Man this place is cool. I sincerely hope I won't have to make that sentence past-tense anytime soon.

It would have looked cooler too. We know that NK can raise the dead from a reasonably close distance (c.f. Hardhome), so just have him stand at the edge of the lake and raise and then have there be this moment of suspense where it's not clear whether it's worked or not, and then Wight Viserion crashes out of the ice.…

When in doubt, impugn the motive.

"It's complicated"

*sniffs*

They did the same fucking thing to Loras, who is a powerful and confident warrior in the books and an ineffectual fop in the show - and again, at the same time as his sexuality was made explicit. It's really disappointing, especially for how much GOT is lauded as a more "diverse" fantasy show.

I see what you did with that D. >.>

I would absolutely love it if GRRM hulked out and climbed back into the ring to reclaim his rightful place as the Story Giver, but honestly I just don't see it, fam. He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who has the drive or the invested ego to pull that off, esp. as he's getting further into retirement age and…

The end of Season 4 was really the turning point, as your examples illustrate.

Going to be interesting to see what the reception is for the back half of the season if this half doesn't end on enough of a rousing demi-finale to wash away the bad taste of a lot of the narrative thus far.

Also Benioff and Weiss really want off the bus, and have been making noises about that for a while. I don't think they anticipated how much this project would consume their life - and how stressful it would be to basically have to end the story by themselves now that GRRM has effectively dropped the ball. The split…

"Many things…"

Scenes like Robert/Cersei and also Tywin/Arya at Harrenhall are what I really miss most about this show. The world they created breathed in those moments.

Worried about off-brand messaging, prolly. There's increasingly lots of advertising built into the content and those sponsors probably want some assurances that there isn't going to be any "social media pushback" (i.e., people saying that the product or service on display sucks for various reasons).

Completely the same. I can have a big mouth on the internet at times, but I lurked here for years before commenting because honestly I was learning a ton of great stuff and because of the standard of conduct that most threads seem to maintain. It'll be a damn shame if this community withers away because of…

Night King got that Sand Snake fever.

"Ooooh child, things are gonna get easier…"

On the contrary, I think that examining people's motivations is essential to understanding why they say and do what they say and do.

Hey! I got my eye on you.

Because he's not supposed to die until the next season. It's the only sensible explanation.