He convinced Lysa to murder Robert Arryn, which was the catalyzing event for this whole story. He sold Ned out to Cersei, leading to Ned's death. He orchestrated Sansa's escape with the intent to eventually hand her off to Ramsay Bolton.

Sansa's return to Winterfell worked because of what safety represented to her at that point. It wasn't really about her and Jon reconnecting. I think the only sibling reunion anyone cares about is Jon and Arya. Well I'd have liked to see Bran and Rickon have a chat too.

Yep. It's a shame though, I liked that actress and there's no reason not to keep the character in the background of the Winterfell scenes. Her dad should have already been hanging out there.

At this point they're just using him to move disparate plot pieces into position. Why on earth would an intelligent man give Bran the weapon that almost killed him? No reason at all except to get it into Arya's hands. A smarter man would also be back in Kings Landing, since Cersei is the easiest of the current leaders…

Meera and Jojen only exist as proxies to the backstory of their dad and Ned at the Tower of Joy.

Most likely. She even cast a sidelong glance at Littlefinger.

I don't think Sansa's dark look during the Arya/Brienne spar was about her identity issues. I think she saw Arya fighting and realized that she has already killed and will likely kill again.

I've seen some clips of Maisie dancing and she's really talented.

Probably not? If Team Lannister is going to have anymore convos about military stuff, they need someone like Tarly to be part of it.

Well damn I had a whole lot of thoughts about Jaime's arc too.

In a narrative where everyone (and even viewers) identify by their families, Theon's identity issues have pushed important plot points forward, even if Arya's time as No One put a sharper pin in the same idea. He could force himself into a similar position as Dany - the child of a murdered king who's entitled to…

In the end I was rooting for Dany. I can't root for Cersei's rule, even if Bronn is our BFF.

I need Hot Pie to make me snacks and give me the tl;dr.

Google says that Joffrey sent the assassin after hearing Drunk King Bob talking about how Bran should have been put out of his misery. King Bob had the knife at the time after winning it in a bet, and it makes surface-level sense that Joffrey had access to it.

The scene was total fanservice and I WANT MORE

He was the one who sent the cutthroat to kill Bran with that dagger.

Jaime's the straight man on this show. I like him depending on who his scene partners are. He needs to hang ou with Brienne and Bronn more and then I'll like him more.

Last season Tormund survived the Battle of the Bastards even though he was getting a lot of the "this hero is about to fall" treatment.

He's still all about Sansa. He'll prob try to play her against the other siblings.

It's possible we're leading up to a point where all of Dany's supporters abandon her. Missandei's choice to follow Dany was given a lot of emphasis.