It was. It was also a really nice call-forward for that last scene of Poussey in Brooklyn, gazing across the East River at the end of a flashback sequence that was ushered in by the line "Is this the bus to the underworld?"

Not to mention Pennsatucky, the character who was even *nicknamed* to mark her as a representative of a stereotypically poor white region of the eastern US. A villain in S1, she got the ultimate "misunderstood" treatment, to the extent that she's now many people's favorite character. And I don't think it's at all…

We saw the Psych ward briefly in the first season, when Pennsatucky was sent there. It was a total horror show there, too.

You know, I never noticed that detail, but now that it's brought up, I'm really hoping that wasn't actually the movie he took her to see. Maybe it's just because I had a childhood with far too many points of identification with the protagonist of Welcome to the Dollhouse, but seriously, can you imagine a more terrible…

Late here, but I think a lot of the 12/15 months confusion comes from people conflating the fictional Piper Chapman with the real Piper Kerman. I seem to remember that the real Piper, who spent her sentence keeping her head down, helping other inmates with legal stuff, and taking notes for her book, got out early due…

There are two duck pond scenes. You're thinking of the one that happens next episode—which I can easily forgive you not realizing, because Myles doesn't talk much about that scene in his next article, either. (I found this really surprising, as for me that was one of the most powerful and memorable scenes in this…

A year later, but I just wanted you to know that I thought it was hilarious. And for whatever it's worth, I'm Jewish.

I stopped watching The Walking Dead when they introduced new characters from the comic book. At least, I assume they were from the comic book, because they were exactly what people mean when they talk about "comic book characters:" all visual flash and Rule of Cool. That Governor guy positively radiated "stupid comic…

I still find Season 5 of the Wire to be the most depressing TV drop-off in quality I have ever experienced. Season 4 was so damned good, and then… That serial killer plotline started to unfold, and everyone in my house just stared at each other, jaws dropped open, shaking our heads in disbelief, until one of us said:…

Posting from the future just to say, Stranger, that it's both fascinating and infuriating to see that even when your (entirely correct!) thematic understanding of this show was vindicated by, y'know, the actual story, people were *still* seemingly unwilling to accept that they weren't actually watching a fun power…

@davewesterity:disqus,

Heh. Yeah, I guess it was hidden…unless you watch the show with the closed-captioning on, in which case you saw all of the Valyrian dialogue prefaced with "(speaking in Valyrian)".

As the variation in responses shows, whether one prefers the series or the books is pretty much completely dependent on how you feel about GRRM's writing style.

I was reminded of that Prisoner episode as well!

Dontos has pretty much been written out of the show, though, which dispenses with your second plot point altogether. There will very likely be no jester in motley connected to Sansa's disappearance at all, so there's no need for a decoy motley'd fool for Brienne to go chasing after. And as for Rorge and Biter, well,…

All of the super-colourful clothing and armour from the books has been toned down. Brienne didn't have blue armour, either. The show goes more for earth tones and greys. I don't think that it was so much a problem with the Bolton pink in particular as it is just an overall aesthetic difference between book and show.

@avclub-a171d9b078d8fd668b699188db001042:disqus :

I felt that the Meera and Osha scene passed. They were talking about the value of non-combatants in society. To my mind, the fact that their respective non-combatant charges were both male was kind of beside the point — it informed the discussion, but wasn't what it was really about. I can accept, though, that it's a…

There are a couple of exceptions. Winterfell and the Wall have appeared in every credit sequence, even for episodes (like Blackwater) which don't include any material from the plotlines taking place there.  I'm pretty sure that "Eastern City closest to Dany's location" also always appears, even in episodes that skip…

Meh. I've read the books, and I've reached the point of not wanting to go ANYWHERE but newbie sites to discuss this show, because the endless itemization of every goddamn change from the books bores the crap out of me.