That’s a really nice observation imo. I think it answers your question too: It’s just that Sansa takes after her dad. She sees everything in very idealistic terms, and that’s just how she is. If things are going poorly, this doesn’t mean she needs to scheme, it means people aren’t doing what they should do and that’s bad and that’s basically what there is to say about it.
On the second watch, I noticed that during the execution scene, Theon’s theme was playing. That’s… unusual, and clearly deliberately I’d imagine. I guess they’re trying to convey that Robb done fucked up.
Wait, who do you think has better judgement, Ned or Cat? Ned and Cat were basically a match made in terrible political judgement heaven. Poor Ned’s honor before reason decisions are infamous, so I’m assuming you mean Cat was the clever one. But Cat’s decisions are as bad, if not worse than Ned’s. Cat started the entire war by capturing Tyrion in a spur of the moment decision. She then let Tyrion escape, and Tyrion was the wrong guy to grab in the first place. Cat completely hamstrung her son’s war effort by releasing the Kingslayer. Sure Cat’s motivations are sympathetic, but that was probably the worst strategic decision made by anyone in Westeros so far.
The Tyrell’s want Sansa because with Arya MIA and Bran and Rickon presumed dead, Sansa is Robb’s heir to the North. The Tyrell’s aren’t interested in just sucking up to the Lannisters, they want to expand their own power base. Margery is already going to be Queen, and the Lannisters seem very dependent on the Tyrells for fresh troops and especially supplies, as Grandma Tyrell’s conversation with Tyrion revealed. Sansa gives the Tyrells a claim to the North while Cersei would simply shore up an alliance that (from the Tyrell perspective) doesn’t need shoring up because the Lannisters need the Tyrells.
I think the current situation shows why all the marrying is important. Technically the royal family name is Baratheon, but the Lannisters are running the show because they married in. It would be the same way even if Joffrey was really Robert’s son.
Yeah, I don’t see the comparison between Ned and Sansa either. Sansa is completely enamored with the ideas of Chicagoans romance.
Ned wasn’t like that at all. He believed that he personally must act in ethical, moral, duty-bound, and honorable ways, but he had no illusions that if he did so that things would always work out for the best.
Ned’s sense of honor demanded that he behave in certain ways even if it meant sacrificing his personal comfort, safety, or fortune. Sansa’s a complete airhead.
And, as has been pointed out above, Catelyn is no genius schemer. She has made the wrong choices nearly from the beginning, all based on her instincts to protect her children at all costs.
Ned at least lived by the knowledge that he wouldn’t always be able to protect his loved ones and that they had to be prepared.
Nonetheless, he did have his weaknesses. He indulged Sansa far more than he did Bran, perhaps out of gender bias, perhaps just because he thought she couldn’t handle the truth.
Fatherhood (Ned, Robert, Tywin, etc.) and motherhood (Catelyn, Cersei, Lysa etc.) are well explored by these characters.
I disagree. While Sansa is by nature idealistic, she has grown much. She is happily scheming with the Queen-to-be, hell she told the elder Tyrell everything she needed to know about Joffery while following the official line. She saw through Littlefinger and the Hound last season. While she does have a girly crush on Loras, she sees him mostly as a ticket out of Kings Landing.
Moreoever, she unlike almost every other character has a very weak hand. Not skilled in fighting, no large army at her beck and call or family which is neaby. She has IMO done failry well.
It’s not a lateral, it’s a doubling. Loras is already heir to the Reach and the demesnes of the Tyrells. Marrying Sansa adds the North and the demesnes of the Starks. By contrast marrying Cersei doesn’t add anything but prestige and perhaps a nice dowry. Plus Cersei is presumably older than Loras, whereas Sansa is certainly younger.
So on the one hand you have marriage to a probable heiress who is young and likely to be fertile based on family history. Whereas on the other you have marriage to an older woman who’s fertility is historically proven ( but might be in question as already on a downward swing due to age ), a scion of the what is currently the most powerful noble family ( politically ) and mother to the sitting king. Both are advantageous, but the heiress is potentially much more valuable in the long run because she comes with vast lands and Cersei doesn’t. Plus you are already are getting better ties to the crown by a marriage to the king himself.
Control the Reach and the Tyrell lands by inheritance. Control Joffrey ( which Margery is managing and Cersei patently can’t ) and you control the throne and by proxy eventually one presumes the Baratheon lands as well since Renly is dead and Stannis a rebel. Control naive, weak Sansa and you add the North. At that point you can trump the Lannisters as dominant family in Westeros. By contrast control Cersei ( a dicey prospect I suspect 
) and you don’t add diddly materially.
As far as anyone knows, there are two Starks left, Robb and Sansa. Sansa is a bargaining chip. She can be used as leverage or incentive. The Tyrell’s realize that Sansa isn’t big on politics or intrigue, but is just trying to keep her head above water in King’s Landing. They know that Joffrey treated her like shit, yet she still defended him. If Sansa is “protected” by Loras and he treats her well and makes nice, then the Starks owe one to the Tyrells. If Robb happens to win the war, then the Tyrell Family can say that they kept Sansa out of danger. Sansa is already head over heels with Loras, she will certainly defend him.
And Arya possibly, but she comes behind Sansa in precedence.
So if by some chance Robb wins, they have Sansa and can nimbly switch sides. But allied with Joffrey and the Lannisters, the Tyrells are almost certainly counting on collecting Robb’s head and then Sansa is heir to Winterfell.
Of course, what isn’t at all obvious is that the Tyrell’s will go along with Cersei marrying Loras or that they won’t exert some schemes of their own to prevent Sansa from marrying Tyrion. The Tyrell’s have all the power right now, it seems to me.
Robb is a rebel and everybodies scheming obviously count on him losing the war. When Igritte was telling Jon about her past lovers she said her first had hair kissed by fire like hers, I would imagine that is what the episode title refers to.
Yeah, and I’m pretty sure Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was using a stump double!
Not that long, I get the impression.
Harder (but not impossible) to start a war with you - spouses don’t want to be on opposite sides of a war. Not that it hasn’t/wouldn’t happen in Westeros or in Europe. Also, you can guilt trip them into supporting you for war/politics. Also, there is a thinly veiled hostage situation; you don’t want to start trouble with your in-laws because your sister lives with them.
The point I was trying to make in the Arya/Sansa, Ned/Cat analogy is that Arya and Ned are capable yet fall victim to circumstance/fate. Sansa and Cat on the other hand, fancies themselves clever but every decision they make is the wrong one and somehow find themselves relatively unscathed and never learning their lesson (Sansa on love, and Cat on hostage negotiation).
In retrospect, it may not be the perfect analogy. At least the hair colors match.
As Sansa would bring home Winterfell, Cersei would bring the Tyrell’s Castlerly Rock, not to mention their coffers thereof. Margaery/Joffrey’s not getting control of that estate just the same that Robert didn’t control the Baratheon manor when he was king. Jaime legally can’t. Tyrion… probably won’t based on social expectations. Casterly Rock is essentially up for grabs especially when you factor in all the Lannister cousins that have fallen by the wayside. Cersei’s husband has by far the strongest claim to those lands.
I’m just curious to see what the endgame is for the Tyrells. I don’t even believe they want the iron throne - merely power. Olenna is shrewd enough to see that the throne is cursed but being around the throne certainly has its benefits e.g Littlefinger, Verys, etc. I suppose in that respect, diversifying your power portfolio would be advantageous but imo not as advantageous as getting your hands on the Lannister lands. Winterfell is a pretty crappy fiefdom compared to the others.
Olenna mentioned a couple episodes ago that Lord Tyrell was the one sieging Storm’s End during the war, that makes them Targaryen loyalists. That means they’ve probably spent all of King Roberts reign being kept out of power and marginalized, they just see this as an opportunity to regain their rightful place as one of the most important houses in Westeros.
Since the Tyrells are already going to be married to the King, they don’t need to marry another Lannister - especially one who doesn’t stand to inherit anything. On the other hand, as far as anyone knows, Sansa is the heir to Winterfell (since her brother Robb is a traitor and the rest of her siblings are apparently dead).
It also means that after a while, you share grandchildren with them. That means that you’ll tend to work together for the kids’ benefit.
I think there are sometimes dual meanings (or more) in the episode titles. Ygritte, as you say, literally speaks the words “kissed by fire” to refer to the boy who bedded her, but it could also apply to the Hound, who was burned as a boy and fights the guy with the flaming sword at the beginning of this episode.
Robert didn’t control the Baratheon lands because he parceled them out to his brothers after he became king ( and gave the richer ones to the younger brother ). Their is nothing indicating he was compelled to do so. At this point Joffrey could be heir to both Casterly Rock ( if you pass over Tyrion ) and Storm’s End if Stannis is eliminated and his daughter declared ineligible as the child of a traitor. If Stannis’ daughter is allowed to inherit, then you can at least control that marriage as a sinecure and the lands itself as guardian until she is old enough to inherit.
Of course passing over Tyrion would be harder after Tywin is gone. By all legal right he is heir and whether Tywin can make his wishes stick past the grave is an open question. At the very least it will be disputed ( Tyrion clearly wants it ) and their seems to be a slew of Lannisters so it could get messy.
By contrast the reality of the Stark inheritance seems…stark :p. You have Robb - no children. Jon Snow - bastard and sworn to the Brotherhood to boot. Bran and Rickon presumed dead. Arya missing and a younger daughter anyway. So Sansa is a pretty unequivocal in, once Robb is safely eliminated. And as noted if not, you have a great marriage alliance with the new victor and still a potential inheritance if Robb fails to procreate.
Sansa seems the better bet from where I am sitting. Cersei is good, no doubt about it and a reasonable consolation prize. But Sansa looks better, even if just from a “not all your eggs in one basket” POV.
Besides, who would you rather have join your family?
Oldish brother-fucker Cersei, bitter & often with a glass of wine in her hand nowadays? (Did her affair with that lesser Lannister cousin get out?) She’s not the heir to anything. She’s spawned one demon child, although the younger ones seem OK.
Or Sansa. Sweet. Young. Still naive but probably educable–especially by The Queen of Thorns. Quite probably fertile. If Robb loses, she’s the evident heir to the North; if not, she’s a possible reason for an alliance.
The Tyrells aren’t really interested in personally ruling the whole of Westeros. They want a balance of power, to keep the Lannisters from grabbing everything. And they think Littlefinger is a wild card…