Do you still have the bracket?

It didn't necessarily need more Mountain, it needed more talking about the Mountain. He's mostly off-page in the books, but you hear so much about him being here and there that he seems like the animal ugliness of humanity that emerges in civil wars.

The way it was filmed, with Littlefinger literally positioned right behind her (albeit out of focus) in frame, suggests that we are supposed to see it as Littlefinger manipulating her. He may not have given her the words, but he (at most) took a calculated risk, thinking that she would perform roughly as she did. …

I'm not sure if it's ever described in the books, but I remember reading somewhere that Dorne basically fully embraced Vietnam vs. America (or Afghanistan vs. Russia)-style guerrilla warfare. The Targaryens could win all the battles, but not the war. Hence the Martell words: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.

I think next week is the battle at Castle Black, and the finale is Mance Rayder's assault.

It's really close to the book, though the way the brain explodes out of his head is a little weirdly drawn. Also, I always pictured it as more of a headlock, with the left arm pinning the Viper to The Mountain's breastplate, and then the Mountain just hammering him in the face repeatedly to kill him.

You could at least preface your comprehensive plot summary of the entire SOIAF with a [SPOILERS] tag

There's that Targaryen temper.

Coincidentally, the Iron Bank is probably also loosely based on the Italian (and particularly Venetian) banks of the 11th, 12th and (esp.) 13th centuries.

I thought Conan Stevens was fantastic, but you're totally right. Valuev has the perfect look, and he's almost big enough.

He's been explicit about that in interviews. The primary historical text for SOIAF is the War of the Roses. The Starks and Lannisters are the Yorks and Lancasters, respectively. Dany is a pretty good stand in for Henry VII, although she has some other historical influences as well.

That was hardly the first (or last, for that matter) mad Targaryen. Viserys was clearly no better. And, in true GRRM style, it wasn't even necessarily the mad bastards you really had to worry about—Baelor the Blessed was, by all accounts, a very moral man whose piety fairly directly lead to the War of the Ninepenny…

Yup. I love me some SOIAF, but Quentyn is the worst of the worst of the last two books. GRRM wanting to (unexpectedly!!!!!!!!!!!!!) kill a POV character who seems like he's going to figure large in the end game, except that unlike Ned or Robb or [self censoring], no one ever expected Quentyn to amount to anything or…

I believe next season's recasting is Oh Fuck It, Let's Just Do CGI From Now On

Hopefully they'll just skip the whole pointless, stupid Quentyn storyline all together.

Yeah, I mentioned that. Though, n=1, my girlfriend thought that Hafthor was like 40 when she saw him.

Yeah, he has a line about his nickname early in the first book. Something to the effect of "I was little, and from the fingers. You can see how my exceedingly clever nickname came about." Edmure Tully was the one who coined the nickname, so you can kind of imagine the shit-rolls-downhill kind of bullying that went…

I seriously doubt this guy is a "better fighter" than Conan Stevens, who has been actively involved in SCA and the like for years. The only way this guy is better is that he's about 100 lbs heavier than Stevens, though he's also 4" shorter. I'm kind of disappointed that they weren't able to make him look bigger in…

I'm only bothered by the fact that it's not Conan Stevens anymore. And also that they case a 25-year-old to be the Hound's older brother. But the dude is 6'9", 400 lbs and can deadlift close to half a ton, so he's probably the closest thing to what the Mountain would actually look like they could have gotten.

He's physically smaller than average in the books, too. I think he's described as something like 5'6", shorter than Lady Catelyn.