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No joke, the producrers have actually said that. I think they should have kept the name, it's not really that confusing; you just have the actors say "others" with a tone of dread and the audience will figure out from that and the context of the conversation they're referring to the Others. Alternatively, if they still felt they had to change the name, they should have picked something other than White Walkers, because "White" and "wight" sound too similar, particularly with the Starks' and the Wildlings' Oop North accent. I kind of liked the scene with the ice-ice baby; it added a level of creepiness to the White Walkers that isn't in the books. I used to think they were just a malevolent force that wanted to kill humans, but now they want to kill humans and assimilate children. It's funny that the WW have had more screen time on the show than in the books. As far as I can remember, the only one we've seen in the books is the one Sam shivved.

I just read on the TVtropes recap page that HBO has changed the name from Night King to Another White Walker, so maybe it's not the guy from Bran & Nan's story. Probably someone who was vaguely familiar with the books came up with that credit, then someone else who knew better corrected it. Who the hell knows at this point.

I'm having a brain-lock moment: to whom are you referring? I initially thought "Ygritte" because of her "kissed by fire" schtick, but your description matches Mellisandre better. So if she's the counterpart of the Night King's wife, then Stannis is the counterpart of the Night King? Interesting. I think it's when Bran and company are at one of the abandoned castles on the Wall, just prior to running into Sam. Bran recounts the story of the Rat Cook, and the story of the Night King.

I agtee with that. Since we haven't had a Littlefinger or Olenna PoV chapter, we don't really know the details of their arrangement. It's possible that Littlefinger told the QoT that after Sansa's marriage to Tyrion is out of the way (either he's dead or it's dissolved because it hasn't been consumated), he'd ship Sansa to Highgarden to marry Wilas. Basically he'd be promising Olenna the only claimant to Winterfell / the North (given all the other Starks are presumed dead). He wouldn't need to tell her that he actually plans to marry Sansa to Harry the Heir.

I wonder if it’s a deliberate choice, not just the actor being lazy. He’s originally from the Fingers area in The Vale, so maybe that’s supposed to be Littlefinger’s natural accent, and he’s been affecting RP while living in King’s Landing to fit in better. He’s no longer trying to cozy up to the Lannisters, so he doesn’t need to talk like them. Then again, Gillan was using his Irish accent while still in KL last season, so who knows, maybe he is just lazy. In the books, Dontos told Sansa that it was a magical hairnet, and if she wore it to the wedding it would help her escape. Sansa, still being something of a pin-head at this point in the narrative, bought the story. (Okay, maybe she didn't think it was actually magical, but she did buy that it'd somehow help her escape.) In the show, Dontos just gave her something pretty with a (fake) family story attached to it. She liked it, and told him she'd be honored to wear it, but there was no guarantee she'd wear it to the wedding.

Wow the editing at the beginning was incredibly ham-handed. Tyrion says "Sansa couldn't kill" cut to Sansa talking to Littlefinger. Littlefinger says he likes his new friends and their friendship is Growing Strong, house Tyrell's words. Cut to Olenna basically confessing to the murder. And they spelled out almost exactly how the murder went down, like we were on an episode of CSI Westeros. I guess this confirms that in-universe, Jaime didn't rape Cercei last week, since it was never mentioned or alluded to. I liked the setup for giving Brienne her sword, and the complete lack of smarmy love dialog between her and Jaime. The actors played it really well, so it could have just been interpreted as respect and friendship rather than some awkward unrequited love bullshit. Also, Podrick's pairing off with Brienne made much more sense than in the book, where he just followed her like a lost puppy. The entire Craster's Keep storyline seems like filler. I have a hard time believing Jon will meet up with Bran and then let him go. No Stannis this week, which was probably good because we wonder less about why he is still puttering around on Dragonstone instead of going to the wall. Good thing for him that Mance "I'll light the biggest fire the North has ever seen" Rayder is also moving at a glacial pace. Edited to add: forgot the Marge-in-Tommen's room scene. I thought I was watching and Adam Sandler movie. Thank goodness she didn't do anythign more than kiss him on the forehead. Being a teenage boy, you know where his hand went the moment the candles went out.

Oh wow, we'd have 5 solid episodes of Brienne doing her "Sansa on the side of a milk carton" routine. Pass.

Aegon's conquest would be cool to see too. As long as the writers realize that a) we know it's a foregone conclusion so there's no reason to try to build any "will Aegon succeed at the Field of Fire?" type of drama and b) don't try to have any silly nods to the series, like having Torrhen Stark played by any of the existing Stark actors.

I forgot to mention my other irritation with an otherwise likeable character: her infatuation with Daario Naharis. I realize she's a teenage girl with a crush on the "bad boy", but it's so trite. It reads like a Twilight fan-fic.

I generally like Dany, and see her as a potential savior of Westeros (dragons vs zombies, it's a fantasy-lover's wet dream). My problem is that her current characterization makes it hard for me to see her ever leaving Slaver's Bay. 1. She sacked Astapor, and learned the lesson that "hey, that's not so good for the survivors". She picked up a train of freed slaves who didn't want to hang around for the aftermath. 2. She freed the slaves of Yunkai without sacking the city, and learned the lesson "antagonizing an enemy then leaving him behind just means he's going to come after you". She picked up even more hangers-on as a result, a bunch of "walking mouths" that she considers her children. 3. She conquered Meereen, and decided to stay so she could learn how to rule. The thing is, a ruler never stops learning, so when will she say "okay, time to move on". She's so invested in the welfare of her "children" that, short of brain damage or or some magical mind-wipe, she won't abandon Meereen because she knows what will happen to the people who stay behind: re-enslavement and death. I don't think even Tyrion's idea that she'll want to go rescue her nephew will be enough motivation to overcome her savior complex regarding the freed slaves.

I wonder what the Bank will do when they find out about Aegon VI, or Dany (if she can ever get out of Slaver’s Bay). “Stannis, about those loans we promised… yeah, these two Targaryen kids have a better claim on the throne than you do, and are much more likeable than you, plus dragons, so, well, um, have fun at the Wall. Bye!” I doubt Petyr stole anything from the Iron Bank. When Tyrion took over as Master of Coin, he went through Petyr’s book thoroughly, and noted that Petyr was lending out money (with interest) to a lot of people, merchants, etc. If anything, Petyr was pocketing some or all of the interest from those loans. It wouldn’t surprise me if he intentionally set up the Crown’s massive debt to the Iron Bank as part of his “chaos is a ladder” strategy. He built and sustained a financial house of cards, and when he was ready he let it collapse on purpose.

I’ve been trying to think how the hell to get Dany extricated from the Slaver’s Bay plot in less than 3 books: 1. Dany takes control of the kalassar she runs into and heads back to Meereen to break the siege. 2. Victarion captures the bulk of the ships blockading Meereen, and part of the Volanteen fleet for good measure. 3. They use the dragonhorn to get some semblance of control over her dragons. 4. Tirion tells Dany about Aegon, and she (finally) decides she’s had enough of Meereen and sails for Storms End. Unfortunately, that would require several things to go off as planned, and for several characters to behave rationally. Even if they all come together and head out from Meereen, there is still too many opportunities for misfortune that GRRM wouldn’t pass up because, drama.

Aidan Gillen is Irish, and he’s not even trying for RP Engilish like he did the first two seasons. Maybe it’s a deliberate choice, since Littlefinger is becoming disengaged from court and more independent, but it is really distracting. I love Dany’s character but I totally agree that her storyline is getting dull. I blame being a Bookwalker. The Unsullied probably think she’s marching across Slaver’s Bay, building up an army that will then head to Westeros, whereas we know she’s going to stall out and spend months spinning her wheels in Meereen.

I much prefer Show!Pod to Book!Pod, and I like how they set him up with a plausible motive to go with Brienne. New Daario is so bland I think I'm going to call him Taapioca Naharis. I didn't care for the actor they had last year, but this one just looks like "standard issue GoT warrior guy with dark hair and beard". He's supposed to be charming Dany, but a) she's not a teenager and b) he's pretty charm-free. I'm not following the entire Stannis-and-the-wall story line. He seems to have been sitting on his ass at Dragonstone for no really apparent reason. He still has some army, and apparently even a couple of thousand would greatly boost the Nightswatch. They're dragging out the battle of the Wall until later in the season, I guess. Explains the addition of the traitors at Crasters and the continuing adventures of Ygritte and the Thenns.

So... Jaime and Cercei in the Sept with Joffrey's body had a bit of a rapey feel to it. It was gross in the book, but they somehow made it worse.

Actually a third party walked up on Tyler after he stabbed Liz. I'm glad Damon told Elena to piss off, but I doubt it'll last longer than 1 episode. Some contrived crisis will mean they have to work together blah blah. Man, I miss Cindy MacLennan's recaps.

If they want to introduce her, she can still attack Tyrion in Volantis. "My brother was a dwarf and he was killed because they thought he was you!". It doesn't need to have anything to do with Joffrey's little (npi) farce considering the number of other dwarves whose heads wind up in King's Landing because of the bounty Cercei puts on his head.

It seems to apply to anyone who treats her well, such as Catelyn and even Margaery. I think her feelings for Jaime are a little more complex than school-girl crush, because she’s willing to call him out when he’s doing something she disagrees with. “Look me in the eye and tell me you think [sansa] is safe in King’s Landing.”

I’m a fan and a fantasy geek and I still hate the length of the books. I’ll skip entire chapters during a re-read. Hell, the first time I read them I skimmed quite a bit, particularly his excessive descriptions of food served at feasts. (Not just because he can go on for pages at a time describing the food, but also because a lot of it sounds revolting. “Quail blanched in milk and stuffed with leeks, walnuts and pigs brains, served on a bed of lettuce and dryer lint”.) He really could have used a forceful editor to trim out some of the fat. I mean, do we really need multiple chapters in AFFC of Brienne wandering aimlessly in her search for Sansa?

Yeah, I don’t buy that either. If it’s the same poison that Maester Cressen tried to kill Mellisandre with, it definitely isn’t slow-acting. He croaked within seconds of drinking it.

I wonder how they'll handle this entire storyline. In the books, Davos shows Stannis the letter from the Night's Watch, Mel tells him that they have to go help, and the lot of them disappear from the narrative entirely until they surprise the wildlings during the battle. It was a big "whoa!" moment in the books; I guess they could do the same here, but if they're going to keep Stannis's movements hidden from the audience it seems weird that they'd bother to have "meanwhile, on Dragonstone..." scenes in 4.02.

If I were completely unspoiled (i.e., living under a rock and only emerging on Sunday nights) I would probably think Pycelle put poison in the pidgeon pie, because a) Joffrey was the only one to eat it and b) I like alliteration. Not only from the dead ones because of Joffrey’s sword work, but wouldn’t it be full of droppings? I can’t believe they actually ate any of it, unless the slice he had was from part of it that was isolated from the cavity full of bird poo. I honestly expect that Littlefinger will recap the conspiracy to Sansa like he did in the book. The writers won’t want the audience possibly thinking that Tyrion actually did do it. “Innocent man accused” makes for good drama.

Someone in the non-spoiled thread heard it as: Jaime: She'll never marry you. Loras: Neither will you. That's the way I heard it too, which I thought was weird since it sounded like Loras was saying "you won't marry me." I thought I misheard, but on watching it again he did say it that way.

When Jaime and Bronn were sparring, Bronn said, “[Tyrion] says you [excrete] gold like your father.” Jaime tossed him some money to pay for the sparring lessons, but I think that might also have been a clue that Bronn was already on Tywin’s payroll. I enjoyed Tywin during that scene. Oberyn was being provocative, Cercei was sniping back, but Tywin wouldn’t take the bait from either of them. He didn’t get mad at Oberyn or annoyed with Cercei, nor did he try to play peace-maker between them. He basically ignored their behavior, like it was beneath him (which it was).

Who was Miranda in the opening who was hunting with Ramsey? I don't remember any of his band of sickos in the books being a woman. The final shot before Joffrey picked up his goblet had Olenna Tyrell framed front and center, so I think the director was pointing his finger at her.