A whole lot of people didn't notice, who probably should have.

But I assume the DP will put out a press release shortly stating that if you saw a Starbucks cup in front of Daenerys last night, it's because your TV settings were wrong.

I'm reading Reddit threads on the Bloodraven theory which posits that Bran himself as the 3ER is the main threat

At this point, I think you can dismiss any fan theory that requires D&D to be subtle and clever.

It's not so much that he's a threat as the fact that there are no women writing this show is a threat.

Ding ding ding.

Jamie heading back to Kings Landing seems like a pretty standard "getting the pieces back to starting positions for the final face-off" television move, no? I don't see a lot of character motivation for it beyond that.

I felt like I was watching Lost, and there was some reason go across the island again.

Jaime is just, what the hell, Jaime? Maybe he wants to get back into the Kingslayer racket?

I had half-hoped he was going back to be the kingslayer (queen), but he knows she's carrying his child, so I don't know.

I'm basically watching out of morbid curiosity to see if they can manage to fuck up the landing even worse than either BSG or Lost did, at this point.

to see if they can manage to fuck up the landing even worse than either BSG or Lost did, at this point.

It would be quite an accomplishment, given that the writers of those other shows had to make up their own endings, while this show has GRRM waving a pair of batons, guiding them in for a landing.

it's because your TV settings were wrong.

Ha! I get that reference.

I wonder if GRRM forgot (or "forgot" for that matter) some crucial information to pass on

I highly recommend the New Yorker's recapper. She's Cleo on TWoP-levels of funny.

[link]

My own pet theory is that GRRM *did* tell them the ending, and they decided that all the Lovecraftian shit that is supposed to happen was unfilmable, so they went in a different, cheaper direction. And also maybe HBO is bribing GRRM and Random House not to release the final two books until the show is over, so as not to give people unreasonable expectations about what actually does show up on the screen.

That's very plausible. Since the show has started I have often remembered how GRRM once said that he was enjoying writing ASoIaF with no regard to how very expensive or impossible it would be to film it...