Incest, rape and domestic violence are all terrible, and Craster was a triple threat, but how does that in and of itself recreate/raise the Others? You had to have at least one of them kicking around to start making more. Is that what happened? Craster's been tossing his sons in the woods for a couple of decades…

The last winter was 9 years before the start of the action in the books. The First Men invaded Westeros and fought the Children of the Forest starting 12,000 years before the action. For 2,000 years, the First Men fought the Children and drove them up the continent. The Children used magic to smash the Arm of Dorne,…

If the Children made the White Walkers, have the White Walkers just been hanging around north of the Wall for the last few thousand years?

Better than the actual review.

He's an old man without property, money, or much in the way of valuable skills that don't involve swinging a sword. He can cut his arm off now and be as good as dead, or he can live as long as he can and then kill himself before the disease renders him insensate.

Unless it's different in the show, I think Bronn went with the rich but homely, traumatized rape survivor wife.

Female cousin from the female, non-Vale side of the union. That's thin-to-nonexistent. The Royces' claim to the throne of the Vale is significantly stronger, even if you assume they can't find any Arryn blood (unlikely) in any of their men, because the Royces were the prior royal house.

This isn't true. If you call Bantam, they have an automated response for GoT inquiries and it clearly states that Winds of Winter is coming out when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, when the seas go dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves. Which I think means Passover 2017? I've got to say…

I need to explain why "Hold the door" is dumb? Hey, I want to fight you, but first: was your mom's name Martha? Because that's going to make this too awkward to do.

What is her blood tie to the Vale? Niece to the former Lady, who married into the Arryn family? That's a pretty thin reed.

Biggest casting miss of the show.

Please tell me "Hold the door" is not a GRRM-ism. Because that's the stupidest fucking thing I can imagine.

That doesn't really address the criticism though. Nymeria is significant to the same or lesser extent as each of the other direwolves. Summer has gotten a lot more screen time, been involved in more action and is generally more significant to the show than Nymeria is. Without the wolf dreams, the peasants talking…

No, not a whole lot would have changed. Catelyn still would have gotten the letter from her sister telling her that the Lannisters had murdered Jon Arryn. Ned Stark still would have gone south and gotten himself killed poking his nose into the murder. Robb would still have lead the North to war.

I think I get what you're saying. Not "what is he doing in the plot?" but "why is he part of the plot?" I think Bran is supposed to be a commentary on the trope of heroes overcoming adversity and disabled characters generally in fantasy. Bran is, on a macro level, clearly a primary protagonist, in that he is…

They all meant something. Shaggydog was/is the personification of Rickon's rage; Lady was Sansa's innocence; Summer was/is Bran's hopefulness. Ghost, Nymeria and Grey Wind were/are more direct analogues for their respective Starks.

She never would have been in Kings Landing (or on her way to the Vale) without the Bran plot. She heads south to warn her husband that the Lannisters made an attempt on Bran's life, and she detours to the Vale because she accidentally runs into Tyrion, captures him, and then has to do something unexpected to avoid…

To be fair, if the Iron Islanders are really supposed to be viking analogues (down to the longships), then the construction time per ship could be as little as a few months. But yeah, the timing and geography on this show continue to deteriorate.

Oh. My. God. Did you see that zombie's face? It looked like he died farting! He was all NNNNNNNGGGG (contorted face, t-rex hands). Anyhoo, be sure not to vaccinate your kids, folks!

Are you thinking of Erlichman? Not that Haldeman was any better. Either way, you're right in describing them as "competent evil" rather than "incompetent evil." The thing is, "competent evil" actually just equates to doing bad things very effectively, rather than being generally competent but also evil. The best…