I agree with the C-. Boring overall. It had some good bits, but the episode on the whole felt kind of saggy.

Her children are pretty much her legacy as well. If she isn't mother to a king, she's back to being chattel. Tywin would probably marry her off to some lord to bolster his war, or if available, whoever's in position to be the next king and needs a wife.

@avclub-658d0dcf613001598e03136ff93879d8:disqus : "And this woman is going to be a mom in real life! I feel bad for that baby."
If she loves her kid in real life, I think she'll be an adequate mother. It's the faking the interest in January Jr.'s stupid recitals or plays or teenage dramas that'll challenge her.

I agree it works better if you're familiar with parliamentary government (I'm Canadian) but much of the best humour is the sheer inanity of politics. I think Veep has done a good job so far of riffing on how shallow everyone in politics is, but it hasn't really pulled too many great punches on how stupid everyone is.…

Oh, that's too bad. I LOVE Iain Glen. He's got a fantastic, interesting face, and he has a great, textured voice. I feel like his character took a step down from last season. For Season 1, I hadn't read any of the books and I thought Jorah's attraction to her was completely obvious. He just looks at her a certain way,…

Just rewatched this yesterday; funny to see this recap pop up. I find it weird everyone attributes Irene Adler's emotions to being stereotyped as silly and female; hasn't the series established over and over that lots of people are silly and emotional and thus not up to the Holmesian standard of emotional remove? I…

Yeah. 12- and 13-year-old girls have crushes on older boys and men ALL. THE. TIME. I was one. I started having seriously hilarious crushes when I was like, 8, and that was on 10-year-old boys, and it went up from there. When I was 13, I was thinking how handsome 28-year-old men were.

Romans used a version of a mile. There have been many different definitions of "mile" in the past.

My impression is that pre-Megan Don would not give much of a shit. I wonder if the current Don would care more … he is pretty invested in Megan's happiness, and her defense; although this was partly his own personal issue, he got prickly pretty fast at Roger's impression of Megan's zou bisou bisou dance.

I think there's more ambiguity the more proficient a party is in English (or other majority language). When they are as apparently fluent as the Calvets are — pretty good — and depending on the context or the moment in the conversation, it can seem more … nefarious? It comes off like they could speak English but chose…

I think if she's going down on him, he is, technically, touching her.

No, it was another book. Megan made the "Bond" remark because she was telling Don that he didn't feel like he had to start reading high-brow novels to impress her parents, and it was OK for them to know he read popular stuff as well.

Is it so crazy? I assumed they were French immigrants or immigrants from a non-France but francophone country (or one from each). Also, while I completely understand the ongoing distinction between French and French-Canadian (being a Canadian), it's gotten to the point where I think that well, my family is Chinese,…

@avclub-e6ec91cba600ca785d5e02beb0d0c8eb:disqus : Exactly. Maybe Jaime Lannister shouldn't have tried to murder an 8-year-old child. Ah … maybe Bran Stark shouldn't have climbed that tower. (And in fact, Catelyn keeps telling him not to.) Two lovers just want to get it on, right? If anything, it's Bran's fault.

Re: Ned's remains - I assumed they were bones, well-cleaned. I doubt they kept his body in good condition for the time while it was separated from his head on the pike. He was a traitor, after all.

Everyone's got Arya, Sansa, and Joffrey covered, and I'll say I like Bran too. I really love his "lord of Winterfell" arc, and his scenes with Maester Luwin are pretty sensational. That bit where he tells Robb he'd rather be dead, that completely emotionless, final tone, sold him. He's eight (?) but he's also eight in…

The Thick Of It is wonderful. Get on it now! There aren't a lot of episodes.

bfred: I have the same sentiment about writing style, but I don't think it applies equally to all or most YA stuff. There are some YA novels that have genuinely stood that test of time and adulthood for me, while others, even by the same author, that make me wince.

I'd so dig that. Monica Hughes (please somebody tell me they died and lived by The Promise), Jane Yolen, Vivian Vande Velde, Donna Jo Napoli, Tamora Pierce. (I've only just realized how many female authors I unintentionally read and loved since age 11.)

Nice. Not crazy about this book, but look forward to more reviews. I'm actually going through a serious re-reading of many of my favourite YA novels. One thing I do miss about books from the 90s and late 80s (as far as I read) is the great art. A lot of novels these days seem to just slap a filter on some stock…