You'd think so, right? But then, we keep getting tantalizing details about the Others (at one point we see an infant being turned into one), but the thorough explanation that we keep thinking is just around the corner never comes.

Well. . . the show is still HBO's best ratings draw, so I think the show runners aren't in any danger of being told to wrap things up before they're ready. My guess is that they're tired of being forced to drag their feet to give the books time to come out, and are taking advantage of their new creative license to…

In that case, wouldn't tipping over just one brazier have done the job?

I think the Others are still busy "recruiting" the last few human settlements that remain beyond the Wall. After that. . . well, who knows what motivates them?

Now that's an interesting thought. Tyrion might not realize he's playing with fire because this is his first (and possibly last) encounter with genuine idealists, and so he can't fathom the possibility that their outrage is sincere.

Yes, but they believe that Tyrion is actually negotiating with the slavers in good faith, when all he's really doing is trying to stall them. There's no way he'd ever actually trust them to do anything seven years in the future. I'm not sure why he's allowing Missandei and Grey Worm to continue believing that he…

Things do appear to be heading in that direction.

I think Tyrion is desperately playing for time. Grey Worm and Missandei got (and saw) so little justice before their time with Dany that they're now drunk on it, to the point where they're unable to make pragmatic compromises.

Fair enough; but she had her allies bar the door shut behind her before the Khals said a word to her. The Khals were horrible people who deserved a horrible death. . .but even if they'd greeted Dany with the greatest courtesy and offered her a place in the Dosh Khaleen, I think she'd have still responded by demanding…

I like the scene you're describing, but I'd have had them stand the braziers back up and then seize her. . .only to have Drogon smash through the thatched ceiling of the structure and incinerate them anyway, because irony.

Actually, I think they might be slowly setting her up to be a supervillain. The Targayens have a well-documented history of insanity, and one of the surest signs of Targaryen madness is an obsession with killing people with fire.

It occurs to me that all Jorah needed to do to win that fight (or at least survive it) was to roll up his sleeve and show Aggo the one thing he actually might have to fear from fighting Jorah.

That was great. I also love the knowing, eye-rolling look that Aggo shot Jorah when that pitiful gambit of his predictably failed.

I don't think Osha thought Ramsay would be easily seduced. I think she thought that Ramsay would be counting on her being utterly cowed by his fearsome reputation. It's completely plausible that he'd think that, given who he is; and it's completely plausible that, no, given Osha's background, she wouldn't be afraid of…

I think if she shows up with the entire Dothraki nation and a dragon, the slavers won't be given the opportunity to bend the knee.

At this point, they'd only need to have another 16 episodes worth of story to hit that mark, which I think is still plausible. This season is designed to set everything up for an ultimate confrontation in Westeros, but there's no way they can set all that up and execute it much sooner, given the sheer number of…

True. . .the Karstarks in particular seem to have accepted this turn of events a bit too willingly, although we don't really know for certain what Lord Karstark will or won't choose to do once he's back on his own land. If he decides to make himself Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, he won't be short of…

Good point. I guess it's not out of the question that Dany might have turned regular fire into something much more powerful.

I don't think Littlefinger is actually going to the North. My guess is that he means to "help Sansa" by capturing the Riverlands and taking out the Freys (who are still, as far as he knows, still the Boltons' most powerful allies).

For all the complaints about it, that scene actually had me on the edge of my seat. I'd have believed Osha killing Ramsay Bolton, because she's one of the few characters in the story who could have plausibly not been afraid of him.