Sansa on the other hand is only a few months older and she looks like she could have played Brienne.
Meaning she’s not attractive?
No, just very very tall. The girl playing Brienne is not unattractive.
Place the answer in a spoiler box (I’m almost afraid to post in these threads without having my attorney present), but were the books as “gender bending” as the show is?
There’s a closed spoilers thread for semi spoilery stuff you want answered, but the book was a lot more subtle about it, to the point that a lot of book readers never picked up on the relationships at all, but yes it was all there. Actually there is another (potentially) gay character the show cut
So why are everyone so hell-bent on sitting on the iron throne as it looks to me to have more symbolic than practical power? The houses appear pretty independent seeing as the ones that are going to war can easily gather tens of thousands of men for their armies. The iron throne doesn’t seem to have an army of it’s own as it’s the Lannisters, and their army, doing most of the fighting.
I would refer you to Varys’ riddle.
That’s what got me thinking about it. If that was the intention, bravo.
It just seems King’s landing is totally self-centered. Wasting time on petty political intrigue and pissing off peasants when they should be worried that their heads might wind up on spikes. Joffery’s a total ponce and entirely uninvolved in how the war’s going. Tyrion is the only one who’s able to see the bigger picture.
Really loved this episode. Started watching late last night and promised myself (and my wife) I’d only watch “the teaser”*, but I got sucked in and couldn’t stop watching until it was over and way past bedtime.
*this is a running joke at my house. When starting a typical network show late at night before bed, we’ll just watch up until the first commercial break. But GoT obviously doesn’t have commercials, so it just means “The first few scenes, but I may not be able to stop.” 
Loved Margaery, she was perfect. I loved her no nonsense handling of Renly “Look, we both know what’s going on here. You want my brother to fluff you or not?” And she managed to do that without seeming shrewish or mean. She seemed to understand what was needed of them more than he did, and that if their marriage was going to be loveless, it didn’t have to be antagonistic. She’s a way better queen than Cersei in that regard. (and yes, she’s gorgeous, clothed or not)
Brienne was a well-cast addition too. I worried from the casting news that she’d be too pretty for the part, but they managed to make her at least “Hollywood-plain”. And she had the right sense of conviction for the role too. (And my goodness, she towers over everyone).
Fantastic rendering of Tyrion’s triple-snitch-baiting scene. One of the best scenes in the show thus far, IMHO.
Also, of course, Yoren gets his badass farewell scene. Awesome.
Theon’s outburst to his dad, fantastic. I can’t believe I’m really feeling bad for the guy WHILE he is actively betraying Robb.
Varys’s riddle: perfection. I never thought they’d find someone so perfect to embody Varys, but Conlieth Hill(sp?) is nailing it.
One of the best episodes of the series so far, IMHO.
I really wonder what goes through Cersei’s mind. Does she realize what a monster Joffrey is? Does she understand that Joffrey, more than anything else, is likely to cause her and her family to wind up dead?
Agreed, though the fact she knew all about the Renly/Loras relationship, and was willing to basically do a three-way with her brother was a bit eyebrow-raising. I think Renly may want to have a quiet word with Loras about boundaries.
One of the little things I liked about her introduction was that, when she was escorting Cat to her tent, she walked like she was in real pain. Which, well, she would have been - what we saw was the end of a day-long tournament, and while Brienne may be the best of that bunch, the others weren’t lightweights. She took some real hits, and it shows.
I see it as her originally getting him onto the throne for her own sake (more power for herself) but now that he’s there, it’s too late to back out. The scene last week (where she slaps him, the peasants/workers get stunned into silence, and then he threatens to behead her if she ever did it again) seems to embody that pretty well. Whether or not she really realizes how monstrous Joff is (and whether or not that even bothers her - she ain’t ezzactly roses and sunshine and unicorn farts) she can’t un-do it now. Joff’s king, and that’s that.
She’s whined about the sacrifices she’s made more than once. That’s right. She probably killed her first kid, slept with her brother, killed one’sKing’s hand and was instrumental in killing another and created that sniveling little monster that would kill her as easily as he’d look at her.
Now Cersei sees it all spinning out of control. Is her response to stop and think about things. A little introspection, maybe? Nope-- Cersei turns the bitch factor up to 11. I hope the Lannister’s fall and I hope Cersei suffers through each take-down as badly as she has so far.
Specially when her other two kids seem nice and polite.
I fully expect that those boundaries are going to be broad enough to accommodate her suggestion. Don’t you?
I get the feeling that Renly and Loras’s relationship isn’t as secret as they believe it is. Witness that Littlefinger seemed to hint at it last season. Also, it might not be that Loras specifically spilled the beans, but a sister knows her brother well, probably has guessed his preference (maybe caught him with a boy once in their youth) and she sees him devoted to a guy, to the point of asking his father to bankroll a run at the throne. The two spend a lot of time together. Then the guy refuses to sleep with her once they are married (and she’s seen a mirror. She knows that ain’t likely). She puts two and two together.
And yeah, a brother-sister 3-way is a bit eyebrow raising, but perhaps par for the course in King’s Landing. 
She can get pointers from Theon’s sister on how not to flinch when your brother is feeling you up.
True, but I doubt Loras’s hands would go anywhere near her… That’s kind of the point of the exercise, no?
Did anyone else think the Renly/Loras scene changed tone rather abruptly? The two went from being hawt and bothered and tearing each other’s clothes off to Loras being all “You know what? Fuck off” in a heartbeat or two. Was it simply because Renly teased Loras about his bruises, and that reminded Loras of Brienne’s promotion? Or did I miss something else?
I thought Loras just wanted to get him ready so he could do his “duty”.