True, practically unnecessary, except to show us that their relationship is becoming closer, and also that Tyrion's taken her to King's Landing in secret, which we didn't necessarily know before.  We knew he was taking her there, but I didn't know he was going to hide her; thought he'd be proud about it.

The Mance Rayder back story was definitely one of the more interesting bits of information we got in this episode.

@avclub-8a5c1121fe24ecbeab48c97b07dec712:disqus "They didn't have to, it doesn't hurt the story to leave out the nudity in those cases."

"out of place"
SEX HAS NO PLACE IN A BROTHEL!!!

Everything that @avclub-d7f43e1fb2d4977c86163d9b0cb07814:disqus said.  Also, regarding the Stannis letter, it's pretty significant that he sent that letter to everyone, so now the whole world has been told the truth that Jon Arryn, Ned Stark, and Bran Stark's legs died for.

Varys is our designated observer here.

@avclub-1758fd448c6a437c5cdf295ed507be06:disqus Did you not see the episode where Daenerys stops the riders from raping the women?  You can say she got excited and happy when she heard Drogo say he would rape the women of Westeros — and by the way, I disagree with your reading of that particular scene; not that she…

@avclub-ea27c2dbc24754e3a7039c07f6c0ace4:disqus Yup, I definitely picked up on a little something between Dany and Rakharo, but it didn't really seem any more significant than her chat with Jorah.  Looks like she might get romantic with one or the other this season, but I ain't betting either way yet.

In the blu-ray's guide to Westeros, Robert says that the Targaryens' inbreeding caused them to be prone to anger and madness (i.e. Aerys and Viserys), so that probably has something to do with Joffrey's temper.  Although Dany, Myrcella, and Tommen would all seem to have dodged that bullet somehow.

I imagine you'll be able to remember who Stannis is by just looking for the flaming redhead (hey, that works on two levels!).

@avclub-8960b60364cfbb5ea071c2507704fb2a:disqus @avclub-7e1ce4ce3124fd9ecc13a151afcff11b:disqus Yeah, I tried to figure that out on my last viewing, but wasn't able to come to a conclusion one way or another.  In the context of her hate for the Dothraki, it makes more sense to think that Mirri was poisoning Drogo than…

Which I believe has yet to happen.  Vaes Dothrak has been in every episode since episode 2, and The Wall has been in every single episode (on the map, at least; not entirely sure if there's been any episode that's gone without a single Wall scene).

I paid attention to the map on my first viewing, then tried to pay attention to the names and sigils during my second viewing, but they went by too fast, so I went back to just looking at the map during my third viewing.  But I did notice that Stephen Dillane didn't seem to have the Baratheon stag next to his name. …

I tried to play the main theme from the soundtrack on my computer while watching the intro on the blu-ray, to maximize the awesomeness of that music.  But sadly I couldn't get it synced perfectly.  Plus I think the soundtrack version is a little different from the actual show version (not counting the extra…

That was both groaningly dorky and the cutest thing ever.  I liked how so much of their commentary was "[actor x] was really nice," and then at one point they just went ahead and said "Pretty much everyone was really nice."  And how Sean Bean would bring them candy on set and stuff.  Hella heartwarming, that…

@avclub-d80ecbbbef6ab40a4e53d1ad2c3fc1b2:disqus I seem to recall reading that there's a book character named Asha who had her name changed for the show (to what, I can't remember), to prevent confusion with Osha, the captive wildling lady at Winterfell.  Funny that the letter difference in those names is the same as…

I'm wondering if the cheekbones line was in the script.  Seemed like something that Dinklage might have ad-libbed.

Good point about it being a Joffrey-esque kind of order; I was wondering whether it was Cersei or Joffrey who gave that order.

Whew, that Melisandre is goddamn scary!  Very pretty, but yikes.  I was a little conflicted about that beach scene, as it seemed like kind of an over-the-top way to introduce us to these characters, and I don't yet understand the reason why Stannis would be joining up with this crazy cult.  I guess it's probably not…

They should both be heavily tranquilized and incinerated in Truckasaurus' nostrils.