punishing or hurting others. That being said, in some ways that makes him worse. Cersei is a Joffrey. She has always been cruel and awful and twisted. There is no redeeming her, but she is also who she is. She sees nothing wrong with what she is doing. Jamie knows what he is doing is wrong and he still persists because he loves his crazy sister. I did feel for Tyrion who knows what his brother can be. I don't know that Jamie isn't too far gone at this point, though. I suspect that the reason people are less squicked out by Jon and Dany is that they weren't raised together. There were some studies that indicated that the thing that makes us so averse to relationships with our siblings is actually the proximity as a child rather than any consanguinity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect While it is obviously just a theory, it may explain why some people are far more grossed out about Jamie and Cersei. It may also be because Cersei sorta feels like she only likes Jamie because she can't hook up with herself. If she could clone herself, the narcissist would look no further. For me, I am still grossed out by Aunt-Nephew and I really hope the show doesn't go there. Poor Jorah. So kind. So loyal. So friendzoned. I am cracking up about the dirty ravens, btw. Most of what I would have to say has been covered, but I want to reiterate that this episode was really stunning. It feels like we are really ramping up for the end game, but there are still amazing moments and surprises.

Lol. I am 99% sure I picked up around here somewhere. It is an incredibly useful term. ETA: you KNOW Cersei would be sitting there eating crackers like she owned the place.

Right? You get to add one thing or subtract one thing and still talk about the recipe at most, and it can't be something that substantially changes the recipe. I added walnuts to this brownie recipe and it was still really good. Okay, I can see that. But if you replaced like half the ingredients, you didn't make the recipe. Go write your own recipe.

Oh man, the comments are the funniest thing I have read in a long time.

I don't love Euron (he is a little much for me), but I did love him trolling Jamie. That part was absolutely hilarious, especially when he starts asking Jamie what his sister is into. I also cannot imagine Cersei would ever let him stick around after she is done with him. After all, he seemed to be getting a lot of attention, and we know how Cersei feels about sharing the spotlight. I wanted to see so much more of both of them. I know there was no real cause in the show, but the description of Highgarden was so compelling in the earlier seasons. I know Bran was fairly lifeless, but Sophie Turner sold the hell out of that scene and I definitely got a little choked up. Her eyes showed so much sadness when Jon left. They have been separated for so long and you could just feel her worrying that she was being left all alone again. The shock of finding her little brother and her absolute joy was amazing to watch. I hate both of them, so there were never going to be any winners for me in that show down. That being said, Cersei sat there smirking as Oberyn was killed. It wasn't just that she played a part in Oberyn's death, its that the arrogant witch can't figure out how to throw up a poker face every once in awhile. There is also the fact that she just has to one up everyone else in her revenge plots. She is going to leave that poor girl (who may or may not be an innocent like Myrcella) rotting in front of her mother. Presumably, that is because she herself couldn't stop imagining her daughter rotting, but she was spared either watching Myrcella die or watching Myrcella rot. She can't just kill people, she has to take pleasure in it (and even had blood lust after sticking it to Ellaria). Contrast that with the executions we have seen in the north. It is one thing to punish someone, it is another thing to enjoy it. She is as sick as Ramsey. And her joy will turn to ashes in her mouth. I loved that it was a bit awkward, with some posturing here and some distrust there. We have seen both of these characters for 7 seasons, and we want them to know what we know. When you think about it, the power families all know everything about one another. It has to be an odd experience for Jon to be talking to someone who doesn't trust him simply because the Starks don't lie. It has to be weird for Dany to have to explain why she deserves the throne from scratch after establishing herself for years. I had no problem with the posturing on both sides, and I loved to see just a bit of movement from both of them. I also thought Tyrion was a great go between, and I loved his point to Jon - ask for something smaller and learn more about her. Olenna's death scene was satisfying (while being SO SAD), in several ways but perhaps most satisfying was her ability to take the victory out of it. I loved that she confessed, knowing that she was going to die. I loved that she called Jamie out on his ridiculous devotion to a woman who is truly devoted to herself and is clearly devolving into madness. There was a lot of resignation from Jamie. He boxed himself into a corner and now he is stuck with the crazy. I think he truly does love his sister, but love just isn't enough when the object of your affection is a crazy sociopath. I am sad that we saw a lot of inner struggle only to have him basically get pulled back into the same toxic place he started. There have been several characters lately who have called him out on it. How do you live with yourself? Don't you see that your sister is crazy? I want to believe that it will eventually reach him but he feels too far gone. She is gorgeous and I love the way they have been styling her. She really brings some gravitas to the role. I am impressed with all of the children that they cast. It is hard to know what a kid is going to be able to do with a meaty role in a few years. Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams in particular have really brought it. I think this was exactly the subtext. This description of that scene legitimately made me choke on my coffee. I agree on the glimpse of regret. Was he wondering if he backed the wrong horse, or just regretting that they had divided the Lannisters as he and Cersei had feared? Either way, it was nice to see his confidence waiver. So much this! In what world can Cersei bring about peace? She is always going to find someone she wants to destroy. Margaery may have been conniving, but she treated Tommen well and he seemed to truly care about her and Cersei just coudn't stand for that. She has shown a complete unwillingness to build bridges, form alliances, or do anything that may require an ounce of thought for someone other than Cersei. I just read an article about ladies adopting a limp to emulate Princess Alexandra. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28357269 Then again, knowing Cersei's love for all things Cersei, I can totally imagine her forcing everyone to cut their hair so she wasn't the only one without long locks. This cracked me up. "I would never do that . . . to you." I suspect Bran is just trying to figure out how to be the three eyed raven, but he has also been under a tree for years with almost no contact with the outside world, so he really should be a bit off anyway. I think he was trying to connect with Sansa about her wedding and then realized that the rest of the night made it a not so happy memory. That being said, I can't fault him for it. We were all talking about how beautiful she was that night. My husband said the same thing. I hope she wiped her mouth off. How amazing would it be if Jamie just dropped dead a week later because he was poisoned? That is an amazing mental image. His zombie advisors around him positioning troops. I love it. Would that we could all have Lady Boss Bear Lyanna Mormont follow us around and deal with obnoxious people. I don't think she thought the prophecy included her serving as queen, but I recall thinking it sounded like that to me. Her first question was whether she would marry the prince and she was told she would marry the king. She then asked whether she would be queen and the witch said: "You'll be queen, for a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear." The way it was phrased "for a time" seemed to me like it was something different than her title as queen consort. She may have let Tommen stand if he would be her puppet, but she clearly wanted to rule in his stead. She didn't seem to bother to even use him as a puppet. She just showed up places, made demands and claimed Tommen had backed them. Ok, so clearly I hate Cersei, so perhaps she is just my BEC, but I would say she either loves herself more than her kids or that her love is so twisted that she is incapable of loving them in a normal manner. When she talks about her love for her kids, she often talks about it in relation to herself. She doesn't want the best for them or happiness for them, she wants them to love her and only her. It was most pronounced with Tommen. He was clearly smitten with his wife but she did not care because she didn't like Margaery. She made no attempt to play nice. She got his wife thrown in to prison (and for all she knew her grandchild) and made no efforts to extract her even after she realized how awful the place was. We have never seen her make sacrifices for her children. Instead, she is constantly expecting them to defer to her, and she is constantly manipulating them. Perhaps the worst of it is that she seems to love them because they are a reflection of herself (just like I think she loves Jamie because it is the closest she can get to herself). Overall, this episode delivered. I am particularly relieved to see Sir Jorah back up and running, and I hope that he is able to get to Dany and make a difference. It would be cool if he could make it while Jon was still there and they could compare notes on Sam and Sir Jorah's dad. I really enjoyed his interaction with Sam. This show has done a lot of random pairings over the years, and that was one I didn't anticipate but I really liked it. I am dying to have Arya get to Winterfell. I want three Starks in one place.

I think this was the most grossed out I have ever been watching anything on television. I could barely look. There is a reason my brothers became doctors and I became a lawyer instead of going into the family business. I got legitimately queasy. Good job by the special effects/make-up department on that super nasty scene. I hope that the Starks are able to reconnect, but I don't see all of them living together in Winterfell for the remainder of their lives. They are all grown up. However, I can only imagine it being a comfort to know that there are some other surviving family members, and I am anticipating a reunion way too much. Don't break my heart, show. I was laughing when Theon was floating in the water that Gendry was just going to row by and ask for directions. I do think that Gendry's absence, if intentional, drives home the point that sometimes you don't reconnect immediately in such a disconnected world. Who knows where he ended up, if he survived at all. I did really like him as a character, so I hope we get a resolution. However, given the resolutions we have gotten for missing characters in the past, perhaps it is better to just assume he rowed to a port, found a nice job as a blacksmith, and started a family. Because I am in denial that anything bad could happen to Missandei and Grey Worm, I am going to pretend that the scene set up a happy ending for them. We are reaching the end game, aren't we? I also loved Varys and Daenerys. It shows that she is thinking about those around her, rather than just following whoever shows up. We have seen a lot of blind trust. I also appreciated her point that she wanted Varys to approach her rather than scheming if she is not serving the people. It was another moment where you get to see that she doesn't just want to be in charge, she wants to make sure that what she is doing is actually helping people. I didn't realize how much I want to see Arya stare Littlefinger down until you said this. PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN. I suspect it never occurred to him that she didn't know he would be leaving her in charge. Despite not telling him everything, Jon trusts Sansa and sees her her rightful place as a leader in Winterfell (even if she is not THE leader). I am not going to lie, I choked up a bit when he expressed his full faith in Sansa. It was a great moment, and one that felt like it was a long time coming. I also suspect that he didn't expect people to push back so hard on him leaving. Jon is very practical and he tends to get tunnel vision. This is a thing that needs to happen, so he is going to do it. Why would anyone disagree? Don't they know what is coming? That was some masterful acting from Masie Williams, wasn't it? The look on her face when she found out Jon was alive and Winterfell was no longer in the hands of the Boltons was amazing. We haven't gotten to see people get news a lot in this show. It seems like everyone just sort of knows everything and they learned it all offscreen. It thought it was really amazing to see this moment. I also thought it made sense that she wouldn't necessarily have heard about the Boltons. It isn't like she has been hanging out chatting (except for the soldiers last week). Of all of her husbands and finances, he was definitely the kindest. That's not saying much, though. I think that Sansa and Tyrion bonded by the end, but it has been years and she has certainly changed in the interim, so I agree that her knowledge is stale at best. I think that is both a great observation and something we have seen over and over in this show. Tyrion misread the masters, Sansa had no idea how to deal with King's Landing, etc. The strongest alliance is one in which each person is able to offer their knowledge, which is why Sansa and Jon work well together, and why an alliance with Daenarys is so intriguing. I agree. I have trouble imagining Jon sending his sister, who is just now home and relatively safe, into the world and into a potentially dangerous situation. He may be going to his death, and he can accept that risk for himself, but he would never send his sister to her death if he could help it. I like that they are still feeling each other out. It has been years and they are both very different people than they were in Season One. I really hope they aren't moving to a showdown between Sansa and Jon thanks to Littlefinger. I am enjoying watching them build something instead. As I recall, the prophesy said she would be queen for a little while before she was replaced by a younger woman, which definitely checks out. I also feel like it is building to Dany being the one to take her out, but this show has certainly surprised me more than once. I don't care as long as her terrible smirking face gets off my screen. I don't even love to hate Cersei. It is a good political match, but I would far prefer to see a political match that isn't a marriage. First of all, marriage as a political tool hasn't really worked out yet for the younger generation. We have seen plenty of marriages intended to unite families that have ended in death and destruction. I would find a new way of creating alliances to be far more interesting, from a show perspective. Oozing is such a good word for it. He showed up on screen at some point recently and I said he makes you feel dirty, like you put your hand in slime. I do think he made a big mistake with Sansa. She might have followed him, had he not left her to be violated and tortured. The Night Watch has no Maester, who seems to be responsible for posting Ravens. Maybe there is some sort of expertise you learn at the Citadel? Also, they are expecting enemies any day now, and may want to save their Ravens for an emergency. They haven't given us a good explanation, but there could be one on the cutting room floor. I was making the same comparison the other day. I suspect that we would see a lot of bullying in Littlefinger's past (which has been alluded to), and that his manipulations started as ways to either get revenge or protect him. That being said, I just can't. His love for mother and daughter is as gross and twisted as Cersei's is for her kids and brother. If he truly loved Cat, he would have served her like Sir Friendzone. Supported her, loved her from afar, given her what she needed when asked. He certainly wouldn't have proposed to her over her husband's bones. I loved that scene. Hot Pie is still so Hot Pie. Surprisingly enthusiastic and oblivious while Arya chomps down on pies and sucks down ale like the Hound. I hope that he stays quietly in the background making pies. As with Sam, it is nice to have some unambitious characters doing what they love.

That makes sense. Maybe I am overthinking it anyway. I doubt anyone really cares which bastard name you choose. I had just assumed that Jon Snow was a Snow because of the Stark name that he would have if he were legitimate, and it occurred to me when we saw him born in the South that many bastards may necessarily know who their father was, so the name couldn't be based on where their father lived.

I really thought someone said Dragonstone was cursed at some point, but I may have made that up. Either way, in addition to not wanting to be sitting on the thrown when Dany showed up, you would also run the risk of being labelled a Stannis sympathizer and cut down by someone loyal to the Lannisters. It sounds like most castles/forts require at least some permission to claim. I think this is exactly it. Jon knows that the dead just keep coming. They are a real, physical threat. Sansa knows how devastating it can be to be the subject of Cersei's wrath. I think they are both right, and I really want them to stick together because they will be stronger that way. I think there is a lot going on with the traitor families, and I honestly don't know what I would choose in the same shoes. Arguably, the Starks were justifiably ousted from their own home for being traitors. Is it better to install a family they think will be loyal, or to give a family a second chance and rely on the fact that they will be grateful to keep their home and standing? Where do you draw the line? Do you remove the leaders of the homes who refused the call? Is it more likely that these houses will go above and beyond to prove themselves to you because they don't want the rest of the North turning on them? We learned that the two houses who backed the Boltons are also two of the strongest, most equipped, armies in the North. Perhaps by taking a different strategy than Rob, Jon will be able to move past the history that is there. Then again, Sansa is not wrong that some of the other houses may resent the decision. I think that regular meetings would allow them to move forward, and perhaps the return of their little brother will also help. Lady S, I am dying to look at your character guide, but I don't dare click until I catch up (i have watched 6 seasons of GOT in about 5 weeks). I knew about the celebrity cameo because the complaints were widespread a few weeks ago (when I started this series, heh), and I still didn't put it together when I saw Ed Sheeran. I sorta liked the scene because there is a lot of polarization among the factions at the moment. It is a lot easier to just say: "the Lannisters and everyone who support them are terrible." However, most of the soldiers don't have a choice, and outside of a combat situation everyone is going to have to figure out how to move forward eventually. I think it was the same lesson we saw with the Wildlings. There are good people and bad people on both sides. Arya in particular has likely forgotten that. Baby Sam is turning into big boy Sam! I enjoyed the small dose of domestic happiness. We see so few family groups in this show actually making it work in a normal way. It was nice.

But what about the gravy? People ignore the gravy and that's just about standards. I hope that Jon is a bridge, rather than a competitor. Daenarys seemed open to working with the Greyjoys, so she may be open to working with the Starks as well. Perhaps any bad blood can be mitigated by her sole remaining relative. I also don't think Jon has any interest in the iron throne. He has always been a reluctant leader, and I think he would happily cede Winterfell and the Kingdom if he thought he could do so. This struck me as well. Cersei made powerful enemies that we know of, but she must have also made additional enemies in rich and powerful families by killing the entire court. Jon seemed to be tired of all the killing too. We have seen a lot of death in the last season or so, and he has had a front row seat to most of it. Whether he didn't want to make an enemy, he believed that she might have some use for the war to come, or he just didn't think it was in his jurisdiction, I hope his decision doesn't come back to bite him on the butt. I agree. She doesn't think ahead, she doesn't respond to logic, and she doesn't learn. If she really wanted to disarm the Sparrows, surely she could have found a time during which all or most of them were there, and framed a follower of the Lord of Light. It would have killed Loras, but the lost of life would have been significantly lower and she would have had plausible deniability with the Tyrells. She has a scorched earth policy that has not served her very well so far, and will not serve her in the end. She thinks she has won when they place that crown on her head, but she has almost nobody left and even those who support her must be reconsidering now (PLEASE, JAMIE, I AM LOOKING AT YOU). I do find it funny that the Baratheons were similarly short-sighted. Someone needs to teach these people patience. If Stannis had stayed in Dragonstone and licked his wounds, he would have had a really good claim to the throne when Tommen died. I think there could have been a way to save Margaery and her father and to redirect their attentions on a common enemy. Cersei didn't have the brains to pull that off though. The noble families continue to drop like flies. They may need to reconsider the official position on bastards, as that is likely what is left in a lot of cases. He dismissed someone before his death, so I thought he had gotten an update regarding the situation (which would have included that his mother was not injured). I am not sure whether it was the realization that his mother was a monster, the loss of Margarey, or the sheer horror of watching that level of destruction rain down, but I think poor Tommen was a good kid. He wasn't an interesting character, and he certainly wasn't a strong one, but I still kinda wish he had ridden off to become a Maester or something. I think we saw him consider whether or not the time was right when they departed, and I agree that he would have told Jon eventually, had he had the chance. I think it would have been unlike Ned to send his nephew away, while he was in danger. I guess everyone else will be sitting on the throne for awhile, though. *ba dum tss* Olenna is not just on board for revenge, it is all she has. She is the sole survivor (as far as we know) of the richest house. While the Lannisters have the reputation of being richer, we know that the vault is empty. She has nothing to spend that money on other than revenge. I find myself really sad about Margaery as well. She was ambitious and she wanted to be queen, but she seemed to want to do good things with her power (whether or not that was motivated by selfish goals). She manipulated her husbands to get what she wanted, but her manipulations seemed to be fairly benign. Perhaps she would have grown into something else, especially with the control she seemed to exert over Tommen, but thus far in the series her worst crimes seem to have been to try to send Cersei away (not kill her, not send her to a dungeon, just send her home), to try to get others in her life to join in her PR campaign, and to lie to protect her beloved brother. These are not the actions of a particularly bad person, especially in the GOT universe. Even in the end, when she was facing death, she wouldn't leave without her family and she tried to warn others and get them out. I would have liked to see what would have happened had she hitched her wagon to Dany. With the confirmation of Jon Snow's parentage, I was a little confused about his name. Is the regional bastard name given by place of birth, the ancestral home of the mother, or the ancestral home of the presumed father? I sort of assumed it would be the location of the birth, but if Jon was born in the south, would he have been a snow?

Because I am late to the party, we saw him in American Gods first. I didn't expect him to show up in GOT. Spoiler because it relates to American Gods: No doubt someone has already written fanfic featuring her meeting up with the Daenerys lookalike.

I loved her glare. She is fierce. I know that she was probably a throwaway character meant to show us how hard Jon and Sansa had to work for very little, and perhaps to give us another view of the younger generation being forced into leadership now that the older generation has been largely wiped out by war, but I found her to be delightful and I really hope we get to see her again. I would love to know more about her warrior mother as well. Looks like our sadist with the heart of gold may have joined the Brotherhood without Banners. I totally thought it was going that direction as well. It was probably a better scene to have him support his sister than to explain why he was unfit. I have been fairly vocal about my dislike for Theon. He betrayed those who loved and supported him and murdered innocent boys. I will say that I have softened a bit on him because he seems to have true remorse for his actions (not something we see from a lot of characters on this show). Initially, he seemed to think he got some sort of moral high ground because the boys he killed weren't Starks, but we have seen him start to really take a hard look at his actions and he has expressed regret particularly for killing those boys a couple of times. His assertion that justice would have his burnt body over Winterfell, for example. I think I have also given him a little more support because I like his sister so much. I am never gonna be team Theon, but I do think that the regret he expressed did more to salvage his character than any of his other actions (including saving Sansa). I think one of the issues for Tyrion is that he has been in the game his whole life, but the game has changed because the players are different. It seems to me that there was a real difference in the way the masters handled things, and the way he was used to opponents reacting. The big families tend to make alliances even if they don't like each other because they know they are stronger if they work together. The Masters are used to having it all and were unwilling to accept anything less. He should have considered that. That being said, I like Tyrion. I like his attempts to find non-murderous ways to handle problems (Tywin notwithstanding). I like the way he tried to really dig in and understand what was happening. I like that he approaches Dany as an advisor rather than telling her what to do. I agree. I think it was more a loss of control than a deep secret darkness. I know it was likely just because they wanted dramatic tension, but I also think there are some layers to her reaction here. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but she doesn't seem to want to talk about what happened to her. She didn't talk about the things ladies wouldn't discuss with Littlefinger. She is doubtlessly still severely traumatized, and even the audience doesn't know the full extent of what she endured. I suspect she hoped that her brother would take her at her word, but she couldn't bear to really lay it all out. Then again, that might have been cross purposes anyway. Jon might have been so emotionally charged had he gotten details, that he was unable to think clearly (though his brother's death certainly accomplished the same thing). I agree that this episode was nerve-wracking. I was a little ill waiting for the battle to start and anticipating Rickon's fate. Even during the fight, there were times when I thought Ramsay might win, and it was really tough to take. Wouldn't it be amazing if all 62 of her men (or something close to that) survived and her parting shot was to tell them that she told them her men were tough? I have to think she was kept safe because I can't believe they would introduce her and then give her an off screen death. He is probably turning down any role that doesn't have him cast as a preschool teacher or angel. I wonder if part of that wasn't her trying to harden her heart because she had no hope. I think she has become more cold and calculating over the years, but I don't think she has become so hardened that she just didn't care. What surprised me was that Jon seemed to accept Rickon's death after the fact. He was raised from the dead just a few episodes ago. Shouldn't he let Melissandre give the boy a haircut, just to see what happens (before Davos presumably gets his hands on her). I mean, sure, the Lord of Light probably hasn't chosen him, but what is the harm in trying? Jon just told them to bury him next to their father and let it be. It seemed a bit strange to me. Oh well, more nuts for the surviving Starks, I guess. RIP Rickon. We barely knew you. No, seriously. Not for nothing because it couldn't happen to a worse person, but GOT sure does make us all bloodthirsty, doesn't it? As noted above, there seems to be a requirement of consummation for a marriage to be valid (making the marriage void rather than voidable if consummation doesn't occur). The closest analogue I can think of is common law marriage. Some states that permit common law marriage to arise require consummation (https://nationalparalegal.edu/public_documents/courseware_asp_files/domesticRelations/Marriage/CommonLawMarriage.asp). Unlike statutory marriages, which can be anulled if no consummation occurs, the common law marriage in those states does not occur without consummation. This seems to be the driving factor for the rather gross bedding ceremony we have seen referenced. Can it be validated if they were to consummate the marriage now? Perhaps and they would certainly make a power couple, but I suspect there is a timing element or that the second, valid marriage would disrupt the ability to validate the first marriage now. There is a Tulley with ties to the Starks who suddenly finds himself without a home and with an army. I mean, his wife is a Frey so that would make family dinners a bit awkward, but we are running out of nobility in Westeros. I wonder how she would feel about Arya stabbing her father. We stayed up late last night to watch this episode and I am glad we did. Two battles for the price of one, and largely a mark in the win column for the goodish guys. I don't really have much to add to 11 pages of comments, but I will say that seeing the wolf banner go back up on Winterfell was a huge relief. We have been on such a long journey to get to this point, and it was very satisfying the way it played out (for the most part).

Lol! Totally unintentional.

Margaery seemed to make an almost relieved face when the army showed up. I think she has something up her sleeve. She certainly didn't seem to be coming at this from a position of weakness. The question becomes whether or not she is coming at if from a position of faith, and it certainly seems questionable given what we have seen and what we know. I am not sure what her end game will be, but I hope it is more than to devolve into one of the faithful, blindly following a holy man. We already saw that with Stannis. I agree 100% on Jamie. He was way more interesting when he didn't just follow Cersei around and close off the rest of the world. We have seen that he has a lot of empathy and he can be a very good ally, when he isn't creepily obsessed with his sister. I actively refute the idea that they are better together (which they seem to believe). Jamie, at least, is far more interesting and a better person when he is not with his sister. Random observation: my distant cousin and his wife are veterinarians, and his wife used to work for the Royal Family in England. She once told me that one of the horses she treated had one job, which was to go down stairs with someone on his or her back playing a horn of some sort (it has been a long time, so I don't recall the specific instrument). It was disappointing to have invested so much time in a storyline that didn't pay off in that sense, but I really think Arya had a completely different view of what she was signing up for. Sure, the man agreed to kill three people for her with no inquiry into why she would want them dead, but in her eyes he killed three baddies. He also implied that she could come to assassin school and then pursue her own revenge list. It became increasingly apparent that her belief that these were assassins fighting for justice was completely misplaced. They were straight mercenaries. In the end, she didn't want to be a weapon for someone else, particularly if it meant killing innocents. I think this is exactly it. I was a little worried she thought she could just walk away, but she did seem to know that danger was coming, so hopefully she can extract herself. Baby Sam was adorable. He was grinning away. I was looking at Mama Tarly and wondering how she ended up with such a terrible person when I remembered that choosing your spouse isn't often an option for these families. It looks like she has done the best with what she was given, and her children have followed in her example (except possibly her son who we really didn't get much of a read on). As far as the dresses, I agree that they were not of the same quality as the ones we have seen elsewhere, but I am going to fanwank that it was an intentional choice. We have seen Sansa praised as an exceptional seamstress. The other people we see changing dresses are often in the palace (presumably with access to the most fashionable choices). While rich, the Tarlys do not appear to be particularly well connected, and presumably to the extent that they are making their own clothes, like Sansa, there should be a different level of expertise. As for Dany, any episode in which she rides a dragon is an episode I enjoy, personally.

One of the tough things about watching everything late, is that I was totally spoiled on what was going to happen and Hodor's death was still one of the most heartbreaking scenes so far. I am dying. Seems like something they should have covered in orientation. I noticed she had a similar necklace to the one Melissandre wears, so it might be a perk rather than a prerequisite. Become a red priestess and, sure, you may have to burn kids or something but you will never age and look totally hot. Hope you like chokers! I loved the way he delivered this. It sounded like something my brother would say if he was trying to compliment me but didn't know what to say. I found the Sir Jorah scene incredibly touching. Between that and the final scenes, this was an emotional one.

The strong family hair color genes in the GOT world notwithstanding, my husband has red, blonde and brown hair in his immediate family, any my little brother had white blond hair as a kid, which is now brown, while I had blond and red hair as a baby before it turned brown. Beyond that, there is no requirement for consanguinity to become a parent. While we haven't seen a formal adoption process in GOT, there is no reason Sam can't act as baby Sam's father, regardless of whether he can be formally recognized as such.

I do! I kinda like Sam and Gilly. First of all, it is nice to see someone who has been through he'll trying to make a life for herself instead of becoming a warrior or something. Also, I enjoy having characters who don't have active ambitions for power or wealth. Sam just wants to read all the books and spend time with the people he loves. Gilly seems to appreciate Sam for the kind sweet guy he is and just wants to find a safe place to raise her kid. I think it is a nice break of normalcy. So much this! Jamie is so boring as Cersei's lackey. He was far more interesting on his own. It would at least be nice to see more scenes of him with Tommen. I don't understand why we watched all the character development only to end where we started. Hehe. I want to pretend I didn't laugh like a middle schooler, but that would be a lie. That does sound about right. The thing I find strange is the lack of outrage relating to Margaery. She clearly had fans among the people. All the scenes with the Dothraki make me miss Drogo. He was far from a perfect person, but he really seemed to want to make his moon happy. The scene in the tower with their son still guts me to think about.

Re the surprise regarding Dany, we have seen a lot if hyperbole and exaggeration. Joffrey even had a statue made of him slaying the wolf. It would appear dragons and white walkers have been classified by most as legend rather than fact. I think the assumption that the story had grown or been embellished is probably pretty reasonable (though we know that is not the case). I must say that Dany standing in front of the fire unscathed and totally naked was an incredible visual. It is no wonder that the actress agreed it was central to the story. Wrt to Brienne, I can't help but think about the heartbreaking story she told where the boys were all making fun of her. It is nice to see her appreciated and desired. This. It was a scene that we had all longer for over the last six seasons and it did not disappoint. The actors sold the hell out of it too, the disbelief followed by joy and the ease at which they fell into chatting by the fire was a beautiful thing to watch. I didn't see romance, I saw family, but either way it was great to see both of them look happy and relaxed. If they have special rules, they probably relate to burning the zombified Lord Commander. It may be a technical argument (like Sam's point a few seasons ago), but technically right is the best kind of right. Overall, this episode delivered. I could have done without Ramsay, but we couldn't have a totally happy episode. It's Game of Thrones. ETA: one good note about all the Khals getting barbequed: those mean girl wives throwing shade at Dany should be able to enjoy the hospitality of the old widows' home now.

Yes!!! Jon is alive! Tyrion met the dragons! This may have been my favorite episode so far.

She can add to her enemies list all she wants, but her shortsighted reactionary personality is going to make it tough to deliver. Wouldn't it be nice if she, say, had some allies with deep pockets who might have several familial ties? I am just spitballing here, but perhaps a family with some marriage aged children. Oh wait . . . She burned her only bridge there, most likely. This is what I hate about her in general, she doesn't understand the idea of allies. She wants puppets and full control, which only works if you have enough resources to stand on your own. It was a nice payoff, but I doubt it sticks. I would have LOVED if she walked into the doors to find Margaery there with long flowing locks and a gorgeous dress smirking and offering to send her home "for her safety." Even in death, she was upstaged by the red witch riding away. I have to say that was a masterful scene. Each "Your Grace" brought more bad news. Perhaps they didn't like the visual of one of the few surviving honorable characters cutting off the head of a broken and injured man. Not saying the worthless jerk didn't deserve it, but it might have felt less noble. I agree with this and other posts about Olly. While it is a tough life in the GOT world, he is on a small farm where the biggest worry is potatoes and suddenly everyone he ever knew is horribly slaughtered. The Thenn even made sure he knew that they would be eaten (as a tactical move to try and draw the Night Watch out). After that, he was subjected to a second brutal battle at the hands of the same group. It is hard at any age to see that there are good guys on both sides, but he is just a kid. Perhaps if he could have spent more time with some of the non combatants or perhaps had he been given more time to heal. However, at this point I get why he feels a deep betrayal. Overall, a lot to sit with in this episode. It is one of the times I am glad I am catching up and don't have to wait months for resolution. I hope there is hope for Jon and the rest of the Stark clan. For me, it does seem that triumph for each house and/or viewpoint ebbs and flows, so perhaps this means season 6 will have a lot of good outcomes. If not, each family may want to consider sending some heirs to a nice island somewhere for heir producin' because things are getting pretty thin.

First time! We didn't have HBO until last year when my husband was talked into an upgrade and then we got hooked on Westworld. We have been watching it at an insane pace. We watched the first episode of the first season on the night of the season premiere of this season and we just finished season 5. I think I am going to regret catching up and having to wait a week between each episode. On the other hand, it will be nice to have people to talk to in the forums. I am so far behind that I guess I am really just leaving my thoughts for posterity.

I have severe GERD (and potentially minor GP, thought the results have been inconclusive), and that is my life too. If it gets too bad, they give me phenergan, but that has generally been in conjunction with an ER visit because I can't get it under control over a long period of time. Otherwise, I just throw up sometimes. In fact, I am often surprised by how upset people get when they throw up, because it is just a fact of life for me.

This one hit me harder than I expected. Perhaps he got the easiest death of any we have seen, but it was still heartbreaking to see him talk to his long dead brother, and say that he had a dream that he was old. And this is Cersei's problem, without a doubt. She wants to be the one and only thing in her kid's life and the most important thing in the room. It is immensely satisfying to see it blow up in her face. I know I have posted a lot about Cersei, so it will come as no surprise that I find her unbearable, but I think you have nailed it on the head. She is petty and reactive. She doesn't have the brains or the patience to truly get revenge. She grabs for the lowest hanging fruit and consequences be damned. This episode also drove home that she does not love her kids, she loves herself and she loves the attention from her kids. She just can't stand for her kids to care about anyone other than her. When she went on about how she would kill for her kids, but she can't sacrifice her own happiness for theirs. Not to mention she had the nerve to lecture her son about how he wouldn't truly understand how she felt until he had kids after getting the potential mother of his kids (and possibly, though we have no reason to believe it to be so, his unborn child) in prison. That is not love.

I think this is the slogan for the show. I mean, everyone and their cousin has like 5 weapons on their person. I can't imagine crowd security would be a particularly popular job in Mereen. :) I got the impression that Sylese struggled with her daughter because she felt like she was a living breathing reminder of her failure to produce a healthy boy heir. She also seemed to struggle with Sylese because she wasn't on the Lord of Light train. That being said, we saw very little interaction between Stannis and Shireen, and the burden was entirely on Sylese to raise Shireen. When Stannis visited Sylese and asked to see Shireen, she acted as if it was an incredibly rare request. In the end, it was Sylese who took care of Shireen's physical and emotional needs on a day to day basis, and the burden of parenting appears to have fallen entirely on her. I would never describe Sylese as a good mom. She clearly had a lot of terrible things going on. However, I don't find it inconsistent that she loved her daughter in the end, even if she never liked her. I guess I owe Sylese a bit of an apology. I have been waiting for that woman to burn her child up for several seasons now. In the end, it was Stannis who was willing to watch his daughter burn. That being said, I shouldn't have been surprised. Stannis does not care about that child one bit. He barely looked at her, he barely visited her in the tower, and his proof that he loved her was that he didn't let her die as a baby (though he clearly abandoned her once she survived and wasn't the perfect heir he wanted). I don't have much to add other than that. The scene was horrific and hurt me to my soul. I could barely watch it (just as I could barely watch the slaughter of all of Robert's kids a few seasons ago). Some little part of me wanted the dragonscale to give Shireen immunity to flames, and to have her ultimately rescued by Dany. It would have been nice to see that poor girl fly away on a dragon. Alas, Shireen has been subjected to doom anvils since her introduction. It wasn't likely that she was going to survive. Dany may not have to break the wheel at this rate. There is going to be nobody left. The Baratheons just lost the sole remaining heir (not including the king and his sister who I am categorizing as Lannisters now that the news seems to be common knowledge). Dany is the last of her family (so far as we know) and it was hinted that she may be infertile. The Lannisters are dropping like flies, and the hope for a new heir is locked up. The Starks are scatted to the winds (though they are looking substantially better than they were a few seasons ago). The last son of the Greyjoys has lost his ability to produce heirs. Things are not looking good for the noble families. I don't have much to add to the Dragon scene. It was everything we have been waiting for, and it gave me something to cheer for in an otherwise depressing episode. I do think Cersei is a little crazy to insist that Myrcella be returned to King's Landing, and I worry her daughter will pay the price. People keep getting murdered in KL. Even if she believes her brother was the murderer, it is clear that the King's Guard cannot protect anyone in the castle. She knows the Lannisters are targets, and it would make a lot more sense to do a well-being check and/or take steps to keep her daughter safe in a place very far away from the political intrigue and craziness that is going down in King's Landing. Perhaps it is just another example of her inability to see the forest through the trees. We keep being told that she is a good mother, and that she loves her kids, (I suppose she is when compared to Stannis). However, she seems to want her kids to rely only on her, and remain entirely co-dependent. She doesn't care what they want, she doesn't want to foster their independence and watch them grow into adults, she doesn't want them to succeed, she wants someone to give her unconditional love without competition. To me, that isn't love. She loves herself, and she is no better than Tywin in that sense. At least Tywin worried about THE GOOD OF THE FAMILY. Cersei worries about the good of Cersei.