Season Five opens with 'The Wars To Come'. Let's discuss.

Been: Okay so overall I feel like this episode was more of a "here's where the players are on the chess board" set up episode than an action thing.

Kirk: I'm still surprised that there wasn't a fair portion of exactly that, which I don't disagree with, dedicated to Arya. Like I assumed that there was going to be a lot more happening with her and that she was going to feature more prominently, so... I don't know if they're just saving her for a future episode or what.

Been: It was low on Starks (the Starks who are left) overall. Sansa had one brief appearance and Bran wasn't in it either.

Kirk: And I mean Mister Fetch doesn't count. It's really kind of a Stark difference to the rest of the series. *chuckles in satisfaction*

Been: I'm gonna allow that pun because it's better than listening to you wax poetic about Osha and Bran warging in the fucking woods again.

Kirk: But they're going to. And then they're definitely getting married and he's going to ascend to the Iron Throne and she's going to be queen and it'll be Bran and Osha doing wargy things in the Throne Room.

Been: I can't. *pause* OKAY BUT FORGET ABOUT BRAN BECAUSE HE WASN'T IN THIS.

Kirk: Ser NotAppearingInThisEpisode?

Been: Exactly. Let's talk about redheads.

Kirk: Well, I mean due to the lighting, sort of redheads? I could have sworn a few times in the episode that Melisandre's hair was as black as Mister Fetch. But not when she was illuminated from behind by the person she was burning to death.

Been: *stage whispers* MANCE KING OF THE FREE FOLK OF THE NORTH.

Kirk: Yeah! That dude. I might have remembered his name if I'd have bothered trying.

Been: Actually I think Sansa is legitimately not redhead right now because she dyed her hair before arriving in the Eyrie to avoid detection or something?

Kirk: I don't remember that.

Been: It might be in the books. She's meant to be disguised.

Kirk: But also, I want to jump back, I don't think the name of Mance is going to be important anymore because of, you know, the fire. I really don't think he's going to be a central character or some sort of romance or something.

Been: O YE OF LITTLE FAITH. Alright, I think you're right.

Kirk: See, mostly that was just a set up to say roMANCE.

Been: I hate you and I'm moving on to Dany to punish you.

Kirk: So it seems like word of Dany's enthusiastic genocide in the name of freedom has spread to the point where she can just send emissaries to places and they just kind of collapse. But the plot thickens because she doesn't seem to have dragon backing at the moment. And I wonder how long she can keep that up and keep expanding rapidly without starting to rot at the core, basically.

Been: Yeah the whole Mother of Dragons thing isn't so much working for her right now and as we noted while watching, that's the one title that really beget a lot of her other titles so she's in danger of maybe only having two names?

Kirk: I don't know if she'll ever be down to two names. Wouldn't that be like a 98% reduction?

Been: Fair. But still, she got a lot of the names from conquest which happened because of the Mother of Dragons schtick.

Kirk: Yeah I feel like even with her army of Unsullied and other things, without the dragons, a lot of places would have had more resistance to her. It gives a certain not just power but an unknown specific element of power that tends to engender caution in the people she's oppressing in the name of freedom.

Been: Mother of Unsullied isn't quite the same.

Kirk: Although I mean as demonstrated in the episode, it seems like the Unsullied honestly need a whole lot of mothering. Or any contact or any form whatsoever.

Been: Oh speaking of mothering, let's talk Cersei.

Kirk: She seemed a little salty this episode. For some entirely unknown reason. She of course blames Tyrion and somewhat Jaime for her father's death, and "driving the family apart" which is a real bold statement from the person trying to murder her brother.

Been: In her defense - and this isn't my usual Cersei Apologist Stance, either - Tyrion actually *is* responsible for Tywin's death and she's just mad at Jaime because he's Jaime and he's there.

Kirk: She tried to say that Jaime was responsible for his death. And if you're spreading the blame around that thick there would definitely be just as much on her as there would on Jaime. I mean if she hadn't been on a crusade for years to murder her own brother then he wouldn't have ended up in the situation of killing their father.

Been: I'm not gonna argue against Cersei's lifelong quest to murder Tyrion, but I am gonna suggest that Tywin would have gotten himself murdered by one of those three kids sooner or later for one reason or another, this was just the first one that happened.

Kirk: Yeah, I mean maybe Cersei's just mad because she didn't get do it first?

Been: Cersei takes the Fuck, Marry, Kill game very literally when it comes to her family.

Kirk: Awful but not incorrect.

Been: Oh and speaking of family she's fucked, do you think that poorly-dressed cousin of hers coming back as some kind of religious zealot bodes well?

Kirk: Oh that dude's dead. He all but threatened to expose her as involved in the king's death. I'd be surprised if the next episode doesn't open with the discovery of his body. The guy is so boned. But not in the way that she would like.

Been: I guess all I have left to say is two things... I'm just sort of waiting for the next episode for the season's plot to really get rolling. And also Fuck Stannis.

Kirk: Ah, His Petulance himself.