elbucho3

Breaking down the scenes of the show, I'd rate them as such ... 1) The trial through Tommen's leap 2) The King in the North 3) Dany and Tyrion (Hand of the King) 4) The Tower of Joy 5) Cersei and the Septa 6) The "Your God is Evil" scene I'm through #6 and I still haven't even gotten to Jaime Lannister/Walder Fray, Arya's revenge, Olenna being Olenna, or the breathtaking final scene. Or hell, even Jon and Sansa and Sansa and Littlefinger. The "Your God is Evil" scene would have been the best scene in many episodes. This was, in my opinion, the best episode of the entire series (writing, directing, acting, photography, technology, and music combined), and among the best episodes of TV that I've ever seen. I'll happily rate this a 10.

Obvious Stark revenge ... Arya slitting Walder's throat as revenge for the Red Wedding Subtle Stark revenge ... Tommen being metaphorically pushed out of the window by Cersei as revenge for Jaime pushing Bran out of the window.

After a re-watch, here's my take on the battle: Sansa warns Jon not to do what Ramsay wants him to do, and also warns him that Rickon is a lost cause. I'm not sure what else she could have done at that point. With the benefit of hindsight, I also felt like "No one can protect anyone" had the obvious meaning of the response to Jon's promise, but also as a warning of "we can't protect Rickon" and "I can't protect you". Sansa's goal was to kill Ramsay and take Winterfell. If she loses Jon, the giant, whoever in the process, she's cool with that. The price of doing business. I don't think she wanted to sacrifice Jon and his men, but if it happened, it had to happen. Let's be honest, if she tells Jon "hey I have this huge army" then there's just a bigger wall of bodies to be trapped against

I'll never understand how folks are able to be cool with a scene containing flying dragons or a giant but will get caught up on why a wooden stag wouldn't have burned completely.

One bit of very cool foreshadowing ... when Davos is standing over the pit where he found the charred Stag, the battle horn goes off. Three blasts. Then a gust of wind blows. I know it was a call to battle, but it also goes back to the "one for rangers returning, two for wildlings, three for white walkers" code. Had to have been intentional, yes?