Me too. I thought that Smalljon might be a pro-Stark mole working with Rickon in Winterfell to undermine the Bolton regime. Instead, they turned him into a generic murderous henchman, like a second version of Locke.

But what happens if someone brings up my comment at work? What will you do then? Better not miss out.

Hardhome was fucking badass, and it also served to clearly establish the White Walker threat as had never been done before. It drove the plot, it fit the characterization, and it was fucking badass.

I read it, I just don't care to discuss that point.

Blackwater is still my favorite overall episode, with Hardhome a close second. This episode didn't come close to Blackwater.

If people around me are discussing something I don't care about, particularly when it's something in the popular culture realm, I tend to leave that conversation to find another one (or to go do something else). I don't go do homework about something I don't enjoy.

I do not watch this show nor do I enjoy the books

It seems like I'm always the contrarian. I liked the last few episodes better than most here, but this episode didn't quite do it for me.

For a second I thought that they were really going to kill off Jon again. That would have been a shock.

I always thought that Rickon's role was to be the Stark ruling Winterfell at the end of the story. I am surprised that they brought him back just to kill him (though I knew he was dead the second he showed up at Ramsay's doorstep)

The show's doing a fine job. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than shitty.

Horrific? Ok…

While I don't remember anyone ever explicitly discuss the status of the waif's training, I think that implication that she wasn't a full-fledged faceless man was clear. She was ahead of Arya, but she was still doing to grunt work. I don't recall seeing J'aqen mopping the floor or scrubbing corpses. Did we really…

They followed the Blackfish's orders up until an obviously beaten Edmure. C'mon man, would that really happen? Even in a mythical kingdom? I know it furthered the story, but it was a bit trite, imo. I was hoping for a more "blaze of glory" finish for the Blackfish. He was built up and then just gone.

The Waif has always had something against Arya. I sensed some jealousy. Plus, the Waif was still training and not quite No One. Maybe J'aqen was testing the Waif as well. She failed the test because she was too much of a sadist. She seemed to enjoy inflicting pain, which is not what J'aqen and the Faceless Men…

I understand where you're coming from, and they probably shouldn't have made the knife attack look so gruesome if they were planning on having her recover from it so quickly. But for some reason it didn't take me out of the moment.

I think that there's a very good 650 page book buried somewhere in the 2000 pages of AFFC, ADWD, and the first half of TWOW (if it ever comes out). There were some great nuggets buried in them. But there was also way too much repetition, reliance on catch phrases (words are wind, where do whores go, etc.), purple…

You're completely putting words in my mouth re: Sansa. I think you missed my point. The story in the show, with Sansa in the place of Jeyne Poole and Rickon in the place of Mance Rayder, raises the stakes of the Northern storyline greatly in comparison to the books. I cared more about Sansa than I cared about…

Considering that the show is based on his half-written and (in the last two books) poorly plotted series, then he can't escape some of the blame. The show is working to extricate the story from corners the last two books put it in.

I thought the return of Beric & Thoros was interesting. I certainly wasn't expecting to see Beric again.