When I was a kid, they used to call NY/NJ/CT the "Tristate Area". I don't hear it too much now, because the term has a retro kind of ring to it- but then again, it's hard to be more retro than Donald Trump.

Cool article, but I'm not sure that I agree with your last observation. This might in fact be one of those rare political cases in which there really is such a thing as bad publicity.

You make a good point, but Hollywood has been threading this needle for years, especially when it comes to family films. When it's done just right, a "middlebrow" approach can work quite well.

Until the Waif killed her, I thought LC might be one of the Faceless Men herself. Maybe (I thought) people from other chapters show up to administer the "final exams" (by serving as the targets) and to welcome new members into the House of Black and White. Obviously, that theory was far off the mark. . . so I'm still…

I don't think she's a sociopath. If she was, she'd have just killed Lady Crane and avoided all that trouble with the Waif. That being said, I think she might have some sociopathic tendencies. It's not that she's indifferent to killing, so much as that it no longer bothers her as much as it should. . . I think it's an…

Thanks!

Also, from the standpoint of the really long game, decapitating the leadership of the Reach (by extinguishing* House Tyrell) will kick off a round of internal squabbles between the former Tyrell bannermen for Lord Paramount of the Reach. . . which House Lannister can certainly take advantage of, especially if a…

I actually think Tywin would have been impressed. The price of defying House Lannister has never looked higher. Not that Danaerys or her Dothraki will care, but still.

Dany works with people, but always on her own terms. She worked with the Masters in the sense that she permitted them to live. The only real concession that she granted them was to reopen the fighting pits. . and she did that at the behest of the former slaves.

It's all subjective, but to me, her expression looked like dread.

Mechanically, I'm pretty sure people can choke themselves to death (just ask David Carradine). The bigger challenge would be making this work in terms of Cersei's character.

Oof. Now there's a depressing thought. Would the purpose be to keep an eye on Tyrion? Also, if I remember correctly, it was Bronn who found Shae for Tyrion. Unless Tywin started bribing her after the fact, this would almost require Bronn to have been on Tywin's payroll as well. . . which, come to think of it, is…

You know, if you want a really weird theory. . . are we absolutely certain that Cersei was the first twin to be born? If she was born second, then she could be the valonqar. Perhaps she's destined to kill herself. (Seems out of character, I know; but Lady Macbeth made it work).

Thanks. I just rewatched it, and noticed something else. In the moment at 1:49 when Arya forcefully grabs Melisandre and turns her around, which is when you'd expect her to show some alarm, Melisandre doesn't look the faintest bit alarmed.

Yes. . .or perhaps it's just a dream, like the Wizard of Oz!

Gregor is on her list, as it happens. . .or at least he was. It's not clear whether he's technically alive enough to be killed, though, so Arya might choose to let him off on a technicality.

My draft scene in which Arya is the valonqar would involve Arya putting on Qyburn's face (after killing him, of course) and then ordering ZombieGregor to kill Cersei as Qyburn. (I have a suspicion that Qyburn "programmed" his monster to obey him first and Cersei second, so Cersei's frantic orders for him to stop would…

It's an agonizing choice. My guess is that Arya will go south with a plan to kill Cersei, but she'll get sidetracked on her journey through the Riverlands by an encounter with the Brotherhood Without Banners and possibly Melisandre. (I had to look this up, but Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, and Melisandre are all on…

I can't imagine that a feast of young warriors could have ended with Walder Frey as the last man standing. . . and also, the hall was completely immaculate. At the tail end of a feast like the one we saw, the place would have been wrecked. I think the assassination must have happened at least a day or so after the…

Well, Qyburn's the kind of weirdo who might see raising Tommen as a marvelous gift for Cersei. The plan would be for her to be joyously reunited with her son. Except that Dead Tommen remembers enough about Cersei to hate her and want her dead.