polyhymnia

I have to watch this episode again because Mr. Poly was too chatty during parts of it and I missed dialogue in KL and on the ship of barf. But as that really only seemed to be about Sam telling Gilly she was going to live with his family, probably not worth rewatching. I wonder what his brother will think about it? He might not be too keen on a bastard "nephew." At least Gilly was smart enough to realize that was the lie they were going with. The only scene I really hated was Tyrion + Missandei + GW. They are all decent actors, give them a decent script. I will just try and wait to see how the Rickon/Osha/Shaggydog plot develops. It would certainly be playing against type if Ramsay was just nice to them both. That could be the creepiest thing he has ever done. I would love it if it were some deep plot by the Umbers but this show doesn't seem to like the tricky plots (see Dorne) in these later seasons.

It is!!

I am not saying Ramsay is more cartoony in the series v. books although I will say it is less subtle (sausage eating, for example) but it was nice to have a more even-keeled, calculating bad guy (Roose) around and Ramsay is boring because he is over the top. They did a better job with Joffry. The excesses he got away with always seems to fit because he was the king and he was protected by his at the time powerful family and powerful grandfather. I can believe that the south didn't know much about Ramsay but not that the other Northern lords haven't heard about him being relatively batshit and I cannot see them being interested in following Roose's bastard, no matter how many kings legitimized him. I can more see the Karstarks deciding to put one of their own in Winterfell. Ramsay just doesn't inspire loyal followers as presented in the series (or in the books).

I am irritated that anyone (Jaime or Cersei) think that Tommen owes Cersei an apology. He owes Margaery an apology. Cersei's stupid plan and collusion with the HS just backfired on her. She was perfectly happy with all of this or worse happening to Margaery and Loras. Nothing will ever make me sympathetic for that character, show, but thanks. Tommen probably doesn't really get that his mother caused all of this, but if Jaime really thought about for 6 minutes he could probably figure it out. Theon, on the other hand, knows he did the wrong thing (constantly) and is sorry that he did the wrong things. He has finally admitted outloud to at least Sansa that having those other little boys killed was a horrible, horrible act that was absolutely worthy of execution and that it would be difficult to find forgiveness for those murders. The Boltons. Sigh. I hate losing Roose this early in the season to the only truly cartoon baddy remaining (other than Gregor before he was frankensteined) and Ramsay killing him in front of Karstark made no sense at all. I don't think anyone would be that keen to buddy up with Ramsay without his Dad throwing the real weight of house Bolton around, but whatever. Of course he killed Fat Walda and wee little Bolton. And of course it was the dogs. Run, Walda, run!! Tyrion's encounter with the dragons was okay but 1) how will they be able to leave the crypt? The entrance looks way to small for them, 2) why did they just slink back further into the room?, 3) why didn't Missandei come along for that nonsense since they allegedly trust her? ETA: Everyone who knows Shireen's fate (other than Melissandre) is dead, right? I am sure Davos just assumed she was killed in the battle. I would have like young Lyanna to have darker hair (more Stark looking). I am more excited about the flashbacks than anything else.

(Quoted Mya about getting choked up about Sansa and Brienne but it isn't showing on my phone) I did too, enough that Dorne pissed me off but not as much as it probably would have. Brienne getting a win (two, I guess, as she killed Stannis) was lovely.

I got sucked in and watched all of those. Too bad he only did through season 4 - quite funny!

What would be really hilarious to me is if Ned Stark actually DID have a child with the fisherman's daughter but that this child is someone that we never meet, i.e. NotJonSnow. ETA: Shimpy, I have a Great Dane. He is the kind who would probably let in a burglar if the burglar had bacon or hot dogs and we weren't there. But, I think he'd react the same as your big dog if I was having a fight response in your situation. Sorry to say that entire scenario made me laugh, mostly because of the dogs.

Mr. Polyhymnia teased me that all of our snarking made poor Moffat take his ball and go home. Which is rich coming from him as he'd pretty much stopped watching during the Moffat era. He hates River Song and will never forgive them for ruining Don't Blink by having other weeping angel episodes.

I didn't see it posted on this thread but Maester Luwin showed up on Doctor Who this season and Thomas Brodie-Sangster was a regular in the first season of Wolf Hall (which I just watched, so it's new to me).

This was several hundred pages back but made me laugh so hard that I had to quote it. My neyes indeed. The (F)Aegon story does seem sort of pulled out of thin air to me sometimes. It will be interesting (if the novels ever get finished) to see how it all develops and if it actually makes any sense in the end. I haven't read The Accursed Kings and may go ahead and do this instead of a re-re-read of ASOIAF as apparently I have some time to kill before the next one comes out, anyway.

I agree. Things didn't work out for Floyd, but she had no problem slipping in and being the actual boss of the family. She was blinded by maternal love for Dodd more than a little, but she had leadership skills and courage. I actually hated her death more than any of the others. You cannot admire her too much - she is involved in organized crime and has no issue with people killing for her - but she was the one character I thought deserved a different ending. Maybe jail, maybe laying low for a while and rebuilding. Betsy is, in some respects, as good a detective as her Dad and her husband (comes to some conclusions quicker, has great insights, finds overlooked evidence) and is quietly competent in spite of being in the middle of cancer treatments. I think the show handled that in a very subtle way - Molly is getting her police instincts not just from Dad and Grandpa but also from Mom. She reminds me of so many women from that era who believed in equality and were equals in their partnerships in spite of not having a career away from the home. Many of them wanted more for their daughters, but not necessarily because they hated their own fate. Noreen is trying to better herself through reading. Obviously a smart kid, but like most 20-somethings reading philosophy and literature, she is embracing big ideas without the experience to see how they apply to actual life. I'd love to know how she turns out. ETA: Was Mike Milligan sitting in front of a selectrix (sp?) typewriter in his terrible little office? I was hoping so but haven't rewatched the episode yet.

Especially THESE TWO PARTICULAR HUMANS. Ashildir/ME seems very amoral. I can't imagine that she'd give two craps about messing up the fabric of time. Clara is reckless with a death wish (maybe cured during this last heartbeat, maybe not). These are not people who should have a time machine. They could create more havoc than Master/Missy completely on accident. I was annoyed by this episode so it has taken me this long to come back to the episode post. Gallifrey just being a throwaway destination (as someone else mentioned earlier) was ridiculous. I can understand why the Doctor was super irritated with them trapping him/torturing him for whatever ridiculous amount of time we are pretending like he was in the confessional, but even given that level of irritation you would think Gallifrey would be more than a means to an end when it's been this mystery wrapped in timey wimey nonsense for pretty much all of new Who. Thanks, Moffatt.

Mr. Polyhymnia hates River Song. And not because it's Alex Kingston (he would agree she is great and that she has great acting moments) but because River has always been an awful contrivance in his opinion. I am on-again, off-again about her. She is one of the more memorable characters from New Who in mostly positive ways, to my mind, but there have been some awful canon/continuity things that have happened during her stories, too. I also hate when she talks about men and women or marriages AT ALL because there is some weird, weird things that come out of her mouth. And I am never sure if she means them or doesn't. I also don't like that sometimes Moffatt wants us to think her a psychopath and sometimes to think her a cuddly eccentric. She is whatever plot demands. Didn't know this either until reading this thread. Disappointed. He gets in his own way too much. I liked the episode. I thought Capaldi was brilliant and hilarious. And sweet. I like River better than Clara (who I do not hate, but I think the writing for her character has been so all over the place that I was not at all sad to see her sort of go).

Velaryon being one of the loyal bannermen to Stannis interests me because they are one of the other houses that is Valyrian, correct? So you would think that they wouldn't be quite so loyal to the usurpers line, but the Baratheons and those other families have been connected since Aegon the Conqueror. I don't remember if he sided with Robert over Aerys/Rhaegar (or if it is even addressed). Davos's skepticism about everything surrounding Stannis while having utter loyalty to Stannis is one of the most endearing things about that character. That and his refreshing honesty.

I have tried to watch this episode 4 or 5 times. I kept falling asleep. I think part of it is that they've killed/not killed Clara so many times that I don't care and I don't believe it. I think I will try to watch this one and the following episode back to back. Or maybe just skip them both.

If I had been told about this episode, I would have probably assumed that both Mike's recitation of Lewis Carroll and Karl's over-the-top defense attorney wouldn't work, but I thought that they translated well. I really loved this episode. (Also, I am a state's attorney and I loved the tool of the state line and also the non-reaction reaction of law enforcement)

I also find Hyle Hunt entertaining. Probably repeating myself but I definitely like this installment better on subsequent reads (but I did skip a lot of the ironborn).

I think it will be interesting if Dodd and Hanzee embellish "The Butcher's" reputation even more now that he proved to be stalwart in a fight against one of their actual hitman. Self-fulfilling prophecy, almost, as they made him out to be a bad-ass killer and he turns out to coincidentally kill one of their guys in that type of fashion. I thought the scene with Mike Mulligan and the Gehrhardt daughter was a little off. I don't know that it made a hell of a lot of sense for her to be visiting with him at the time she did and for him to not be the with the rest of the KC gang - I feel like I missed something. Bear crying about Rye was oddly touching and a great context to Dodd using it as a way to manipulate Floyd.

I've kept all the episodes on my DVR from this season but I particularly want to watch episodes 3 and 4 again. So tight and well-done.

Yoren's desperation at the end of that chapter is really unnerving (especially if you put yourself in Arya's shoes - responsible adults have been around to take care of her and Yoren being worried would seem so unnatural as he has demonstrated that he was a BAMF). I really appreciate Arya's chapters and later Brienne's because they are both shedding light on the hell it would be to be a common person caught in the middle of the great Lords and their wars. No matter who eventually wins, nothing good has come out of it for the people in the Riverlands (and other places). ETA: And to expand on that, even though I think that GRRM is sometimes too grim and bleak (not to mention GOT's adaptation of his works) this is another aspect to his fantasy series that makes it a little different. You don't just see the battles, you see the horrible aftermath on the peasants and the land. It does get tedious after a while, though. To put it mildly.

Lou's total cool in the Gebhardt scene was awesome - just an authority that was not interested in their criminal shenanigans and a little disbelief that his fellow officer was cowed. Plus again with Mike Milligan (and the kitchenettes). Poor stupid Skip. I hope Simone can branch out on her own, she's pretty savvy.

I love that Varys got to keep a lot of his dialogue from these chapters - mostly because Conleth has been so amazing as that character. I forgot (again) that it was the new commander of the gold cloaks that escorted Slynt to the boat and not Bronn. Cat needed her own minor spying agency - she could have sent a couple of people with Theon. Also, it really make no sense (as was just discussed) that Theon goes up there completely alone. ETA: This really belongs in a discussion about Theon later but it makes no sense to me, after meeting Balon Greyjoy, that he would delay any attack on the North because of Theon. He obviously does not consider him a son anymore (and I don't think this just springs up during their reunion) and was probably just waiting for a weak moment - Ned dead, bannermen south, stupid 15-yr-old in charge, time to stir it up again.

I loved that episode. I haven't had a chance to rewatch (I zoned out during Allison's meeting with the general) and really need to do so. Saul was obviously surprised by the explosion. I felt bad for the Turkish hacker. Poor guy just thinks he's trying to do the right thing. Maybe.

I am almost caught up and I hadn't noticed the Tarth at Winterfell the last time I read this. I also would have loved to see how a fight between Arya and Gendry would have gone down.