This is interesting. I have found it difficult to form an opinion of her one way or another. Could anyone please elaborate a bit more regarding this sentiment? Why the dislike for Cate?
I know, right? I loved Ser Vardis, too! 
Well done episode for the most part. Seemed to fly by, with some great scenes and lines. When the time came for the “crowning” I thought to myself, wow, I expected them to save this for the final scene of the episode, and then only when the credits rolled did I realize it was the final scene and that the whole hour had gone by.
My only quibbles with the episode are book-related, so off to the spoiler thread for me.
I do not like the way she treated John Snow nor the way she disregarded the needs of her other children and her husband’s precarious position in her pursuit of vengeance. She eve disregarded Bran’s best interests in her anger.
Her anger and dismissal at her husband’s best virtue, his honor, because it didn’t suit her pissed me off too.
So, almost everyone seems to be taking the part about Joffry being the son of Jamie in stride. Was that not a big reveal, or were we who never read the book supposed to already have figured this out? Sure, there was the hint of the possibility, but not a clear indication that it was so.
What was the purpose of putting the dragon eggs on the embers? I was half expecting it to hatch or something. Are these viable eggs or just sort of expensive souveniers?
Still, if it came to a duel to the death between Cate and the incestuous Queen, I will root for Cate to dismember her slowly and painfully.
ETA: Well, they didn’t show the queen getting it from behind by her brother for nothing. From that scene on I knew that kid wasn’t the king’s.
Great episode as always. Am I the only one who thinks that dragons aren’t really extinct and we’re going to see some live dragons in the future?
As a fan of the book, I found this to be the first episode that was absolutely as good as I hoped it could be, with almost no quibbles. I’ve enjoyed it up to now, but absolutely loved this one. (Aside from the utterly pointless Theon-and-prostitute story, which hopefully has played itself out).
Tyrion Lannister made a big point about “Lannisters always pay(ing) their debts” as he tossed the bag of gold to the dim-witted turnkey, who’s only service was to pass a message to Cate’s nutty sister.
It seems to me that the Imp was far more indebted to his champion, though… I don’t recall him even thanking him, though. I wonder what his champion’s motivation was for fighting, anyway…
Bronn’s a sellsword. Money is his motivation.
And Tyrion’s “a Lannister always pays his debts” can function as both a bribe and as a threat, depending on the situation.
-Joe
Gold, rewards, land, a knighthood? Bronn left with Tyrion, and I doubt that it was simply because he likes Tyrion’s company.
Dany is definitely trying out some egg-hatching ideas. We’ll see what happens. She proved at any rate that she is not harmed by fire.
Like Biggirl said, she is clearly bitter about her husband having a bastard son and acts like a loving caring wife towards him while taking out her anger on the kid. That just rubs me entirely the wrong way, i don’t care what the customs of the time are.
He promised the bag of gold to Mord for passing the message along, “the lannisters always pay their debts” wouldn’t be a well known saying if it wasn’t for gestures like that. Bronn knows how rich they are and is smart enough to know there will be a huge reward in it for him eventually, and still he didn’t volunteer until he saw who the champion for Liza was and figured he could beat him.
Bronn followed Tyrion out of the throne room. He expects his reward is yet to come.
I almost forgot to mention: Mord is teh awesome.
I could barely breathe for laughing so hard at the ludicrousness of the Sky Cell scene. Here you are in this terrifying cell, where falling asleep can mean falling to your doom, starving, cold, imprisoned for a crime you swear you didn’t commit, and if that’s not enough, every now and then this big dumb guy comes in and smacks you around with leather sap while taunting you. Poor Tyrion, I love you, man. But I could watch Mord all day.
So, if the dragon eggs are so valuable, why were they left completely unguarded so that what’s-his-name could just waltz in and steal them?
Sansa, of all people, had my favorite line this week.
“Oh wait…I just realized…I don’t care.”
Mormont seemed to be keeping a good eye on them.
I wouldn’t expect that very many people would even be able to get into the Queen’s chambers.
Yeah, and besides any anticipated remuneration, a possibly even stronger motivation would be to get the hell out of that castle full of crazy. In Tyrion, he not only saw gold, but also sanity and intellect. That sure beats sticking around a place where either the ruler, or her heir-apparent, might toss you down a cliff based on a delusion or just for amusement.
This is nitpickety, but…Robin isn’t the heir, or the heir-apparent. He became the Lord of the Vale when Jon died. Lysa is just his regent (although for a non-king, I don’t know that’s the right word, precisely).