How do you feel about the idea of her sleepling with someone else? As long as there's even the slightest pang of jealousy, trying to stay friends is pointless.

I haven't read the books in a while, but I got the impression the North is slightly underdeveloped compared to the Reach for instance. I mean, they have White Harbour, but it's no King's Landing, or Oldtown (yet). At the very least they rely on the rest of the Kingdom for Maester training. And as I already said,…

Really, you think Sansa wouldn't shed a tear if Arya died in her attempt to kill Cersei? That's just not my read of the character at all.

Yes, I just doubt it was deserted _for months_. Stannis would have left a garrison, which have continued to import food and tend to the ravens. (At least that's what he does in the books, because there's just no plausible reason why he wouldn't). After Stannis death, someone else would have claimed the castle, and…

It might not be about pride for Jon, but maybe he thinks it's about pride for his bannermen? He might just count on _them_ getting over it in the face of bigger fish to fry. (I mentionned the Tormund conversation, because I think it's a bit surprising for this particular character to make that point. It's hardly the…

Nothing is certain apart from death and taxes, and I suppose that's similiar in Westeros. Still, I think Littlefinger wouldn't exactly be paranoid to consider Arya a threat. Apparently she got turned into some kind of killing machine in Bravos, as Littlefinger could see for himself when she fought Brienne. I don't…

As long as we care about things being plausible, we would probably assume that Dragonstone wasn't abandonend for _months_ but that the garrison only hightailed it when Dany's ships and dragons appeared on the horizon.

I would assume rookeries are standard equipment for a castle in a society where that's the primary mode of long-distance communication - would be surprised if Dragonstone didn't have one.

I'm going with "Littlefinger wants Brienne to take out Arya, and Sansa is stopping that", so I don't think it makes Sansa look irrational and weak to foil this particular scheme.

Arya's clearly not a diplomat. Also, profoundly traumatized and somewhat feral. What part about her creepy act so far would have convinced you that she'd do well negotiating the finer points of diplomacy with Cersei, Varys, Tyrion etc.? That line where she suggested just beheading all the bannermen grumbling about…

But she might have to choose, if one's about to assassinate the other. And that's very likely going to be the one with the fancy assassin-training.

It reminds me of Stannis' burning of Shireen. The show couldn't make that plot point work at all for me, but I could see the books actually building up to that moment. We get a more visceral experience of how desperate Stannis' situation is (they've been stuck in the snowstorm for weeks; people are already…

Littlefinger wants Sansa to talk to Brienne, so that Brienne starts
worrying about Arya, so that she'll be in the right state of mind when
he tells her that Arya's a danger to Sansa, to that Brienne will kill
Arya. Sansa sees through it, and sends Brienne away so that she can't be
manipulated by Littlefinger.

Nope, Sansa's displaying quite a bit of cunning this episode. Littlefinger advises her to involve Brienne (probably because he wants to play Brienne to get rid of Arya), and Sansa sends her away instead, a clear sign that she's looking through his scheme.

Littlefinger wants Sansa to talk to Brienne, so that Brienne starts
worrying about Arya, so that she'll be in the right state of mind when
he tells her that Arya's a danger to Sansa, to that Brienne will kill
Arya. Sansa sees through it, and sends Brienne away so that she can't be
manipulated by Littlefinger.

Sadly that part would be in line with book characterization. What book Jaime seems most hung up upon is "… Lancel and Kettleback and Moonboy for all I know".

Littlefinger knows he needs to kill Arya before she kills him. Sure, his plot is not without risks - it might backfire, and kill Sansa instead - but doing nothing at all about the Arya situation might be even more reckless.

I think Jon finally deciding to bend the knee is one of the things that actually make more sense in this episode. The conversations with Tormund and Beric just reaffirmed for him that pride is a luxury right now, and also, who cares about the the thrones anyway, all that matters is protecting the reams of men, etc.…

You could argue that beheading is a more visceral experience than commanding your dragon to spit fire. Having done neither, I'm not entirely sure. Both are not for weak stomachs, I'd imagine.

Oh, I'm sure she'll see through it eventually, but her misgivings towards Sansa seemed genuine, and they were alone in the room. (But maybe she was counting on someone listening at the door).