I think it will be the second - Dorne will be antagonists to the Lannisters this season and there will be more assassinations, or possibly all out war. Maybe they'll last long enough to be involved with the Iron Islanders as well but Ellaria doesn't seem to have the political skills to be a player in Dany's return to…

It's slim pickings for the men of the watch now. He and Bowen Marsh are I think the only two named characters left at the Wall once Thorne exits.

I don't think Cersei has the right temperament. She continued to torment her younger brother for 'killing' their mother when a rational and wise person would have let it go.

I did read the books and I thought Dorne and Arianne was interesting but I don't mind the show cutting out Doran's plotting, which comes to nothing in the end and involves characters which are pointless to the main plot. I would have liked them to introduce Arianne so that she can welcome Dany to Westeros, but not at…

This is like the fifth chance for Bellamy. His selfishness in S1 saw 300 people die in the culling, he left Raven for dead and he was a tyrant in the camp. He regularly shoots people and asks questions later. He's not a good guy.

I took from it that the failure to rectify past mistakes lowered the grade of an episode that had some good parts, e.g. the Luna storyline.

Good point. Also perhaps Pike was seized the other side of Arkadia and Kane had to detour round Skaikru land, whereas Jaha etc. took a direct route,

This flashback should have replaced one of the interminable 'Lexa is challenged by a clan Ambassador' scenes from episodes 3-7

Don't forget that he let her beat him up for a minute. That shows he truly repented and she is so ungrateful not to take him back.

Carice is pregnant so I strongly expect Mel to die at some point this season. Resurrecting Jon could be the way she goes out, especially after last episode's focus on her. Then the Davos-Jon-Tormund dream team can take the North back from the Boltons!

I'm thankfully not familiar with body decomposition but surely the Nights Watch can't wait much longer before they build a funeral pyre, even if it is freezing at Castle Black. Perhaps Melisandre and the wildlings fetched by Edd will capture Thorne and bind him to it (revenge for Mance Rayder) and that will bring Jon…

Ooo that could be cool. Dany could fly to Westeros with all her luggage.

Thanks, that's useful.

Well HBO promotes the show around a handful of star characters and the more main characters they add the less screentime for the ones the audience already knows and likes, e.g. Dany/Emilia Clarke, Arya/Maisie, Sansa/Sophie. It's often a practical decision to focus on what is already working.
Or perhaps they know that…

I had no idea Watership Down was so popular/known in America. I thought it was a British thing to watch the film when it came on but it seems generations of Americans read the book at school.

Yes!

I liked him but seems some shit went down between him and the cast + execs so better he's gone than ruin the chemistry.

It would have been interesting to have Arianne be on the Sand Snakes' side until they killed her father and brother, following which they imprison her or she runs away (to Braavos maybe). After this episode there's no one with any long-term thinking in Dorne - Ellaria and the SSs will just be foes for the Lannisters.…

I didn't say I agreed with it, I just speculated about producers making decisions for practical and commercial reasons.

Cersei would never have killed Trystane immediately but Jaime is smart enough to realise that not all Dornies are responsible and Trystane really loved Myrcella. Imprisoning killing him would have played into Ellaria's hands by giving Dorne a legitimate reason to go to war (the Lannisters cannot afford to be attacked…