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In the Season 4 DVD set, Kit Harrington and John Bradley do the commentary track on E4.09. They're discussing Sam's famous "Pip, open the FUCKING gate!" line, and Kit remarks that they've never had Jon curse.

Mel said something to the effect of having a vision seeing herself walking the walls of Winterfell. Not only did she not include Stannis in that vision, but who knows what the context was -- she may well be walking the walls as a captive. That would be a nice parallel. Plus, you know, naked Kit Harrington.

If they want to kill off a villain they could wipe out the Sand Snakes. Though I doubt anyone would care, considering how horribly written and acted they've been.

Regarding the rarity of Valaryian steel: the show is kind of vague on that. In the books, it's pretty rare but there are still hundreds of VS-based weapons in the Seven Kingdoms. We see a few of them (Lyn Corbray's Lady Forlorn, Randyll Tarley's greatsword) and hear about others. In the show, we've only seen or heard of a few weapons: Longclaw, Ice (and it's derivative swords), the dagger. But both Brienne and Jaime recognized VS on sight, so it has to be common enough that they've both seen it before. "When the sun rises in the west, and sets in the east. When the seas go dry, and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves." The sun rising in the west and setting in the east is (metaphorically) Quentin Martell. Since the show has excised him, I'm guessing that Mirri Maaz Dhur's "prophecy" isn't as important as it seems in the books. Edit -- west and east are confusing directions.

I noticed a parallel between Dany's speech about breaking the wheel and the High Sparrow's speech about the many no longer fearing the few. They're both casting their actions as benefiting the common man at the expense of the aristocracy. It'd be interesting to see them interact, because on the surface it looks like they have the same goal but they really don't. Dany is aiming for absolute monarchy / enlightened despotism, while HS wants basically a theocracy. I doubt we'll ever get to see them talk, unless someone brings them glass candles.

Jon Snow: "We'll give the fuckers a fight!" I believe that's the first time Jon has cursed on screen.

Tyrion probably did ask, off screen, to see the dragons, and Dany had to tell him no. "We're already way over the CGI budget this week with the final battle, sorry." I did get a kick out of how quicky Dany noticed that Tyrion is a drunk. "Advise me" [snatches his wine goblet] "While you can still form complete sentences."

That was pretty amazing. Most people have covered it so I'll just point out a couple of things: 1, Qyburn: "The work continues". Has to mean Frankengregor, right? 2. Lena Heady's scene with Septon Ratchet belongs on her Emmy nomination roll. That was fantastic. 3. The final faceoff between the Head White Walker and Jon-on-a-boat, the whole time I was thinking "this is amazing, but why aren't they getting further away from shore?" Then they cut to a wide shot and the oarsman had shipped their oars. WTF, if it were me, I'd be rowing that boat so hard I'd get a hernia. I guess they did it for the sake of drama. 4. No rapes or attempted rapes or hinted at rapes! That's a +1.

I agree that the three boys sound like Hodor, Brandon and Ned as children, and it'll be in a Bran-o-Vision, maybe a Hodor origin story. Then Bran will see other visions involving the Stark boys but not Hodor. Also makes me wonder if Bran will see a vision of Ned and Lyanna at the Tower of Joy. Fan heads would asplode if Sean Bean made a cameo. Given the recently released synopsis for 5.10, this seems likely. To which I respond: ugh. One of the things I appreciate about the show is that they've cut out a lot of Dany's endless wheel-spinning in Meereen. Having her spend any time back in the Dothraki sea interacting with a new Khal seems like more time wasting, unless it goes lke this: Khal: I am the leader of the Dothraki! Drogon: [flame, chomp] Dany: You were. Now I am the leader of the Dothraki. Dothraki: ... okay then. Hereinafter referred to as "Meribrother" The only theatre company I can think of is the mummers that Arya befriends in Braavos. I guess they could have a female actor in their troupe. 1. Gender-bender version of Damphair 2. Gender-bender version of Mocarro 3 Faceless Man "priest" of the Many-faced god 4. Non-canon

The High Septon's "Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" appeal might work in the Riverlands, which have been devestated by this war. It has far less appeal in the Reach, though, since their smallfolk haven't had their houses burned, women stampeded and cattle raped. I'm sure there is some resentment about the number of conscripts marched off to war who won't be returning, but at this point the war has been pretty distant. Regarding "how to do the Walk of Shame and keep the outcry to a minimum", I think it's all in the lap of the editor. If they can keep it to a quick shot of Cercei from behind like they did with the former High Septon, then limit the rest of the shots to her face and the crowd's reaction, they can avoid charges of gratuitous titilation. Lena Heady is a fantastic actor with her facial expressions, and it'd be a great opportunity for her to show Cercei going from defiant to broken, without having to say a word.

I honestly thought it was a reference to "The Gift" from the Many-Faced god that the Faceless Men give, and that Arya would be getting stabby with Meryn Trant. Then I noticed Maisie Williams wasn't in the opening credits so that went out the window.

I find it funny that the Bland Snakes have been in 4-5 scenes and I don't think they've actually said Tyene's name on screen, unless it happened during that battle scene last week that I tuned out.

The cinematography in the High Septon / Cercei scene was fantastic. The torchlight flickering behind his head as he was speaking made me wonder, "is that the light of the Seven shining through... or is he supposed to be the devil?" I assumed that the "boy you have an interest in" Littlefinger mentioned to Olenna was Olyvar. They'll convince him to recant at the trial, say that Cercei put him up to lying, so Marge and Loras will go free or have some minimal punishment. Sansa the victim bores me. I thought when she was talking to Ramsey about his bastardy, she was trying to sow some seeds of dissension between Ramsey and Roose. Of course, any clever trickery on her part (if that was indeed the case) got washed away by Reek's betrayal.

Bolded part got me to thinking -- during the Battle of the Blackwater, Cercei advised Sansa that one of their biggest dangers was traitors inside the walls. It'd be a nice call-back if Sansa turns out to be the traitor inside Winterfell who opens a postern door for Stannis's army. Plus it'd give her some active participation in her own rescue.

For me, substituting Sansa for Jeyne made an already horrific "consumation" worse because of the potential for character assassination. Sansa Season 1 = naive Princess Classic S2 - trauma victim with teeny bits of brainpower showing (manipulating Joffrey into sparing Sir Dontos) S3 - trauma victim again, but developing a hardened cynical shell S4 - showing some more brainpower in her interactions with Littlefinger, and finally showing the potential to be a Player in the Game with her lies to the Lords of the Vale. Now it looks like they've potentially undone her season 4 growth, if she goes back to being a damsel in distress requiring rescue from an outside source (Theon, Brienne, Stannis, or candle-in-the-window Batman). My fear here could be completely unfounded; maybe in the next few episodes Sansa actively rescues herself. But given their track record of character assassination (*cough* Jaime) I'm not hopeful. It's also possible that the next time we see Sansa, she'll be all "rape? what rape?" like Cercei after the Sept scene. I could even accept that (she's become so jaded after Joffrey that she was already expecting her wedding night to be awful), as long as she actively works for her own salvation and/or the demise of the Boltons.

I didn't have a huge problem with Tommen's non-reaction either. His previous encounter with the Sparrows probably scared him; he only had a couple of Kingsguards with him when he went to the Sept and was visibly afraid when he realized how outnumbered they were. His previous incarnation had also experienced the Fleabottom riot, so he's well aware how quickly a mob can get out of control. They were in a similar situation of being outnumbered at the High Septon's Inquest. Hopefully he'll learn that it's a good idea to bring a platoon of Lannister retainers with him the next time he goes into hostile territory.

That would be interesting if Loras has to take a Walk. They've set the precedent by having the former High Septon have to walk. It will be funny to see the stark (npi) differences in the way they'd film Loras's walk vs Cercei's. Hers will include full frontal closeups, while his will consist of long-lens shots from behind with vasiline smeared on the lens.

It has been pretty dull, but I expect she'll kill her target, kill Merryn Trant on the side, get in trouble for "giving the gift" for personal reasons, and get turned into Beth. Basically Trant substitutes for the Nightswatch guy she killed in the books.

When Jaquen said something like "you're ready to become someone else," it made me wonder if they're skipping her adventures as Cat of the Canals and Beth the Blind Girl and getting right to her first asassination mission. Like next week she'll stalk and kill the insurance underwriter guy, and maybe run into someone else who happens to be visiting Braavos and on her death list...

I thought Littlefinger played Cercei like a cheap banjo. He outed Sansa, because that was a secret that wouldn't keep anyway, and he was able to use it to drive a wedge between Lannisters and Boltons. He got her permission to mobilize the armies of the Vale, who are completely fresh now, and send them north. I don't think he's going to fight the winner of the Stannis / Roose showdown, I think he's going to join forces with them. The sand snake fight was ludicrous. I have a hard enough time telling them apart when they're standing next to each other. Whirling around with scarves on their faces I was reduced to "the one with a spear, the one with knives, the one with a whip" but no idea which was which, nor any real interest in figuring it out. I really hope Sansa takes some agency in rescuing herself, but based on the previews it doesn't look that way. Ugh.

I laughed out loud at the Zach Snyder-esque "speed up, slow down" fight scene between Skye and Multiple-Woman. Straight out of The 300. It was thoroughly distracting. Also, when Lincoln and May were fighting off about a dozen of the clones: "More of them will just keep coming" "Unless we take out the source". You're just waiting until now to say that? The "source" was standing in the open the whole time, take her out immediately and avoid the bruises. I'm convinced Jemma will be back as an anti-Inhuman weapon. I just wonder if she'll be returned by the goo before anyone realizes she's gone. Plopped back on the floor a few minutes later with no recollection of what happened. The next day she shakes hands with Skye who immediately keels over dead. I can dream, can't I?

I noticed no cliff-hanger, no sudden appearance of the New Big Bad Evil Villain also. So I agree, it's a good bet the next time we see Hope she'll be a toddler. I can't stand the actress playing Esther, so I'm glad that was a cameo and hopefully the last time we'll ever see her. Also, hopefully during the time skip Freya will have to body swap so they can get a better actor for her too.

Jorah and Tyrion made passing reference to the Smoking Sea, which I think was represented by the light fog seen in the background. That was kind of disappointing; I always pictured it looking more like those nature films you see of Kiluea dumping lava into the ocean. Lots of smoke and steam and noxious gases. If you look at the non-to-scale map in the opening sequence, they seem to have cut out the Valyrian peninsula, so the coastline from Volantis to Slaver's Bay looks pretty smooth. I guess this is to shorten Tyrion / Jorah's voyage.

I'm curious about the logistics of the report Sam was reading to Maester Aemon. Like, how the hell did they get that information? Why would anyone think to send them a raven with that? After some discussion with another fan, the best we could come up with is that someone at the Citadel send it to Aemon just to keep him in the loop on what's going on with his great-great-grand-niece.

The Wall storyline in the show is a definite improvement over the books, and I think it really shows the limitations of the books' first person narration. Forming an alliance with the Wildlings against the greater evil that they all know is coming is logical. Since Jon thinks that, all those that oppose him are filtered through his perceptions, and come across as short-sighted, bigoted idiots. On the show, however, we get to see it more objectively, and can better understand how some people (Olly) really really hate the wildlings and are incapable of seeing the bigger picture.