Gertrude

As to the question of Tommen's heir, he had none. Cersei is Tommen's successor, but not heir. She took it and no one wants to challenge her. Done. Well, Dany wants to challenge her, but she would challenge anyone and it's not Cersei specific.

A-fucking-men.

By the way, shouldn't news that a Targaryen Queen has landed with dragons make the Knights of the Vale a little nervous? Royce said you couldn't trust a Targaryen, after all. They're just ok with leaving the Vale unprotected and chilling in the North because there are dead things? Dead things that exist, trust me, they exist and they are coming. Really they are. Dragons are a known thing and people believe in them. So if I were Royce, I'd be telling Jon 'Hey, it was fun, but I left the stove on and have to get home, Call me sometime, k?' Oh that's right, Littlefinger has to be with Sansa in the North. Good job writers, good job. They've completely gutted LF as a scary guy now that he has no power base to weave his webs from. He's another character they've completely bungled, but since I don't like him, I care less and often forget about it til he does something creepy and I wonder, 'why is he still hanging around again?'

That scene was Gendry and Davos (after mel and the leeches). In the books we have strong indications that Mel was a slave. Others have said it's been mentioned in the show, but I didn't remember it. Testosterone is the main driver for male sex drive. If GW doesn't have his testicles, then he wouldn't have the sexual passion he displayed while kissing Missandei. I'm far from an expert here and I'm probably missing something, but if I am unsure about it, I'm guessing I was not the only one. I'd like them to have at least addressed it. And by the way, genital mutilation and transgender aren't even close to the same thing, so watch that. My objection is not that they rushed it, it's how they handled it. It was treated just like a traditional love story culminating in sexy times. They only addressed it in the shallowest way possible when I think they had the chance to make this much more interesting and different that what we normally see. I agree that he can't enjoy sex as most men know it, but he still has human needs and a desire for intimacy and contact. They didn't even touch on what he hopes to get from this physical relationship. Like I said, they could have seeded a few lines in the past seasons about how the Unsullied still crave contact and intimacy, even if it's not sexual for them. Then again, your desire to see Missandei naked is probably what was motivating them in that scene rather than good or interesting writing. eta: in response to the above post, I don't dislike the love story between M and GW, nor did I particularly dislike the scene. I was disappointed that it much like any other love scene we see on TV.

I liked this episode more than the last. Some really good connections and conversations, and it's nice to see things moving along quickly. Stuff happens. The only misstep I think was the Missandei/GW scene. It's not that I dislike their story, I am just not fond of how they did it. Back in Mereen Miss asked GW why an unsullied would go to a brothel and he said "I don't know". I was upset at that time that he didn't talk about how men still liked to be cuddled and craved human contact, I mean that's straight from the books. So now when we see the culmination of their love story, it's played as the usual sexy times sex scene. There was some passion in that kiss GW gave her. I'm unsure of what level of testosterone would be driving him at that point, but they could have discussed it. Had them talk about what they could each get out of a physical relationship rather than rush it straight to the sexy times. It's a small complaint, but it wouldn't have taken much care with their story to make it different than a basic sexy love story. I wanted Tyrion to hate Ellaria rather than be mildly annoyed. Good riddance to the two Sand Sankes - two more to go. I could ask how Euron's men knew which ones to leave alive and take rather than an order to take all women alive, but since it ended with their deaths, I don't exactly care. I think there were two big things happening in this episode for book readers. Arya and Nymeria and the Prince that was Promised. I don't think this is how book Arya and Nym will go, but it's possible I guess. Her story, however, is how much she is clinging to Arya Stark in the House of Black and White and she still has the wolf dreams. I'm hoping this is a show thing to cut CGI wolves (much like Summer) and not an indication of book plot. The Prince that was Promised being non-gendered is interesting. I'm more inclined to think this is a book thing. It's been speculated, but this gives it a lot more weight, IMO.

I'm not disagreeing that the Tyrell women didn't deserve what they got. They chose to play this game knowing the stakes and they forged ahead. Book Marjory it is less clear to me what she wanted vs what her family wanted, but she is a willing enough pawn. Show Marge is a player playing with fire. Olenna killed Joff - that is also a monstrous act with complete disregard for the consequences to anyone not her family. I don't feel sympathy for any of these people. Small moments here and there, but overall not a chance. I may enjoy their characters, but it's not because I admire them. As for Cersei not murdering a teen-aged boy, I'm sure she did. There had to be a teen-aged or two or twenty boy located in the radius of that blast. But let's take that out of the equation. Book Cersei killed/ let die her friend. A teen-aged girl who had the audacity to have a crush on her brother. Honestly, that is the root of my dislike for Cersei and I don't separate book and show cleanly. My book view informs the show characters. Even if we're going by show Cersei only, she's more sympathetic, but not to the point where I can forgive her for being a miserable wretch to everyone around her. If they just need to light the wights on fire, that makes it easier to whip up a bunch of fighters from nothing. Have them keep the fires lit and flowing freely to the front line and archers.

So after perusing some of the reviews of the show, it looks like I'm in the minority of not liking the Euron scene. To me he seemed like a blustering clown and not menacing or someone to personally take seriously. His ships are the reason to take him seriously, not Euron himself, IMO. I thought the dialog was not great - it seemed too artificial and more like the bridge it was to get from point A to point B. Again, I seem to be in the minority. *shrug* And something I'm disappointed in myself for not catching at the time was Lyanna Mormont's sassy speech. I'm kinda over her at this point, but I don't mind her. My first reaction to her speech about not sitting by the fire and knitting was 'well, knitting hats and mittens for everyone would probably be a good strategic move, actually.' Now that it's been pointed out to me, what I wish she had done is make a point that the Mormont women have always fought beside their men. In the show Maege Mormont fought beside Robb and died at the Red Wedding. She could have referenced that instead of disparaging the very industrious and useful art of knitting :p

I have to strongly disagree. Yes, Cersei had enemies. It might be acceptable to kill them for survival - I don't agree, but I will concede that. That tattle-tale cousin - he turned state's witness to a crime committed by her and him. Cersei conspired to kill the King. If she hadn't done that, there was no need to seduce Lancel for his help, nothing for him to tattle about. And her Uncle was condescending? Oh no. The Tyrells were adversaries, but Cersei never even tried to work with them once. She was the one upping the aggression level at every turn. But it was a personal matter and not truly a threat. A threat to her power and influence, sure, but it wasn't threatening her survival like Ned did. So Cersei escalated this because she's power-hungry. Not a noble reason. You're just hand-waving the collateral damage of the lords, ladies and like 30 city blocks because they were in the wrong place and probably deserved it anyway because they looked forward to seeing justice brought to Cersei, who was accused of some very vile crimes, amongst them the killing of a King. I'm sure Robert had no friends who might have wanted to see Cersei brought to justice for that. And the High Sparrow himself, I'm pretty sure Cersei herself gave him the power he had. She backed him way before Tommen backed him. She was too giddy to put in motion her clever plan to take down the Tyrells to even think about the consequences even a little. She knew Lancel was one of the zealots around the High Sparrow and she should have shut that shit down as soon as she realized that. So no, I can't look at this as a clever strike against her enemies. It's a war crime. A monsterous way out of a situation she got herself into because she is too short-sighted and bitter to think things through. She's not clever, she's a cornered animal acting out of vicious instinct. The fact that Jaime hasn't turned away from her yet in the show undermines the very core of him and it makes me extremely sad and glad the books still exist. And by comparing her favorably to Tywin Lannister, I think we have very different ideas of what acceptable tactics are. Tywin was feared, yes. Respected? Truly respected in a positive way? Probably not. Fear can look like respect when you don't want to cross a cruel, murderous bastard who could have you, your family, your family's family, fifth cousins and old neighbors wiped out with a word.

I'm thinking it's much like running a company. Sure, you need leadership and knowledge to set it up and make sure it keeps running to your liking, but CEOs take vacation from time to time and trust the people they hired to not burn things down while they are gone. So yeah, not something I think is out of the ordinary.

So what I'm getting out of this thread right now is that the show is giving us nothing worth sinking our teeth into, so we're backtracking into old and worn arguments about Sansa. She's a dumb girl. No she's not. Yuh huh! Nu-uh! Come on show, give us something better next week.

Yeah. I've always figured that in the books they would cross the stepstones into Dorne because of the dragon limitations. I don't remember any such islands being mentioned anywhere other than the stepstones. It's a boring type of detail though, so I don't mind that it was handwaved away in the show.

What even grates more is that Sam already knew this information. Stannis told him at Castle Black and no one ever pumped him for info or acted on it. In this episode Sam even says that Stannis mentioned it. *facepalm*

Ah, I think I misunderstood what you were saying. No, I don't believe anyone would have recognized that the Faceless Man was specifically Arya. To all appearances it was a FM hit if anyone can recognize the signs. I was thinking more along the lines or Arya's character development and how she's not remotely a true Faceless Man as we understand the concept, but yes, she is playing the part of a Faceless Man.

But I think that proclaiming the North remembers and Winter has Come proclaimed her as an agent of the North, and even specifically the Starks, or at least invoking their memory. I think what she did was far from the Faceless Man creedo of being a neutral arbiter of death. Arya was acting supremely as Arya Stark in that moment. Mayhaps the Winter and North comments were overlooked or not conveyed properly. I think Jaime said 'we don't know what happened', not 'we don't know why it happened'.

I'm going to disagree here. She does nothing but underestimate people. She underestimated how much LF valued her since he was willing to give her to Ramsey. She badly read the Ramsey situation until the wedding night. There were multiple red flags and an escape button in the form of a candle before it got that far. You know what, I take it back. She overestimated the loyalty of the Northmen instead of underestimated it. I love book Sansa, but show Sansa is not book Sansa and show Sansa hasn't show a lot of growth. We've been told about it a lot and have it shoved down our throats, but not shown IMO. I think she's too inconsistently written to really know what she's about and what she's really thinking, sadly.