1. Stannis is insane by any measure
2. Glad they addressed his army deserting him (but where did it go?)
3. Melisandre cutting out early was some bulllllshit
4. I thought the battle was handled well actually.
5. Don't see why people are upset at how Stannis died, assuming he's done. He didn't deserve a better death.
6. Happy for Theon to have his first redemption moment.
7. Y'all complaining about jumping into a pile of snow from 80 feet and surviving but totally willing to believe burning your daughter at the stake would make The Lord of Light melt it. (You gotta admit you're abandoning SOD in curious places!). Assume they jumped off whichever side gets the most snow and the least light. What a dumb fucking criticism.
8. Next season's Brienne arc is going to disappoint everyone no matter what -- either she's chasing Sansa and Theon or she's escorting Stannis back to the wall.
9. I thought Arya's scenes were well done by all involved. The Trant criticism seems misplaced if you understand show watchers have only seen the guy once, killing Syrio. I'm ok with them making him a lot more grotesque. Realize he had to be awful enough to cause Arya (In show-watcher eyes) to break her vows. Murder scene was glorious. Going blind scene was superb.
10. The council of Mereen scene was super expository but the Varys/Tyrion reunion was excellent.
11. The Cersei scourge was brutal but effective. Amazing how D/D can make us care for this horrible woman's pain in ways that GRRM honestly didn't handle as well.
12. Yay FrankenMountain!
13. Dany dropping the ring was a breadcrumb for people looking for her, according to post-credits D/D talk. There's no debate here, other than potential effectiveness in the middle of a vast field. Then again, a 60-foot dragon is just over the hill and Dany is being circled by a Dothraki horde she couldn't see, smell, hear, or feel coming (or her dragon) and y'all wanna talk about whether that ring being found is realistic.
14. Interesting how they handled sending Sam to Oldtown. I wonder whether it will still involve a stop near newly-faceless Arya. Or brushing with Euron. Probably the biggest question for next season is how they're going to tie all that together and what gets cut.
15. The Jon Snow stuff was handled fine. I cringed at how quickly he got up when Olly came to get him, but I knew what was coming. Him getting stabbed on screen about 8 times *and probably living* will be a nice little troll job on book readers when Stannis gets killed offscreen and is most likely dead as fuck.
Next season guesses:
-- Sansa and Theon and Brienne and Pod make a break for the Wall. Things get icky when they hear about Jon.
-- no warging for Jon. Melisandre revives him. No idea what they'll do with Davos, no that his arc has no purpose. Might've made sense to send him with Sam.
-- agreed with the idea that Littlefinger helped to secure Winterfell and squabbling will start soon after. My question is which godlike entity survives -- Ramsey or Littlefinger? (And whether any death is brutal enough for the former)
-- prepare for another really boring arc with Dany being prisoner, discovering that she's not really a prisoner, then leading Dothraki to Mereen ON A DRAGON to mop up what Tyrion and Varys can't get done. Then all of the above will be heading to Westeros by ep 7-8-9.
-- Arya will be blind for exactly one episode and then she'll go full faceless. Sam will show up and she'll hitch a ride (with faceless blessing) to Oldtown.
-- I've always hated casting spoilers, so I haven't looked. Wouldn't be shocked if they cut Euron completely. Theon makes it back to home and sis after Sansa is safely in the care of Brienne. He takes the squid crown after some bullshit episode that will make book readers mad.
-- Bran's business in the tree of time and with the keeblers will show us how small all these concerns really are. They'll also be frustrating because he can't actually do anything.
-- season ends with Tyrion / Dany / UnDead Jon flying dragons into Kings Landing and just laying waste.