Can we safely assume GRRM knows of the band Marillion? I suppose he might have been riffing on Silmarillion when he came up with the character's name (as the band itself was), but that seems unlikely somehow.

Oh, Jesus, of course. Man, it's been a long weekend & I must be to tired to think good. Biter was the guy the Hound killed FIRST.

When she asked his name, he said "Rorge". Biter & Rorge are two different characters, at least in the books. I don't remember—did they conflate them into one character for the show? No, wait—there had to be three in Jaqen H'ghar cage when Arya helps them escape. Even in teh show Jaqen gave Arya three kills in…

I know—that fight scene at the inn in the books is bad-ass, as is the scene in the Fingers. Seems like they're deciding to do the Brienne/Pod scenes mostly for exposition & funsies.

[Do we still have to say "spoilers" here? I'm never sure.

The A.V. Club

Yeesh, I can see how I came off that way. I really didn't mean to make it so generalized—I was just talking about my own personal experiences, however limited ANYbody's personal experiences can be. Anyways, I feel shitty for how I said it, but I'm leaving my dumb comment as is, so others who read the thread will…

Good point—too glib by half. Gentle suggestion noted!
(I'd edit it out, but I want your comment to make sense for future readers, @miosef21:disqus.)

"but even so the Romas are known to be beggars and thieves"
That's literally my only experience with them, mostly in Italy. I just took a student group there over this past spring break, & it seemed like most of the beggars on the streets were Roma. We also saw several pick-pocketing attempts, again, all Roma, though…

KNEEL BEFORE ZODD!

This is NOT a spoiler, because it's already been prophesied on the show. Remember Melisandre's leeches? Three were fed on king's blood (via Robert's bastard Gendry) & tossed into the fire, each representing one of the "usurpers" (from Stannis' point of view: Robb Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, & Balon Greyjoy. Two…

I have a feeling they both might get their comeuppance, though that might be wishful thinking. The Boltons seems significantly worse, to me, than the Greyjoys, at least as portrayed on the show.

Yeah, the opening credits are great on every level. Visually stunning, helpful in orienting us in a foreign world, & specifically focusing on certain locations of significance. The ruined & burning Winterfell always makes me a little sad, though.

Or, you know, NOT see his fingers.

No, you can choose a champion, though said champion has to agree willingly. Bronn fought for Tyrion in the Eyrie in (I think) season one.

But in the last episode, we got confirmation that it was masterminded by Littlefinger, with Olenna's help (& unwitting assistance from Ser Dontos & Sansa). My take on it is more that Tywin doesn't see his position hurt by Joffrey's death—he's arguably in an even better spot—so he only cares insofar as a public…

And it worked once for Tyrion already, up in the Eyrie, so why not give it another chance?

Well, for one thing we know now that the Lannisters are running out of money, so pissing off the Iron Bank would be imprudent, at best. Also, you're assuming the Iron Bank can't do anything to deadbeats, just because we haven't seen them do anything yet. I'm not so sure the Iron Bank couldn't mount a decent invasive…

I was especially annoyed that the ironborn didn't kill the hunting dogs FIRST. Even barring their being loosed, at least shut them up to not give away your position. The whole mission seemed pretty dumb—not very well planned and WAY undermanned.

For starters, the Iron Bank is in Braavos, which is across the narrow sea in Essos. And I assume they're well defended, what with all the money they have.