Do we have time for that, though? And does the show really want to involve its heroes in accidental incest? It feels soapier than I think the show wants to be (Ira Madison III had a big thread about the show being a soap last night, and he's 100% right, but the writers/HBO would never actively steer into that).

I just sort of presume my buddy Qyburn's built a giant telescope, honestly.

The culture of the Dothraki is driven by service to the Khals, and the power they wield: Dany single-handedly burning them all alive and walking out of the flames basically made her the figurehead of their society, and that feels like something that would carry weight.

Yeah, Disqus is not built for 3300 comments. Heck, I don't think any comment system is likely capable of handling this.

True, but in this case depending on the geography (which is left very vague) you'd swear Cersei would have SEEN them from the Red Keep.

I think it's less "how could this happen" in this case and more understanding the temporality of different scenes next to each other. How long passed between when the march from Highgarden started and when the attack happens? Where were they relative to King's Landing? The sheer absence of information is the issue…

Randyll's dialogue scene with Jaime begins with "the gold has safely made it through the gates of King's Landing."

I just wanted to make clear that this isn't the only root of my confusion about this.

A) Never try to track grades across multiple shows—each show has its own standard, and of course its own writer.

I mean, I did mention the shorter running time might have been due to the level of effects work! But yeah, it was impressive: I almost took it for granted, though, because the direction really still focused on the storytelling, without falling too far into the spectacle.

I am offended at this insinuation! (In all seriousness, I did this live, not so much because I'm morally against leaks but more because I take pride in doing these things live.)

I made the case last week because it felt especially prominent and the notion of temporality served as an organizing theme of that episode and thus the review. I made my point, and thus have no need to continue making it—the (measured) objection has been recorded for the record, and we move on from there.

True, but then isn't it weird Dany seems to come up from BEHIND THEM? It's not the "around the horn of Africa" style journeys they've been pulling recently, but the temporal-spatial dynamics of it were still shaky in the same way.

Alright, there were 1000 comments before I got images added to this thing, so we're officially off to the races. Reiterating from previous week, is there are questions to ask or insults to lob at me directly, you can do so directly via Twitter (@Memles) or by replying to this thread. I'll also note that I've put…

I dunno, the way she watches Arya suggests that she might think that she was supposed to have a more transformative experience than she actually did. In some ways, she came home what she wanted to be when she left, but is that really who she is? It's less of an existential crisis, perhaps, and more the ABSENCE of an…

Catch up in the "travel significant distances in order to intercept them," not "literally chase after them going the same direction."

I didn't say it was BAD. I just noted that it confused the temporality question. I thought it was an efficient way to hide the fact that we cared about a grand total of one person during the attack on Casterly Rock.

Well, different strokes on the "interesting" part, but I can safely say I've never aimed for funny, so that's a conscious failing.

It could've been something overheard at the Inn at the Crossroads, at the very least.

I think I'd have gone with "Doy," just to mix things up, but I agree it's an inspired choice.