SeanC

What was great about the dinner scene? She's meant to be winning allies (or whatever), and all she does is make clear that she dislikes all of them. Floundering around before she gets raped just puts her in the exact same hopeless spot she was in before, and I don't see anything to suggest she's trying to find a way to get the upper hand. Same with the idea of her "dangling her hymen" -- there is nothing to suggest she said that with any motive to get something out of Baelish (indeed, after last season ended with the indication that she was going to be playing against Baelish while also working with him, this season she just credulously does whatever he says and never manifests anything resembling her own agenda or attempt to assert herself with him). When the show wants to depict a character engaging in manipulation, they are sledgehammer-unsubtle (much like most of their manipulators). If we were meant to think she was trying to manipulate Baelish, or Ramsay, or whoever, they would not confine this supposed manipulation to a single line in the middle of a conversation that had no impact or followup in the narrative.

The scene of her "standing up to Myranda" exists only to demonstrate how wrong Sansa is, as Myranda is proven right about everything, and even throws Sansa's own bravado back in her face in the later scene when she uses the "your father was warden of the North" line as an ironic reminder that she's in for a lifetime of rape and mutilation rather than the death she's been so beaten down so as to prefer. She did not "pit Ramsay against Roose"; Ramsay glowered for a second, and then went back about his business with no consequences. She didn't stare down Myranda, who was perfectly fine with killing her and gained the upper hand, and Theon saving her was not anything she intended, nor anything different that she's done before, since she inspired similar actions from the Hound; by the same token, she was just ranting at Theon and he spilled relevant information she had no idea existed. The one thing she actively did all season was open a door, and even that failed and required her to be rescued. I don't see how Sansa could possibly be considered an active participant. She was lead around by the nose by Littlefinger, and then as soon as the show had jumped through the hoops necessary to get her to Winterfell she did nothing but sit around sulking, get raped and abused, and then fail at escaping before getting rescued. It was a complete rerun of her Season 2 story, except with rape and Sansa glowering more openly. Indeed, considering that she was urged to go there to "avenge them", and that she began the season in a position of security that the book version has never had, her completely failure to even mildly inconvenience her enemies for a minute is all the more glaring. I'd also disagree with the idea that this is the best season for the character. She was far smarter in season 2, when she knew not to insult psychopaths to their faces, and appeared to be on an upward learning trajectory; even season 4's last-minute character development was better.

The abduction and rape of a noblewoman is hardly an ignoble cause, and that's what he was dealing with as far as he knew. And if you look at the actual chain of events, Robert did not do anything until after the executions, and waited to see if Lord Rickard and co. could resolve the situation peaceably.

No, Robert went to war because the king had murdered several of the kingdom's most powerful nobles without due process or provocation, and had sentenced Robert himself to die despite his not having done anything.Stannis went to war because he was rightfully the king under the laws of the time. He had given Renly no cause to deny his position.

Well, Talisa wasn't GRRM at all.

GRRM is fundamentally a romantic ("disappointed romantic", as Steve Attewell once put it). He makes the lows low so that the highs are higher.

Why would that scenario require him to get rid of Sansa? And especially, why would he need a Faceless Man to kill Sansa, who is completely in his power, when he killed a king and two Hands of a King without using one?

After spending so much of the episode featuring various characters crowing about their plum, high-paying assignment, I was expecting it to be something gross/degrading, so sewing was a pleasant surprise.

Considering that Cersei is the one running King's Landing, as far as anybody in Dorne appears to know, I'd say not easy at all.

"Extensive" is, of course, a relative term, but we see a lot about how the Faceless Men operate from Arya's training and the ways they conduct operations. They follow their targets around to learn a lot about their movements, select their methods based on what they see, they have a "zero collateral damage" rule, and they favour undetectable methods. They've never used ranged weapons like bows. So I find the idea of Arya just showing up and killing Alayne Stone without ever seeing her highly inconsistent with what we've seen of them, quite apart from the improbability that they would ever be hired for the job to begin with.

Marriage between an aunt/uncle and nephew/niece isn't considered incestuous in Westeros; we know of two such unions in the recent history of House Stark. It happened in the real world as well -- at the extreme end, the Spanish Habsburgs made a regular practice of it.

But there's been no indication that anything has changed concerning Margaery and Loras' statuses.

Arya did think of Sansa in Braavos, and she thought about her more before that, back when she wasn't trying to be No One.The reason to bring them together is obvious: they are foils who had a rather antagonistic relationship before everything went to hell, and in Sansa's case especially, have come to be much more appreciative of the idea of the other. Ned spelled out that the two were different but would ultimately need each other in the first book (it's part of the broader theme of the separated Starks focusing on the importance of their family and Winterfell -- "a time for wolves", and all that). The theories about Arya being sent to kill Sansa have a bunch of problems. Arya is not likely to complete her training, there's no obvious reason for anyone to hire a Faceless Man to kill Alayne Stone, and the Faceless Men extensively canvas their targets before acting.

I actually think that's not the case, because at the moment it looks like Lancel was the "handsome young man" Littlefinger told Olenna about -- maybe next season we'll learn otherwise, but Littlefinger mentions it right before the scene where the High Sparrow arrests Cersei, and there's no further mention of it in the remaining three episodes. Moreover, the High Sparrow never did anything to manipulate Cersei into giving him an army, etc.; that was all her idea. The actual dialogue the High Sparrow has in the arrest scene does sound more like he knew before, but in the context of the whole plot I don't think that squares. I don't think Olenna somehow talking Lancel into confessing offscreen makes all that much sense either, but that appears to be what they're suggesting.

Why? Their stories have a lot to do with growing up and setting aside pettier things, and in Sansa's case, learning to appreciate things they didn't appreciate before.

One obviously can't speculate too much on the specifics with any certainty, but I have no doubt they'll see each other again. GRRM has come pretty close to confirming that Sansa and Arya will meet again, for instance.

In the books, the marriage has a number of plot point functions that the show did away with, and was a significant bit of characterization for Sansa and Tyrion in terms of their attitudes toward relationships, etc.

No. Jon's connection with Ghost has never been addressed on the show.

Given the writers' preference for introducing things only shortly before they have major plot relevance, it may be that Arya's warging will come up now, given that it's probably not long before she should (presumably) meet up with Nymeria again. I don't see how that could ever possibly happen. If Sansa and Brienne are together, there's no way Littlefinger could expect to get away with that, given that, among other things, he needs Sansa's continued cooperation for a whole bunch of reasons; and he couldn't send Brienne to Cersei, seeing as Brienne would tell Cersei that Littlefinger was the one who had possession of Sansa when she first found her (how much she'd be believed is an open question, but Cersei is paranoid).

I used to think that, but by this point it's clear that the writers don't feel the need for anywhere near the amount of buildup that exists in the novels, so I don't think its absence from the early seasons would be something they would regard as an issue, and by the time they get to any possible reunion, the actress will be an adult. In the first case, you're clearly not supposed to like Littlefinger for kissing her, which is very different. Also true with Ramsay, but more to the point, Sophie was over 18 by the time they filmed that stuff. They'd have been filming the Sansa/Hound stuff when Sophie was 14/15 (and Rory McCann was visibly uncomfortable whenever he was asked about Sansa, for exactly that reason). There's no indication of Sansa developing any romantic interest in him (quite the opposite), and GRRM has said he won't write POV rape (not that that makes much sense for Littlefinger's character either). In an epilogue, maybe, but I can't see how that would ever fit into the series' main action.

I have no idea what will come of the Sansa/Hound interactions in the books, or how the show will or won't handle it, but I guarantee you that the reason they completely eliminated the romantic aspects of their interactions (and, really, eliminated most of their interactions, period) is because they thought it would be too creepy, given the actress's age at the time. I'm not worried about that. The original draft pertained to her initial arc with Joffrey, which is over in the show. The only real comparison would be if she's going to have Harry Hardyng's kid in the books coming up, but I don't believe there's likely to be any story room for something like that.

The primary charges are treason and murder -- it's hard to imagine the punishment for that is anything other than death.

I don't think it's hypocritical to treat people who freely confess and seek redemption as different from people who are arrested and basically compelled the confess (and are quite blatantly not sincere).

From the way Weiss talks about the Dorne plot in the Inside the Episode for 510, it seems assumed that Jaime is still heading back to King's Landing. Loras isn't in danger in the books, he was mortally wounded in the siege of Dragonstone and is on the brink of death (unless you believe one of the Tyrell conspiracy theories, but I don't). GRRM was referring to Willas and Garlan, who I expect will be important in the Reach, but their roles will likely be given to Randyll Tarly in the show, particularly as TV Loras is such a farcical figure. Littlefinger being behind it never made any sense as an idea. It was simply not plausible given the timeline and geography, for starters, and more to the point, Catelyn running into Tyrion on the Kingsroad and Catelyn deciding to arrest him could never have been predicted. It was a spontaneous incident.

No, not a consequence, because Lord Walder is not vulnerable. GRRM sets this out quite explicitly in the chapter in question. When Robb's army marches up to the Twins, the immediate conclusions of all his commanders (including the Greatjon) is that it cannot be sieged. Ergo, their only options are to negotiate a way across, retreat, or go south to fight Tywin, which they don't want to do.