Spring Bass

Do you think Melisandre might be dead in the next episode? I got the impression that the spells were taking something out of her, even though she looked okay at the end of it.

The Dornish Arc is going to be one of those things where the timing doesn't work out, but they're going to have it happen anyways. They're probably going to have Dany land in Dorne and rally with the Dornish, or meet up with them before King's Landing. Then she can take King's Landing, and get news that they have to head North because the Wall has fallen and the Others have most of our main characters trapped at Winterfell. I'll say this - it at least means the Dornish storyline from last season wasn't just a totally over-expensive and pointlessly convoluted way to get Myrcella killed. It was building to something. So, where from here? We've got 1. Jaime and Cersei to be killed off after Tommen dies, probably just before Daenerys takes the city. 2. Jon Snow to be revived right around the time when the wildlings head north to attack Castle Black. 3. The Wall to fall, probably in the season finale or the penultimate episode. 4. Sam to actually do something. And more. I really hope they don't slow down the next episode too much by giving us lots of Sam time.

Holy shit, that episode was great. I just watched it twice on HBO GO, back-to-back. I think I might watch it again, on my TV On Demand tomorrow (so it doesn't eat up too much data). What can I say? The Varys exposition was a little slow, but really improved on the second watch-through. The wildfire explosion was fucking amazing on both watch-throughs - poor Davos. Stannis is a complete badass, first on to the beach, first up the ladder, fighting several guys at once on the ledge. We never get to see that in the books, because all of his personal fighting in the battles happens off-screen. Sansa and Cersei both nailed it (and I loved the weird sexual tension that was between the Hound and Sansa, like in the books).

Great stuff. 1. I love how much Littlefinger we're getting in this season, and how the series is setting him up to make a great power play after all of the humiliation and defeats (Cersei's threat, the brothel raid, Tyrion's deception, etc). My guess is that we'll get a scene or two where we see him undermine Joffrey through the strategy he describes in ASoS: praise him to Margaery's face, then have his men talk about how he's a monster amidst the Tyrell men. It all reinforces the central fascinating feature of Littlefinger: Everybody knows that he's sleazy, grasping, and clever, but nobody takes him too seriously because they think he's under their thumb due to his low social rank. 2. Aside from Natalie Dormer being hot (my personal favorite of all the nude women of the series), her portrayal of Margaery is rock solid. Whether or not Renly being homosexual bothers her, she doesn't show it at all - and is fully cognizant of what must be done for her to become Queen of Westeros. I had the same reaction as Renly when she basically said, "Do you want me to bring in Loras to 'warm you up', or will it be enough to screw me from behind and pretend I'm him?" "What?". I don't think the show confirmed that she's a non-virgin, but they definitely made it ambiguous for plot purposes. 3. I really enjoy Arya's sections, although we haven't really gotten a sense of what make them significant in the books. Arya is our "ground-level" view on what's happening in the Riverlands as the conflict rages, and sees many of the effects firsthand (such as the pillaging, the rapes, the torture). Maybe we'll get some of that in the next episode, although I think it's more likely that they'll just speed things on to Harrenhal so we can get her three wishes with Jaqen H'gar. 4. This show has done a fantastic job of taking minor book characters and making them much greater. Yoren is far more awesome in the show than he was in the books, just like how Jorah Mormont turned out to be much greater as well. I'm sad to see him die, although Show-Yoren died in epic fashion.

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