To your first point - I think you're exactly right about the gay persecution playing to contemporary liberal audiences, which the show has been doing more and more of late (one of the soldiers asked Arya if she was old enough to drink in this episode, which was hilariously anachronistic). It's a shame, because the…

Two good hands, two good shovels.

Then Sam takes her shit, just like he was trained to do at the Citadel.

Forget it, Bats, it's Game of Thrones.

Snarking on hipsters never goes out of fashion.

Better than the gay conversion therapy storyline than he got in the show. Show Loras was such an ineffectual wimp, which strikes me as not entirely an accident given his sexuality. It would have been more interesting if he was the flamboyant but competent jock that he is in the books.

Same is kinda true for Show Tyrion, another character that everybody hates for no good reason.

"And I was just wondering who my next boy-toy was going to be…" - Dany, probably.

Yeah, I really don't get what Jaime's deal is at this point. I don't know whether that's because Coster-Waldau is deliberately playing down his character or because the show is just running out of things for him to do, but Jaime was an inherently interesting character for most of the series, even when he was being an…

Not exactly the Hippie Christmas I was hoping for, tbh.

Right there with you re: the Umbers. I was really hoping we would get a Northern Conspiracy plotline out of the Bolton usurpation, but no dice. The Northern lords get talked up a lot for their toughness and loyalty, but in the show they're just as basic as the rest of the highborns.

It would have been funny to see the (probably tiny) garrison that the Lannisters sent there confronting Dany's huge fleet and her three dragons. Time to bend the knee, boys.

Good point. Jon really should have her in the room when council time comes, if he doesn't already. Even if she doesn't offer good advice, it's wise to keep her close to avoid exactly what happened in that scene.

The funny thing is that the show keeps trying to build her up as a badass in spite of what an obviously huge screw-up she is. Partly this is because she's getting set up to be the last level boss for the "good guys" to defeat before they square off with the Big Bad Night's King, and partly because "yasss queen", but…

I hope Lyanna Mormont and Davos manage to squeeze in some quality time together. That could be a good opportunity for a conversation like this.

It would be cool if she actually got to do something useful other than getting trotted out to be sassy every few episodes. Not that she doesn't charm my socks off, but still.

Edd at least needs to keep up appearances and look like he gives a shit who comes and goes through the Wall. I did appreciate that he didn't keep up the petty gatekeeping act any longer than necessary, and that Bran didn't waste time trying to convince him who he was and just came right out with the psychic knowledge…

Don't you give the shippers any more ammo.

This is my take as well. It would be a gift worthy of Cersei's esteem, and also a way to quietly retire the Dorne storyline, which was almost universally panned from the start.

I mean, these guys literally live in an ivory tower.