Luciaphile

I love this show so much. These contestants were so talented and so supportive and it was just . . . GAH. My only complaint is that watching this makes me so damned hungry.

Fruitcake can be really tasty--it just needs to NOT be that crap that comes in tins at Christmas.

Same. I initially didn't care for either of them, but what you wrote is spot on.

And the skill level...

Late to the party (Just saw this on Hulu). I think you're spot on about the skill level of the contestants. I am not at all impressed with their abilities. They seem to be more amateur than the most amateur of the British version.

As the Boltons were stated in the DVD materials to be the second largest house in the North, I agree. This seems like something Sansa would know.

I sincerely hope you are right, because the thought of Sansa having to undergo the Jeyne Poole stuff is just too horrific, and yet, given the showrunners we have, I don't think the character is going to be that lucky.

Re: Sansa The show hasn't done a good job of showing us that there are all these other Northern lords and that nobody really likes the Boltons. The problem here is that Ramsay doesn't really play by anyone's rulebook. He can go on and on about how "Reek" is more valuable to them than Theon, but that's just a justification that he came up with after the flaying, castration, and it's one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense on close examination. Roose knows that. The way that was played out, it seemed that he just was like, okay that bridge is burnt, moving on here. Now the funny thing is that if Roose had been without a wife and Sansa was married off to him, I think she'd be in a much better position--at least in terms of not coming to physical harm. But she's not marrying Roose. She's marrying Ramsay, who is not that bright, or self-controlled, or possessed of a lot of game playing skills. He's a thug and a bully and shrewd rather than intelligent. He's of the Joffrey variety, perhaps a bit smarter, but there are grapefruit that were smarter than Joffrey. She is not safe. And the Boltons can do all manner of things to her. Also, once she produces a child, her value diminishes--quite rapidly. Same as it would have with Tyrion Lannister.

Except that Ramsay is not exactly quiet in his uh, hobbies? And again, we've had season after season of Littlefinger, Varys, and Cersei talking about their spies/little birds/friends in the North. This strikes me as exactly the sort of thing that would get around very fast. I realize the showrunners have diverged heavily from the books, but in them Roose Bolton's bastard is known apparently by most everyone as Very.Bad.News. The neighbors of the Boltons know that he hunts women with his dogs. They know he flays people. And they talk about it. Openly. So why wouldn't Littlefinger have gotten wind of this? If I were an ambitious guy who knew he had this one very big game piece in Sansa Stark, leaving her near, let alone marrying her off to this dude is the last thing I'd be doing. Roose isn't the problem. Roose isn't sane either, but he's much more controlled and he's intelligent. Ramsay is not.

I took it as Roose either reminding his son or perhaps making it clear that "the son is a shadow of the father." I am disappointed that this wasn't a Roose and Theon scene because it's one of my favorite bits from ADWD. It's so horrifying and just so very Roose-like for him to be telling his son's torture victim all this stuff. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell they were smoking when they thought up the Sansa in Winterfell story. It makes no sense for Littlefinger to have brought her there, let alone left her there. None. We had seasons of him being this guy who supposedly everything that was happening everywhere. But now he's never heard of Ramsay? If he was lying about it, again why? I do not get this. They couldn't even be bothered to write in some lines about how some septon somewhere annulled the marriage. I understand that they wanted to move matters along, but these are professional writers. They couldn't make this more plausible? All of that said, I'm just trying to enjoy the show for what it's become: badly plotted fanfiction. So I did kind of love the gothic horror that was a Bolton family dinner. And I enjoy every single one of McElhatton's scenes. They cast very well. Normally I'm bored with the Essos scenes, but I loved the depiction of Old Valyria and even though I knew it was coming, I was surprised with the Stonemen's attack. And I like the substitution of Jorah for Jon Connington. Also I care about the Wall again and I didn't think that was possible.

I think (I hope) they're going to move toward Brienne training Pod. I also suspect they're going to move her north where at least in the show 'verse there will be the threat of doom from the White Walkers and also Stannis. Not sure if the showrunners remember that bit where she told Catelyn that when the time came, she did not want to be held back.

I'm so sorry :(

His accent will change within a scene, though. And sometimes from line to line quite often with the same characters in the room. To me that suggests he's just not very good with dialects. Gillen has a very nice speaking voice. I kind of wish he'd just stop farting around and just use that. I honestly find Aiden Gillen to be awful in the role. He's beyond broad. I recognize the characterization is different from the books, but the way the character is played I keep expecting to see him tying some poor girl to the railroad tracks whlie he laughs maniacally.

I'm trying to think how to explain why I hate the way they do nudity on this show and this is the best explanation I can give. There's a scene in Blackwater with Bronn and a bunch of Lannister soldiers and there are some random extras (presumably porn actresses). And in the middle of the scene, there's this whole bit with Bronn taking off the woman's dress and aside from that stupid string in front of her genitalia, she's buck naked. Now they're not in a brothel. They're in a tavern and there's already a lot going on in the scene. And it just felt like "oooh quick. Gotta get in some full frontal." All very male gaze and very gratuitous. In this episode, here we have this Unsullied guy going to a prostitute for some cuddling. He's been there before and there was really no need for the prostitute to strip down. In fact, I think you could argue it might have been a stronger scene had she remained clothed. But again, "Quick! Have this woman take her dress off!" That's my problem.

I can count the instances of male nudity in five seasons on one hand. Women on this show with full frontal, that's another story.