Bran is their key.

Too soon…

So, to everyone making (fairly valid) points about distances and times of travel, a few things to remember:

I'm now imagining Ron Burgundy swigging from a bottle of wildfire…a real man's drink.

…and exactly how long do you think Jaime is going to stay loyal to her? That look at the end hardly seemed full of love and admiration…

….realize that she has no army, that her family is broke, and that everyone wants to kill her? Seems like a great first 100 days…

But have you read the ZergNet article? Without its advice, you'll surely fail!

AAAAAAAAAAND THE WINNER, AFTER A FIRST-ROUND KNOCKOUT….LADY LYANNA MORMONT!!!!!

Screw that….here's to Lyanna Mormont becoming Queen of the Fucking World.

Eh….she's not actually muttering "Burn them all" just yet…still a little ways to go.

And bake it into a pie, perhaps, with which to woo Brienne? Writers, make it happen.

I'm of the same mind….the current setup that they have allows us to spend time with the Mad King Part 2 at the start of next season, before Dany shows up to end her; for that to work, everything in the East needs to be about a week or two ahead (at least) of everything happening in Westeros.

Just goes to show….Lyanna Mormont 4eva

Initial Thoughts:

So, here's the thing about Arya's story, as I see it (since I can imagine no other topic getting more attention this week): sometimes, there isn't a dramatic finish. Sometimes there isn't a great moment of heroism. Sometimes, you just make a bunch of choices in order to survive, find yourself in a shit situation, and…

I think Jaquen was fine with it, yes. It was as much a test for the Waif as for anyone else, and if you can't have people like Arya in your weird little assassination cult, you sure as shit can't have lunatics like the Waif, either. I'm guessing he was hoping for Arya to win out and stay, but her winning was still…

Most likely…but, really, which would have been better…Dany stepping through the door, or Dany on the back of a dragon, nuking the harbor from orbit?

Well, that was…I want to say it was a letdown, but I'm not actually sure that's the right word. True, we got no epic reveals (no Stoneheart, the seeming end of CleganeBowl), but…not every episode can end with Jon Snow coming back to life.

So, no Lady Stoneheart….can we all finally agree on that? If they were going to bring her in, this would have been the episode.

Maybe it was magic, then. But maybe, the same way that the return of the dragons tells us that magic is on the rise in the world, her being unburnt does too.