Winter is Coming (GoT is back)

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The more I think about that episode, the more I dislike it (although the Pyke stuff, the Arya scene, and the scene with Sansa, Theon, and Brienne were good).  The Tyrion/Meereen subplot is fast becoming the Dorne of this season.  More importantly, Jon's resurrection was pretty silly and Tormund, Davos and Roose were all acting pretty out of character in various ways.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Love how they trolled the fans for a week about Jon Snow.

Either way we need George RR Martin to get off his fat lazy ass and write the next two books. He's gotten caught up in his own fame and worthless blogging, every normal person would have been fired long ago. Send out the goon squads and beat him until he finishes it.

He doesn't owe you or me anything.  The man has a right to enjoy his life too.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Love how they trolled the fans for a week about Jon Snow.

Either way we need George RR Martin to get off his fat lazy ass and write the next two books. He's gotten caught up in his own fame and worthless blogging, every normal person would have been fired long ago. Send out the goon squads and beat him until he finishes it.

and it's got nothing to do with fame, he took forever to write sh**t before the fame too.

First 3 books written in 4 years, then they became popular and he started slacking. Next 2 books 11 years, up to 5 years now, likely a year or two more before the next book, it's pathetic.

There are better authors who can put out a book every year or every other year. That's because they treat writing as their job and write 8 hours a day instead of blogging.

As for Malcolm X, yes he does owe us. He signed a contract and is supposed to do his job and write the book. Last year he said he "put away all his side projects and conventions to write seriously" meaning he's been faffing about for the last few years not caring. Any regular person would be fired a long time ago. He's also doesn't care about the story either, said if he does he will make it so no one can finish his books.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Anyway, enough of Masterjedi being awful.  Prediction time:

- Arya trains, gets much better, fights with the Waif (we get the fight scenes from the trailers), finally lands a hit on the Waif and gets her sight back.  Also, at some point Jaqen says "A girl has been given a second chance.  There will not be a third.  If a girl is truly no one, then she has nothing to fear.  And if she isn't, it doesn't matter.  One way or another, the gift will be given.  One way or another, a face will be added to the Wall."  

- Jon executes Thorne, Marsh, Yarwyck, and (after a brief hesitation) Olly.  

- Obligatory "Tyrion drinks some wine and says something funny" scene

- Qyburn has Pycelle and Kevan murdered on Cersei's orders

- Tommen tries to confront the High Sparrow and it goes about as well as you'd expect

- Bran sees the fight part of Tower of Joy, but nothing else

- The Umbers give Rickon, Osha, and Shaggydog to Ramsay who has the latter two killed.  Ramsay writes a show version of the Pink Letter to Jon which includes the line from the teaser "Winterfell is mine.  Come and see..."

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Anyway, enough of Masterjedi being awful.  Prediction time:

- Arya trains, gets much better, fights with the Waif (we get the fight scenes from the trailers), finally lands a hit on the Waif and gets her sight back.  Also, at some point Jaqen says "A girl has been given a second chance.  There will not be a third.  If a girl is truly no one, then she has nothing to fear.  And if she isn't, it doesn't matter.  One way or another, the gift will be given.  One way or another, a face will be added to the Wall."  

- Jon executes Thorne, Marsh, Yarwyck, and (after a brief hesitation) Olly.  

- Obligatory "Tyrion drinks some wine and says something funny" scene

- Qyburn has Pycelle and Kevan murdered on Cersei's orders

- Tommen tries to confront the High Sparrow and it goes about as well as you'd expect

- Bran sees the fight part of Tower of Joy, but nothing else

- The Umbers give Rickon, Osha, and Shaggydog to Ramsay who has the latter two killed.  Ramsay writes a show version of the Pink Letter to Jon which includes the line from the teaser "Winterfell is mine.  Come and see..."

Malcolm, you're scaring me with these predictions.

I do what I can

Also RIP Shaggydog, FF

Edit: Btw, this episode gets an 11/10. The fact that Arya 1) basically told the Waif to her face that she also wants/wanted to kill her (I'm gonna be so happy when that finally happens, episode seven or eight would be my guess) and 2) that she finally landed a hit on the Waif is worth a bonus point.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Assuming Sansa, Brienne, and Pod make it to Castle Black OK, what if anything is going to happen between Brienne and Davos/Melisandre, given that the latter two worked for Stannis, and Mel is even responsible for killing Renly?

The questioning of Arya about her past and her family got me to thinking about whether there’s any kind of hidden motive here on the part of the Faceless Men.  Will we ultimately find out that they took an interest in her at least in part because of her family?  Do they have a special interest in say, either Jon or Bran, because they’re “special” (in different ways)?

Also, regarding Arya’s “list”…

Note that this is the second episode in which we got Arya’s abbreviated list. She used to include folks like Ilyn Payne and “the Red Woman”. However, in Episode 5×02, when she was stuck outside the House of Black and White, she kept repeating her list over and over again, and it was this abbreviated list:

Cersei
Walder Frey
The Mountain
Meryn Trant

Now that Meryn Trant is dead, she only includes the other three names. I don’t think it’s an accident that the writers decided to trim the list to these names. I’m assuming that the writers decided to retcon her list to match up with their plan for the endgame of the show. When Arya returns to Westeros, she’s going to try to kill those remaining people one by one. She already got Meryn Trant, and I’m assuming that Walder Frey will be next (maybe at the end of this season).

I'd be shocked if this happened, tbh.  I think ShowCersei and FrankenMountain will die in episode ten of this season when Cersei lights Chekov's wildfire and burns down King's Landing while Walder Frey will die during a show-only Battle for Riverrun.  Part of Arya's arc next season will be finding something else to keep her going and realizing that revenge will not bring her peace (and getting back to Jon and Sansa, I expect she'll hear about Jon re-taking Winterfell pretty soon after arriving in the Riverland, shame Rickon's probably a goner this season).  I imagine she'll join the theatre troupe for a few episodes and then split with the Faceless Men permanently, kill the Waif, recover Needle and get the hell out of Braavos.  Episode ten will have her arriving in the Riverlands where the cliff-hanger will be her running into either the Hound or (less likely given the lack of warging) Nymeria.  The shortened list is probably just narrative economy and the fact that the dude who played Ser Ilyn got cancer. 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

My reaction to what happened to Shaggydog (Rickon's direwolf):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWaXbCsh0po

I'd like to think that this is just a big fake-out by Small Jon, seeing as he wouldn't swear an oath.

Because that worked so well when Littlefinger tried it

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Predictions:

- Jorah and Daario try to rescue Dany.  Jorah has a pretty dumb-looking wrestling match with one of the Dothraki and wins, but doesn't actually kill him.  Daario kills some with a blade of some sort until Khal Whatshisname breaks his neck.  He takes Jorah as a live prisoner b/c he didn't shed blood in Vaes Dothrak when he had the chance.  Drogon (creative name ) stops playing with his food and torches the place.  The Dothraki decide Dany is a God or something b/c muh dragon and we get another cringe-inducing scene where the savage barbarian horde bows down to the blondest possible white savior.  

- Tyrion meets with some slavers and does his best political Tyrion circa season 2 impression.  The slavers tell him they're gonna attack.  Tyrion makes some deal to buy time. 

- Sansa gets to the Wall and Jon just left.  Davos argues with Brienne about her murdering the Mannis, Jon comes back and reunites with Sansa and gets the Pink Letter, so he now wants to attack Winterfell to save Rickon.  

- The Vale Lords hate LF, but do what he tells them and agree to attack Winterfell b/c reasons.  At least Robin Arryn a.k.a. The King Westeros Deserves will be back

- Margaery decides to confess to avoid Walk of Shame, Olenna is pissed b/c Loras will be screwed and it scraps Cersei's plan to have FrankenGregor off the High Sparrow at a trial by combat.  

- Kevan's got to do something one of these episodes, so I'm just gonna say he gives an awesome reason you suck speech to TeamTwincest.  

- Asha is pissed at Theon for staying with Ramsay, Theon says sorry.  Aeron is mad Euron's back and has a temper-tantrum when they meet again.  No Kingsmoot, Euron acts menacing toward Asha and makes dick jokes about Theon b/c of course he does.

Posted from phone, sorry.  Expecting the weakest episode this season thus far

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The good:

- Robin Arryn was hilarious
- The Meereen scenes were actually pretty good
- Pyke continues to be a highlight
- Ramsay offing Osha was a morbidly entertaining scene
- The High Sparrow's speech didn't make much sense, but boy did Jonathan Pryce act the Hell out of it.

The bad:
- Jon and Sansa wasn't handled well and didn't really land emotionally
- Sansa was OOC as all hell (not to be all bookreader, but come on)
- KL stuff was much more boring this episode than last time
- The show continues to waste Kevan

The Ugly:
- I officially hate ShowBrienne now.  It's bad enough she killed the Mannis and called Renly the one true King, but now she had to go and rub Stannis' murder in Davos' face.  Seriously?  Blargh.  Not so sad that she is only 50/50 to survive the season now.  

- Jorah and Daario continue to be a waste of screentime

- The Dany scene at the end with the temple was 1) pretty dumb and 2) even more cringe-worthy that I thought when I made my predictions.  We're talking last scene of season three-level cringe.  *vomits*

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Predictions:

- Kingsmoot is basically Euron vs. Yara, with Aeron quietly being in "I hate you all" mode.  Euron makes dick jokes about Theon and wins the Kingsmoot by promising to Make The Iron Islands Great Again by offering a marriage alliance to Dany, but seizing control of her dragons with a magic horn if she refuses.  Theon and Yara steal a ship and flee to the Free Cities to try to make their own alliance with Dany.

- Poor man's Melisandre pops up in Meereen and says Dany is Azor Ahai so she wants to help Tyrion and Varys.  Tyrion wants to exploit the growing popularity of the Lord of Light in the city to build a political base.  Varys hates magic so he leaves Meereen (presumably to go and make trouble in King's Landing, but that shall have to wait until another episode). 

- Brief scene at the Wall where Jon and Sansa send Brienne to find Arya and bring her back to the Wall which will be how we get Brienne meeting Jaime again and *might* be how Arya gets to Winterfell next season.

- Sansa meets with LF at some sort of whorehouse.  I don't know if there actually is one near the Wall or not, but it just wouldn't feel right for this meeting to happen anywhere else given that LF's first instinct in season one was to bring Cat to a whorehouse.  Sansa asks if LF knew about Ramsay and he denies it.  Sansa says she wants nothing to do with him either way (she'll change her mind when LF teleports the entire Vale army North just in time to save the day when we get to Snowbowl 2016, but that won't be until episode nine). 

- Bran has a very brief Winterfell courtyard vision where we learn the traumatic experience that turned Willas/Walder into Hodor.  Bran wants to stay, but Max von Sydow makes him leave and go to another vision of the Children of the Forrest a.k.a. weird elf people and find out they have some sort of connection to the White Walkers.  Bran says he wants to go back to the Tower of Joy, but Max von Sydow says no.  Bran decides to go in himself, without Max von Sydow, but finds he isn't skilled enough to navigate it yet on his own.  As a result, he gets plopped into White Walker HQ and sees the army of the dead.  The Night's King senses him, grabs his arm, pulls a Spock and now knows the cave's location.  Meera tries to wake him, but he can't wake up until the Night's King lets go.  Max von Sydow says it is only a matter of time before the White Walkers attack.  Note: It won't be this episode, but whenever they do attack, Max von Sydow is gonna die.  He has Obi-Wan-Kenobi written all over him. 

- Jaqen will give Arya her first assignment: someone in a theatre troupe.  He'll tell her that she has to join the troupe and learn all about the target first.  Arya asks what the person did to deserve to die and Jaqen says the "Does death come only for the wicked and leave the good behind" line from the trailer.  Arya says okay, but it clearly doesn't sit well with her and this ideological difference (that morality matters a great deal to Arya) will contribute to her break with them later in the season.  Jaqen cuts off a face to give to her, but Arya says she wants to use her own.  Jaqen allows it, but is displeased and says the "A girl has been given a second chance.  There will not be a third." line.  Arya asks what happens if she fails to complete her assignment and Jaqen says the "One way or another, the gift will be given.  One way or another, a face will be added to the wall."  line (i.e. do it or we'll kill you).  Arya sees the theatre troupe performing part of The Bloody Hand where the noble and kind-hearted King Joffrey is poisoned by Tyrion the twisted demon monkey.  She also sees a part where bizarro-Tyrion rapes and murders bizarro Sansa for refusing to help murder Joffrey Baratheon, friend to all creatures.  I feel like this'll either snap her out of being No One or come close enough that it'll be completely out of her system by the end of episode six.  Arya will be told she will be playing the role of bizarro Sansa which I really hope we get to actually see at some point b/c that'd be hilarious.  The fact that bizarro Sansa's only role will be to be a victim of physical and sexual violence while yelling "No!  Please don't!" could also allow for some nice meta-level commentary on the criticism the show has faced for this in the past.

- Boring/waste of screentime scene with Jorah, Dany, and Daario where Dany forgives Jorah.  Daario gets jealous and says she shouldn't touch Jorah because he has greyscale and Jorah reveals that it has taken over his arm.

Overall: Expecting a piece-moving episode, but a pretty awesome one (Oathbreaker was like that too, but I'm hopeful this will top it).  I'm especially looking forward to Arya (especially if I'm right about the theatre troupe stuff b/c that could be hilarious), Bran (I actually care about Bran this season although not nearly as much as Arya and Rickon.  Arya>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rickon>>>Bran>>Jon>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Sansa), and Kingsmoot stuff.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The good:

- Awesome Arya scenes continue to be awesome.  I really want to see more of that play!   Dear (insert God of your choice), please let Arya playing bizarro Sansa while the latter is betrothed to bizarro Joffrey be a thing that happens because it will be glorious.  Also nice to see that is still 110% Arya with her sense of right and wrong firmly intact.  I really wanted more of these scenes and this continues to be one of the stronger storylines of the season.  Maisie Williams' acting during the play was excellent and I teared up when she was watching bizarro Ned get executed.  And it's nice to see Joffrey get slapped again.

- Regarding Bran stuff, there's nothing I could say that would do it justice, so I'll only say that tonight we are all Hodor.  Teared up twice

- Apparently Varys is the only sane man in Meereen. 

- Still don't care about Dany, Jorah, or Daario. 

- Not a fan of the Sansa and Jon stuff, especially the fact that 1) Sansa is continuing the trend of Starks jumping off Mt. Littlefinger right after giving him an awesome "the reason you suck" speech, 2) are Brienne and Sansa never going to tell Jon that Arya is alive and in the Riverlands AFATK, and 3) Sansa compared Jon to Ramsay which is just all kinds of cringe. On the bright side, Brienne being disturbed by Tormund's lustful gaze never ceases to be hilarious.

- The Kingsmoot was a disappointment, but I did like Theon and Aeron's speeches.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

2) are Brienne and Sansa never going to tell Jon that Arya is alive and in the Riverlands AFATK

Wouldn't it be the Vale rather than the Riverlands?

Good catch.  It would be the Vale, but the point still stands.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Apparently, a couple years ago, George RR Martin gave the details of the last 2 books to the showrunners so they could start planning the show, and there 3 were specific "holy sh**t" moments"
1. Stannis sacrificing Shireen
2. Hodor's origin story
3. TBA

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin_us_57449e29e4b0aad87c8baeac

That's actually pretty disappointing that we have about 20 episodes remaining before the series wraps up, and we've only got one big surprise on par with Shireen and Hodor left to go.

I highly doubt that will be case.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I highly doubt that will be case.

True. GRRM has basically drawn a line and said "no further" at seven books, but I doubt HBO wants to end their biggest production at this point.

They'll end it at eight seasons, I meant that there will be more than one other holy sh!t moment.  People just have a tendency to talk in threes. 

I just hope that GRRM changes his mind about sacrificing Shireen in the books. That was one of the worst moments on television.

No.  Just no.  Stannis burning Shireen and the Greek tragedy that was his downfall was one of the high points of Game of Thrones and certainly the most emotionally powerful death in the show's run thus far.  And I say that as someone who really likes Stannis.  Just because it made you sad doesn't make it bad and it was in no way OOC for Stannis to do that either.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I highly doubt that will be case.

True. GRRM has basically drawn a line and said "no further" at seven books, but I doubt HBO wants to end their biggest production at this point.

They'll end it at eight seasons, I meant that there will be more than one other holy sh!t moment.  People just have a tendency to talk in threes. 

Right, there'll be more holy s*%t moments, but how many of them will be TV universe only as opposed to coming from GRRM?  I'm still a little uncertain as to how much detail the showrunners have from GRRM on the story of the unfinished books.  I understand that he's given them the basics of the ending, but the question of how much detail they have with regards to how you get from here to there remains a bit fuzzy.

Eh, the show is the show and the books are the books.  I love both and just think of them as separate entities so I don't worry about that too much.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Wait a year and get it from the library?

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I think Lady Stoneheart-con just dropped to 2.

I hope Lady Stoneheart doesn't come back.  That's something I think won't work nearly as well on TV as it did on the page if GoT goes that route.  I'd much rather see the show diverge from the books in that regard.  I'm hoping the theory that Arya goes with the theatre troupe to perform at the wedding of one Walder Frey's sons in episode ten and somehow poisons Walder Frey while she's there turns out to be correct.  It'd work far better in the context of the show than Lady Stoneheart would imo and it'd be awesome/emotionally satisfying on so many levels. 

On a different note, could another book-reader explain to me why so many people seem to be cheering for "Cleganebowl" and why people even think it will happen?  Am I missing something or does that whole theory fly right in the face of the Gravedigger/the Hound's whole arc?  We already saw the Hound and the Mountain fight early in the first book/season and even then the Hound was clearly trying not to kill his brother.  It seems like it'd undo like 3/4 of his character development for him to suddenly become a vengeance machine.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I think Lady Stoneheart-con just dropped to 2.

I hope Lady Stoneheart doesn't come back.  That's something I think won't work nearly as well on TV as it did on the page if GoT goes that route.  I'd much rather see the show diverge from the books in that regard.  I'm hoping the theory that Arya goes with the theatre troupe to perform at the wedding of one Walder Frey's sons in episode ten and somehow poisons Walder Frey while she's there turns out to be correct.  It'd work far better in the context of the show than Lady Stoneheart would imo and it'd be awesome/emotionally satisfying on so many levels.  

On a different note, could another book-reader explain to me why so many people seem to be cheering for "Cleganebowl" and why people even think it will happen?  Am I missing something or does that whole theory fly right in the face of the Gravedigger/the Hound's whole arc?  We already saw the Hound and the Mountain fight early in the first book/season and even then the Hound was clearly trying not to kill his brother.  It seems like it'd undo like 3/4 of his character development for him to suddenly become a vengeance machine.

I think you might be right on it not working so well, but I'm still leaning in favour of it because I think it's kind of cool.

I think it is also beginning to look likely for a number of reasons:

1. They're sending Jamie and Brienne both to Riverrun. In the books this happens so that Lady Stoneheart can get entangled with them. I can't think of a compelling reason to do it otherwise.

2. It makes sense to keep it as a late reveal for a very simple reason. Book readers knew Jon would be resurrected partly because of the whole Lady Stoneheart deal having happened. For show watchers my impression is that it became more of a shock. So it makes sense to me they'd want the big resurrection of Jon happen first.

3. In the episode where that happens they reference the Red Priest. Seems like typical foreshadowing to me. And we know he is going to be in this season as well.

4. The way this season is unfolding I'm increasingly inclined to call BS on the whole "show and book are so divergent" line. They seem to be getting the story to move along very similar lines just in different orders. For example, it seemed like Coldhands had been cut by now he's back. It seemed like Jamie and Brienne being in the Riverlands was cut but now it's happening. Etc, etc.

5. It also seems a bit unreasonable that Arya would make it to Riverrun so quickly, IMO.
---------------------------------

Ok, Cleganebowl. I guess I agree - the weakness in the theory was always that last part. Why would he come back to fight? Then again, the fight has to happen soon. And who else would it be? It has to be someone special, I feel, and they haven't built up any character for the role as the Mountain's opponent yet. So it feels like it'd have to be an existing character. And I can't think of a good fit other than the Hound.

I also think that it's unclear why he'd be alive if not to do this. What else would be the point?

I guess he is fighting for the faith so it's not completely unreasonable that he might do it, not out of vengeance but because of piety or something.

Re: #1: Fanservice?  It'll break the internet no matter what happens.  

Re: #4: I also don't see how narrative economy could allow Lady Stoneheart this season either.

Re: #5: Maybe she can borrow Stannis (that trip from Braavos to the wall only took three episodes) or Littlefinger's teleporter?  It wouldn't be the first time someone moved at the speed of plot on GoT.  A man can dream

Re: The upcoming battle: I assumed she wouldn't get a trial by combat.  The High Sparrow could just say she committed a crime against the Gods and will be tried by the faith (the judgement of the Seven, not the King's justice).  I'd also bet that wildfire in Bran's vision was from the future when Cersei burns down KL.  Remember, the Mad King never actually got to burn KL, so it can't have been his doing.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Do you think Tommen and Margery are truly converted over to the High Sparrow's side, or just faking it for now?

I think Margaery is just pretending to try to save Loras and herself, but Tommen is now a true believer.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Predictions:

- The episode is called The Broken Man, so we pretty much know for sure from the books that the Hound will be back, no?  Hopefully they don't use up too much time with this since there presumably won't be anything for him to really do until next season when I assume Arya will run into him again.  I also hope they don't have him do some pointless fight scene that undercuts the point of the Broken Man speech for fanservice sake, but sadly I expect them to do that.

- Sansa and her increasingly neutered yes-man ShowJon will journey about the North trying to recruit smaller Northern Houses at some big Northern Assembly.  Sansa and Jon make speeches, obviously.  The Cerwyns and Hornwoods should be easy to convince for pretty obvious reasons.  The Mormonts will jump on board and Lyanna Mormont will start a "King in the North" chant for Jon.  I think Liam Cunningham mentioned something about a young actress being cast in a significant new role in the Northern storyline this season during an interview and I'm not sure who fits the bill at this point other than Lyanna Mormont.  Sansa will get jealous and give a speech about how she's a "real" Stark, not a bastard (the implication being that she should be in charge rather than Jon b/c only she has a legit claim which is just lol b/c Rickon technically has the best claim.  Incidentally, I believe Sansa got cut of the line of succession entirely by Robb in the books when he made Jon his heir).  The other Northerners will basically say "Yeah that's nice, go be annoying somewhere else.  King in the North!  King in the North!  King in the North!"  Sansa will decide to secretly write a letter asking LF to send the Vale army because she wants his help after all and because she's starting to show early signs of the Targaryen Privilege-style sense of entitlement that irreparably ruined ShowDany as a character in season two.  I think the showrunners over-corrected in trying to respond to the criticisms about Sansa's season five storyline (some of which were valid, like the ones about her having no real arc, while others such as the ones about the rape scene were ridiculous).  Incidentally, I actually liked Sansa's storyline this year until she started doing stuff like comparing Jon to Ramsay and trusting LF more than Jon, but I digress...

- Davos and Lord Karstark are sent as emissaries to Wyman Manderly.  They give speeches and Davos convinces Wyman Manderly to declare for House Stark while Ramsay receives a Karstark pie.

- Short sexposition scene of Theon and Asha in a Volantis whorehouse (I'm telling you guys, LF is giving away free jetpacks this season.  Hopefully Arya will get one!).  They'll repeat stuff we already know, but the scene's only purpose will be to show Asha making out with another woman and meet the episode's boob quota.  Sadly, I would not be surprised if such a thing actually exists at HBO (there have been rumors for a few years, IIRC).  I am expecting to really, really, really hate this scene.

- Tormund gives big speech to melt Brienne's icy heart convince all the Wildlings to fight for Jon.  Obviously, it works. 

- Tyrion has to appear briefly b/c the show won't have two straight Tyrionless episodes.  I wouldn't mind given how uneven his storyline has been this season, but whatever.  My guess is that Varys will leave Meereen b/c he hates magic and Tyrion and him will part on friendly terms.  It'll probably double as a "Tyrion says something clever/funny" moment. 

- Jamie vs. the Blackfish...will be an anti-climax (for now).  The Freys threaten to kill Edmure, but the Blackfish doesn't yield.  Jaime and the Blackfish have a one-on-one dick measuring contest.  Should be a fun scene even if not much actually happens.  We learn there will be a siege.  I'd almost bet Bronn dies in episode eight.  IDK why, just a gut feeling.  Jaime's not gonna really need a sidekick after this since all he'll have left to do is die in the first episode of the next season unless I'm completely wrong about where things are heading for the Lannisters.  Even if Pet Semetary Catelyn somehow pops up (which I really hope doesn't happen), Bronn does really fit there either.  Maybe the Blackfish kills him (Bronn) in episode 8 or something to establish his bad*** credentials, idk. 

- Arya is hunted by the Waif, but escapes unharmed somehow.  She also decides to join the theatre troupe and leave Westeros with them.  Lady Crane mentions that they will be performing at some Frey wedding soon.  Hopefully Arya kills the Waif, but I fear we'll have to wait until episode eight for that   Still got my fingers crossed for it to happen tomorrow though!  All Waifs Must Die  

- Olenna chews out Cersei for being stupid last season and arming the High Sparrow's followers and says House Tyrell will be publicly be aligning with the Sparrows and wants nothing to do with her.  Olenna will probably secretly ally House Tyrell with Dorne and Danaerys via Varys in the finale.  At least Dany will probably die before the series ends, so I've got that to look forward to, I suppose.  Margaery will appear briefly and Olenna will immediately pick up on the fact that her granddaughter is faking.

- Brienne and Pod may or may not arrive at Riverrun this episode, IDK.  It'll be episode seven or eight though.  I could see it ending with them arriving there.

I'm expecting this to be a popular episode because of the Blackfish and the Hound's returns, but I'm personally not expecting to like it much.  The only stuff I expect to be in it that I'm really invested in atm are Arya's storyline and the Riverrun stuff, but it'll probably be more of a long teaser for episode eight in both of those areas.  And the Karstark pie.  I definitely want to see Wyman Manderly go Sweeney Todd on one of Ramsay's allies!  I'll give it a pass for this if I'm right about the theatre troupe heading to the Twins since it'd mean Arya will likely kill Walder Frey in episode ten and I've been hoping for that since the thought occurred to me about half-way through season four.  I'm really looking forward to episode eight though.  Episode ten should be pretty awesome too.  I could see Snowbowl being good or meh.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I must say, the Lion and the Rose game we played some time ago is looking more and more amusing given the revelations and events of Season Six.

Definitely, although something tells me that this Snowbowl will go a bit differently than that one did.  I guess the moral of the story is bad things happen to anyone who holds Winterfell.  If I'm right about episode 10, it'll be even better.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

A few thoughts:

-In the trailer for next time, Sansa says something like “I did what I had to do to survive.”  Will the Northern lords criticize her only for marrying Ramsay, or is they actually going to critique even her actions in King’s Landing, when she was with the Lannisters (as if she had a choice then)?  E.g., she wrote a letter to Robb way back in Season 1.

-Will Varys leave Meereen before Dany arrives?  If not, is there going to be any awkwardness surrounding the fact that he was Jorah’s spymaster when he was spying on her?  (though I guess he should have already thought about that when he and Tyrion first left for Meereen in early Season 5)

-Even if Arya kills the Waif, will she still have a target on her back from the Faceless Men for the rest of her life?  That is, is it FM policy that someone who fails the training and turns their back on the FM has to be offed, or is Jaqen just granting Arya’s life to the Waif as a favor?  (I still think there’s a slim chance that Jaqen is actually testing the Waif in some way, to see if she’s let her passions overcome her “No One”-ness, though that’s probably a longshot.)

Arya will bring Jaqen the Waif's face.  A face is a face is a face.  He'll call it even, but tell her never to come back.  I think the Waif and Arya are both failed students in different ways and Jaqen's just pitting them against each other.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Unless Arya is the Waif.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/game-of-thrones-theory-arya_us_57541ae4e4b0ed593f14ab46

If that's true then I'm the Lindberg baby.

Post-episode EDIT: Man, whenever I think I couldn't possibly hate the Waif more than I already do, the show finds a way to make it happen.  If/when Arya kills the Waif next week, that sound you hear off in the distance will be me cheering.  Also, this was easily the weakest episode of the season.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Unless Arya is the Waif.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/game-of-thrones-theory-arya_us_57541ae4e4b0ed593f14ab46

You know, after this last episode, I’m not sure I’d be that surprised if the answer is something crazy like this.

Or something here is an illusion.  Not sure if the Waif herself is an illusion, but maybe Arya’s wounds?  (because how else is she going to survive that?)

Next episode is titled “No One”, and it would be interesting if we end up discovering that the Faceless Men have been pulling some kind of giant con on either Arya, the Waif, or both.  Or at least, it would be interesting to learn that their motivations are different from what we’ve been led to believe.

Plot armor

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Unless Arya is the Waif.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/game-of-thrones-theory-arya_us_57541ae4e4b0ed593f14ab46

You know, after this last episode, I’m not sure I’d be that surprised if the answer is something crazy like this.

Or something here is an illusion.  Not sure if the Waif herself is an illusion, but maybe Arya’s wounds?  (because how else is she going to survive that?)

Next episode is titled “No One”, and it would be interesting if we end up discovering that the Faceless Men have been pulling some kind of giant con on either Arya, the Waif, or both.  Or at least, it would be interesting to learn that their motivations are different from what we’ve been led to believe.

Plot armor

But what is the "in story" explanation?

It would be funny if we find out that the reason people were just kind of staring at her at the end there was because she isn't really hurt or dripping blood.  It's all some kind of illusion.

Is that more likely than not?  No.  But it wouldn't surprise me.

I bet Lady Crane (the actress) finds her and sews up the wound.