Game Of Thrones: Sons Of The Harpy

Game of Thrones delivered it's A-game this week in 'Sons Of The Harpy' as all parties involved got some meaty stuff to chew on: 

- Shall we start with Kings Landing? In this weeks addition of 'CERSEI IS F*CKING STUPID' she arms the cult of crazy religious fanatics we met last week just so she can get one back on Margaery. The result? A mass sinner culling, which in Westeros means basically everyone is implicated. This extreme depiction of religious fanaticism is weirdly offset by High Sparrow's calm demeanor, but even with Jonathon Pryce's humble exterior any group calling themselves the 'Faith Militant' should set off alarm bells. Not for Cersei though, because she's f*cking crazy. The ensuing onslaught leads to the Faith kidnapping Ser Loras for his sexual crimes and successfully Margaery woos Tommen into rescuing her brother. Tommen's kindly nature gets the better of him however as he refuses to order the mass murder of several Sparrows on holy ground in order to free Ser Loras. Of course Margaery then berates him for this. It's kind of horrible seeing two women manipulating a young boy for their selfish ends, Tommen's public humiliation in this episode is a direct result of their actions. It's abuse, to be frank. While Cersei is well written in the sense that you can see why she is such a bitch her actions in this episode prove that she deserves whatever bad karma is coming towards her, I mean there's no way this could backfire on her right? Judging by their treatment of gays the newly restored Faith Militant probably doesn't approve of incest, and now that cousin Lancel is one of them....

- Cersei also sends Mace Tyrell and Meryn Trant off to Dorne to parlay with the Iron Bank, and seen as Arya is also in Dorne and Trant is on her kill list I think we can all see who her first assassin kill will be. 

Jaime's fake hand is becoming increasingly handy (ouch)

- Can Jaime and Bronn get a spin-off? They're the perfect odd couple: Jaime's good looks and mournful attitude, Bronn's weathered visage and snappy one liners, it all just fits and is great fun to watch. We actually had two scenes with them this week to make up for last weeks no-show, the first taking place on the trade ship heading for Dorne. Bronn is his usual cheery self chatting about how much the Dornish like to, as he puts it: 'fight and f*ck, f*ck and fight' but Jaime is having none of it, he just wants to prevent a war between Dorne and Kings Landing. It's also startling to see how much Jaime hates Tyrion now (which shouldn't be surprising considering Tyrion killed his father and endangered his relationship with Cersei), especially with their emotional goodbye at the end of season 4. The second scene takes place on a beach outside Dorne as the two discuss how they want to die. For Bronn it's an incredibly boring one to contrast his colorful life but Jaime? He wants to 'die in the arms of the woman I love'. Aside from the ominous death talk it's incredibly sad because the reason Jaime is doing this is not to rescue his daughter (Jaime regards his daughter as a cousin, which Bronn picks up on) but instead to get back into Cersei's good books, who clearly despises him now just as much as he does Tyrion. He's like a loyal dog, he just can't seem to get over her. Bronn of course echoes this, simply stating 'does she want the same thing?' Judging by the look on Jaime's face, the answer is most definitely no. After the beach chatting they then get into a fight with some Dornish soldiers, with Jaime finally putting his metal hand to good use and Bronn continuing to be a badass. Between the inability to row, plant graves AND a cool blocking move Jaime must be really loving his fake hand now eh?

- On the same beach as Jaime and Bronn Ellara Sand is meeting Oberyn's daughters nicknamed the Sandsnakes. We're almost halfway through the series and we still haven't seen much of Dorne but things have got to kick off soon as Ellara is hellbent on starting a war with the Lannisters over Oberyn's death, and apparently needs the Sandsnakes help for this. Also thanks to the captain of the trade ship Jaime and Bronn sailed on they now know that Jaime is making his way towards the Water Gardens to rescue Mrycella. This scene is to brief to get to know any of the Sandsnakes well, right now they're 99% thick Spanish accent and 1% ninja. There is a lot of potential for girl power here (I like their different choices of weapons), hopefully it won't be proven by having them put Jaime's head on a pike.

- Tyrion sums up his scene best with 'A waste of a good kidnapping'. After Jorah unties Tyrion's gag the dwarf wastes no time in sussing out who he is Sherlock syle and starts poking fun at him for such a pointless kidnapping. He's actually reminiscent of his pre-season 5 self, now that he's been put back in a situation where he has to outwit someone again he seems a lot more jolly and less prone to self hating, although I'm sure we'll see a lot more of that. Jorah responds with a punch to the face, indicating we have another unrequited bromance in the works. Good, this show needs all the bromances it can get. 

EWWWWWWWWWW!

- Sansa is busy remembering her aunt Lyanna in the crypt beneath Winterfell when Paetyr sneeks in for a goodbye (fun fact: that feather she finds on Lyanna's grave? Robert Baratheon put that there back in the first season). Their conversation touches upon Lyanna Stark and her relationship with Rhaeghar Targaryan, who according to Sansa kidnapped her and raped her. Interestingly Littlefinger decides not to dwell on the subject, implying he knows more about this war starting feud than he lets on. Instead he declares that he's leaving for Kings Landing and gives Sansa a pep talk to boost her resolve. He tells her he's waiting for Stannis to take Winterfell and make Sansa the the new ruler of the North, so essentially painting the marriage between her and Ramsay as temporary. This appears to be his genuine plan, and it's a smart one. With Littlefinger in charge of Harrenhal, the Vale AND potentially the North through Sansa, he will be a pretty powerful guy by owning three of the seven kingdoms (one by proxy) if his power play works out. Leaving Sansa to the mercy of Ramsay though is perhaps not the smartest of moves, unless Sansa succeeds in manipulating him, playing 'the game' as it where. 

- Best scene of the episode WASN'T the Jaime/Bronn pairing as I had predicted but was in fact Stannis' 'Father of the year' speech to Shireen. He's a tough cookie to crack but their is definitely a human being inside Stannis and this scene proved it with an incredibly touching performance by Stephane Dillane. Stannis seems almost autistic in the way he has trouble expressing his emotions but he clearly loves his daughter (unlike his bitch wife who I'm hoping will die already) and still considers her his heir despite the greyscale disfigurements. I'm 100% rooting for Stannis now not just because of his goals (we were mostly on his side because he's against all the bad guys) but also for him as a person, it's taken three seasons but you finally want to see him win for the right reason. 

- We also got to see Melisandre naked for like umpteenth time, now in front of Jon Snow. She clearly sees something in his blood, which makes Stannis' remark about Jon: 'that was not Ned's way' (implying that he doesn't think Jon is a bastard of Ned Stark) all the more interesting. Jon wisely refuses her offer for sex, but she creepily utters Ygritte's 'you know nothing' line which implies she has the power to see into his soul or something. I think it's high time we learnt something more about Melisandre as a character rather than a) showing her burn people and b) showing her naked in pretty much every other scene she's in, it's getting a bit tired at this point and her character has seemingly no depth other than her desire for making monster babies. 

RIP Ser Barristan the badass

- Both the beginning and the ending of 'Sons Of The Harpy' involved brutal uprisings by insurgent factions. The episode ends with the titular Sons Of The Harpy mounting a large scale attack on the streets of Meereen, targeting both the Second Sons and the Unsullied with several bloody ambushes. Following an unsually upbeat conversation with Daenerys about Rhaeghar (the second time he was referenced in this episode funnily enough, with two different viewpoints) Ser Barristan comes to the rescue of Greyworm and kills a good dozen Harpies before keeling over, presumably dead from his wounds. This was an amazingly well choreographed and structured sequence with that patented Game Of Thrones 'anything can happen' feel. Both Greyworm and Ser Barristan get wounded pretty badly so I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both of them dead next week. Greyworm is unlikely though, he sustained survivable injuries and there has been no resolution between him and Missandei which in narrative terms means he still has a part to play. Barristan however, while clearly a badass (he killed so many Harpies I actually thought he might survive!) would make sense as his death leaves a door open for Jorah to step back in AND would make Daenerys more prone to making stupid decisions that she otherwise wouldn't have done due to the wise counseling she has always got from him. So yeah....Barristan is likely a goner but boy did he go out fighting. I'm intrigued to see how this impacts Danaerys next week, but also saddened to see one of the genuinely 'good' characters hit the dust once more. Team Dany has taken another hit.   

'Sons Of The Harpy' was compelling from beginning to end and has a nailbiting cliffhanger of an ending. Next episode please: 8,5/10

Game Of Thrones: High Sparrow

'High Sparrow' contained a lot of exciting developments, from the unveiling of Littlefinger's latest scheme to Tyrion encountering Jorah a lot of exciting stuff is happening as the many threads this show weaves are starting to converge. I think I can safely say we're into the 'meat' of the season now, the introductions are over.

- Well, maybe not entirely. We were introduced to High Sparrow in Kings Landing this week, the leader of the religious sect that Cersei's cousin Lancel has joined. Based on what we've heard so far you would be forgiven for thinking that the 'Sparrows' are a bunch of religious nuts, and to be fair they still could be, but High Sparrow actually seems like a really nice and humble guy, partly because of Jonathan Pryce's selfless performance. Judging by the star casting High Sparrow is clearly going to have a large role this season, maybe as another, saner, adviser to Cersei? I like this character so far, and after this week there seems to be a vacancy for the High Septon position sooo....Jonathan Pryce as Pope anyone? That would be cool.

- After this week Tommen is now a happily married man. They make no bones about the fact that he's clearly having the time of his life having his brains f*cked out by Margaery, you kinda feel a little grossed out by staggering the age difference between the two of them however. All this sex is obviously wrapping the king around his bride's finger, which Margaery unwisely rubs all over Cersei's face. Considering how impulsive Cersei can be I don't think taunting her is the best course of action: right now we're waiting for events at Kings Landing to explode so Cersei's general stupidity when it comes to decision making along with her hatred for the Tyrells is undoubtedly going to end in bloodshed. Most of all I feel bad for Tommen, he's a nice kid who will inevitably get brutally murdered at some point or another, probably due to his mother's stupidity.

- This week my suspicions about that crazy doctor were confirmed. WTF is Qyburn doing to the body of the Mountain?!! By now we're encroaching Frankenstein territory, I'm honestly terrified by what's under there. Frankenmountain is inevitably going to be unleashed at some point, god help anyone who has Cersei's ire...

- Has it occurred to anyone that this is the third episode in a row where we've had a public execution? Just something I've noticed. The man to hit the chopping block this week is Janos Slynt, a sniveling bastard who I think we can all agree has had this coming for a while now. Thankfully Jon proves himself to be a competent leader and didn't back down this time (he was very much emulating his father's footsteps this week), gorily slicing that bastards head off much to Stannis' approval. We also had a juicy convo with Davos (one of my fave secondary characters by the way), who rightfully called Jon Snow out on his sh*t from last week about honoring his vows to the Nights Watch in a very Davos way. Everyone should listen to Davos' advice, especially Jon. Also: YOU ARE THE COMMANDER NOW JON, CHANGE THE F*CKING RULES! 

Enjoy while you can, kid.

- We saw a bit more of Arya's journey into the assassins guild this week. Jaqen H'ghar is as usual being annoyingly cryptic about everything, which is probably because so far the house of black and white seems to be a glorified suicide booth where people worship the god of death before offing themselves. After getting into a fight with a bitch played by Faye Marsay Arya is told by Jaqen that in order to become one of the faceless men she must first become 'no one' and that means giving up all of Arya Stark's possessions. This leads to the emotionally charged scene of Arya deciding whether or not she should give up Needle, the sword that Jon Snow gifted to her back in season 1 before he left for the Wall. She's obviously not willing to let everything go just yet, choosing to hide the sword instead of committing it the depths. They seem to be hinting at an identity crisis for her this season (or in this case a lack of one), her lust for revenge is the reason why she came to this place and itgoes against EVERYTHING the assassin's guild stands for, because they're all about removing any emotion you might have once had. Arya not being Arya is a grim prospect so I hope she will continue to retain who she is. Also can we skip the floor sweeping and just get straight to the assassin training? 

- No Jaime/Bronn this time: BOOOOO! 

- We got a lot of good stuff with Tyrion in 'High Sparrow'. It's sad to see the Varys/Tyrion pairing end (I hope this isn't the last we see of Varys this season) but Jorah kidnapping him is a great cliffhanger that instantly makes you want to grab the remote and switch over to the next episode, mainly because this is the first time any of Dany's people have interacted with anyone from Westeros, plus Jorah is a badass and there's a lot of potential in this team-up. The irony is of course on Jorah, who is taking Tyrion exactly where he wants to go. Will delivering a Lannister be enough to sway Dany back to his side though? I think he's grasping at straws. Aside from the ending scene did anyone else think that the actress who played the prostitute was a bit too good for a simple extra? She had great chemistry with Tyrion in that short little scene, I wonder if we'll be seeing more of her? 

Littlefinger, king of badass quotes.

- So the best segment this week was Sansa's, who's storyline has gone from 'we'll see where this goes' to 'HOLY CRAP THIS JUST GOT INTERESTING' as Littlefinger has convinced her to marry Ramsay Bolton, of all people. This was quite the reveal, we're once again seeing two separate storylines converge into big events (Stannis/Jon, Tyrion/Daenerys?). Seeing the two biggest schemers on the show ally is quite exciting, even if Petyr Baelish is leagues ahead of Roose Bolton when it comes to scheming. Suffice to say they're wisely untrustworthy of one another, which is kind of hilarious considering their backstabbing backgrounds. Littlefinger's reasons for arranging this deal are a bit murky, it's hard to tell if he's genuinely caring for Sansa or just using her as a pawn in his next big power grab. Either way this is an extremely intriguing development which means a) Sansa is going to interact with Theon, b) when Stannis attacks the North it won't look good when Sansa if married to the enemy and c) Ramsay's girlfriend(s) are out for blood. By the way did anyone else shout 'NOOOOO!' when Baelish said he knew practically nothing about Ramsey? Surely that's something he would have looked into, but I guess if he even had passing knowledge of Ramsay's escapades this deal wouldn't even be a consideration. As for Ramsay did anyone else think he was oddly...genuine towards Sansa this episode? It would be interesting to see if he will be any different in Sansa's presence, maybe she can rein him in with her womanly wiles? Again, his girlfriend doesn't look happy.

- We also mustn't forget the third party in all this, Brienne is still on Sansa's tail and will likely be at Winterfell in the next few episodes. It's interesting to see different factions converging around Winterfell and the Wall, Sansa marrying Ramsay in time for Stannis launching an all out attack on the North would be epic enough for the infamous upcoming ninth episode. Brienne is a big wildcard in the midst of all this, her desire to kill Stannis (who isn't aware of her threat) could very well prove to be his undoing...or she could bust Sansa out of Winterfell, foiling Littlefinger and the Bolton's plans. Let's also not forget that Stannis's offer to Jon is still very much on the table, what if Jon is the one to attack Winterfell? This is all very exciting.

So a great episode this week then, with all featured characters undergoing significant developments. Nothing can beat Game Of Thrones when it's running at full steam, and this week things are getting very heated indeed. GOT ranking: 8,5/10.

Game Of Thrones: The House Of Black And White

Following a solid but slightly disappointing opener Game Of Thrones delivers a couple of killer scenes in 'The House Of Black And White'. It's still set-up in a few places and we're just starting to see the pieces move but the various segments were all better than those in 'The Wars To Come', in general a slightly longer running time allowed for a bit more focus than last week's frantic pace. Once again here are my thoughts on the various moving pieces:

- We didn't get a lot of Tyrion this week, basically the equivalent of a minor update. Despite the limited screen time his pairing with Varys once again threatens to steal the show. Depressed Tyrion is clearly feeling a lot of guilt, he practically quotes Walter White by admitting that the reason he didn't run away with Shae back in season 4 is because he "liked it". Add to that Varys' quote (“They will never follow us. They find us repulsive and we find them repulsive, which is why we surround ourselves with large, comfortable boxes to keep them away. Yet no matter what we do, people like you and me are never really satisfied inside the box”) and what we basically have here are the portraits of two well intentioned misfits who get kicks out of outwitting everyone else. As Tyrion smartly pointed out back in season 1 we're largely watching a show about cripples, bastards and broken things, and it remains compelling to see these oddballs face off against the overwhelming odds and cruel nature of Westeros.

- Speaking of surviving overwhelming odds Arya is somehow after four seasons still alive and has devolved by now into a bloodthirsty murderer intent on killing everyone who has wronged her family. It's why she's so eager to get inside the titular house of black and white, to become one of the faceless men. Arya's introduction to the season was a bit meh, however we did get to see more of Bravos and the re-reveal of Jaqen H'ghar was unexpected and awesome. As for what's inside the house? I guess that's for next time, I for one expect many a training montage.

Why is it called the house of black and white again?

- The second Bronn showed up I punched the air. It's a shame he'll probably never interact with Tyrion again but the show offers us the next best thing: a Jaime and Bronn team-up to rescue Myrcella from Dorne! I'm going to declare this short 4 minute segment as my favorite scene of the episode, everything from Bronn's simple minded wife to the casually implied murder ("Bad things happen to mean people...") and his reaction to seeing Jaime ("That's Jaime F*CKING Lannister") was effortlessly portrayed by Jerome Flynn. Not only is this a fun team-up but it finally pays off on Jaime's sword fighting practice scenes with Bronn from season 4, which were fun but seemed inconsequential back then. I mean come on, Jaime and Bronn going on an adventure together to Dorne? Who wouldn't want to see that? F*CK YEAH! I'm in.

- Back in Kings Landing Cersei continues to mess things up by populating the small council with idiots and psychopaths. She's also ordering the head of every dwarf in the kingdom, because of course she would do that. Obviously the arrival of that thinly veiled threat (IT'S A THREAT JAIME!) from Dorne isn't helping with her crazy levels, so she's all for Jaime going on a suicide mission to Dorne. Reckless decision making and assuming power you don't have are all big no no's in GOT so she's clearly on her way down. You reap what you sow, as they say. As for the mad doctor, what could he possibly want a dwarfs head for? Please don't tell me this has to do with his experiments on the mountain...

- Did anyone else think that the sudden transition to Dorne was a bit odd here? This is a completely new locale for the show and it felt shoved in rather workmanlike into the episode with barely any fanfare. We had one sweeping shot of an exotic garden, were introduced to Doran Martell for a few minutes and also setup a revenge plot for Oberyn's paramour. It was a good scene but why place it in this episode? A more natural introduction would be when Jaime and Bronn land in Dorne. We also got a glimpse of Myrcella from afar, so is she going to be a major character then? Generally when introducing new characters and locales you devote a good chunk of the episode to setting this place up, but Dorne's introduction left a lot to be desired.

She's going to be trouble...

- Brienne's story picked up a lot this week by having her encounter Sansa and Littlefinger. She once again offers her service to another Start and  gets horribly burned by Petyr Baelish's adept tongue, who makes a few good points: Brienne is a loser through and through, fighting is pretty much the only thing she's been good at so far, plus the fact the whole 'HE WAS KILLED BY A SHADOW' thing doesn't really add up. Littlefinger obviously doesn't want Brienne tagging along on his top secret mission but in a bit of a bitch move Sansa also rejects her, which is a bit stupid if you ask me. A badass knight on your side (regardless of her track record) HAS to be an upgrade over Littlefinger's creepy advances. All this lead to an angered Brienne instigating a fun chase, which showed us that a) Littlefinger's guards are bad at their job and b) Podrick is delightfully incompetent. Better luck next time Pod.

- Daenerys had a couple of good scenes this week. Once again sticking to her guns instead of doing the smart thing, she executed a good man in front of her subjects who were all begging for her to show mercy. First of all: why did she have to kill him? Lock the former slave up and then impose a death penalty for the next guy who disobeys the law. It's fair and this way she gets to keep her morals but also avoids any inevitable backlash. Also ALL of her subjects in that scene were pleading with her to let him live, popularity is an essential part of ruling. All this was apparent the second she showed up and the crowd turning against her (that hissing was creepy as hell by the way) should make a good wake up call. So Daenerys' inability to compromise continues to be her downfall. I admire her tenacity but things don't just change overnight, if you want to alter the fundamentals of the society you've conquered it's probably best to ease that stuff in slowly and discreetly, not make a big public demonstration of it. The money shot of Drogon appearing at the end was just another sign that things were about to go south, she should have been focusing on her dragons the whole time.

Sam is basically Jon's Ser Davos, he's always pushing him in the right direction.

- The biggest development of this episode was once again centered around Jon. Stannis smartly recognizes that the northerners are stubborn as hell when it comes to obeying anyone that isn't a Stark, so he offers to make Jon a Stark and help him recapture Winterfell. Jon refuses on the quite frankly bullsh*t claim that his vow to the Night's Watch matters (it totally doesn't) and literally turns down the offer of a lifetime. Thanks to Sam's rousing speech though he then gets voted into becoming commander of the Night's Watch on the same day, again refusing to accept anything that would remotely better his position even when it's in the palm of his hand. Jon you're a nice guy but why do you have to be so stupid sometimes? You yourself admitted that it was your LIFELONG DREAM to become a Stark and you still refused out of some misplaced sense of honor for a sh*thole filled with criminals and bastards. This selfless hero shtick has got to change. And can someone just promote Sam already, the guy is like a swiss knife of hidden talents and has seemingly all the luck in the world when it comes to killing white walkers and picking up chicks. So regardless of whether he wants it or not, big things or on the horizon for Jon Snow.

While nothing jaw dropping happened in season 5's second episode things are picking up, we haven't quite caught up to full speed but considering the myriad of plots they have to juggle it's remarkable anything happened at all. Overall it's an improvement over the premiere because of the inclusion of Bronn and a couple of big moments for Jon, Brienne and Daenerys. GOT ranking: 8/10

Game Of Thrones: The Wars To Come

It's interesting to see just how slow Game Of Thrones is when you're not binge watching it all in one go. There are people who will inevitably wait until the show is finished and just marathon it from start to finish in one sitting, and that's frankly the best way to watch any serialized show like this, so good on them. For the rest of us who have already succumbed to the Thrones addiction however the thought of waiting 10 months until another batch of episodes comes along is almost unbearable, especially when a good couple of these will be donated to recapping the status quo rather than advancing it. That's mostly why The Wars To Come is a slightly unsatisfying season opener for season 5, it flashes between the multitude of characters we all know and love (or love to hate) reminding us of where they are now with brutal efficiency but the segments are so brief they do little to advance the plot forward, it's purely set up at this point. 

Obviously after such an eventful season they needed to put the chess pieces back on the board: Joffrey dying, Daenerys taking Mereen, Tyrions trial, Jon Snow attacking Crasters Keep....season 4 spoiled us with event after event continuously throughout it's run, it was arguably an end to several storylines that had been simmering away in the background ever since the pilot and several major characters were offed. It was exciting. Now season 5 has to deal with the fallout of all that so I can understand them applying the breaks for a while. Tywin hitting the bucket was a big deal, he was one of the show's best and most powerful villains so naturally we need to see Cersei's reaction to that. Tyrion just murdered his girlfriend AND his father in one night, we need to see the repercussions of that. The Wall has been taken over by Stannis, got to show that etc.... before they can set-up where we're going next we have to look at the now. That's frustrating as a Thrones fan because we're severely malnourished and we crave for our Thrones fix i.e we want things to move along, to get straight to 'the meat' if you will. Aside from the very end this episode was rather uneventful, but the various one on one character interactions were pretty great and it was a solid episode of Thrones. I guess you could say it wasn't the one we deserve but it's one that we needed?

Lannister family disputes, they're a dime a dozen nowadays.

So where are we now then? Cersei and Jaime are mourning over Tywin, Tyrion is a depressive alcoholic in Pentos with Varys, Daenerys is under threat from group known as the Sons of the Harpy, Littlefinger is taking Sansa somewhere, Brienne is without purpose/miserable and Jon unsuccessfully convinces Mance to bend the knee. At 10 episodes a season Game Of Thrones is straining to fit it's myriad of protagonists together and give them something meaningful to do, The Wars To Come is the first episode I can think of (remember I binge watched seasons 1-3) that has this problem. Again we desperately want something big to happen after an explosive fourth season but we might have to wait a couple of episodes for things to pick up. 

Rather than write a paragraph focused on one specific element of the show I've decided to change format a little, make it a bit more readable. From now on I'll give an overview of the episode as a whole and then give a list of assorted ramblings: 

- "There are faster ways to kill yourself". "Not for a coward." We feel bad for Tyrion as he's the classic underdog archetype, the guy who has everything against him that you hope will succeed. Is it wrong that I like drunk depressed Tyrion better than regular Tyrion? Wit was on full display this episode, so far the Tyrion and Varys pairing has been pure gold. Sure we've seen them together before but now Varys' optimism acts as the perfect foil to Tyrions pessimism. The truth is we watch Game Of Thrones to see these kind of opposite personalities interact, the show's wealth of well written characters offer up endless combinations of juicy interactions, this being one of them. Peter Dinklage and Conleth Hill are outstanding, every second spent with them is a delight to watch. 

What's up with Mesilandre and her obsessive need to burn people? 

- Poor Jon Snow, still having to make the tough decisions. Arguably the best part of the episode (the longest and most in-depth segment), Mance's refusal to bend the knee and suffer a fiery grave was seen as inevitable to everyone from the beginning. It's a shame we didn't see more of Mance, him and Ygritte were the only wildlings we ever really got to see in detail and now they're both dead. Ideally we should have had a couple more scenes with Mance in season 4 before the attack, our run-ins with wildling culture have been far too brief. Despite limited screen time Ciaran Hinds excelled in every scene he was in and his refusal to give in to Stannis, to have 'the freedom to make a mistake' was perfectly put in his speech with Jon, who also had a few good points. I especially love that he was genuinely afraid of dying, it's little details like this that we just don't get in the majority of other shows. As for Jon's decision to prematurely kill Mance, this offers an interesting wrinkle to his involvement with Stannis and I'm interested to see how the Wall storyline pans out for once now that it isn't focused solely on Jon and Sam. 

- I thought the Cersei flashback was a bit odd, partly because we've never seen a flashback in GOT before! It definitely added to Cersei's motivations but why we couldn't we have had an expository scene like every other character talking about their past on this show (see Brienne this episode)? What made this memory so special, why disrupt a supposed established rule of no flashbacks? Anyways the scene that followed in the red keep was juicy, Jaime must have one hell of a guilty conscience.

- I'm glad we're getting more male nudity on the show, the showrunners are clearly biased towards boobs but why not a couple more dicks here and there? Yeah they're not my thing but equal representation is important no? As a show full of amazing female characters the overabundance of shameless nudity biased towards the likings of one particular gender is startling to get unsettling. But then again most of the violence depicted is men on men so is that sexist as well, shouldn't more female characters get stabbed? Hmmm...

Depressed drunk Tyrion is the best!

- What's Littlefinger up to? Guess we'll have to wait and see....

- I like that Daenerys is trying really hard to 'earn' her position as ruler, but to quote Varys "that takes work". We've seen time and time again on this show that being morally right doesn't mean sh*t, the bad guys continuously win because they refuse to adhere to any sort of moral code and the hero's inability to compromise on their morals is their undoing. Daenerys' refusal to compromise by opening the fighting pits is making me worried, she could very quickly be heading into Ned Stark territory if she isn't careful. I love that there isn't any right answer to ruling correctly, she's constantly faced with shitty options like this. GOT is constantly trying to convey that ruling isn't all that's it cracked up to be, this isn't a case of (to quote Cersei from season 1) "When you play the game of thrones you either win or you die", you can still win AND still die afterwards, they're not mutually exclusive. We all know from the trailers that Dany is being set up for a fall, and when sh*t does hit the fan it's going to be a rough watch. 

- The CGI of the harpy falling was great if a bit unnecessary. They could have easily cut that part out and gone straight to the brothel scene. I can see the urge to put a big money shot in the opener but still. Guess it's just them throwing their money around at this point? 

So yeah, not bad by any means but nothing spectacular either. At the end of the day any Game Of Thrones is good Game Of Thrones, and an average episode of Game Of Thrones is still better than 99% of TV out there, it's just frustrating as a fan to wait such a long time and not be immediately satiated. Maybe episode 2 will pick things up more? GOT ranking: 7/10 

My Top 5 Dream Game Ideas

It should be pretty clear to you now that I f*cking love video games, perhaps more than any other medium. A lot of that is because of their interactive nature, you must be an active participant in the experience if you want to get anything out of it. This leads to many things that are unique to video games: immersion, sense of presence, customization/shaping the experience to your liking, better satisfaction/time ratio, branching narrative paths and replayability. Because it's still a burgeoning medium (roughly around 30 years old now, which is nothing compared to over a hundred years of film) there's still a bunch of stuff that developers haven't yet mastered. With film you can make the argument that we've pretty much got the basics down by now even though elements like special effects and set design are still being improved to this day. Games however still have a ton of room to grow (not just graphically) and can still tap into unrealized potential that other mediums just don't have. So when drafting my list of 'dream' game ideas I think you'll be quick to see that I value narrative, open worlds and mechanics above all else i.e things I think we can improve upon. Some of them are pure wish fulfillment, a few could change the games industry as we know it or fail miserably and one of them might be a bit to ambitious, but regardless these are the games that I hope to someday play: 

Linear games were soooo yesterday.

A procedurally generated narrative game:

If a computer can randomly generate a world why not a narrative? What if one day we could ask a computer to randomly generate a game (narrative and all) from a vast database of assets and just magic one into existence? Sure artists would have to go in and do some touch up work to make sure it doesn't resemble 50 gazillion games all thrown into one but it's not impossible to think that this could be a thing. 'No Man's Sky' engine is doing this exact thing by randomly generating planets for the player to explore. We've yet to see a game that can apply this method to storytelling though. Basically what I'm thinking about is similar to what this guy is working on:

If what Ken Levine is making ever comes to fruition it could change the way we handle narrative in games. The idea of "Narrative Legos" is from a design standpoint a really fascinating concept, something that has already proven to be mightily effective even when used in simple ways like 'Shadow Of Mordor', a game which I must get around to playing someday. In 'Mordor' enemies are generated uniquely with each playthrough of the game. Each 'nemesis' has their own personality and will rise or fall within their social structure as the game progresses. They are affected by the players actions and each will react differently, be it fight, flight, or some other reaction like remembering a previous fight with the player. Because this 'story' is procedurally generated and from a programming standpoint is turned into several interlocking bits of Legos (a bunch of X, Y and Z's that are randomly thrown together by the game's engine) every time you play 'Mordor' the narrative of you vs the Orc you're facing feels fresh because they are all distinct from one another and they feel unique to the player. Quality is a thing to factor in of course when undertaking such an ambitious idea, what Levine is talking about requires a lot more work than Shadow Of Mordor. Logistically it must be a nightmare, the amount of content needed would be enormous (mostly to do with VO and script size) and that's without considering whether it could all come together as a cohesive whole not to mention boast a story as compelling as what any linear game could offer. The pay-off however would be a game that rewards multiple playthroughs and a non-linear story that is literally tied to your every move. Procedurally generated games like Mordor, No Man's Sky and (hopefully) Ken Levine's next game could be the future of game design and help developers craft their increasingly ginormous worlds and stories. 

Come on, tell me this isn't mindblowingly amazing.

History walking simulator with Oculus Rift support:

Since the emergence of 3D open worlds games have opened up a whole new bag of potential: fully explorable, stunningly realized worlds with incredible detail and fidelity. Just look at GTA V, it has a massive recreation of Los Angeles that's packed full of cities, mountain ranges, lakes, towns, deserts, forests, highways....but zoom in on any of these locations and you'll find a ton of nooks and crannies that are full of little details that makes the world you're in feel alive. Open worlds are quite frankly getting ridiculous at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if GTA VI covers an entire country. What if we could use this knack for massive, all encompassing immersive virtual spaces for something that's less tied to the 'sandbox' stigma. Maybe something more, dare I say it...educational? How about we make a game that takes us back to the past and relive (in incredible detail) the events and day to day life of human history? It wouldn't need any gameplay, I'm talking about a pure walking simulator akin to 'Gone Home' or an FPS' sans a gun blocking your vision. It's just you the player as a floating camera exploring history from the beginning of time (how about the dinosaurs as a start point?) to today while reading up on several informative pieces about what you're seeing. 

This has already been put in practice several times in the Assassins Creed series. AC has always added it's own flair to things true, it's often tried to blend fact with fiction when it comes to it's myriad of muddled plots but the essential core of my idea is still there: for me the AC games essentially serve as historical tourism. I've already 'experienced' Jerusalem during the crusades, 14th century Rennaissance Italy, Constantinople, the 17th century Jamaicas, Revolutionary America and Revolutionary Paris during the 1800s. AC Unity is perhaps one of the most beautiful games I've ever played and regardless of it's crap storyline and bug addled beginnings it got right what mattered the most to me and that was it's setting (I'm drooling just thinking about climbing Notre Dame again). Ubisoft puts care in it's recreations of time periods, which isn't to say they're a 100% accurate but nonetheless perfectly capture the feel of that era. But this got me thinking, what if there was a first person mod for Unity that enabled Oculus Rift support? Virtual reality headsets are all the rage right now, I would gladly pay for the game again just to walk around Paris at night in Versailles with the sights filling up my vision in 360 degrees. There's even a game being Kickstarted now that's about you experiencing a faithfully recreated Titanic as it sinks into the ocean (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/titanic-honor-and-glory-phase-2). Doesn't that sound cool? Surely history buffs would be all over this? They can even show it off in museums: forget reading about the revolution, experience it! You can see the declaration of independence in real life, and then put on an Oculus Rift next to it and see the founders signing it themselves in 3D. No more boring history classes with only a few images in textbooks to go by, we could literally put on a headset and experience the past. I mean I can't be the only person to have thought of this surely? It's to good NOT to happen and Ubisoft are practically doing it now. So why don't we just get them on the job and ask them to remove everything that doesn't adhere to history as we now it (especially any semblance of a killer assassin jumping off a tall building into a cart of hay and somehow never suffering any life ending spinal breakages). This is one of the ways games can trump any other medium out there, the ability to visit worlds we can only dream about. For me this is the ultimate representation of that, the past reborn.

Try getting out of this one...

Procedurally generated open world survival zombie game MMO with destructible environments:

Given the limited hardware of today this might be a bit difficult to pull off but f*ck it, this is my dream list after all. To put it bluntly I want a Walking Dead simulator, one that gives the player total control over what he wants to do and throws him into the zombie apocalypse to see if/how he survives. Think of it as a melange of 'State of Decay' crossed with 'Day Z', any clan based MMO and 'Dead Rising'. Yes I know what you're thinking.....that does sound awesome doesn't it? If you want my opinion you combine those three games into one we pretty much have the perfect zombie survival simulator. At it's basics 'State of Decay' traps you and a bunch of survivors inside a struggling community and it's up to you to go and scavenge for supplies in an open world to improve your homebase. While certain aspects of this sandbox are procedural like loot locations and layouts/missions. You can also meet up and partner with a few other scripted communities to change homes. 'Day Z' is bit like State of Decay but it's just you on your own and is much more hardcore. In Day Z ammo is scarce, you need to do things like eat and drink to survive (a mechanic that NEVER gets put in games, whether you eat anything or not) and both zombies and other players are deadly and will not hesitate to kill you and take your stuff. 'Dead Rising' is great fun because of it's ability to generate massive crowds of zombies, thousands of them in fact and gives the player a variety of options/scenario's to kill them with. Add all this in with an MMO-like design: people can form big clans/communities and wage war with each other and you've got one hell of a zombie game on your hands. You might as well just throw in some environmental destruction (if a player fires a rocket launcher at a support structure of a building, it will fall) to spruce things up a bit. If I had to make a fake description it would sound like this.

"In ULTIMATE ZOMBIE SIM players can band together and will have to face the brutal conditions of the Zombie Apocalypse first hand. In a world without mercy, survival is paramount and groups will be forced to attack each other constantly for limited supplies. Players can also build bases anywhere they want all inside a procedurally generated world that periodically changes and where environmental destruction could be pivotal to any fight. Players will also be faced with hordes of the moaning undead that can number in the thousands and attack at any time, along with real life needs like starvation, dehydration, multiple diseases, blood infections, suicidal tendancies and cannibalism. Basically, you're going to kill and be killed a lot, and you're going to love every second of it. ZOMBIE SURVIVAL SIM, THE ULTIMATE GAME ABOUT ZOMBIES."

As for how all this could be accomplished I already named four developers who should just smash all their games together to make this one big game, so why not just do that? I mean it can't be that hard, it's not like these games run on different engines, software and have different coding techniques right? Right?? RIGHT??!!! Shut up, this game will happen one day, mark my words. At the very least it's more likely than an ACTUAL zombie apocalypse.

Oh Bioshock, how I love ye.

Bioshock: A Telltale Game

This one has to be a no-brainer. The Bioshock games are renowned for their excellent writing so surely giving the reins of the franchise over to Telltale, a burgeoning studio that's renowned for it's storytelling would make a crap ton of sense. Since Irrational Games shut down in early 2014 the future of the Bioshock franchise has been left unclear but it's safe to say that handing it over to another studio to continue the franchise is probably the most likely answer. Telltale would be kinda perfect and giving it to them would be mean freeing the franchise from it's FPS roots to take on a different genre that plays to it's strengths. If I had an issue with 'Bioshock Infinite' it's that the incessant and bloody mowing down of hundreds of dudes got in the way of the expertly crafted story it was trying to tell. Gameplay is nice and all but we play Bioshock for the world, and in Infinite's case the ludonarrative dissonance between the narrative and the gameplay was to wide. Telltale games are 100% story so this would suit me nicely. Plot-wise there's so many things they could do: a game featuring Rapture before the Civil War and watching as it gradually all goes to sh*t, choosing Between Ryan and Fontaine or maybe even one set in Columbia that ties up several unanswered threads about Elizabeth's fate. The series has literally set up the possibility of a million possibilities and it's not like 2K wouldn't hand one of their franchises over to another company to do a spin-off, they've already partnered with Telltale for 'Tales From The Borderlands' so there's definitely precedent for this happening. A continuation of the franchise by Telltale would be a dream come true, and again it's immediate potential of awesomeness is so high 2K must be INSANE to have not discussed this with Telltale at some point. MAKE THIS HAPPEN 2K!!! In any case, I'll just be happy for more Bioshock, with or without gameplay.

No Man's Sky: the ONLY open world sci-fi game (Fallout doesn't count)?

An open world science fiction game :

Up until a few years ago I would have said that my most requested sandbox game would be a pirate simulator. Now that we've had Black Flag what else tickles my fancy? Again for me one of the main draws of playing games is getting to experience other 'worlds', whether it be fantasy, reality or future based. I lost my mind back in 2006 playing 'The Simpsons Game' because the idea that I could walk around all of Springfield and go from the Simpsons house to Krusty Burger down the road was basically magic to my ten year old self. Now I recognize that the game is kinda shitty but the point still stands, open world sandbox games are awesome because you get to explore everywhere. For all the open world games that are out there now, I'm struggling to recall if I've played any that show off an extensive science fiction landscape. Why aren't there any open world Sci-Fi games? Is it really to hard to design a futuristic landscape? Are flying cars and spaceships to difficult to program? It's an odd exclusion, thankfully I think one upcoming game has me covered: whatever Mass Effect 4 turns out to be. With 'Dragon Age Inquisition' Bioware have set their sights on big, beautiful explorable zones and so far we've been lead to believe that Mass Effect with follow suite. I'm already feeling giddy about exploring alien planets, encountering new species ala Star Trek but how about something more....familiar? Look I'm just going to go ahead and type what we've all been thinking: an open world Star Wars game would be rad. We've all wanted to explore the Death Star, visit Hoth and have drinks at the bar on Tatooine etc.... it has potential to blow our brains against the wall if done right. With EA at the helm of all things Star Wars related in games this dream might soon be a reality, and I'm hoping that they're upcoming 'Star Wars Battlefront' delivers. If they like something that endlessly prints money it should be their priority at this point. Once again my wishes are being fulfilled with 'No Man's Sky' but what's stopping other developers like *SHIVERS* Rockstar from giving sci-fi a whurl? Space is infinite so that can be daunting for developers but we've got to at least try right? I'm not against fantasy RPGs or anything but it's about time we got a science fiction version of 'Skyrim'. 

My Predictions For Game Of Thrones Season 5

For the uninitiated Game Of Thrones is sans-hyperbole the greatest TV show on earth. Every year we get treated to 10 movie quality episodes of pure awesomeness,  packed with spectacular visual effects, a grade A cast that was clearly picked from the top of the pile and all of the intrigue, political back stabbings, sex and gore you could want in a TV show. To put it bluntly there’s nothing even remotely close to its scale or budget on television right now....and now it's late March, so you know what that means? OMG NEW SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES IS ON THE WAY! While I was a late bloomer and only started seriously watching the show when the fourth season hit (I binge watched seasons 1-3 over the course of a week) me and many other people all over the world had to endure the excruciatingly long 10 month wait in full before we could hear that sweet, sweet theme playing on our TV's again. We're not quite there yet but in just two more weeks we'll finally be able to get our Thrones fix. To help ease the pain I've composed a list of everything I expect will happen in the new season, mostly for my self-enjoyment but also to shout I TOLD YOU SO when all of these wind up becoming true: 

1) Theon is finally going to break free from Ramsay:

After two seasons of enduring both physical and mental torture I think it's finally time for Theon to grow a backbone and get the hell away from the Boltons. I mean what else can you do with him at this point? The guy is broken at this point and once you've had your dick chopped off there's no way it can possibly get worse for a man. He's basically the writer's punching bag. I think we're all a bit tired of it at this point as there's only so much torturing we can endure before it feels exploitative, not to mention it makes narrative sense for him to come to senses and either escape and/or turn on Ramsay at some point. I mean why are we following this character if he's just going to remain Ramsay's b*tch? What purpose does he serve to the overall story? Theon is going to snap at some point this season and grow a pair of balls for once (lol). Well...unless they somehow come up with new ways for Ramsay Snow to f*ck with him for another 10 episodes. 

2) Say goodbye to a bunch of supporting characters:

This is a given for pretty much any season but I'm going to place my bets: Jorah, Brienne and Bronn. I think all three of them have run out of places to go. Bronn is a badass, silver tongued rogue who will either marry the princess he was going on about to Tyrion last season or perish saving Jaime (SPOILERS: Bronn and Jaime are going to Dorne to get Myrcella Baratheon). He's a fun character but aside from Jerome Flynn's scene stealing portrayal where else could we go with Bronn after season 5? Then we have Ser Jorah, Daenerys friend zoned adviser who was exiled at the end of season 4. Again an idiot can figure out this goes only two ways: he either a) gets back with Daenerys and they fall in love or b) dies heroically saving her, 'redeeming' himself for spying on her back in season 1. Considering Dany has already made it pretty clear that she's royally pissed off with him I don't see option a) happening any time soon, plus she's already got generic good looking guy number #84 to hook up with. With all that in mind Jorah is pretty much confirmed to die this season. Unless he hooks up with Tyrion...now that would be badass. As for Brienne what else do we do with her? She's a walking tank with a duty to fufill but unless she hooks up with Sansa or goes on the hunt for Arya (again) there's no reason to keep her or Podrick around. Overall I can see the show culling a lot of supporting characters that in the grand scheme of things don't add much to overall conflict of the show. The cast is like 200 strong at this point and with Dorne being introduced someone has got to hit the chopping block this season. Also don't count on the books as a guide, executive producers Benioff and Weiss have warned us that they'll be killing characters off this season that (as of now) aren't dead yet in the books. 

This isn't looking good...

3) Sh*ts going down in Meereen:

The trailers so far have been putting a lot of emphasis on a big conflict in Meereen, so I think it's safe to say things won't be going rosy for Dany in Essos. Considering the film-worthy shot of the golden statue being dragged down the temple (something I can't see Dany doing) a war between the slave masters and Daenerys army seems inevitable. Although I wonder who the people in the golden masks are? We see a brief shot of them in the trailer cornering Daenerys, Jorah, Missandei, Greyworm and generic good looking guy No #84 in the middle of a gladiator pit. What possible motive could these guys have? Either way I see episode 9 being a BIG battle in Meereen, possibly ending in Daenerys leaving Meereen behind. The gladiator pit scene would also make for a great send-off for Jorah, holding back the fighters while Daenerys escapes maybe? Oh, and there's NO WAY those dragons are going to be locked up for long. Meereen is going to be a big steaming mess at the end of the season, I guarantee it. 

4) Tyrion and Daenerys are going to team up:

The trailers have been teasing this pretty hard so I'd be surprised if this didn't actually happen. For a long time now the characters on the show have been drifting further and further away from each other, but Tyrion going to Essos means a collision course with Daenerys is inevitable and could perhaps signal the start of characters converging on each other again. I mean why else would he go to Essos? We've been waiting a long time now for Daenerys to get into contact with someone from Westeros as she sometimes feels separate from the rest of the goings on, but with Tyrion? This is perfect. It'll be one hell of a team up, basically putting two of the shows flagship characters together in the same place. The best moments of the show is when they pair-up opposing characters with one another and watch the sparks fly (Brienne and Podrick, pretty much anyone with Arya, Jon and Stannis...) so this is the thing I'm most excited for as the potential is enormous. I can literally hear millions of fans (myself included) squeeing in delight the second this happens. As for how she'll react to Tyrion, I'm guessing they'll become instant best mates. Tyrion is a charming guy and there is a vacant adviser spot left by Jorah. Tyrion and Daenerys taking on the rest of Westeros? F*CK YEAH GO TEAM DANY! 

Somebody is going over to the dark side of the force...

5) Sansa's going on a revenge killstreak:

When a character starts wearing black you know they mean business. All signs point to Sansa hardening this season and going all 'dark sansa' on the people who wronged the Starks. Think of her as being Arya mark II, just being less stabby stabby and more persuading Littlefinger with her womanly wiles to f*ck guys over. This is of course what we all wanted to see, it's just a shame we've had to wait until season 5 to finally see it. If I were to take a guess as to her plans I expect she'll end up meeting the Bolton's (there's a shot of her in the Winterfell crypts in the trailer, and we know that's where the Boltons are going) and coming into contact with Theon, possibly persuading him to come to his senses. 

6) The Tyrells claim all the power:

Poor Lannisters. In season 4 they basically imploded on themselves and without Tywin Lannister on their side I think the days of them ruling over the Seven Kingdoms is over. Meanwhile the Tyrells have been quietly plotting away since season 2 and they're the clear victor after successfully plotting Joffrey's death (with the bonus knock-off effect of Tywin hitting the bucket later down the road) and now Cersei is the only one standing in their way to prevent them from total ownership over the crown. We know Tommen will be marrying Margaery this season so no matter how much Cersei disapproves the Tyrells are slowly grasping the crown through Margaery's influence on the king. The next step would be to obviously take out Cersei but I have a feeling she'll do that for them, if not out of her own stupidity then through her ties with Jaime. Sudden shifts of power is another one of the most satisfying things about the show (it's all part of the intrigue), and I think we're about to see another one as far the Tyrells are concerned. Unless Stannis gets in on the act of course, but it's far to early for that to happen again.

What happened to these guys again? This was like three seasons ago!

7) More White Walkers!

Considering we see them at least once every season this isn't much of a stretch but everytime they show up we get to see and know more about them. After five years of build-up I think it's finally time to see the Ice zombies take up the offensive or at least attack SOMETHING to keep their presence known. Maybe we'll see them attacking the wall or a wilding settlement? With a wilding army under his command Stannis could potentially be the one to seek them out but that seems way too risky and a bit premature considering we're only on the fifth season. This show's endgame is definitely going to involve the White Walkers in some form or another but the longer it goes on the less important these guys appear. The show has to acknowledge this massive zombie army sooner or later and I think season 5 is where the sh*t might start hitting the fan up in the north. 

8) Stannis is taking on the Freys/Boltons:

With Stannis in control of the Wall and the Wildlings under his command there's nowhere to go but down and that means running into the Boltons. Considering the Boltons are allied with the Lannisters I don't see them letting Stannis pass through so conflict is inevitable. Hmm...Stannis the Mannis vs Ramsay  'dick chopper' Snow? That would be an epic fight. There's no way we're making it through season 5 without this at least being elaborated on, the Boltons are going to find out about Stannis talking control of the wall and they won't be happy about it. Question is: will Stannis choose to focus his efforts on stopping the White Walkers or will he just go back to conquering? I imagine it'll be Jon's job to deal with those icy bastards leaving Stannis room to take the north. If seasons 3 and 4 were about him plotting his comeback then season 5 is ideally were we start to see him actually do stuff other than participating in satanic rituals and appealing to a loan from a bank. 

9) Dorne is going to become a major player:

Another emphasis this year is on Dorne ruled by the Martells, Oberyns family. The Martells have so far barely been touched upon but they must be pissed with Oberyns death so expect that to change. From my understanding they're a fairy big player in the seven kingdoms so pissing them off is NOT a good idea. The Martells have also got Mrycella Baratheon which is considerable leverage against Cersei. This seems to be why Cersei is sending Jaime and Bronn to Dorne, to get their daughter back and cease any control the Martells have over her. Also if Oberyn is any indication, these guys are badasses AND they're very quick to form grudges. So watch out kings landing, the Martells are on your ass and they're thirsty for blood. Mark my words they're going to do something vicious and I wouldn't want to be a Lannister when that happens. 

Who will it be this time? 

10) You know who will get stabbed.....a lot:

I was already spoiled on this and it's EXTREMELY likely this particular event will occur towards the end of season, possibly a cliffhanger at the end of episode 10. It's one of the last 'big' moments left from the books that we now about (we run out of books after this point) so they'd be crazy not to include it. So yeah, this isn't so much a prediction as a certainty. I for one cannot wait to see fan outcry online afterwards, like all great Thrones' deaths you'll never see this one coming and further solidifies that none of the characters on this show are safe. Valar Morghulis mutherf*ckers. 

While a lot of these are obvious based on stuff we know from the trailer and foreknowledge from the books keep this in mind: unlike other seasons of the show season 5 seems be going severely of course based on what we know from the books (not to mention several murmurings on WTF? going around on the web from book readers). A lot of these changes have presumably been made to streamline the fat wad of pages in books 4 and 5 that ultimately have no impact on the major plot lines and thus keep the focus on the primary characters that we all know and love. This coupled with the fact that a lot of the character's have caught up with their book counterparts early or gone wildly off point basically means that anything is fair game at this point, which is super exciting as a Thrones fan because for once we have no idea  what's coming. Buckle up guys, the wait is almost over.