I heard no hype going into it and I thought the finale was very good. The Brienne/Hound fight was brutal and intense. I was on the edge of my seat. I just wish I knew what Arya's deal was when the Hound was laying there, dying. I didn't understand why she didn't kill him, or even speak. Can anyone shed more light on that (in a non-spoilery way)?

I really wanted Tyrion to pull that trigger on Tywin, but I'm afraid he's going a little crazy town banana pants on us.

The good news is that it seems like we may get a lot more time with Varys next season. Of course, those could be the famous last words before they kill him off in the second episode.

Nor am I.  I was just going for the easy joke. 

I'm almost caught up on this show. I've been quite impressed with how often the show re-aligns with the books after its divergences (e.g. Ramsay and Theon). Also, the finality of Robb Stark Jnr at the Red Wedding poses an interesting question for those of us who have spent the last 10 years hoping that Jeyne Westerling was carrying his child.

I always liked Stannis, 'cause for the most part, he says what he plans to do and why, and then he does it. I find him refreshingly straightforward.

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful

There's a great passage in one of the books where Stannis basically comes out and says, look I don't WANT to be king at all, but by every law in the book, I'm supposed to be king.  I don't wanna do it, but without the law we have nothing and so I'm just doing my part.  He's not wrong, of course.  The book also has a great analogy of the three Baratheon boys where someone is comparing them to different metals.  Renly is described as Copper, shiny to look at and pliant to the people, but not strong enough for real combat.  Stannis is described as Iron, rigid, inflexible, and ultimately brittle because of it.  Robert is described as the true alloy, the steel that neither of the others were.  He had charisma and was loved by the people, but he was also tough as shit and could fight for the crown.  Robert was an awful King, but its hinted heavily that he was probably the best possibility of the three in the long run.

I have not read the books, nor do I paticularly have any intense deisre too, so no.

However, re: last episode, not a whole lot to say, it remains good, Dragon effects were probably the shakiest I've ever seen this show. Some serious Philosophers Stone Quidditch vibes going on there.

But holy, can we all give a round of applause for Kerry Ingram please? That was incredible, in a bone chilling, I can't believe how horrifying this is, sort of way.

Well, not a season ender yet. One more to go.

But yeah, still, to go straight from the zombie fight to that was a bit weird.

It was so dumb. Stannis' primary character trait is "does not compromise." Dude stayed holed up in Storm's End for over a year eating rats because he wouldn't give it up to the sieging soldiers. But now he loses some food and he's immediately prepared to make THE BIGGEST COMPROMISE POSSIBLE? Two weeks after unilaterally declaring that he would not do it?

I think there's a version of this that works, but they need to actually develop Stannis' devolution into madness. Not have him do an instant heel-turn at the first sign of trouble. And most of Stannis' soldiers aren't Lord of Light followers. Why are they all just standing there? Presumably next week we'll find out that some of them abandoned the cause after this. If not...wow. This fucking show.