The two week wait didn't help this, either.

Watch the scene in S1E1 where the royal entourage enters Winterfell. The camera starts behind Arya, like we're seeing from her perspective. It fixes directly on the Hound, as he rides in, and follows him for a few seconds.

Probably not, but if they did kill him off, would you be shocked? I could see the first shot of the next episode panning up a wall to a spike with his head on it, then a cut to Cersei giggling into her wine.

Agreed. The laugh as written, so to speak, was amazing, but her delivery missed it.

Yeah, that seems like exactly the kind of spot they'd leave this storyline for the season break. So we can sit around for 10 months going nuts waiting to see what happens when Arya summons Jacqhen.

If it was just "cockiness", then you're right — the way Oberyn approached the fight wouldn't have fit his character.

I thought Sansa's look meant, "You and I both know the answer is 'everything' — including me — but I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of saying it."

It's weird that there was a specific shot of Oberyn's squire (or whoever) polishing up a long dagger before the fight, but then he never used it.

Yeah. Even Ned didn't seem to think it needed more attention, and he lived right next to the damn thing.

Even moreso if they become a scheming, evil power couple, and then, as soon as he's feeling comfortable, she tosses him out the Moon door.

Don't forget the guy who had his stomach clawed open by a rat.

Dark horse candidate: Sansa.

Maybe he marries Robin to Sansa first, then kills him? Not sure if that would make the Vale go to her, or some other relative.

I think Jaime rescuing Tyrion is the best bet. Maybe even with some monkeyballs twist, like Jaime and Cersei get in a fight and he murders her and has to go on the run, so he takes Tyrion along for comedic relief or advice about which brothels to visit.

Even more, Tyrion believed that he was uniquely smart enough to figure out the reason. I think it's there in part to show him coming to grips with the limits of what his mind can do; that all his thinking and talking skills aren't enough to get him out of this.

Also, he crushed those damn beetles all day long, until he got kicked by a horse and died. Goes around, comes around.

It is known.

Oberyn wanted to kill the Mountain, save Tyrion and publicly pin the blame for his sister's murder on Tywin. One out of three ain't bad!

Yeah, it's been great, and I think it'll be even better on rewatch, with them all in a row. Joffrey ate it in episode two, and that seems like years ago!

This is how I felt about midway through Breaking Bad, but that turned out to be more than worth the trip to the end.