But she said it with love!

Great interpretation. Makes me think that her long, thousand-yard stare (perfectly played by the actress) was intended to represent that point where the old Arya died and the new one was born.

For the writers, this is the cost of the long misdirection arc about who killed Jon Arryn. That paid off brilliantly, but it leaves us wondering if every other thing on the show that's vague is similarly complex. I think Shae's story was intended to be interpreted as pretty simple and direct — she loved Tyrion, then…

Yeah, the "I demand answers that haven't even been written yet!" crowd is mind-boggling.

OK, but that secret door still seems like a stretch, or at least something they should have made a little clearer. Tywin's Hand of the King, he's been in the tower for months now, the King was just poisoned on his watch — surely at some point his guard detail does a perimeter check, right? "Hmm… what's this little…

The only one that got me this season was that Oberyn would be Tyrion's champion, which I probably would've guessed anyways. So living in a media cave ten weeks a year is working!

Isn't that what makes her quote, and that scene with Littlefinger, so great? The ambiguity of where true power lies, and the disconnect between Cersei's certainty and her ability to use it?

Ah… but let's imagine Arya shows up at the end of her assassin apprenticeship, with the ability to change her face. Does she even need to declare herself as Arya Stark to Dany in order to join up? For Daario, all it took was a couple heads in a bag.

Good counterpoints. Now I'm totally sure this might happen.

Seems like for the North we have to factor in that the acting commander of the Night's Watch is a now Stark, apparently allied with Stannis, and with the remainders of a 100K army still trapped between the Walkers and the Wall. If Stannis wants to take the North before going towards King's Landing, it seems like Jon…

Fantastic summary! It would be so Peytr Baelish to rename half of Westeros "Littlefingerland". The gift shop up front would be a high end brothel.

"Power is power!"

I'm ultra-sensitive to spoilers, but I think extras that are specifically from the show are OK — deleted scenes, DVD extras, previouslies/coming ups. Not strictly show canon, but fair game.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong: I love Rome. It's easily in my top 10 shows; in the right mood it might even crack the top 5.

Ha!

Next season will introduce two new characters, Epa and Cbo, who perform their appointed duties with dedication and panache.

It's possible that the failure of Rome is part of what lead HBO to GoT — to something that was similar, but in a more popular genre (and with that built-in book audience) to make it a hit. Seems fair to consider Rome as a precursor to GoT, and that this could circle back around, if GoT is enough of a "game changer" to…

She'd probably been around Lannister army camps long enough before finding Tyrion to figure out that that nickname worked almost every time.

Not sure if mercenaries from Bravos would look "exotic" like the Second Sons, or similar enough to Westerosi cavalry to blend in. I assumed it was a combination of Stannis's bannermen and mercs, and that a lot of the gold went to ferrying them all across the narrow sea on Sallador's ships.

Damn you, Cyrano, with your stupid facts and logic!