"the staging of how he eventually ends up falling over the fire escape didn’t entirely work for me"
I agree 100%. The direction of that scene just seemed off.

The Nerd in me is *Really* curious what legal right Cersei used to claim the crown and Iron Throne.

Kevan blew up in the sept on the show. So I don't think Varys will be able to kill him.

Yeah, this would be the most reasonable plan.

Ned was an idiot whose sense of honor got half his family killed.

Yeah, I feel like the part about no children or marriage was not a terrible sacrifice for him to make on a personal level.

I was with you until you brought up a Sandsnake.

Team North could very plausibly side with Team Dragons.

There are a bunch of minor characters who I couldn't name if I saw their face on screen.

Well, that's not a very high bar to clear.

Must be a pretty magical map to keep updating faster than the guy with the book can keep up with changes!

The finales are often mild let downs, as the showrunners like the penultimate episode of the season to be the big one.

The Tyrrells aren't done. Mace has a couple of living uncles.

Aren't they dead?

Well, also it was a character that GRRM built up to be interesting and important and turned out to be more of a plot device dropped by the wayside.

Intentionally. It wasn't until Book 5 that we learned for sure he supported the Targaryeans returning to power.

Well, it very well will turn into awkward alliances between the living vs. the dead.

The Snakes are pretty awful.

Meh.

Qyburn. Their rivalry hasn't been as clear on screen as it was in the books, but Qyburn is not a full Maester, Pycelle is.