Wouldn't this be completely wrong, since Littlefinger told Cat he lost the dagger to Tyrion because Littlefinger bet on Jaime in the tournament? This has to be a lie because Tyrion wouldn't bet against Jaime.

They already replaced Payne with Bronn as Jaime's sword trainer. The idea in the books is that Payne couldn't gossip about how bad Jaime was his with off hand because Payne has no tongue.

Not only that, but he betrayed Ned w/r/t the City Watch's loyalty AND he convinced Cat that Tyrion tried to assassinate Bran (he didn't) AND he arranged with Lady Olenna for Joffrey to be killed.

She also is no longer saying Ilyn Payne because the actor is dying in real life.

or did it

Shireen would be the heir to dragonstone. To take the Iron Throne, she would probably have to win it, just like Stannis is trying. See the Martin novella P&Q for a similar scenario.

It will never be 7 seasons. It's going to be 8. They simply cannot get through ALL of AFFC and ADWD in one year. ADWD is a monster-sized book. And even if they did, that leaves just two years for TWOW and ADOS, both of which will be monster-sized books as well.

CONFIRMATION THAT SYRIO IS DEAD?? This is the biggest change the show has made from the books.

"I love how the show set up Locke as this character who seemed like he might become sort of a minor villain and/or might deliver Bran to the Greyjoys,"

probably because a human arm reads for the screen better than any other body part save a head

Did both reviewers somehow miss that nina is in on the Beeman operation, working with Oleg and Arkady? That her indignation at the polygraph was play acted for Beeman's benefit only?

The show's emotional engine, when it started, was Leslie's relationship with Ann. But somewhere around season 2 or 3ish, the emotional heart of the show became split duty between Ron and April.

even if it's not unrealistic, it's still tacky to make an episode about a main character struggling over her future and then it's solved by two four-figure purchases.

B- and that's generous, for me.

Did anyone else think it was just a bit askew that Ben's solution to Leslie's existential/professional malaise was to spend ~$5000 on a high-priced political consultant and a surprise trip to Paris? Why couldn't Schur and Poehler have had Jen Barkley donate her hour of time and then Ben and Les take a trip to…

I also thought it was a little bit of an homage to (Natl Lampoon's) Christmas Vacation, half expecting the Belchers' car to get stuck in between the candy cane truck's wheels like the Griswolds' did when they were getting a tree.

guessing the guy you are replying to — "comedy gold, jerry" — probably disagrees with you w/r/t curb and seinfeld

I (mildly) didn't like this episode, either, so I give it a C-.

There was this hourlong drama on a basic-cable network I think a lot of people here would enjoy. It's about a man who BREAKS BAD, and things turn out BAD due to his BREAKING BAD. A lot of people and things get BROKEN and in general it's BAD.

And also have him stumble upon brilliant insights of the defects of modern consumer culture without realizing it.