^Yeah, that's a good point about plot elements not introduced at the same time as in the books possibly being introduced later. I was just being lazy, but I went back and fixed it.
Many people say that Peter Dinklage won his Emmy for last weeks episode. I say he won the Emmy this week in this scene with Shay. A lot of things were said but so much more wasn't said but communicated through Dinklage. He starts the scene assuming Shay has been lying about her affection for him all this time. He assumes that she will keep this illusion up as long as it is convenient for her to do so. When he finds out that she's in it for him and with him, he breaks down. He's finally found someone who genuinely cares for him! A great piece of acting from a great actor! Margery Tyrell is now Joffrey's Queen and Sansa who has been pretty smart acts like a fool. My favorite line of the entire season is uttered by Little finger: you are surrounded by a hall of liars and all of us are better at it than you. Awesome! Finally some movement in the Daenarys Targaryan story! They really could've compressed this story and ended it 4 episodes ago! I don't think it was clear that the visions of the Throne room, Khal Drogo and Rheago were meant to entice her to stay in the illusion... and when those visions failed, the wizard gave up the pretenses. Bad move. Great ending! Was it just me or did the "King of Qarth" remind you of Visarys Targaryan begging Daenarys for mercy as she locked him in his own vault? "I'm the King of Qarth! I can help you get your throne!" Something tells me that there will be many more men begging at the feet of our Khaleesi! Robb Stark is a dumb ass. Talisa is hot but damn.. He wants to call himself a King and acts like that? And my favorite character Ariya Stark... Varim Margoulis (sp?). Sounds like my Puerto Rican buddy at work.
The little touch of the dragons calling her out of each potential trap was wonderful. She ALMOST touched the Iron Throne, but she heard her babies calling. She was with her love, but she heard her babies calling. The woman is made of steel.
"Pretty smart" is overstating it. For the most part she has only put up the brave front that was expected of her in terms of being in "love" with Joffrey and doing what she is told. And she certainly let the mask slip a whole bunch. Her ongoing protestations of love fooled absolutely no one. My favorite Sansa moment of the season involved her sassing Joffrey about how of course he's going to be on the front lines was about the only thing she said "smart" and even that wasn't so smart because antagonizing Joffrey is something you probably want to avoid. Awesome indeed, but I don't know how that trumps various things said by Tyrion and Varys. I don't know that they were strictly speaking all visions to entice her to stay. After all, her vision of the Wall should not be the least bit enticing to Dani. She may or may not even recognize what it is. Similarly, the frozen-over Iron Throne room is not someplace Dani would necessarily want to be. I took it to be a reflection of her past (Drogo), the present (the Wall) and the future (throne room covered in ice and snow/Snow). As Mel Brooks said, "It's good to be the king!" Re: Arya, you asked for book-related spoilers as to her escape from Harrenhal. Apologies if I have gotten some of the details wrong:
Nah... Jack is widely respected and trusted. Tyrion isn't. Jack is a physical bad-ass. Tyrion's just a mental one. If we're going to liken Tyrion to a Fox character, it'd be House. Both are way smarter than anyone around them. Both use sarcasm constantly. Both are recognized as complete asses, but somehow are kept around despite this. Both somehow manage to solve unsolveable problems. Both are slightly handicapped and are in frequent pain. Bronn=Wilson. Also, both sleep with whores.
Alright, I don't normally link to mother jones but someone else shared this link so I thought I'd post it here. They did some funny spoof videos about what if Super PACs existed in Westeros. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/game-of-thrones-attack-ads
