It's really astounding the mental gymnastics that people will go through to defend the actions of people who happened to look like them hundreds of years ago.

Ah, that brings me back to high school Quiz Bowl. (A nerd on the AV Club, you say…?)

Re: racial issues throughout history

Great actor, but I can't take him seriously at all because of his work on Peep Show!

Agreed, and I think both of them suffer from not quite knowing if they're satire or not. I've read so many defenses of the wish-fulfillment nature of Kvothe that try to play it off as meta and/or an intentional artifact of an "unreliable" narrator.

Yeah, absolutely, especially on Spont. I think it actually works better because neither are trained improvisers as far as I know. So it's more of an honest reaction than a bit when they seize on something weird or unclear and want to know more about it.

I think she meant "the Starks have targets on their backs" and is lumping Edmure in with them as one of Robb's allies/family members.

Yeah, definitely. In fact the only reason I can think of for the show (re?) introducing them after all this time is for the Brotherhood without Banners to hang them. Whether it happens this week is an open question though.

Don't they switch off oddsmakers?

Right — and that billionaire's insane obsession with nostalgia and pop culture corrupts an entire generation (at least a significant number of them) into deifying an arbitrary period in American pop culture.

Yeah, we only like refined male fantasy power trips like The Name of the Wind! At least until the inevitable backlash!

I actually didn't mind that reveal that much — sure, it was sappy and self-satisfied, but Cline at least gestured at some form of inclusion. (What was worse was that the main character continued to refer to H as "he" because "his avatar is still male" or some nonsense.)

No, it's more along the lines of Ender's Game or other "unremarkable teenage guy becomes hero" stories. I didn't hate RP1 or anything — it's a fun mindless read — but it's certainly a male power fantasy.

They must get a good deal from Netflix. Judging by how often people seem to ask Scott about when episodes will appear on Netflix, I imagine a lot of people primarily/only watch the show that way. Definitely an advantage of an evergreen talk show.

I also love when PFT described (podcast) Scott as a "comedy lawyer." It describes his nitpicking style so perfectly. Agreed that his TV persona is a good choice for the medium.

More of a pre-Reformation Catholic Church, right? The Seven is a play on the Trinity, and the hierarchy of septa/septon/High Septon mirrors the Catholic clergy/Pope.

It's more entertaining now that I think of Euron as the GOB of Westeros.

Jesus Christ, New Hampshire. Figures our democracy comes down to people Googling "Who should I vote for?"

Funnily, I happen to know the answer to that question. It was originally a tourism campaign styled as "Virginia is for ____ Lovers." Different ads would fill in the blank with "History," "Wine," "Nature," whatever.

Further confirmation that Benjen IS Syrio