There are still Starks out there, still Lannisters, and still plenty of proxies. Frankly, Robb vs. Tywin would have made for seven boring seasons.

It's not nihilism. It's simply consequences - real ones, not softball ones - for actions. Ned died because he was rigid, not because he was honorable. Robb died because he mixed dishonorable oath-breaking with dishonorable favorable treatment of his mother with too-honorable treatment of Karstark.

Cat killing Frey's wife was brutal and brilliant - senseless, hopeless, desperate and resigned violence all at once. It was the only power she had left and it was so hollow.

Unclear. On one hand, Edmure is now Frey's son and Frey has his hooks into Riverrun. On the other, Frey's pretty crazy and clearly has no compunctions about letting family die — and it would also make sense to get rid of Edmure and Blackfish before they, say, come seeking bloody revenge for Catelyn.

Unpopular opinion alert: Robb had it coming.

He's gonna come out in the morning with a spring in his step and go "holy shiiiiit."

This was so much worse than Baelor emotionally. But Robb probably made worse choices to get there than Ned did.

Why did Mr. Smith kill everybody?

I think 70 or 80 percent of this season's problems could have been solved or mitigated by tightening the episodes to the 22-minute range. The material is generally fine; the pacing is not. "Bloated" is definitely the right word.