Well Cat also does has her own contribution to that whole scenario as she states several times that whatever presence was in the tent with them felt like Stannis, somehow.

Ned Stark really put Joffrey over as a heel last season.

Agreed. A couple of their casting choices have actually made the characters come to life for me beyond the way they did in the books. Littlefinger was that for me in the first season, and Balon did that for me last night.

Apropos of nothing…how many cast and crew do you think have designs on that table as the centerpiece of their series-ending keepsake swag-haul? That thing is badass.

Continued Gendry post-SoS spoilers:

This perhaps may be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like much of the "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" stuff some experts are bringing to the newbie thread is doing them a disservice. Just let 'em watch.

Gendry spoilers beyond SoS:

There's no way they could do that, but he will be one of the toughest castings yet, I think. I don't know about y'all, but that guy fucking kills me, and I'm constantly laughing at his antics (though I'm not sure I'm supposed to). Casting that right mix of menace, violence, and the constant dark cartoon scribble above…

SER Dave Thomas!

@avclub-1343022fc4003e2cf16f0368302d86e8:disqus Just a small correction to your post. "Osha" is the wildling with the Starks. "Asha" is the name they changed to Yara.

I wonder how much HBO had to pay Current TV and Olbermann to have their row just in time to publicize their new "Jeff Daniels as a Kieth Olbermann"-type show.

ADWD spoilers:

Pepe, quite often, actually, yes.

@E.Buzz Miller: WAY. It's a fucking spoiler apocalypse over there, in the comments section at least. Save yourself!

I'm just thinking…they really can't skip/ditch the Reeds, right? I can't see Bran and Hodor heading North alone. If they send Osha as their Northern companion instead, then Rickon is alone. Unless they decide  to spare somebody else from Winterfell just to accommodate that scenario.

I haven't seen the effects yet, but from articles they said they just filmed actual wolves against a greenscreen.

I can't recall. I do think we meet Reek (Ramsay) before that Roose stuff goes down in Harrenhal in book 2 though, right?

Ok, so I took the scene as literally as it was presented to me, my bad. I was, and am, having "character death…but not really!" fatigue. It irks me.

Book 3 spoilers

@avclub-8960b60364cfbb5ea071c2507704fb2a:disqus That was one of my favorite moments from the first season, the conversation between Dany and that woman, where she basically comes clean and is like, "Fuck you, fuck your Khal, and fuck The Stallion That Will Mount The World. Now he won't mount shit. Deal with it." So…