Yes, that was Cold Hands. No, that's not quite how I imagined him, either. But still pretty awesome.

Yeah, I liked the choices they made with the House of the Undying. The things they left out make sense too.

Loved seeing Drogo and the baby.

Maester Lewin's farewell to Bran and Rickon wrecked me.

Loved the House of the Undying. I was wondering how they were going to fit it all into part of one ep, but I thought the condensed version worked. And the little dragons raising their heads to her when she finally walked into the center chamber! You could practically hear them say "MOMMY!!"

(Other things in that ep raise questions about how...other other things will work out later, but I assume the writers are aware and have plans.)

DH and I were watching with my in-laws last night (who have not read the books) and had to explain about Jaqen's face, and the burning of Winterfell (mainly who the hell the Boltons were). I wonder if anyone else had trouble following that?

probably since I don't know WTH you are talking about.

One thing I don't feel has handled very well this entire season is showing that Robb and Joffrey are either the same age, or within a couple of years of each other.

It's been made painfully obvious that Joffrey is a petulant teenager who's not ready to rule a kingdom, but Robb has been more or less portrayed as a young adult making adult decisions.

In the book, Robb is 16 when he marries Not The Frey Girl He's Engaged To, and everyone in his camp immediately realizes oh fuck, 16 year-old boys are dumb about girls, how did we all forget that?

I felt like there was a real missed opportunity to show Joffrey thinking carefully about breaking his vow to Sansa (or at least going through the motions) vs Robb stupidly falling in love (very different from how the two of them operate in a battle), but since the show seems to have forgotten that this is a war between two angry teenagers, the parallels weren't really there.

(I can't look up Robb & Joffrey's exact book ages right now because, shockingly, A Wiki Of Ice And Fire seems to be down.)

I think that Joffrey is a couple of years younger than Robb - 14, I believe. (Or closer to Sansa's age in the books.)

Yes, I think that the condensed HOTU makes sense and will allow for maximum HSQ later. If you know what I mean (and I think you do.)

Finally got to a cached version!

In the first book, Joffrey is 12 and Robb is 15. So when Joffrey gets engaged to Margarey Tyrell and Robb marries Not The Frey Girl He's Supposed To Marry, Joffrey is 13 and Robb 16.

The show, I think, has largely forgotten that 16 is still really freakin' young to be leading a rebellion, ruling a kingdom, and getting married. Even in the Westeros context of "15? You're a man grown now!"

(Danaerys is also supposed to be 14, but HBO has understandably aged her to be legally naked on television without accusations of child pornography.)

Man. 14 is kind of young to be training dragons.

Or lead an army to reconquer your family's kingdom.

From Time's recap:

At the same time in Winterfell, Theon is facing a parallel choice, between danger and exile, also complicated by unshakeable loyalty to a thankless family. (A strong parallel, by the way, that I never really picked up on in the books, which points up one advantage of the series format.) It’s a particularly strong episode for Alfie Allen, who gets the chance to play Theon for agony, fury and even comedy. (“And whoever kills that fucking hornblower will stand in bronze above the shores of Pyke!”) There’s a lot to despise about what Theon has done, but his basic situation–feeling not so much torn between two families as rejected by both–is pitiable.

This is too adorable not to share - the actors who play Bran, Arya, and Sansa, singing along with the opening credits on one of the Blu-Ray commentary tracks:

[link]