Could be - but this is also the sort of situation where the writers have transferred and compressed roles before. They've just established that the Brotherhood is active once again, and that could set the stage for the Brotherhood capturing her and extracting the promise from Brienne to kill Jaime - and just…

I think it's probably that - though it could be that the writers are truncating her character because they don't have screen time to give her like they used to.

Especially when their name is Tony.

Don't worry. He won't exist for much longer.

Why not? I hear Abe's good at killing zombies. Useful, that.

For a show that seems positively eager to start winding down characters and subplots as it moves towards its climax, it seems strange to me that they'd choose *now* to parachute Lady Stoneheart (cold, with no foreshadowing) into the series.

Undoubtedly because a) they didn't arrange this alliance, b) the alliance will reduce if not eliminate Cersei's hold on Tommen (it's already wiped out Jaime's), and c) Cersei wants revenge for her walk of shame, and that revenge means every head of the Faith Militant on a spike. Not an alliance.

We also know there will be a scene with Lancel and his fellow mendicant toughs confronting a Mountain-protecting Cersei from the trailer: "I choose violence."

A girl knows she can't accomplish anything from inside a jail cell, even if she's the Queen.

I think Jaime and Cersei were careless in handling the whole confrontation - probably overconfident.

Well said on every point. I think the play-within-the-play has been one of the most deft strokes of the series to date. It's actually the first time I've really cared about her story arc since she left Westeros.

Since when does Walder Frey have the leverage to compel Lannister military might anyway?

Yes, Red Letter Media overstates the Prequels' flaws, and understates similar issues with the Original Trilogy.