LifeRuiner

They are Neapolitan mastiffs, I'm told.

That's what I thought! Women for sure take care of the temple and clean/set it up for khals, there had to be plenty of opportunities. Nobody pays any attention to what "help" is doing with the place. And I swear, every year I come here and hope the tide of whine and nitpicking has finally turned. Nope. Anyway, I thought this was an excellent episode. Jon and Sansa sharing a happy moment and making plans, Margaery seeing right through High Sparrow's manipulations, Tormund falling hard and trying to impress Brienne, Missandei and Grey Worm standing up to Tyrion but presenting a united front anyway, Dany taking the khals down a few notches before the fire.

That's how I felt as well.

High five :)

Theon?

I didn't see it either, but I thought it happened when Joffrey was cutting the pigeon pie. Everyone's attention was on that.

You're not the only one. Their budding book relationship was more complex and interesting than what we have now.

You're right! I now found the passages in the book where it says that a ) Loras made off with a fifth of the knights from Bitterbridge and b ) most of the remaining knights and freeriders changed sides again during the battle of Blackwater when they saw Renly's "ghost" leading the vanguard. Finn Jones (Loras) is supposed to be in six episodes this season. So far, he has been only in three. This makes Loras' appearance in the Blackwater episode quite likely.

In the books, all Renly has with him is his vanguard, so Loras manages to get to the bulk of the army before Stannis' men - and to lead them away. Now that it didn't happen or wasn't explained well enough on the show, the sudden Tyrell political weight in King's Landing post-Blackwater would be a plot inconsistency, unless... see below. It does though. It is said repeatedly in the books that Renly's ghost had a great effect on the troops, and iirc, this legend grows even bigger and more elaborate with time - Tyrion is annoyed with its popularity because he doesn't get credit for his part of the plan among the common folk at all. I'm not saying that Garlan wearing Renly's armor won the battle but it was a factor in the victory. Also, there is an HBO featurette on the making of Renly's armor, so it has been established plenty. Your idea of the formerly Renly troops changing sides during the battle would actually make great sense. If Loras wears it (who else, really) and it's made out to be a big deal during the battle, it can explain how the Lannisters would owe the Tyrells in the show canon.

That's right. I also think that the actor was perfectly cast.

I haven't read through all 26 pages of discussion but surely I'm not the only person who thought that Dany was played by the Qartheen and that Xaro vs. Merchant of Spices was a good cop vs. bad cop play? I didn't think we needed to see the dragons, it was interesting to see how show!Dany does without them.

Hi *waves* A dear friend twisted my arm to read the books before AFfC came out - dragons! zombies! riddles! a guy called Jaime Lannister! :P - and now I'm a huge show fan as well. I'm mostly interested in the politics and the speculation about the prophesies. My faves are Varys at all times, Dany when she has a plan, all Baratheons and Tyrells (especially the Queen of Thorns and Loras), Sansa starting from ACoK, and then Jon and Tyrion when they are doing something else but wandering beyond the Wall or the narrow sea. Overall, I'm more of a happy fan than a hater but I'm not short on opinions either. I'm on my third epic re-read where I have sworn to myself not to skip anyone's chapters in the rush to the ending.