I'm not saying that trying to secure an alliance with the Iron Isles was a bad idea, but sending Theon certainly was. Aside from sending someone with a clear conflict of interest, Theon's whole purpose at court was to serve as a hostage. You don't send a hostage home to negotiate on your behalf. It's that simple.

True. But then every decision he made after that was at best a noble blunder. Marrying for love, executing Lord Karstark, sending Theon to the Iron Isles, etc. His mother doesn't fare too much better, sending their one bargaining chip back to King's Landing.

Arya seems to have learned the lesson that has evaded all the other Starks: that cunning and deception are necessary for survival in their world.

The fire lord is the one true god after all!

Well, it's not the greatest, but it's not in Dick Van Dyke territory, either.

Things I want to see in Season 4:

I hope Theon's dick becomes a character in his own right. Most highly anticipated storyline of Season 4: The Boltons becoming the new wards of the north. That, and the civil war I feel sure is brewing within the Lannister family as Joffrey and Tywin continue to butt heads.

I think the over-arching lesson to be drawn from GoT is that it's not enough to be noble. Certainly Daenerys Targaryen exhibits much of the same principled nobility that the Starks do, but she also has something they seem to sorely lack: cunning. The one time Robb Stark mustered up enough brains to fool the…

Frankly, I never saw Robb Stark ending well. It just doesn't seem plausible that he would be able to decisively defeat the Lannisters, take King's Landing, and then hold it against both Stannis Baratheon and Daenerys Targaryen. The Starks are like the LA Clippers of Westeros.

They're finished as far as their quest for the throne is concerned. At least for another ten years or so until the Stark babies grow up. True, there will be storylines about the surviving Starks, but they are now relegated to secondary status, away from the meat of the story.

What makes Game of Thrones work is how deftly it treads the line between fantasy and a realistic portrayal of feudal, agrarian life. In many ways, this episode brings to a head how incompatible these worlds are. Robb Stark forsakes the familial alliance-building marriage to marry the woman he loves, like one might in…

That was my initial reaction, too. But they've made a big deal out of how Walder Frey wanted to marry his daughter to a king. By marrying his daughter to Edmure and then killing Robb, he has essentially what he would have had if Robb had carried through with his pledge.

If the rebellion does continue with Edmure at the head of the Stark's forces, then this could prove to be a masterstroke by Walder Frey, as no matter who wins the war, the victor will owe their crown to him.

Really well played. With his agreement with the Freys and his plan to do an end run and take Casterly Rock, this was the first time this season where I didn't feel that Robb Stark was totally doomed. But the second I start to feel good about his chances, the show goes all Hamlet on my ass. It leaves me with kind of a…

I think it was a desperation move. A bluff. She feels her power slipping away to Margaery as her influence over Joffrey grows so she wants to strike fear in her while she still can.

Power Rankings of GoT characters in Season 3 (based on how interesting they are and how vital their storylines feel):

People seem to really rave about this finale, but I can't help but find myself a little disappointed.

My favorite episode of Mad Men this season. I'm hoping for a Grandma Ida spin-off.

If I was Samwell, I'd be buying up every piece of obsidian I could lay my hands on.

Either my downstairs neighbor was playing Call of Duty, or I could faintly hear Theon screaming throughout the episode.