I hope she'll at least try to use it for blackmail. And Selina will give in, and then the material will be leaked anyway, by some kind of stupid accident. Maybe the Chinese hackers.

Well, Shireen was explicitely killed on Melisandre's orders in a ritualistic manner to strengthen her powers, which (apparently) eventually allowed her to resurrect Jon Snow.

Most probably Shireen. Or Stannis himself. King's Blood's supposed to be necessary, although I'm not quite sure if it has to be spilled by the priestess herself. The mechanics are unclear, but I trust death was involved.

People keep saying that, but I don't see why. Because Davos hasn't gotten a lot of bonding time with Jon so far? This is not about personal favours. Davos is one of the few people with a bit of perspective in this game - he knows the real threat are the ice-zombies, not the wildlings, and it's pretty clear that the…

Because there's a certain limitation to sacrificable princesses. Only death can pay for life, etc. In terms of quantity, it's a zero-sum business.

She's super shady, but I kinda want her to seduce Oleg. She's got designs on him. Probably just spy stuff though.

Some people would argue that one quality of a good story is to reflect reality and the reality is that men are not the only ones who matter/deserve to have their perspective included.

Representation is a pretty good reason, for those who tend to be underrepresented at least.

I was thinking blackmail the coment I saw Catherine with that camera. But what would Catherine want enough to go that far?

Not to forget boring.

Well, that's not implausible either. But I do really think her heart's in the right place here. That's of course far from a sufficient condition for a healthy longterm relationship.

It was important to show her time in capitivity to make us understand how she got to the point of quitting the game. She died because of a choice she made, and it was important to make us understand that choice. Otherwise she would have just been another fridged love interest.

Oh no, you should not have pointed out these lyrics to me, because now I'm even more convinced of seeing ominuous forshadowing in this episode. That scene where Elizabeth in her fever tells Phil to blame it all on her and run with the kids - yeah, I'm pretty sure that means that it's going to be Phil who's somehow…

I for one am buying it - the feelings for Adam, the sobriety, the sudden sense of purpose with that new career perspective. Jessa's getting her shit together. But she might really need a fresh start, und she might really need to leave the rest of the girls behind for that purpose. She might have done so quite easily…

I wouldn't say wish-fulfillment goes "entirely" against everything storytelling is supposed to be - it's one function of many, hardly the least important one I'd say, and it's absolutely interesting to analyze which target groups get it with some regularity and which don't - but I would argue that too much of it…

Yes, but there are four of them and I bought them all at once. They're written to be read as one novel. The problem I have with most series that might yield more material in sum is that they tend to get repetitive and the later installments have diminishing returns, so I usually drop out at some point. Definitely not…

Finally jumped on the Elena Ferrante Hype Train. I actually put it off for a while, because it sounded excactly like the kind of thing I would like and not lking it might have triggered some sort of identity crisis.

The one thing I remember about Snow White and Rose Red is that they marry bears.

Yes. On the hand it's convenient, because it's comforting to know that I can always just sit out the mood when it strikes me in an inopportune situation. On the other hand it makes me act more aloof than I actually am, because I don't want to hurt someone with my passing fancy. But that's probably just an excuse for…

Her loss, probably. And I'm not saying that to cheer you up. Spending time with yourself between relationships has its benefits.