regarding Littlefingers' absence, is he still supposed to be in the Eyre? I hope we see that place again, complete with the 8 year old still on his mum's tit.

he's always said he was "cut" whenever the show brings it up. I think it's left deliberately ambiguous. Probably the way Varys would want it as well.

also, is Balon Greyjoy the biggest asshole this show has ever seen? the dude gets his ass handed to him by the King, then resents Theon for it and tries to invade the North for apparently no strategic reason. Then he is willing to let his son continue being tortured without punishing the perpetrators, making him look…

problem is when you treat your children like shit, they cease to care about the family name that you've worked so hard to protect. Hence Tyrions refusal to bed Sansa and Cersei's complete inability to play the long game.

Tywin's hypocrisy is amazing. He's always rambling on about family this and family that, but he treats his children like shit and they all despise him. The Lannister name will fall in due time and it won't be because of any outsiders; they will destroy themselves from the inside-out.

agreed. Jamie is definitely going to butt heads with Tywin and Cersei, given that he is no longer an asshole. But he has no hand anymore, so I don't see how he can remain on the Kingsguard…which means he will return to being Tywin's heir.

am I the only one who was a bit surprised that they removed Theon's actual cock? i thought he was going to go with regular castration, Varys-style. I mean seriously…how does one live without an actual penis? the logistics alone sound horrible.

agreed to an extent. It would have been really beneficial to see Robb in battle so we know exactly how good he is in the field. GoT broke the basic rule of show-don't-tell with this regard. We are shown his bad qualities, but only told about his good ones. This is obviously going to lead to poor characterization.

also, Bran is clearly the most intelligent, practical Stark of the bunch. I hope he retakes the North after he's learned to become a warg-proper.

so, now that the shock has settled in, it's time for some practical discussions. When exactly did Bolton betray the Starks? it's obvious now that the sack of Winterfell was done as a part of his Lannister alliance, but was he a Lannister follower from the very beginning? or just another person looking to scheme his…

would love it if Sansa was actually really intelligent and is playing up the dumb-damsel role so that no-one sees her as a threat.

did you completely miss Bolton's line?

let me clarify by saying that I don't think anybody's going to be doing anything in the Stark name for quite some time. Jon isn't officially part of the family, Sansa's actions are completely at Tywin's will, Arya is presumed dead, Bran is going beyond the wall and Rickon is an infant. While the Starks may still…

but it isn't just Robb who is gone, it looks like the entire Stark family is done for. Their either dead, children, missing or prisoners.

As amazing as this episode is, I am a bit concerned about the future of this series. I feel like the Starks v. Lannister conflict was the central one of the series, so to see it completely eradicated feels like the show has lost some of its soul in one single handed swoop.

I'm certain they had the whole bedding ceremony to show us that Edmure wasn't involved in this. He will probably be held hostage somewhere, ala Sansa.

I think she's just scared of becoming irrelevant rather quickly, but instead of making the best of her circumstances (as Margaery suggested), she is acting like an idiot. Her comeuppance will be a joy to watch.

Cersei's hatred for Margaery is a bit strange…what has she done to wrong her? if anything, she has helped keep Joffrey under control, to a certain extent. Cersei is just an idiot.

I'm also excited to see Joffrey cause a ruckus at the next small council meeting. His idiocy will be a welcome presence to racket up the tension even more.

idiotking, i'll agree with that. I feel like they could have done all of Theon's scenes in two episodes. One episode for the initial torture-fake escape and another for the finger loss-gelding.