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At this point a squirrel wielding a sharpened popsicle stick would be a tough fight for Scott. It might be a deliberate choice on his part; wanting to be a kinder, gentler Alpha. If it is, I wish they'd say that. Have Stiles point out "you're a lot stronger than him" and "do the roar thing", and have Scott refuse because he doesn't want to be like Peter or Derek. At least provide a rationale for how he can get beaten up by a toddler.

Yeah, I don't want another round of Toby's wooden angsting about his mother either, but it would at least make last season's seemingly pointless diversion into something relevant to the main plot (such as it is). I could see it going down like this: 1. Bethany struggled on the roof with Mrs. Cavanaugh because of... reasons... and Mrs. C fell to her death 2. To protect Radley's reputation, Mrs. DiLaurentis (and the rest of the board) covered it up and kept Bethany locked up so she wouldn't tell the truth. 3. Bethany hated Mrs. D, hence the unflattering picture. (I loved that bit of dialog. "Doesn't seem like she liked Mrs. D very much." "What gave you the clue, the spear or the demon?") 4. Bethany broke out and went to the DiLaurentis house the night Ali disappeared and got killed and buried. Maybe Black Widow planned it, broke Bethany out and killed and buried her in order to somehow frame the DiLaurentis's for it. Who knows why. BW's plan went south when Alison disappeared, because a) the police focused on that and b) Mrs. D had the gazebo foundation poured promptly to cover up where she thought Ali was buried, inadvertently covering up Bethany. The tedious "Toby Seeks Answers" plot from last season was BW trying to lead him down the trail of finding out who Bethany was and what her connection to the DiLaurentis's was. That flopped also, so now BW is on Plan C, getting Ezra to figure it out.

Agreed. I also liked her scene with Ali and Hanna. I initially thought it was silly of her to tell Ali that they wanted specifics about where exactly they were in Philadelphia, because it'd give Ali time to concoct her story and pass it along to the rest of the PLLs. Then I realized Tanner was doing that intentionally, because she's confident that no matter what lies Ali comes up with, she'll be able to get through them to the truth, since unlike Rosewood PD, she's actually competent at her job. ETA: Is Bethany the "blond girl" that Dr. Senile warned Toby's mom to stay away from in Radley?

Ali carries her purse like Queen Elizabeth. It's very non-teenager and distracting. If she really needs a purse that big, get a backpack.

Not just the choice of song, but the cover was even creepier than the original. All those scenes were missing was red lighting or possibly a city burning in the background.

I hate to play armchair psychologist (no wait, I actually love to do it), but reading stuff like: 1. Rude responses to fans' genuine concern that he'll ever finish the series (either because of lack of interest or Author Existence Failure) 2. The "Meereenize Knot" causing a lot of delay for Dany's story 3. The bloat in the last two books with side issues and shaggy dog stories (Dorne, Ironborn, QUENTIN) 4. Inability to meet schedule 5. Doing other side projects like writing episodes for the show or developing that World of Ice and Fire book I can't help but wonder if these are signs that he's procrastinating because he doesn't know where to go from here. I believe he has a broad outline and an end-point in mind since he's allegedly shared those with the show runners, but "how do I get there from here?" seems to be an issue. I'm kind of torn. On the one hand, I don't want him writing to meet a deadline and churning out drivel in the process, but on the other hand I'd appreciate some sign that he's making progress. I guess the sneak-peek chapters of TWOW are supposed to be that. I just want to see the final novels before the sun burns out.

I thought that was nice too. I liked the call-back where her marker colors corresponded to Stile's string colors from his conspiracy wall. I just wish the director hadn't felt the need to hit us over the head with an unmotivated camera move to show the conspiracy wall.

"you told him his sister is alive in a text?" "I couldn't afford a phone call to Paris" I liked the twist with the mouthless man, but his makeup looked a little silly. OTOH, the feeding tube was disturbing. He was watching a computer screen while "eating" -- was it the same / similar to Lydia's notebook-full-of-crazy? I think Stiles was correct to suspect that Liam wasn't human; the actor played young Clark Kent after all. Heh. I like the potential of this story line, both the "I hate you, werewolf dad" angle for Liam and the guilt for Scott. I hope the writers can successfully navigate between 1) wallowing in Scott's misery too much and 2) integrating Liam too quickly. I'm guessing they'll do the emotional stuff, Liam adjusting to his new condition, etc., for a couple of episodes then it'll get swept out of the way when the Calvaras' start gunning for Scott. Their leader did mention that they'd come after him if he gave someone the bite, and they don't strike me as the reasonable types who'd listen to the mitigating circumstances. That was unclear. Coach specifically mentioned that Jackson and Lahey had left; you'd think he would mention if Danny had also gone. Hopefully they won't go there romantically. This show does tend to have people interact that you wouldn't normally expect (like Derek and Papa Argent last season). One subtle bit of realism jumped out at me: Deputy Hottie let Lydia open the secret door even though she was struggling with it, because he had a gun so he needed to be ready to use it. On the unrealistic side: you see someone roaming around a crime scene, you call for backup before going in! And you really call for backup before investigating a creepy secret passage in a murder-house.

I'm having a hard time picturing how Iceland would be appropriate for any of the upcoming battles, landscape-wise. Deepwood Motte (if they bother to include that battle, though it would give Stannis something to do besides brood) is in a forest, and the environment around Winterfell was established in S1 as being... well, I'm having a hard time describing it: woods and moors and open fields. Definitely different from the places they filmed in Iceland previously.

What the hell, Show? You have Hot Andrew toiling away in the yard all day and you don't have him take a shower at Spencer's house and walk into her bedroom wearing nothing but a towel? Or at least take his shirt off and run the garden-hose over his head and torso? What The HELL, Show?? I'd like to know too. I can see doing that with a wedding video so people who couldn't attend get a chance to see the happy occasion, but a funeral... that's just morbid.

You elided the part where I said "his orentation isn't a well kept secret". I didn't mean to imply that he fits some Westerosi-stereotype; I meant that it's well known that he is gay. Even Lannister foot soldiers were talking about it in the Whispering Woods (right before Greywind ripped their faces off). If Cercei tries to say Loras slept with Margaery, that accusation is going to run into some serious skepticism.

Anne Boleyn was accused of sleeping with her brother George, so I definitely could see them going for that angle. It'd be a good way to show how deranged Cercei is if she thinks anyone who has ever met Loras would believe it; his sexual orientation isn't a well-kept secret. (I laughed when he asked Oliver "how did you know? My future bride doesn't even know." Yeah, that's because S3 Sansa was still pretty clueless. She might not have known, but everyone else did.)

Crazy idea number 738: Instead of Mace on the Small Council, how about Margaery? After she marries Tommen she'll be "queen" and they can have some delicious passive-aggressive verbal combat between her and Cercei. It would also provide some additional motivation for Cercei's "destroy Marge" plots and schemes.

I haven't read any of the star- or producer-interviews, so I'm just coming at this from the show's content, but so I don't think they're making Malia into a special-snowflake. Usually a Creator's Pet character is: [stealing from tvtropes] 1. is arguable. Obviously some fans hate her, but others (like me) are indifferent. 2. sounds like that's true 3. not really, She's in big scenes but it makes sense for her to be there. 4. definitely not. The others seem to like her and accept her as a member of the pack, but none of them are going around talking about how great Malia is. For me, the biggest indicator that she's not a Wesley Crusher type is that she's not the problem solver. If she was a super-special person, she would have broken the pack out of the basement in Mexico, or beaten up the Berserkers. Instead, she didn't do any better than the rest of the crew, and actually did worse than Kira against the group of Berserkers in E4.02.

The Sherrif asking about time travel was funny, but the part that got me was Stiles' explanation of what actually happened and him realizing about half-way through the description that it sounded just as ludicrous. They didn't reveal who the thief was (I half expected it to be Chris Argent except his name wasn't in the opening credits), so I guess that's for next week. My question is, was Kate in on the scheme or was she duped also? It would make more sense if she was part of the plan (though de-aging Derek just to get him to trust her and show her the vault is awfully convoluted), but she seemed sincere about wanting the triskelion, angry when Peter told her it was a fake, and surprised by the gas-bomb attack. The Hero Shots of Derek taking on 3 Berserkers while Scott and crew lay there watching was ridiculous. So were the young!Derek / old!Derek / young!Derek / old!Derek transitions during the fight. I'm getting confused on the color coding. Yellow = innocent beta, Blue = beta who has killed a human, Red = Alpha regardless. I couldn't really tell if newly!older!Derek's eyes were yellow or green. I thought they might be green to indicate that he's been turned into a were-jaguar also.

I agree. It’s kind of like Lost, in that I’m hoping for a satisfying resolution but I’m preparing to be seriously disappointed. Given the time he’s taking between books, I’m pretty much assuming Author Existence Failure will come into play. Morbid, I know. At least D&D allegedly know what the end-game is, so the TV series should be able to finish off satisfactorily, assuming D&D aren’t hacks [he typed while looking in Damon Lindelof’s general direction].

I’m not sure anything Quaithe told her is actually a prophecy. She was right about the pale mare arriving, but after that her list of people coming to see Dany looks spotty: 1. Kraken and Dark Flame – True-ish. Victarion and Moqorro are on their way. 2. Lion and Griffin – Half right; at the time Tyrion and Connington were headed there, but Connington is in Westeros now 3. Sun’s son – True 4. Mummer’s Dragon – True at the time but now false since Aegon is in Westeros also. I get the feeling that Quaithe is about as accurate as Mellisandre. She gets some stuff right but mistakes other signs. I really hope that means her first “prediction” was also wrong, because if “to go west, you must journey east” is true, Dany is going to have even more time-wasting filler. Even if that means she is going to approach Westeros from the Sunset Sea, we’ll have endless chapters of her fleet stopping in New Ghis, Sothyros, Qarth (again!) Asshai, Yi-Ti, yada yada. The threat of the Others has been looming for 5000 pages. Maybe they were waiting for Winter, but given GRRM’s love for averting expectations, maybe they’ll never actually attack. “Yeah, Mel was wrong, Stannis isn’t Azor Ahai reborn. Neither is Dany or Jon or anyone else you expected. I’m saving that for A Song of Ice and Fire: The Next Generation. HA-ha!”

Well, that does fit with part of Quaithe's cryptic comments. "To go forward, you must go back". I really hope this doesn't mean that Dany is going back to Vaes Dothrak to try to unite all the separate khalisars under her control because, ugh, that'd be even more "Dany struggles with the complexity of ruling fractious subjects" chapters. Do. Not. Want. IIRC, Mace Tyrell and Randyl Tarley have their respective troops near Kings Landing now. I could totally see them launching an armed rescue of Margy, and having to fight the Faith Militant. Killing a bunch of sparrows in the Great Sept, possibly even the High Sparrow, would be a great way to drive the Faith over to Aegon's side.

That's an interestng interpretation, but I don't think Aegon flipped the table over because he lots, but because Tyrion's "trust no one" shenanigans was the last straw; he was already in a bad mood because Connington wouldn't let him go into town. Sure, not the best behavior for a future ruler, but he might have learned something in the process. I never thought of it that way. I thought Tyrion's advice was sincere, though I could see that maybe he was tricking Aegon into doing something stupid, based on Tyrion's laughing about it when he and Jorah found out that the Golden Company was actually going west. Interesting. Even if Tyrion meant it as bad advice, I think in the end it will turn out to be a good thing, if it finally motivates Dany to get her butt out of Slaver's Bay.

My head-canon is that the Faceless Man who gives Arya her first death assignment in ADWD is Jaqen. I don't know why I think that because there is nothing to support it, and some circumsantial evidence that he's currently posing as Pate in the Citadel. I do want them to run into each other eventually. I could see the show having her meet him when she arrives in Braavos, and him introducing her to the Kindly Man and the Waif. Basically use him to explain how she gets enrolled at the School for Gifted Assassins.

Dear Lindsay Shaw’s hairdresser: it took several seasons, but you’ve hit paydirt. She looked fantastic last night, much better than the short hair with bangs from season 1. Speaking of hair, who were the two people behind the smoked glass watching Hanna get her hair dyed? One looked like Mona but I couldn’t tell who the other one was. Yeah, I thought Melissa was basically egging Spencer on with that statement. She wants Spencer to know whatever that Huge Big Secret That Mom Can Never Know is. I also think Papa Hastings was trying to preempt Spencer’s usual obsessive truth-seeking with his “you can’t lie about something if you don’t know about it” comment. Don’t think that’s going to work. I’m pretty well convinced she isn’t dead. Based on the opening sequence (shamelessly stolen from Twilight) of Ali lying listlessly in her bed as the sun rises and sets repeatedly, several days have passed since NYC, yet there hasn’t been any mention of Shana’s death other than by the PLLs. No news reports from New York (Aria checked headlines). No mention of her death or disappearance at Rosewood High School. Hell, she supposedly died in the theatre owned by the Fitz(gerald) family, but Ezra hadn’t heard. Detective Sean Farris hasn’t asked Ezra about it, even though he knows that Fitz was in NYC that night and mysteriously “mugged” while a student at his school wound up dead in the theater that his family owns, and in possession of the gun that was used to shoot him. She’s either not dead, or someone removed her body and cleaned up the scene before the police got there (Spencer called the cops on one of their disposable phones). Probably Ultra-A, who is so shadowy and mysterious that he/she doesn’t even have A-tags at the end of each episode.

As far as I can tell, he accomplished four things: 1. Brought news of a potential ally to Dany. IIRC, both Ser Barristan and Jorah Mormont already told her that Dorne was their most likely friend, so he just confirmed it. 2. Released the dragons. Based on the state of their prison, they were pretty close to releasing themselves. Just have them break out at their next feeding time. 3. Made Dany look like a shallow schoolgirl. Both her POV and Barristan's stated that Quentin might have had a better chance if he was handsome. But we already know she's superficial because of her feelings towards Faabio Naharis. 4. Fulfilled parts of two cryptic foretellings: Quaithe's warning about the "sun's son", and the "sun rises in the west and sets in the east" part of Mirri Maaz Dhur's curse. This is really the only thing that required him specifically. I know the general rule of fiction is "Show, don't Tell", but it's not a universal law that must be obeyed at all times. Even if Quentin's presence in Meereen was vital for those prophecies, we didn't need to see his journey. That could have been handled in a few pages of dialog between Selmy and Archibald Yronwood. Exposition isn't always a bad thing. I acutally like Aegon (please don't throw books at me, particularly not any of these books as they each weigh 10lbs). He shows what Dany (even Viserys for that matter) could have been if they'd been raised properly instead of left to wander the Free Cities aimlessly. Also, I really hope Tyrion is right, that Aegon's presence in Westeros will finally get Dany moving on from her failed attempts at nation building in Slaver's Bay.

This is where his editor failed. "George? You've got 4-5 chapters told from the PoV of this Redshirt. Can't we just have Doran mention Quentin's difficult journey, then the next we see him is whenhe arrives in Meereen?" I'm pretty convinced that she won't leave Meereen until the end of the book at the earliest, since GRRM has another Red Shirt working his way towards her in the form of Archmaester Marwyn. It's vitally important that we have multiple chapters showing his journey: avoiding the Ironborn south of Oldtown (very different than Sam's story because they're going the opposite direction), getting stranded in Volantis because there are no ships going east (completely different than Quentin getting stranded or Tyrion also getting stranded) and having to walk the Demon road, seeing the flames of Valyria off in the distance (vastly different experience than Tyrion's description because Marwyn will be viewing them from the north instead of the south) eating lunch in Mantarys (complete with a full description of the city's history and current politics), and arriving in Meereen only to find that Dany left Slaver's Bay 3 days earlier. We need these Shaddy Dog Stories -- these books aren't going to pad themselves out!

If the editor is actually going to breeze through the process in two weeks, is it too much to ask that she at least do a Find & Replace on the phrase "much and more" and replace it with "much"? It's a pretentious affectation, and it and it's smaller cousin "little and less," are pervasive throughout the books. Every time I see it scoff and get knocked out of the narrative. I first noticed it in Mel's PoV chapter, because she called attention to it. She noted to herself that whenever someone asked what she saw in her fire-visions, she was accustomed to replying "much and more," which points out how meaningless the phrase is. She's using it to appear cryptic and mysterious, but realizes it's pure waffling. Upon rereading the books, I noticed how many times other people used it. I guess it's supposed to be a Westerosi idiom, but it's grating as hell.

Pretty much. It's ridculous to admit to only taking two weeks to "edit" a 1k+ page book. That's barely enough time to read it, let alone provide any useful feedback about plot holes, contradictions, inconsistencies, or even simple corrections like "did you mean to say Hizdar zo Loraq or Hisdar zo Moraq or Hissder mo Zorak was speaking in this paragraph?" More likely the returned galley will have a big old "luv yer work! Please don't fire me!" sticker on it.