Gheimhridh ag teacht

Oh yeah, for sure. But Olenna's renowned throughout the kingdom as the Queen of Thorns for her savvy and her insightfulness (and ruthlessness)...and it seems to me she would have made it her business to be very aware of every variation on her granddaughter's route to the throne. I think she regretted the Renly situation a lot, because it was taken out of their hands (her son pushed for it too much, her grandson was in love with Renly, and then Renly was taken without any real battle or something tangible to hang on to), and she would never have allowed that to happen again. She's way too smart. I agree that Littlefinger was hugely instrumental - he definitely hastened the situation, and presumably volunteered the subterfuge that led to Joffrey's death, but I think his cockiness at his own cunning will most certainly be his downfall, and his conviction that he's the main player in all of this is suspect. I don't doubt that he has a place in the game of thrones, but I doubt his OWN vision of his place in the game of thrones. Does that make sense? :dunno:

Yes! This is all building very nicely, I like how they've streamlined the Castle Black story a little bit. Though my unsullied fellow-watcher is a little confused as to how it's taking Mance so long to take his army to the wall when they've been spied from Craster's Keep by Jon and the others, as well as Ygritte's merry band of Wildlings...I mean, how long were they supposed to be gone north of the wall and she still hasn't caught up with Jon? Overall I was happy with a lot of the episode, especially the dialogue, as it was so true to the books. So much of it was so perfect, it was a delight to hear it spoken by the characters! I'm worried that the Oberyn storyline (which I am so looking forward to because Oberyn has been fantastically portrayed) might tip my sweet summer child over the edge, though, and he might never return (though he'll want to find out where our little Tyrion pops up next). Now for the negatives, and I say this as a proud Irish woman, Aidan Gillan is absolutely bloody awful!!! Jesus, where is Littlefinger even supposed to be FROM at this stage?! And his creepiness is getting more pantomime by the day...really disappointed in his efforts in what should have been a fantastic scene. I thought it lacked a little something-something, and I felt a bit sorry for Sophie Turner, who turned in a bravosa performance, that she had to play up against his mincing bad-acting. It also REALLY bothers me how straightforward they are being about Littlefinger's orchestration of the main movements throughout the 'game of thrones' - I liked that the books pretty much told you this was happening, but also left it open to a little interpretation because it sometimes seemed as though Littlefinger might just be over-inflating his own importance. Obviously there's no denying his and Lysa's scheming with Jon Arryn, but Joffrey's death seemed like it might have been a Tyrell push, and so it could still turn out that he was as much a pawn as a player in that situation. Of course the TV show has to leave a lot of the ambiguity to the sidelines and just deal in more straightforward situations, but it's still a little bit niggly... I'm also not completely sold on the Brienne and Pod comedy show...Brienne is so earnest and serious in the books, she wants so much to serve honourably and memorably, and the TV show is selling her out a little bit.... However, the episode overall was pretty good, and I am loving the Hound/Arya dynamic as it has appeared onscreen (though I wish they didn't have Arya so much like an assassin, instead of a reluctant badass) - another separation I'm not looking forward to with my unsullied co-watcher, as he already wants a spin-off show featuring the two of them...