I don't even count the incest (and subsequent incest-kids) among Cersei's sins, which just shows how low the bar for moral behavior is in Westeros.

This. And I do hate her being villainized simply because she's a woman -- not at all the point, people, hello. And the past two episodes made it look like she at least knows she could have made different choices, even if it's too late for her now.

I have a lot of sympathy for Cersei. She's a not very nice person in a world populated with that and more. She's not nearly as good at playing the game of thrones as she thinks she is, but she's a scrapper. Her kid is a little shit and this little world probably would've been much better off if he'd been the one flung from a Winterfell window rather than Bran, but I at least can understand the choices she's made in her life, even if those choices are terrible.

It would have made so much sense for her and Tyrion to be allies, since both of them were not the heirs their father wanted (not that Jaime really was, either), and both of them want to be him (more or less). A unified Team Lannister might well have been nigh-unstoppable.

I say this despite how much I love both Tyrion and Jaime's arcs, which, from what I can tell, are basically "screw Team Lannister" (Thematic spoilers for things not yet fully underway on the show)

Getting Shae as her handmaiden may be the best favor anyone has done for Sansa in the entire series so far.

Abby, in a sense both Cersei and Mama Stark have the same fault -- if they could have overcome their expected roles and learned to love a relative, how much better things would have turned out for them.

I'd say Cersei's base flaw is that she pretty much hates everyone she knows who isn't Jaime or her kids. She is never motivated to turn an enemy into an ally (say, by being nice to anyone, ever) because she hates them all so very, very, very much. And because of this, she assumes everyone hates her too, and treats them accordingly.

Tyrion's not much better on the people skills when you think of it - he has one trick, and that's talking people out of killing him long enough to throw money at them. Podrick is the only character I can think of on Team Tyrion who isn't being paid to be his friend.

You don't think Shae and even Bron genuinely like him, to some extent?

What I can't stand about Cersei hating everyone who isn't an immediate-relation Lannister is that it's so very Malfoy and "mudbloods".

What I can't stand about Cersei hating everyone who isn't an immediate-relation Lannister is that it's so very Malfoy and "mudbloods".

She also hates Tyrion and to some extent, her dad! So it's not just racism.

I think Shae and Bronn have some real affection for Tyrion, but I don't think either of them would hang around very long if he stopped paying them.

That's true about Cersei.

I wonder if Shae would abandon Sansa, though.

I have this feeling that Podrick Payne will wind up being one of those unsung nobodies that wind up having major heroic songs sung about them (as if his actions during the Battle of Blackwater weren't heroic enough). Like Ser Duncan the Tall, who was a squire to a hedge knight until he faked a knighthood upon his master's death, and wound up ultimately becoming Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

In short, I [heart] Pod.