It's not that nothing is happening, it's more than due to how much happened in the last two seasons that this one feels so empty.

Anyway, my g/f and I were talking about this past episode and something did strike us as a bit interesting. Stannis says that Ned was an honorable man and that having a bastard was beyond him (or something to that degree). Then there is the story Little Finger was telling Sansa about the Targarian dude who raped her aunt. Is it possible that Jon is actually the son of those two?

 

That's the prevailing fan theory. Look for R+L=J on the ASOIAF forums if you want to read (lots lots lots) more.

 

Given how they referenced both those things so close to each other I dont think it's a coincidence at all and honestly, Robert was kind of an asshole. I could see Lyanna not liking him, especially compared to Rhaegar.

 

Oh man, now THAT was a good episode!!!!!

 

Spoiler

Valyria where all the unwanted of the seven kingdoms are sent well mainly those with Greyscale

 

Very nice. I thought we were going to see Arya but it looks like that will be next episode.

I believe this was the only episode other than the battle episode last year to not feature kings landing at all.

Spoiler

So it definitely looks like we won't be seeing John Connington. And probably Young Griff too, although I still think there is a chance that Varys pulls him out of his ass on the last episode.

I didn't quite get Dany's "proposal". Did he ever say he wanted to marry her previously? In the book he pesters her about it constantly and she only agrees after he is able to somehow make there be no deaths for a month or so.

 

Spoiler

I was a bit disappointed in the stone men, to be honest. I pictured them as something more elephant-man like.

 

Spoiler

Yeah, this episode really highlighted a whole bunch of changes from the novels that made me do a bit of a double take since I'm about 2/3's of the way through A Dance of Dragons.

Probably no Darkstar, no Quentyn Martell, no Griff or Young Griff, no Arianne Martell and her plot to raise up Myrcella Baratheon as a contender to the Iron Throne, no Lady Stone Heart, no Ramsay marrying "Arya", no Mance and his spearwives going off to rescue "Arya", no Val going off to find Tormund (though having Tormund be the one to make peace between the wildings and the Night's Watch gets the job done, I suppose). No Davos going south by ship to White Harbor to rally Lord Wyman Manderly to Team Stannis (one of my favorite parts of ADoD) either.

The Ramsay and Winterfell bits were neat, I guess, but I'm still confused as to why Littlefinger would hand over Sansa to the Boltons. Wouldn't Cersei, upon hearing that Sansa is still alive and well and about to wed into the Bolton family at Winterfell, demand that Lord Roose hand over the traitor so she can face justice for her part in King Joffrey's death? And if the Boltons should refuse, wouldn't the North and the Lannisters go to war anew? Makes no sense to me.

The stuff with Valyria being blended with The Sorrows and the Stone Men were OK, but Ser Jorah catching dire leprosy, I mean greyscale, was kinda out of left field. Bad enough the showrunners killed off Ser Barristan, but now they're gonna off Lord Friendzone too via a slow and agonizing disease? Bollocks, man.

The parts with Dany and her feeding dudes to the dragons makes some sort of sense, I think, but her marriage proposal was all sorts of WTH just happened there? With Barristan's death, it also highlighted how alone Dany truly is there in Meereen, with no one but Missandei, a gravely wounded Grey Worm, and Daario to give her counsel now. In the book, Dany was surrounded by advisers and supporters. I guess the show runners couldn't afford to hire that many actors to fulfill that many bit part characters.

 

Why would Ramsay be marrying Arya? She isn't even there.

 

Note the " ". Read the books (or a novels spoiler) and you'll find the answer to your question.

 

I assume that there's nobody in the north who knows about Sansa who's chatting with kings landing especially with Varys gone - and Cersei mostly wants to kill Tyrion and wouldn't want to piss of the boltons at this point.

I guess the change with the marriage proposal was to keep a bit of proactive 'girl power' with dany, in the books she does come off as weaker.

So, is Sam going to be sent off even without the threat to Maester Aemon? or are they just forgetting about that plotline too?

 

Wouldn't need a spymaster to find out that a Stark -- and Sansa, no less -- has returned to Winterfell and will be marrying into the Boltons. Just good ol' fashioned trade and gossip between Winterfell and King's Landing would suffice (rumors and gossip surrounding a wedding between two major houses in the North). Also, Sansa is still legally married to Tyrion before both fled into exile so wouldn't it technically be illegal for her to marry Ramsay as well?

I suppose someone like the High Septon could annul the marriage but Cersei threw the old one in jail and the newly appointed High Sparrow isn't likely to do Sansa any favors.

Cersei is the type of character who wouldn't give two shits about the consequences of pissing off the Boltons (and the whole of the North) either since she lacks any strategic thinking and forethought (hell, the whole point of her re-establishing the Faith Militant is to undermine both the Tyrells and her own son Tommen's rule so he can still be her precious, weak little boy and keep having him run back to mommy for help).

If Cersei cared about not pissing off the wrong people, she wouldn't have told the Iron Bank of Braavos to go fuck itself; the royal family (Baratheons and Lannisters) is not paying back its debt to them. Cersei not demanding Sansa's head on a spike soon would be out of character for her.

The whole Sansa marrying Ramsay Bolton thing is a major plot hole, from what I've seen so far. Maybe the show runners will address some of these issues in the next few episodes, hopefully.

Spoiler

As far as Dany goes, I suppose they eliminated the Griff and Young Griff stuff to keep the Targaryen focus on her, and not muddy those waters with yet another contender for the Iron Throne (much like abandoning the Arianne and Myrcella subplot, I think).

I had forgotten about Maester Aemon, Samwell, and Gilly. All should be on their way to Oldtown by now in the novels. And having Sam interact with Stannis directly was unexpected but not entirely bad. Maybe they're going somewhere with Sam and the whole dragonglass thing (which kinda just got dropped in the novels).

 

I don't thing the Lannisters have the strength to really do anything about it. And Bolton can rightly say that he can't turn Sansa over without losing his hold on the North, which is something Cersei probably doesn't want.

The thing I don't get is how Littlefinger thinks he can set foot in King's landing again after all of this. Word must have gotten to Cersei that he delivered Sansa to Bolton. Which would connect him to Joffrey's death. But it looked like he was in KL judging by the preview.

 

That doesn't make sense though. Arya is presumed dead so why would anyone think to marry her?

 

Spoiler

In the books the lannisters send sansa's friend/maid to marry ramsay - saying she is arya and has been held hostage in kings landing all this time. (Theon is the only one to realise she's a fake as she has the wrong colour eyes.)

 

After Joffrey and Tywin died last year I wondered who the most hated character would be this. The Boltons? Cersei? Littlefinger? Nope none of them, seems its show creation Olly who's getting crazy amounts of online vitriol. Way to go internet, go to town on a 14 year old kid.

Episode 5 was OKish. As usual with Cogman's writing it was hit and miss - but he got in a couple of fat jokes so in his capacity as the guy who thought it was funny to turn Pod into a stud and Mace into a buffoon he'll be happy with that. And Jorah with Grayscale, not sure what's going on there.


Opinion seems mixed but I thought the cinematography for Valeria was excellent, just as good as Arya's introduction to Bravos.

 

Spoiler

Right they dig up Sansa's friend (who was working in one of Littlefingers brothels) and pass her off as long lost Arya. The sense I got from the books was that a lot of people had their doubts but nobody wanted to be flayed so they kept their mouths shut. And I think the carnage at Winterfell was even worse in the book - basically nobody who actually knew Arya was left alive.

It's just too convenient for everyone in power for Arya to be live and marry a Bolton so that's what they do. They use Arya instead of Sansa for the reasons described in previous posts - namely Sansa being a wanted criminal.

 

Of course the Internet hates kids. Will Wheaton was lucky there was no Internet when he was on TV.

I loved Valyria. Hope we see more of it.

 

Uh... Sansa is still alive.

 

Sansa is too hot to hate.