Big Daddy

I thought it was an obvious homage to the Godfather. Oranges were always shown to depict danger or death.

When I read Jaime and Brienne reunite in the books, I have this feeling that when we next see them their course will unexpectedly be diverted from returning to LSH. Martin just writes like that; the character tells you where they are going and they never make it there because fate intervenes. Perhaps the important plot point isn't that LSH gets Jaime and Brienne back together, but what they DO. Why bother with LSH if you don't need her? Especially with only 17 episodes left to the entire series? She was a horrible idea in the books and (IMO) it would be a horrible idea to introduce her on the show. If they don't ABSOLUTELY need her they shouldn't do it. I think it's more interesting that on the show suddenly Jaime and Brienne are positioned to meet around Riverrun. It's obvious now that it's important, and I don't think it has anything to do with LSH.

It occurs to me that with Hodor gone, Meera desperately needs help getting Bran away from the Others and it's going to be Benjen to the rescue. And the sooner Benjen reappears, the sooner Benjen dies when the plot doesn't require HIM any longer. I feel like Benjen will get Bran to the Wall or somewhere south of it, then be killed when they get to another supporting cast for Bran. Same goes with Meera. Once Bran has other characters to interact with, she becomes useless (unless meeting Howland Reed is their plan).

Yes, and I'll go you one better. Bloodraven brought Bran there because not only did he know Bran was destined to cause Hodor's affliction, he knew it was necessary for events to play out like they did. I also think Bloodraven knew he was supposed to die there as well and has known it all along. Seeing Rickard say his goodbyes to Ned was a nice treat for us, but the point was Bran was always going to cause hodor to be Hodor. And Hodor was always going to die saving Bran like he did. And Bloodraven always knew exactly when Bran was going to leave and he himself was going to die.

Also, with Theon now being in the Iron Islands BEFORE the Kingsmoot...where are they going with this on the show? Is this like show Jaime being in KL before Joffrey's death and it doesn't matter to the plot? Or are they trying to combine what in the books may end up being two kingsmoots into one? In the books they keep forshadowing doing a mulligan on the kingsmoot because Theon wasn't there by hitting readers over the head a few times that it has happened in the past. Is there a second kingsmoot coming in the books that D+D know about and have put Theon in Pyke to do away with the need for two? And if so, what is the end result of the moot for the story needs?

The Vale. They have a large army that hasn't been worn down in recent wars. Not that Dorne has either for that matter, but I think the narrative implication was always that the Vale was the cavalry being held off for down the line.

I skimmed the pages but didn't see the answer so far. It's bugging me what LF's "gift" was for Lady O. He says a handsome young man. Then we see that Lancel has confessed his sins with Cersei and some of her own. You'd think that LF was referring to Lancel...but how does THAT make any sense? Lancel would have already confessed his sins to the FM when he joined, no way is this a surprise. The high sparrow acted like Lancel's atonement was already signed, sealed and delivered some time ago. He's not in a jail cell so he must have already made his peace with the seven. So I'm thinking LF's gift to Lady O is another handsome young man. Maybe the guy in the brothel that is set to testify against Loras in the actual trial will turn up dead shortly, and there won't BE any witness to testify, and Marg and loras will walk? And Cersei will now be the only one on trial? I can see them doing away with the dual trials of the books to streamline the show. They barely have room for one trial anyway with 3 episodes left. Marge can live or die in some other fashion to have the same end result in the show from the books because the whole plotline has always BEEN about Cersei. I suspect Loras and Marge are going to be freed in the next episode, and be able to freely enjoy watching Cersei's problems unfold.

LOL He's old enough to be her father!

And have ASOS stretch over THREE seasons?

Which is fine with me. I loves me some Sam! I'm interested in his journey to become a maester. The Gilly lovestory is working for me. Plus there's the whole baby switch thing.

Heck, I was watching Sam's scene with Aemon and thinking it was paving the way for them being paired up next season.

I liked the episode quite a bit. I liked having the entire episode devoted to the siege on the Wall, and the buildup to it. It was jarring to have the episode end where it did (especially 9 or so minutes shy of an hour) with no Stannis/cavalry scene. I'm trying to look at it objectively this morning. I'm not a huge Stannis fan, but I do like the character more and more as the books go on. I think some of his hardcore fans are just fuming that he didn't GET his big cavalry moment at the end here where it makes sense to put it. I agree with that...to a point. The other side of that is that this isn't Stannis' story, it's Jon and the Watch's story. I'm feeling like it should have been included here, but my entire opinion of that depends on how well they pull off next week's episode. If it all comes together right, if the scenes are constructed well enough and the editing it done right, all of those things that need to happen can. They should make use of the musical montage at the end to show things like Arya getting on the ship with her coin, Dany locking up the dragons, etc. That can all be done musically without dialogue very effectively. Hell, they can even have 3 scenes at the wall; Jon getting saved by Stannis at the beginning, showing the need for an election for a new LC, then at the end the crows chanting "snow!" and all the coins comedically being tossed in the thing. I can picture all of this in my head, how it would be shot. Of course, I pictured last night's episode in my head too, how it would be shot with Stannis saving the day at the end. That may be a problem a LOT of us have here, last night's episode didn't play out the way we envisioned it in our heads. Something to think about.

And every minute they devote to in on screen is a minute taken away from something that actually happened in the books.

As distasteful as the mutineer's rape scene was, it does get them over as antagonists in a major way. I want to see Jon and his crew kill them all SO bad right now. I imagine every show fan on the planet suddenly has those guys at the top of their GOT hit list.

I like your theory. It works better. They can have Alliser play the Marsh part. Could even have Alliser become an ally for part of next season as they seem to see eye to eye. I was thinking Locke would stick around because he said his vows and couldn't get away as easily as he thought he would be able to.