He didn't wake up a psychopath and an asshole the morning after his father died.

No, but he did wake up king. She totally underestimated how much of her previous power over him rested in her being Queen vs her being Mom.

Her lack of control over Joffrey is how I read it

Yeah, I think when Ned Stark lost his head was her "oh, fuck" moment. I think she thought she could control him more, like Jessica said.

Yeah, I thought about commenting on you FB post, "You keep saying that..."

I went back and checked the preview from last week, because I swore I saw a clip from the actual fight amongst the speedy-clips-at-the-end that they always do. But it was actually Ramsey (the guy who helped Theon "escape") holding a torch.

Now that we know that kid is actually Ramsey Snow, I wonder if they're actually at the Dreadfort, and all those people know who he is (the dying guy's "You little bastard" last week would seem to say yes), or if they're somewhere else and Ramsey's in his Reek disguise (which he kind of seems to be). Although, explaining all that may wind up being more confusing than not explaining it.

I'm not sure why she thought that though. Does seem to validate her father's appraisal of her not being as with it as she thinks. Joffrey was fucking out of hand before he became king. At least we saw that. Things were not going to improve. And if it is as she said that half the family are a bunch of bloodthirsty assholes and half aren't, why did she think she'd avoid the curse with Joffrey.

Can't say my point better than LeN did. Unless she thought absolute power makes puppies, I gotta go with her dad. Well, also if she did think that too. Did I miss her worry that it would go south once asshole met ruling?

And if it is as she said that half the family are a bunch of bloodthirsty assholes and half aren't, why did she think she'd avoid the curse with Joffrey.

Well, Tommen and Myrcella seem okay, which you would think would bring her to the opposite conclusion. I think "think" might be the wrong word for Cersei in this particular instance.

I...I do wish he were written a bit subtler. He takes me out of the story.

I wonder if Joffrey would be more believable for you in the books. He's still exactly the same character, but maybe it would play better with more words? Not that I'm saying you need to read the books, just that they're presenting exactly who the readers are expecting.

Also, I checked on IMDB, and the official name of the character who cuts off Jamie's hand is "Locke", which I find amusing in that they can call him whatever the hell they want, book readers are always going to think of him as Vargo Hoat.

I, for one, am still confused by Theon calling his sister Yara.

Also, I checked on IMDB, and the official name of the character who cuts off Jamie's hand is "Locke", which I find amusing in that they can call him whatever the hell they want, book readers are always going to think of him as Vargo Hoat.

Yeah, I read somewhere "Locke, who has replaced the book's Vargo Hoat" which...ok? Maybe they don't want to deal with introducing the Bloody Mummers, but why bother changing the name of a minor character most TV watchers aren't going to remember by name anyway?

As far as Cercei's misjudgment of Joff goes, I think it mostly boils down to her not being very observant, but also she thought she had at least a few more years of him being a child she could mold into a totally awesome king. She didn't realize that putting a crown on his head at 15 would remove all her parental authority over him.

I, for one, am still confused by Theon calling his sister Yara.

Yeah, I wonder about that too. My guess is they were worried Osha and Asha would be too confusing.

Maybe they don't want to deal with introducing the Bloody Mummers, but why bother changing the name of a minor character most TV watchers aren't going to remember by name anyway?

Right? It's not like they had to worry about watchers getting him confused with that other character "Margo Stoat."