quartermainefan

I thought it was a great episode. I was leaning into the TV when the baby came on because you just knew something interesting was going to happen to him and sure enough it did. The white walkers have some sort of governmental body and mystical powers to create new walkers, and that's a new spin on zombies. I was so happy Bran got to see Jon's wolf. I want some kind of Stark reunion--even if it is just the wolves saving each other.

Joffrey's murder: The mode of murder makes sense but doesn't make sense. If they needed to smuggle poison into Kings Landing, surely there was a more efficient method than this Rube Goldberg scheme. What if Sansa decided to just go with a different look that day? Also, the goblet was in fuil view of everyone and there is just no realistic way this could have happened mere inches away from Joffrey himself, his guards and everyone. It's fiction though, so I will go with it.

Jaime: He is back to being the hero this week and by the writing it seems clear the director of last week didn't think there was any sort of rape going in because there was nothing in this week's script that referenced it. It never happened. What I loved was the scene where Brienne and Podrick set off on their Sansa quest. It was reminiscent of the Fellowship Of The Ring setting off on their quest. Brienne and Podrick are two people I hope the show stays with. One of my favorite scenes of the series and I liked their looks like they are heartbroken at the thought of never seeing each other again.

For me the holy grail of lost films is "London After Midnight" with Lon Chaney Sr. No copies are known to exist although there are tons of photographs. Lon Chaney I think might have been the best silent screen star of all, and this was said to be a classic directed by Tod Browning, who was the master of silent macabre. It was remade year later with Bela Lugosi as "Mark Of The Vampire"

In any event, I am surprised that you want to point fingers at "racist" Republicans, Qfan, given that Roman has unfairly demonized you when you have previously criticized this president.

Who even bothers to respond to someone that dense? He is so on the lookout for proof everyone is a racist that he couldn't even recognize my sarcastic comment on this very page for what it was. Everyone else in the thread did, but when your prism through which you look at literally everything is "he's a racist, she's a racist, I'm a racist, you're a racist, wouldn't you like to be a racist too?" you can't expect him to appreciate subtleties of english.

The Bundy episode is just the latest example of the GOP heavyweights being exposed as the lightweight flakes and ideological zealots they all are. To be a frontrunner for the republican nomination apparently means you just have to be a lunatic or embrace lunatics. They all came out like nice little troopers supporting that crackpot and claiming it was on small government lines, nevermind how they all forgot notions of property rights and how everyone sharing the land equally in some home on the range utopia is actually communist nirvana put into words, but like so many republicans and tea partiers, the guy showed just how racist he is.

I am sure there will be those who say he doesn't represent republicans, but therein is the joke: he literally did. The entire republican party ran to rally behind him and say "he fights for us". They could not believe Harry Reid called his followers terrorists. And if you think about how close the republican ideology is to these so-called "militias" and their anti-american, gun toting nihilistic desire for shootouts on the prairies it is frightening to think this is the party that seeks to gain control of congress. Rand Paul, whose father was the darling of Stormfront.org--the site recently named as the site responsible for most murders--wants to be president and there are people who would actually vote for him.

And to make it all the more delicious, the very clowns who paraded out to support Bundy were the exact same fools who championed Zimmerman, of the I want to shoot people Zimmermans. So lets see if Zimmerman and Bundy have anything in common, although I can't possibly imagine what that could be, and then lets ask why republicans always wish to support them? I mean, does the KKK have a corner office at Republican HQ?

PS: Obama's color has no bearing on why republicans hate him with a passion.

I can't believe this episode! Not Moira!!! She was one of the best characters on the show, but I just read an interview with the producers and they felt there was nowhere left to take this character since she was about to reveal her last secret and without secrets she just isn't Moira. I will miss her and the show just won't be the same.

I think it makes the show less willing to write them with moments that take away from the popular fan characterization of them.

This week's writing for Jaime seems to disprove your theory. If he was not a fan favorite the scene with Cersei would not be inspiring columns on so many major media websites.

I think this is mostly an example of a casualty due to the differences between the two mediums of books & TV. Because of the seasonal aspect of the TV show, a character who pretty much does very little from episodes 2-7 is clearly going to be considered stuck/stalling/even boring. Meanwhile, in the book, it can be over 300 pages since we last saw the character and it's absolutely fine because space & time works differently (if that makes any sense). However, what's the show to do? No choice but to create some extra scenes and/or wait until the various plot developments align themselves.

I shudder to think what this means for Dany. 27 more seasons? No problem, 27 more cities to free.

They won't make huge changes from the books, I agree. I just meant tweaking what is already there. I think that Tyrion and Arya are both somewhat one-dimensional in part because they're such fan favorites. Hopefully that will change as the season rolls along.

I don't think they being fan favorites has much to do with anything. Ned was a fan favorite and he didn't fare too well. To me the one dimensional character is Stannis the Grouch but how many fans he has isn't what makes him one dimensional.

Oberyn leaving his pants on while the other guy was awkwardly positioned and women writhed...eh. Oberyn feels like the generic pervy male bisexual TV cliche to me. It doesn't help that the actor reminds me of Schneider on One Day At a Time.

I couldn't help comparing it to Renly/Loras, where we got a fair amount (well, two scenes) of somewhat graphic content.

He is one of my new favorite characters. I loved the way he threw the digs at Cersei and how he is so cool he is probably the only one who openly has no respect for Tywin and there is very little Tywin can do about it. If this was Dynasty, now he would fall for Cersei and Ser Loras and Cersei would wind up pregnant but unclear who the father was. He didn't see pervy to me. He likes prostitutes, so does Tyrion and probably half the cast off camera.

This is completely anecdotal but hanging out in a bar tonight I discussed GoT with two people. The guy said it was rape, the girl said "nahh, she wanted it. It was "rape" not rape."

but I think the more committed audience takes to most of the characters. I think people like not just Tyrion, or Arya or Daenerys, they also can like Sansa or Bran or Cersei or Jaime or Brienne or whoever else - it's not either/or.

Yeah, it almost never occurs to me to not like a character on the show. I like every character with the exception of Theon's torturer (who I wish the show would drop or wrap that story up). I am equally fine watching Bran as I am watching Tyrion as I am watching Varys as I am watching Sansa or Gendry (who must still be rowing a boat somewhere). I could do with less Stannis because the guy is truly a stick in the mud and consequently not entertaining. My favorites to watch though are Tywin, Jaime, Diana Rigg, and now the new Prince.

A lot of people are questioning the value of a college education. It has little to do with being an "idiot." I personally spent over $100K and got a 3.9 GPA at a respected university, only to wind up with a yearly salary that I felt was lower than what I deserved. I then got laid off (as all overhead personnel did) after the company I worked for was acquired by a larger business. Upon looking for other jobs, I can tell you that my degree and GPA meant next to nothing to employers. So, I am soon going back to graduate school, and thus, my whole undergraduate time was a waste. (And the graduate degree may still not lead to a good job; in that case, I will have to study for the extremely difficult CPA Exam.)

If instead, a person decided to skip the enormous cost burdens of college and decided to enter the workforce immediately upon graduating high school, they most likely would have a lot more money than me. Thinking that college is "the only way" is very much an elitist attitude (though I am not suggesting that you necessarily feel this way), and it is also highly outdated, since a college degree really doesn't mean what it used to.

What is wrong with calling people "folks"? It is just a formal way of being polite (that I sometimes use in conversation). I never thought that it referred to rural America. And if it does, so what? Not everybody thinks that big cities are the ideal.

Very little of FNC's airtime is devoted to talking about global warming. I personally disagree with the far-right position that states that global warming doesn't exist. But I also don't agree with the liberal position that seems to suggest that global warming is solely or primarily caused by humans. I personally think there is a middle ground, and that the human effects are combining with natural occurrences in the ecosystem to cause the current climate changes. Sorry if this makes me a simpleton.

You are championing a network that tried to make "Freedom Fries" stick. You realize that, don't you?

I am reading a lot of commentary about how Jaime's redemption is in jeopardy after this, but perhaps that is for the best. I love Jaime and think aside from that archer guy who can shoot an arrow and hit any target from anywhere he is the coolest stylish warrior on the show (although Dany's boyfriend warrior did a neat trick against that horse). But anyway, if Jaime is redeemed and becomes Ser Romance-A-Lot with Brienne or whoever then that means what Jaime did to Bran is acceptable because we are willing to accept it so it doesn't intrude on our liking him.

Jaime is the character who kicked the whole series off when he pushed Bran out the window and I think people forget he is better than Cersei and Tywin but not by much. He cavalierly killed his own squire cousin while held captive. She is vindictive and cruel, he may not be vindictive but he is cruel and but just doesn't put as much energy into it. Jaime is a complicated character and had love of Brienne just changed him and tied him nicely into a little love story then we would have no further use for him.

Do you realize how snotty and elitist you sound when you dismiss conservative FNC viewers as "hicks"? How is this any better than Palin's insinuation that people in cities aren't "real Americans" (which is something that you have often complained about)?

I don't know what else to call people who view education with suspicion. That's what the people of Fox news do, sell illiteracy and ignorance to bumpkins. I think it was presidential front runner Rick Santorum who said Obama was a snob because he hoped more people would go to college. Well if a front runner and a Fox favorite can say such an idiotic thing and still be a front runner and Fox favorite, while Bill O"Reilly panders to refugees from an Andy Griffith convention by calling everyone "folks" what do you think me here in Manhattan is going to think of the audience that laps that crap up with a spoon? That they went to Oxford? That they study quantum physics when they aren't busy denying global warming and climate change? Get real. It is a network for idiots.

Cersei didn't seen like she was screaming her head off for the security guards right outside to save her. She said no because she knew it was wrong, but once he pressed she seemed into it yet fighting being into it at the same time. And he clearly knew that and knows how she thinks, and he will apologize because that is the thing to do but they both will continue to love each other no matter what. Considering these are the only two people on the entire show who truly do love each other and are together not for political reasons but in spite of them, I don't see what the problem is here. They are the sick brother and sister of cruelty, why do people want them acting normal?

one of the view's high drama moments

The show lost its cache when Rosie O Donnel left. With her it was trainwreck TV, and while not what a show dreams about, at least it was something. That's better than irrelevant. Same thing for Star Jones, another celeb host that made the show register on the pop culture radar for all the wrong reasons. You take them away you got nothing. And without Rosie Elizabeth was nothing and now she languishes in obscurity on some fake Fox morning show nobody watches except hicks. Walters had a good thing going with Rosie and Elizabeth and if she only called up Vince McMahon he would have told her to take them pay per view.

Well this was interesting. Isabelle Rochev (isn't that her name?) dies but an injection of mirakuru seems to have revived her. I guess those two people we met at STAR Labs will be Flash cast members. Jury still out there. The Queens going broke sort of makes no sense. I get the ridiculously wealthy often have trusts and whatever own their vast wealth to avoid taxes, but you mean to say they have nothing???

Some of Joffrey's greatest hits

The probem with Dany's story is there is literally nothing at risk. She won't die, she can't die because that would be an illogical end to her story and every character in it. They would all just vanish and every minute up until now would have no point as a consequence. So therefore she has nothing at stake.

For me Arya's story is the main weak link - I just can't connect to her and it feels like a lot of telling us how we're supposed to feel. I enjoy Bran's, mostly because I like the whole supernatural, otherworldly element of the character, even if the story seems to be kind of stalled out. And i think Osha's one of the best characters on the show.

To me the weak link is Dany and her isolated dragon story. There is no chance anything bad can happen to her since that would make no sense conidering we watched her for three years trying to find a boat. Eventually she will find a boat big enough for her infinity army. Every year they just introduce another episodic little situation in what is a perpetual stall on the part of the writer. Arya and Jon Snow are almost as untouchable as she is, but the fact they interact with the occasional other member of the cast at least exposes them to risk---theoretical since we know they cannot kill Jon Snow until they explain why we followed him for three years.

I'm very curious as to who you think did it, because I think the motive couldn't be clearer. I'd go so far as to say the show dumbed it down, although it's always easier to say that in hindsight. Still, this is one area I'll stay away from since I do know who did it and if you told me who you think it is, it might end up in spoiling. I definitely think it's wrong for people to know an what happened to speculate in any way.

This is why I refuse to read the books! Books can ruin a TV show but the show can never ruin the books and I will come back to them when the show ends. I love murders and it would suck to know in advance whodunit.

Which brings me to the old feeble guy that Cersei sent to the kitchen. It has been established he went to the kitchen, which is presumably where the food was. Cersei threatened his life and this might have been a way to knock her off her game. Other than that, I still am drawn to Shae because Tyrion broke her heart and the show took great care to not let us ever see her actually leave. It could have been an attempt to frame Tyrion for the murder. The thing that doesn't make sense is how did The Fool know what was going on unless he was in on it. He could have been an accomplice and his concern for Sansa does go hand in hand with Shae's. Getting Sansa away might have been part of the plan.

The more I think about it, the more I think it might be Shae who did it. We never saw her get on the boat, she was hurt by Tyrion and she likes Sansa. Being a worker she probably had access to the staff who baked the pie. It would fit.

What a great episode! Mystery was the only thing missing from GoT and now Cersei could really do with a little help from Hercule Poirot. Martin is not Agatha Christie so I am not expecting this story to be written expressly to serve the mystery (in which case Cersei herself would be the culprit) so I am going to say Diana Rigg is the prime suspect of the moment. She made that vague comment, she would not tolerate her granddaughter being married to a monster, and she has a score to settle with Tywin. She also paid for the pie that was dry.

Other than her, I guess the next likely suspect is Margery, who I guess we can assume poured the glass he drank from off camera. But with no heir she wouldn't even be Queen after this, let alone the next Queen Regent. The new Martell prince had no access to the glass or pie. Cersei and Jaime are the dark horses who know they created a monster. Shae is the 1000-1 shot since we didn't actually see her leave the city. Sansa is another long shot but we have no indication she had access to anything. Tywin wouldn't kill a Lannister, even an incest Lannister, and Tyrion was never alone with the glass or pie.

Other than that, I am still not fond of the stuff with Theon. That guy is not fun to watch (whatever his name is that tortures everybody) and I wish the show would drop this sick character. Jack Gleeson will be sorely missed. He was excellent in the role and Joffrey' absence will hurt the show. His one dimensional evil was breath of fresh air in a show of subtle gray. One of the best TV villains of all time, and Gleeson should have been nominated and won an emmy long ago.

Yes, he is the one. Is he Dany's uncle or do I have my last names confused.

Cersei is a cruel mistress. Poor Jaime went to hell to get back to her and now she gives him the cold shoulder! And he really needs to straighten Joffrey out. Is he unaware he is his father? About the new guy, I am slightly confused here about who exactly he is. Is he saying he is Dany's uncle? I may be getting my dead king names wrong.

That commentary is funny. I guess I can see why the Knots ladies try to validate their show because this is their careers and they want it to be worth something. The Dallas people don't have fragile egos because they know they were on Dallas, the most popular drama in TV history, what is there to try and sell that hasn't already been sold? Anyway, Dallas was the best nighttime soap I feel, and the fact it is back on today is a compliment to its basic concept.