The decision to give Olenna that reaction to Brienne was the best thing ever (and Brienne's reaction. Brienne is my favorite).

OMG yes to all this. I love the Queen of Thorns now.

Fuck, yeah, Maester Aemon. Fuck. Yeah.

Also yes to this! He is the veritable bomb diggety.

I feel so bad for the kid who plays Joffrey, though.

All the cast are so ready to say, "Jack's LOVELY!" And making this his last acting job (as he's said), maybe not the worst choice ever.

Brienne is the anti-Cersei, and I think even now Jaime knows she's the better person, even if he can't quite jump to "I should totally plight her mine troth."

Not only is she the better person (and she is. That whole conversation with Margaery...Granted, it should have been Loras, but, well, and still wanting to protect Sansa. I desperately hope that Brienne and Sansa get a scene together SOON), but he's becoming more the person she believes him to be. For all that Jaime got shit from everyone this episode, he got shit from his family for being useless. He got shit from Brienne for not doing the right thing because she believes in him. And, despite what he said to Cersei, I'm pretty sure it's much more Brienne's influence than Cersei's that kept him in his white cloak.

I had three different tracks of All The Feelings when Jaime was saying to Tywin that he doesn't want a wife or children. 1)Yeah, the children thing...hasn't gone so well thus far...2)Yeah, you probably wouldn't want the wife your father would give you, and it would be tragic 3)But you could marry Brienne, and it would be wonderful!

I also think insulting people in one of Jaime's primary forms of showing affection*. He...didn't have the best role model? But, I agree that he isn't aware that he luuurves her. The entire question is so wholly outside of Brienne's idiom, she wouldn't even know where to begin (but she totally loves him way more than she ever loved Renly).

* (Book spoilers) another major one being the giving of ridiculously lavish gifts

I'm pretty sure it's much more Brienne's influence than Cersei's that kept him in his white cloak.

Oh, I agree. I miss the Brienne and Jaime On the Road Show. So much fantastic interaction. So I'm hoping we still get scenes wit them together.

Yes, to all of that, Amy.

Question: if I wanted to start reading the books again now, where would be a good place to jump in? A Storm of Swords or the next one?

I like replacement Daario soooo much more.

As do I. For one thing, he's bearded now. It's still not quite the forked, painted beard, but these are concessions I'm willing to make.

And not to keep harping on the Jon/Ygritte theme, but I swear every time I hear it, it punches me right in the feels. Ramin Djawadi is one of the unsung heroes of this show. He's done an amazing job (and was apparently a last minute replacement for somebody else). He's written a bunch of really great music for the show, but Jon and Ygritte's them hit me in the feeliest feels I ever feeled. (Also, I have a thing for cellos, but who doesn't?)

As a side note, I still haven't double checked, but I'm pretty sure the final episode of Season 3 featured every single major musical theme that had been developed up until that point.

Amy, I want to offer advice, but I've got nothing. I know they're in the back half of Storm of Swords now, so if you jump in on the next one, there will be major plot you will have missed. On the other hand, there are things that are different from the books, and there are some things that are moved forward, shoved back, eliminated entirely even though they're important to the book plot.

As do I. For one thing, he's bearded now. It's still not quite the forked, painted beard, but these are concessions I'm willing to make.

Somehow, I don't think that would play well onscreen.

Somehow, I don't think that would play well onscreen.

Agreed. Same with Salador Saan. Although I still kind of miss how colorful they're both supposed to be.

Speaking of color, the costume designers have associated the color blue with far too many characters. Give us some nice green, or purple. Green would have been fantastic for Margaery, what with the botanical theme, but no. Blue.

I was just paging through Storm of Swords, and I bet I could jump in at the halfway point or so.