*************SPOILERS***************So, has everyone recovered from the bloodbath we witnessed last week, or are some of you still reeling? I personally fit the former category, but my initial watching of it (I watched it pretty much all the way through a second time, awful as it was to see again), I was wide-eyed & stood stock-still with horror & shock throughout that entire sequence. I totally didn't see
either Robb's or Catelyn's deaths coming (Robb's wife's death wasn't entirely unexpected, since that seemed the most likely means Lord Frey would have used to express his, to put it mildly, displeasure that Robb had reneged on his promise)
! I'm glad neither Jon nor the younger Starks have been killed, though— besides Tyrion and Daenerys, I like all of them but Sansa (who I've started to warm to now that the blinders on her eyes about Joffrey have come off) the most.
I'm also finding the fact that "The Hound" is becoming Arya's de-facto protector quite interesting (as cool as it was to see him get Sansa out of harm's way, I thought that was a one-time thing, and we'd never see him again after he took off during the Battle of Blackwater.). He told Arya that he was just taking her to Lord Frey's castle because he figured Robb or Catelyn would pay him handsomely if he brought her to them safe and unharmed, but why did he bother saving her
again even after guessing (rightly) that both were dead? I'd
say he's going to take her to King's Landing like she originally suspected he would, but him telling her, "[Screw] the king" makes me think that's a bit unlikely. It'll be interesting to see what he does with her from now on
.
What else? *Ponders* Quite the (presumed) evolution Jaime has been going through since his hand was cut off
! Depending on how he behaves now that he's back at King's Landing & once more around Cersei, Tywin, etc., I may start liking him, despite the fact that it was
him who, at the beginning of the show, pushed Bran off the parapet with the, I assume, intention to silence him permanently (e.g. kill him), and until his maiming this season, he was pretty much a bad guy all around. I'm curious to see where
his arc goes
.
Some thoughts on tonight's episode Bran. I was
really hoping he, his fellow seer, and said seer's sister would go to Castle Black with Sam & Gilly (I'm also glad these two & the baby are still alive & kicking) :[! But Bran seems to believe it's his destiny to seek out the three-eyed raven (and it may very well be), so that's that, at least for now. *Shrugs*
Jon. I was
so worried about him after Ygritte shot three arrows into him =[! I'm glad he made it (or he
seems to have, at least)
.
Gendry. I'm relieved he wasn't bled to death by Melisandre. And good on Sir Davos for helping him escape
. Speaking of which, I'm glad Melisandre convinced Stannis to spare Sir Davos (great irony there, BTW) after his "treachery" was revealed.
Arya. The odd pair she and "The Hound" make up is getting more & more interesting. He not only
helped her kill those soldiers, but all he told her after the deed had been done was that the next time she decides to do something like that, she should let him know. I
really wish we'd gotten some inkling of where they're headed, though
.
Jaime. Interesting (though not surprising, I suppose) that he went to see Cersei before anyone else upon returning to King's Landing. I'm curious whether the two of them will pick up where they left off, so to speak, or the presence of Brienne, his experiences while being escorted back to King's Landing by her (e.g. his maiming), and Cersei's pending marriage to Sir Loras will dissuade the resumption of that incestuous relationship.
Sansa. All I can say is the poor girl
! First, she had to witness her father being beheaded, then she was more or less imprisoned in King's Landing, she's been forced to marry Tyrion (though he didn't want to marry
her, either, and has been very good to her so far, & will no doubt continue to be), and
now she's lost her mother, her brother, and has no idea if the rest of her siblings are alive or dead =(.
Daenerys. Of all the remaining leads,
she's the one who's most consistently had good luck (with the exception of losing both her husband & child, obviously). The closing scene of her being called "mother" by all the slaves of Yunkai was
awesome 
! Hopefully that aforementioned good luck will continue 8). Also, I
really like Dario
! I wonder if he'll end up being a new love interest for her
?
Theon. I'm not sure what to think of him, really. I liked him before he turned on the Starks, then I
really disliked him, but following everything that's happened to him since, and him expressing his guilt over, as far as he knows, killing two princes who were only boys (e.g. Bran & Rincon), I'm starting to feel kind of bad for him :[. He was tortured for god knows how long, "altered" following
that, and
now he's had his name taken from him & has been abandoned by his own father (though that's not exactly surprising, as his father's a total you-know-what). Good to see that his sister stood up for him, and has every intention of rescuing him, though.
