ElizaD

I can't believe I forgot about Harrenhal! It's got to be Pod then, with Brienne skulking in the crypts, perhaps. New episode information:

My favorite character's story has been wrecked by the distasteful titillation of "watch and find out if Sansa is going to be raped like Jeyne Poole!" but I can't believe how much I'm liking the Wall this season. It's such a relief to have some variety up there. Show Margaery is so needlessly and clearly catty that, despite Dormer's age, she's starting to seem far younger and less savvy than in seasons 2-3 and the books. The High Sparrow, on the other hand, seems like a less obvious fanatic than in AFFC. He's such a kindly old man (and a better actor than Margaery) that Cersei won't see it coming. It's unfortunate, though, that the show's love for poor Cersei and tendency to feel sorry for/smarten her means we won't have AFFC's paranoid, batshit insane Cersei. She was quality black comedy.

There was a casting call for an older woman who'd be Brienne's ally in "dangerous territory." Could that be the "North remembers" woman in 5x03? But how could Brienne end up interacting with her? As a huge warrior woman, she'd stand out if she entered Winterfell. Shouldn't Roose recognize Brienne? They were both around Robb/Cat in season 2. I guess they could give Brienne a quick line about how she only saw Roose from a distance - the show's done worse things to continuity and logic.

They brought Kevan back, IMO if he wasn't going to get killed they wouldn't have bothered and he would have stayed offscreen like Gendry/Beric/Blackfish.

It's interesting that I wouldn't have called Ragnar one of my very favorite characters and have been fine with the idea of the show continuing with the stories of his sons, yet the moment the possibility of his death came up I was all "oh no!" Ragnar really is a great lead and helps Vikings feel different from other historical dramas. Ragnar's baptism may be part of a scheme to conquer Paris, but it's also fitting. Aslaug shows how missionaries are going to be treated and Ragnar isn't a true believer (his conversion is some combination of curiousity/Athelstan reunion/backstabbing strategy), but in the end the vikings do convert. How I wish the princess was played by a more interesting actress. As Rollo's destined wife she'll probably get quite a bit of screentime in the future, but now she's like someone playing amateur dress-up rather than a character. Kalf might survive so that his downfall can be a storyline in season 4, but please, let Erlendur get killed next episode. Vikings has the best battles on TV. I love that Paris has been such a tough fight, it makes this feel suitably epic compared to previous conflicts. That trap was nasty!

I don't think anything like this happens to Sansa in the books. It's just Jeyne's story given to a different character even though it makes no sense. They had zero interest in exploring or even acknowledging any emotional consequences of the Jaime/Cersei rape, so to me it's perfectly believable that they would have Sansa raped and treat it as just another shock twist that's no different from Jaime going to Dorne instead of the Riverlands; female rape victims, like locations, are interchangeable. I'd guess they have Sansa and Littlefinger as partners in crime in the early episodes (the followup to the Maleficent walk), and then he returns to KL and she becomes Ramsay's new plaything. It's still stunning to me that they would want to change the plot of a major POV character, who we've seen grow up onscreen, so that she can take a minor character's place as a rape victim, but at this point with all the interviews and information it really seems that the only reason to argue against it is "they wouldn't do that." It's the show's fondness for female nudity/rape threats and indifference to criticism of these elements taken to the logical conclusion. Instead of invented characters like Ros/random prostitutes or a minor character like Meera being abused, they get the far greater controversy (attention is good!) of going through with the rape of a young major character. Extreme edginess and pleasing the infamous "pervert side" of the audience in one plot. I've moved from my initial reaction "of course they wouldn't make such a change" to "of course they would do it." They'll cut a ton of content from the books, but not a rape even if they've cut the actual victim and so have to swap in a different female character. The North was the best-written plot in ADWD and I've been looking forward to it for years. Now it seems the showrunners have cut the focus on Theon, the Northern lords' support for the Starks, Manderly's revenge, and the increasing tension at Winterfell with the Boltons slowly starting to lose control (which will hardly be possible if the only named characters inside are Ramsay's two powerless playthings). The key thing about the plot that they wanted to keep was marital rape, which was already its worst part and seemed like GRRM trying to see how he could outdo previous abuses with even worse torture porn. Interviews and spoilers truly make it sound like the show's version will be silent Theon in the background while Sansa is raped until it's time for him to grab Sansa, a helpless victim again, and jump. Nothing is achieved, not even the background progress Manderly was able to make on his revenge. But won't it be shocking and edgy and awesome that a Bolton gets to rape Sansa at Winterfell!

At this point I expect Sansa to have the worst plot this season, with characters acting like idiots so the show can have her raped by Ramsay in Fake Arya's place, but after rewatching 5x01 I've started to feel sorry for Jaime. He hasn't developed the way I would have expected after season 3 seemed to have him on track for his redemption arc. While I dislike the term and think he's still a selfish person in AFFC/ADWD, he has nonetheless changed in ways that seasons 4-5 don't seem to be featuring at all. Jaime's introspection is gone - he's not moving forward, he seems to be moving back with his focus on Cersei. The showrunners love the Lannisters (no flashbacks? let's break that rule for Cersei, Tywin is a villain? oh no, he's Lawful Neutral), but Jaime seems to be pretty clearly their least favorite Lannister. Back in season 2 when he killed his cousin and someone (showrunner? writer?) said it was to remind people that he's a monster, I thought that wasn't the most successful scene but it did kinda match the early ASOS Jaime who would have killed Brienne and didn't mourn his dead Frey cousin, and then season 3 was good for him. But season 4 was a mess. First he's desperate for Cersei's affection while she rejects him, then he rapes the "hateful woman", then he's back to longing looks but gives Brienne the sword, then he breaks his vows again and has reunion sex with Cersei when the conclusion of the ASOS relationship was him rejecting sex to honor the Kingsguard. Now he starts season 5 with Cersei accusing him of being a stupid man of action. Their book roles seem to have been swapped: Cersei acted aggressively and without thinking throughout AFFC, while Jaime had to learn to think and negotiate after losing his hand. It's possible that the Dorne material will allow him to show he can be a negotiator too, but I doubt the show will draw much attention to it (Jaime learning to use his golden hand as a weapon, returning to action, is more likely to be his cool moment). I don't know what the reason is: all I can think of is a combination of the stated dislike of themes (Jaime's being honor and knighthood), Jaime not being a favorite, Cersei being a favorite who has to be made to look more tragic/clever, and the showrunners wanting Jaime's likely murder of Cersei to come as a total shock so that he moves from seeking to regain her favor with the Myrcella rescue to killing her. In the 5x02 trailer, Cersei again mentions burning things to the ground. Possible foreshadowing? Unlike the valonqar, it doesn't shout "this will happen" to non-readers.

To me, the beginning of S7 felt like the happiest and most content Buffy had been since S5 started. The family vibe of Buffy/Xander/Dawn was surprisingly enjoyable even though I don't ship B/X and belong in the Dawn haters club - happy Buffy was such a relief after all the misery. But then the gang got back together and Buffy became worse than ever. I really think 7x01 would have been a good canon ending for the show: Willow is off with Giles and has plenty of time deal with and learn from her problems, Spike and Anya aren't forced to be part of the gang when it's no longer credible, Buffy finds a job, Xander has gained confidence from doing his job well, Dawn has a chance to become more mature. Even though the characters were apart physically, their relationships hadn't yet deteriorated to the point where they no longer seemed to like each other. I could believe in the possibility of a happy post-canon reunion, but the actual season 7 finale left me feeling the characters needed to get the hell away from each other now that they were free of Sunnydale. This is why I ended up liking Tara more than Willow: in the season of Scooby misery, Tara was trying to be the adult, showing respect and understanding but also making it clear when she thought Willow had crossed the line.

Mance dying has made me wonder if we'll see the Hound again. I'm not a big believer in any of the Hound theories because everything seems too uncertain to be predicted with the same confidence as something like the Martells joining Aegon, but in the books it at least seems possible that he'll leave anonymity. On the show, though, unless he's critical to the outcome of the trial, he might join Mance despite being a bigger and better loved character.

Maybe they're waiting for the election or execution to bring up Slynt's cowardice. IIRC, the things Book Margaery did were age-appropriate stuff that could help Tommen grow up to be a popular and more emotionally healthy king. Cersei's love was possessive and selfish: she didn't understand that her hunger for power, making Tommen wait because she had waited while Tywin lived, wasn't going to help him be ready to rule. Of course Margaery would benefit from a stronger Tommen, but she saw, as Book Cersei never did, that it's possible to have alliances that are mutually beneficial. Ruling isn't just about crushing everyone who disagrees with you: that's how Cersei ended up with her council of idiots and made an enemy of the Tyrells when she should have negotiated with and contained them the way Tywin had been doing. I don't think Book Margaery schemed against Cersei : she underestimated Cersei's level of crazy and inability to appreciate how good the Lannister/Tyrell alliance had been for them. Show Margaery, on the other hand, is both more aggressive and less savvy (Book Margaery had to be part of the Joffrey murder plot so that she'd know when not to drink, Show Margaery was clueless). She might try to get Tommen to send Cersei back to the Rock. If she's not marrying Loras and going to Highgarden, that seems like the plan with the best chance of success.

I can't recall if it was in this thread, but I remember someone speculating that despite the cutting of Stoneheart, the show might be heading for a version of Brienne's Choice with her emphasis on killing Stannis. If she does meet Sansa after she and Theon have presumably escaped the Boltons and joined Stannis, Brienne might have to choose between avenging Renly and serving Sansa who wants to be Stannis' ally. Or she might meet Sansa even earlier if she and Pod replace dead Mance as the infiltrators of Winterfell. The general consensus is that Cersei is wrong and Jaime, not Tyrion, is the valonqar. The younger queen is a little more mixed, some think that it's Margaery because Cersei made the prophecy come true and destroyed herself in trying to take her down, others that it's Dany or Sansa and Cersei got the identity wrong again.

The introduction of the Dragonstone crew has improved the Wall with a new mix of characters and a greater sense of urgency. Stannis is starting to feel more like Book Stannis too. Overall, my favorite plot of the episode. I really want Robin to return in season 7 as a decent young lord. Totally unimpressed Royce was hilarious. Fanaticism suits Lancel. So creepy and still compared to his earlier appearances. Maggy's prophecy was even more pointless than in the books. The show has devoted plenty of time to the Cersei/Margaery dislike, Margaery's ambition and Cersei's wish to be in charge. The prophecy only adds a new canon screwup since Show Cersei did have a short-lived child with the king. But Young Cersei was suitably arrogant and vicious, good casting again. Although the scene was another instance of Show Loras being used as a joke, it might actually have a purpose later if the High Sparrow gets Olyvar to confess to a threesome with Loras and Margaery.

That is such a shame. I love spoilers, but reading review comments about specific storylines and analyzing every second of trailer footage is different from actual episodes being accessible weeks before they're aired. Part of the fun and frustration of GOT is having a week to discuss the episode and speculate about the future before we find out what happens next on the show. These were probably the four episodes sent to reviewers, so I doubt 5-10 will leak. Has any show ever had its season finale leak more than a week before it airs? The biggest leak I can remember is that Wolverine movie which ended up doing OK at the box office despite being bad.

I'm getting worried for Helga. She'd be safer back home, but since she followed the warriors it feels like she might become a casualty when something goes wrong with the raid and that will be what knocks Floki down a peg. There's been very little Lagertha in the last two episodes. I'm a little surprised, knowing how popular she is. I hope she'll get to be a major character again in episodes 9-10 (8 will probably be all about the epic raid).

With Alfred and now baby Magnus (whether he is Ragnar's son or not), it seems they have plans for the second generation in England too. If they want to show tiny Alfred going to Rome that might mean there won't be a time jump when season 4 starts, but maybe they'll handle it like in season 2 when they had the jump after the very early departure of Lagertha and original Bjorn. Rather like the story of Athelstan's choice between Christianity and paganism, the current state of things feels like it's coming to a natural end. Siggy and Athelstan are dead, I don't think things are looking good for Helga, Floki might end up paying for Athelstan's murder with his life, Aslaug/Ragnar and Porunn/Bjorn might be heading for breakups. The next generation will be Ragnar's sons, Siggy #2, Angrboda (Floki's daughter), Alfred, Magnus, possibly Rollo's children if he marries the French princess. They could still have them as children in season 4 and then do the time jump in 5 if the show continues to get renewed, but IMO this feels like the right time for a major shakeup.

After ten years of waiting, a new Sansa chapter. Thank you, GRRM! My first impression is that nothing much happens beyond her meeting with Harry, but she's clearly becoming the social player people have been predicting. The tourney being her idea is Sansa making both practical and entertaining use of her old dreams of chivalry. ... was the controversy the absence of Sansan? Hilarious. I don't think I ever saw that suggested in all the speculation. After the Mercy chapter and the likelihood of Show Sansa/Ramsay, this is still incredibly mild stuff.

Hirst interview:

44 - Does Olenna arrive to counsel Margaery? I can't remember if she's been said to be at Tywin's funeral. 45 - Goodbye, Slynt! 46 - Is Loras arrested? I'd speculated that Margaery would be arrested in episode 7, could it be as early as 6? And wedding preparations with no sign of Fake Arya - if the show has Sansa marry Ramsay, goddamn. It's an idiotic, indefensible move that gains her and Littlefinger absolutely nothing. There's no way to spin it as anything other than humiliation. If they wanted to send her to Winterfell to replace a minor character like Manderly as the enemy within, fine. If they wanted Sansa betrothed to Ramsay in a fake alliance while she and Littlefinger scheme to destroy the Boltons, fine - Margaery and Joffrey waited from 2x10 to 4x02 to get married, Cersei and Loras have been betrothed since 3x05, there would be absolutely no need to actually go through with a Sansa/Ramsay marriage. But if Sansa's story in the Vale was cut so that they could rush to include marital rape without needing to cast Jeyne Poole, that goes beyond the Stoneheart/Manderly news of cutting things I enjoyed in the books. It's just mind-boggling. Why twist Sansa's story so that she becomes an utter failure as a player? Wasn't the walk of shame enough sexual abuse for this season? If the showrunners think so little of Sansa that they really do see her and Jeyne as interchangeable passive victims of rape to be rescued by Theon, if they casually change a POV's plot so that they get to include Bolton rape as something absolutely vital and fascinating that can't possibly be cut, that's more disappointing than anything else has been. Every new bit of information makes the Sansa as Manderly theory shakier and Sansa as Jeyne/Ramsay's wife more depressingly likely. Sophie said that Sansa has to stay alive for her brothers: if Theon tells her about Bran/Rickon and the show uses that as justification for why she endures marriage to Ramsay, that will be bleak as hell. Is there no one involved in the production who'd say "hey, maybe we don't need more rape on this show?" How could "let's have Ramsay rape Sansa instead" sound like a good idea? Sophie has mentioned Sansa's manipulative skills and getting away from past helplessness, but if that simply means she doesn't cry a lot after being pushed into an invalid marriage and losing her virginity to a monster, she shouldn't have bothered to hype the story at all and stuck to talk about Sansa suffering. 47 - Maybe Stannis runs into Yara here.

That could work on the show if Jaime negotiates with Doran so that Cersei gets her way (Myrcella returns) but Doran doesn't lose the alliance (the Martells and Romeo & Juliet insist on marriage as the price of her departure). Marrying Trystane/Myrcella could have a little bit of the Arianne/Aegon vibe, but who knows how completely they've decided to cut the elements of that plot. I agree that this could be good news for Book Robin if the show character is left as Royce's ward so he can undo the damage caused by Lysa. Finn Jones mentioned throwing the 5x10 script at the wall, IIRC, so Loras is probably in the episode, but I think that was due to a big shocker like Jon's stabbing rather than a spoiler about Loras. Even though his interviews are strange, I think he would have been a little more cautious about hinting at his own non-book demise. I now think that Loras will be arrested first, establishing the Faith's views on sexual activity outside marriage and allowing Cersei to end the engagement after he's outed. Then she'll use the same strategy to get rid of Margaery (and since she's the queen she'll face execution for adultery rather than simply humiliation) only for the High Sparrow to reveal that he knows about her own crimes. Since Show Mace is in Braavos (and was treated pretty much as a non-character in season 4), Loras could take his and Tarly's place as the leader of the Tyrell side after Cersei falls and Kevan takes over. Perhaps Cersei sends Mace to Braavos as a fake olive branch to the Tyrells after Loras is questioned about Olyvar, getting him out of the way on a respectable mission so she can move against Margaery.

IMO, Sansa's story is like the opposite of Dany's. If Dany has had it too easy for her story to have any tension, Sansa has been endlessly victimized by the leading villains. Her story has had enough violence, rape threats and helplessness, and the show possibly marrying her to the most sadistic character in the series would be more of the same, this time with no guarantee that she will escape actual rape. In general, I think Tyrion's POVs are a pretty good example of a well-structured plot in ASOIAF. Unlike Dany and Sansa, he has both highs and lows: he's never truly safe but he gets victories over his opponents that keep his plot from becoming a horrible grind of one atrocity after another. This also made me think of Spartacus. While it doesn't have the highbrow reputation of HBO's GOT, it had incredible tension. It was far more merciless in its treatment of the characters (the season 2 finale killed half the main cast, and of course the series finale had to be a downer ending with the defeat of the slave rebellion) but it made that exciting rather than tiresome by also being more generous in granting its leads exhilarating triumphs. It balanced the grimness of Roman slavery with genuine friendships and love affairs, while ASOIAF is heavy on POV isolation and self-destructive or violent sex. That's the kind of mix of tension and excitement that I'd like to see more of in ASOIAF: I admit that I sometimes find it a slog to go through all the sidetrips and descriptions of how life in Westeros sucks, enduring them due to my investment in the characters and the hope that the likes of Walder/Roose will eventually pay for what they've done. While I'm dreading the extra horrors of Sansa reduced to a Bolton bride and mourning the loss of Stoneheart/Manderly, I at least have the satisfaction of knowing the TV show will get to the point, whatever it is, faster than GRRM. That's what I thought they were doing with the season 4 shot of Darth Sansa: after she was treated like an ignorant child in season 3, I agree that it felt like fastforwarding her to TWOW Sansa (perhaps as a result of their latest talks with GRRM?) who should be more active and mature following her apprenticeship. So the reports of Ramsay getting a new plaything and three weddings in season 5 really surprised me because it seemed like after one step forward Sansa was suddenly taking five steps back as part of a plot she had nothing to do with in AFFC/ADWD.

WOTW - Scientific Guess at George R.R. Martin’s Progress on The Winds of Winter A ton of numbers and past updates. Guesses:

If that's what GRRM said, it's unintentionally hilarious to me. He's looking forward to it, which seems to imply he hasn't finished writing that part of TWOW, and maybe hasn't even started it. Cersei's escape to the Rock is a good theory. Highgarden is tougher - Sam is the POV closest to it, Euron the character most likely to wreck it since the Martells are heading east to Aegon and KL. I wonder about the Vale. That stuff might have been completely cut after the show decided to send Sansa to Winterfell, or it might be partially spoiled in season 6 if it's related to the return and demise of Walder Frey.

The first season was the last time Dany got to grow as a character and didn't steamroll her enemies while making smug statements. IMO, a big problem with her story is her invulnerability: she's both a show favorite and the ruler who's on top. I roll my eyes at how saintly Show Tyrion has been made, but his advantage over Dany is that he has capable and powerful adversaries and therefore greater tension in his scenes. Important characters like Cersei, Tywin and Joffrey have been allowed to strike at Tyrion and make him either emotionally or politically vulnerable. It's presented as something the viewers should recognize as a great injustice to poor Tyrion, but it's still a greater balance than Dany's story has had after the first season. It's a problem in the books too: Dany screws up in disposable foreign locations and can always evade lasting political consequences by roasting people and moving on to the next villainous strawman who'd look pathetic next to the quality of the Tywin/Roose/Varys/Littlefinger enemies the other main characters oppose or interact with. None of the messes she's left behind will matter once she gets to Westeros, whereas Tyrion's patricide still has the potential to come back and haunt him when he rejoins the main story and makes his claim to the Rock.

Maggy might be the most pointless book content inclusion in the series. If the younger queen is Margaery, the show has already done far more than the books to establish their rivalry and Cersei wanting her out of the way makes perfect sense. If the younger queen is Dany, the prophecy is even more pointless because Cersei will have very little left to take by the time she finally gets to Westeros. Without the valonqar, it spoils Tommen/Myrcella's deaths, telling viewers not to care too much about their plots because they're guaranteed to fail in some way, and doesn't even offer the Tyrion or Jaime? tension about Cersei's death. The prophecy was the perfect thing to cut from the show, and yet half of it been included. The only reason that I can think of for its inclusion on a show that's downplayed prophecy and magic is that the showrunners adore the Lannisters and see them as the new core family, as one of the writers said (Cersei gets a prophecy and a respected actor to play the High Sparrow, Tommen gets more to do as the good young king, Myrcella gets a Romeo), but compared to the stuff they've invented (Jaime in Dorne) or extended (King's Landing), it's still useless. And based on the summary, it sounds like the show forgot that it gave Cersei a child with the king, the firstborn who died.

That he's doing something makes 2016 more likely though not certain, but I admit it annoys me to think that he wouldn't start canceling cons years ago when he was talking about ten seasons and movie endings instead of being realistic. It seems an unfortunately likely possibility that after TWOW, GRRM will focus on Targaryen history and novellas rather than books 7 and 8.