Hopefully this season will be a bit more positive in that some good guys actually survive and there's not as much sadistic pleasure taken in offing the heroes. That Martin is one sadistic puppy.

I loved the new episode - it was just as good as would have wanted. I thought the new characters were introduced smoothly, the old plot lines renewed. So far so good. Of course we're still pretty much in the third book's milieu/plot. So. Let's see. But a big thumbs up from me this week.

It went by really quickly.

My wife had the entire previous season running on one of the HBO Channels all day. By the time we got to the new one, it seemed to fly by in a few minutes.

But very good.

Did they recast the hunky long haired guy that was with the dragon lady at the end of last season? Or is the guy with a beard someone else?

Same guy recast. For some reason, they went with a completely different looking actor.

I dunno, Robert - someone else can answer that because I'm not so clear on the books (haven't read that one for at least three years) and there are potential spoilers there I think.

Yeah, I hope they compress her whole arc and get right to the dragons.

Not clicking on that spoiler. Didn't read the books.

Okay. Thanks.

And someone did answer.

But it's Steve so - you know

Oberyn Martell was perfectly cast. Pod is aging quickly. The scene with the Hound and Arya was amazingly well done. Joffrey is still a little bitch that everyone wants to slap. All in all a very good episode.

Ironically, it's not much of a spoiler.

Between seasons I get caught in the wave of negativity surrounding GRRM work habits, but the I watch the show and I remember why I love both the show and the books. It was a damn good episode, and they keep knocking it out of the park with the casting; Oberyn Martell ws perfect, as was the presentation of Dorne. And they know when to pause a little bit and let a scene breathe, like they did with Arya's important arc point.

Like a metaphor for a paradox.

Filing it under Thing Few People Care:

I was disappointed that Oathkeeper looked like a regular sword, without the black and red blade of the books.

Little things like that bother me too sometimes, especially when it would take so little effort. Why can't the Targaryans have violet eyes? Not that hard to do with colored contact lenses.

After seeing how much Pod has aged, I'm worried about Bran when he appears. It's going to be very odd to see him as an adult when they shoot the episodes from Dance with Dragons. Even odder next to the adult who plays Jojen who seems to be stuck at the age of 14. In retrospect, he should have been cast as Bran I guess.

The aging worked with Arya, it would've been difficult to see her becoming harder and more violent as a 5 year old.

Nice try Luthor.

The thing about Swanderson is that he .

Nice guy, tho.

That'd better not be true.

That was masterful.

Speaking of that sword, that was Ice (Ned's sword) that Tywin melted down to make the two smaller swords, right? I noticed that the prologue came right after the two beheadings from a season one flashback. And Tywin says he got the Valyrian steel from someone that no longer had need of it.

That's a big change from the book, where they made a big deal out of sending Ice back to Winterfell.