Regarding Joffrey's wedding:  I always assumed that that couldn't come until they got around to introducing prince Oberyn Martell.  I suppose he doesn't actually matter till after the wedding, but it would be nice to have him introduced via his meeting with Tyrion.

Pretty sure its only a little about the rumors, and mostly about the "heir to Highgarden"

Good point.  Hadn't thought about how they were likely to approach that plot line.

Not Gendry, another Robert-bastard.

Art for art's sake.

He should have on the Fist.  I don't think the Others show up a Craester's, do they?

At the end of this very episode?

Its interesting how much less Edmure has fucked up Robb's war though.  All he cost Robb here was a chance to kill the Mountain.

And that's why: you don't rely on Daddy to get you out of trouble.

"Don't do anything that affects anything, unless it turns out you were supposed to do it. In which case, for the love of God, DON'T NOT DO IT."
"Got it."

I doubt that's referencing the song.

More like he underestimated how much he'd atrophied while in his cage. 

Jaquen H'gar is dead.  A man has a new face. A man has a new name.  A man is a different man.

Hot Pie: That's who the mountain and them were looking for.  They'll take us back and put rats in us.
Thoros: You've got nothing to fear from us, son.  The lords of Westeros want to burn the countryside.  We're trying to save it.

Also, didn't Whitebeard look familiar to Jorah, but he couldn't place him?  I think I remember something like that.

So what if the viewers see that they've given the actor who played Ser Barristan a new character.  That would only indicate that Selmy is not coming back, but they liked that actor.  They recast the Mountain between seasons, and people rolled with it.  If they announced Arstan Whitebeard as a new character, most of…

If they had Selmy call himself Whitebeard, much of the audience would not recognize him.  Some that do would assume they gave a new (perhaps more central) character to that actor.

Like in season 2 of Deadwood, when Hearst raises Jack McCall from the dead to be his geologist.  I assume the reveal was planned for season 4, but the viewers all knew what was going on since we recognized him.

Worf (Referring to Garak): "At the first sign of betrayal I will kill him, but I promise to return the body intact."
Sisko: "I assume that's a Joke."
Worf: "We will see."

The safe-sex comic with death was included in one of the collections of the death comic book.