Casterly Rock — we finally get to see it after all these years, and its design felt disappointing to me. Too bright, or not tall & imposing enough, or something.

"even better" … "Jerry Lewis"

Amazing location; they only had to CGI the castle itself. That coast is so beautiful, I'm glad that "Green Spain" got a chance to be featured on the show.

There's an anecdote about Cole Porter, famously wealthy, who was searching for the right rhyme for a lyric… "The aurora borealis is / not as heated as ___ "; a colleague suggested "as a palace is", to which Porter said that was his first thought, but he'd rejected it. Why? they asked — it's perfect! Porter said…

I think Tyrion's scene in the shitter, saying "You knew I didn't poison Joffrey, yet you sentenced me all the same…", reads as truthful even if we didn't know that Olenna and Littlefinger were the actual conspirators. He's alone with Tywin and about to kill him.

If Arya hadn't run into Hot Pie, and instead was pretty much alone throughout her steely-eyed murderous rampage, I thought maybe they'd have her suddenly melt and break down upon finally seeing her family again, at some late point in a surprise encounter. But now it seems she's heading for Winterfell.

True, although, dragons had been present in Westeros only 150 years ago, and the skulls are right there in the castle, while the white walkers were the stuff of 8000-year-old legend.

"Everybody Dies" — the words of House House.

Reminds me of the names in that old LOTR parody, Bored of the Rings by the Harvard Lampoon guys.

Okay, Costanza.

Prof. Baelish in his little tweed jacket and sweater vest, writing CHAOS in big letters on the chalkboard… Why is that so very, very easy to picture?

Cross your fingers for my comedy script in the next pilot season, "Two Eunuchs, a Translator, a Dwarf and a Pizza Place."

That creepy scene in the riverlands with Arya (amidst the great storyline with the Brotherhood and the Hound and Gendry) was a favorite of mine, and one I'm most hopeful to see followup in these final seasons.

"If you're a famous smuggler… you're doing it wrong."

After all that's happened over 6+ seasons, we are fully absorbed by the story of Jon and the Night's Watch and the wildlings and giants and wights and white walkers and Hardhome (and Bran and Benjen and the Children and Hodor)… I mean WOW that is immense… But to both Dany and Cersei, it's just that same mythical…

"Whoa whoa whoa! How about a few swigs of Lannisterene, just in case?"

That Jaime Lannister, he's a bit of a low talker.

Absolutely, especially now in the late seasons when so many characters are dead and the biggest threat of all is near. That's why I liked the Sam montage in episode 1.

House Targaryen's new words: "LOL"

I think they just needed something for Alfie Allen to do, since Theon is absent entirely from Storm of Swords, which spanned two show seasons.