Well, legitimacy is kind of a slippery concept at this point. . . . also, it's not as if Westeros is or ever has been a democracy. What the people want will probably matter even less after Dany's conquest than it does now.

True. The green flames will have given that away. . .and the people will remember that color from the Battle of Blackwater. But yeah, it's still incredibly scary.

Jon was in a bit of a bind, there. He couldn't simply absolve her, knowing what she did. . .but on the other hand, the "Red God" she serves is very obviously real. Jon probably figured that killing someone who has the favor of a powerful (and evil) god could be the most dangerous choice of all.

True - Cersei has already had some significant and unanticipated negative consequences for her decision, and she's about to get plenty more. . . but who's to say she won't keep escalating and raising the stakes?

I forget: did Robb have a Hand? Maybe that's not a custom that Kings in the North have honored.

It was more than just gut instinct, though. She had a reasoned argument:

Cersei will definitely be hated even more than she was hated before. . . but on the other hand, her enlightened rule has never been dependent on popular support.

I think the death toll could be in the thousands. Those flames spilled over and engulfed that whole part of town. I completely agree with your assessment of Cersei. She's not overly clever, as Lannisters go. . .but she makes up for that with opportunistic ruthlessness. When it comes to that she's almost the perfect…

I absolutely loved Cersei blowing up the Sept, and her mocking little toast as she watched the green flames engulf everyone foolish enough to think that they could beat her just because they had the Faith, the Gods, the Tyrells, the King, the People, and a gigantic army on their side. . . .as if she was ever going to…

Maybe. After complaining for most of the season about how the plot was dragging, this is probably the comeuppance I deserve, but I feel like we're missing at least one full episode of content between the beginning and end of this one.

Yup. He did have Margery to warn him, though (and as far as I'm concerned, she made a pretty compelling case), but he was too full of hubris to listen.

Exactly. . . but Margery's thinking was much clearer, in that she intuitively understood that she didn't need to know, right then and there, what Cersei was plotting. . .only that Cersei had a plot that she thought was going to work. The details that the High Septon spent his last minute on earth trying to figure out…

Yes- her plan was probably to start un-brainwashing King Tommen as soon as Cersei was safely in exile or dead. . . but she got outplotted. Cersei isn't quite as clever as she thinks she is, but she does have her moments. . . .and when it comes to being ruthless (the other primary Lannister attribute), she's probably…

Hahaha! That would have been genius. It's a testament to how brilliantly the actress has been playing her that I could absolutely believe Olenna is that determined.

Yes. Also, the notion that Areo Hotah would have just absentmindedly allowed a Sand Snake to creep up behind him like that was absurd.

Margery was forced to choose between empowering the High Sparrow and empowering Cersei. Between those dismal alternatives, I think she made the right choice.

Edmure had a long conversation with Jamie in which he made it clear that he considered Jamie a monster capable of doing such a thing. That's why he surrendered. Even if Jamie had zero intention of ever doing anything of the kind, I think making a threat like that to someone who you know will believe it qualifies as a…

I don't think that marrying Jon would turn Dany into a monster. We've seen her do far worse things than that (feeding random nobles to her dragons out of sheer frustration was downright evil; marrying her nephew would merely be slightly outre).

Margery's options were a lot more constrained than Cersei's were, though. She had to get on the High Sparrow's good side in order to be released from a prison cell. . .and the only way to do even that much was to help him brainwash the King.

Maybe; but they opened Season One with her brother Viserion explicitly telling her that she was destined to be his wife. Also, Jamie's an audience favorite notwithstanding the fact that he's fathered three children with his sister.