SPOILERS!!!!!

Spoilers for last night’s episode of Game of Thrones.

There seems to be a thirst for more Game of Thrones coverage, so let’s get to it. This is not a full-on recap, because while Episode 5.4, “Sons of the Harpy” was jam-packed full of interesting moments, some moments were more interesting than others. So let’s just do some highlights.

Stannis loves his daughter Shireen. I’ll admit it, I cried. I’ve always been sort of a Stannis apologist though. Do I think he’s a perfect leader? No. Do I think he would make an amazing king? No. But he would have made a better king than his brother Robert, and Stannis has hidden depths. I loved that this “hard man,” this warrior, this cold bastard just flat-out adores his little girl.

Stannis doesn’t believe Jon Snow is a bastard. Stannis’s wife: “A bastard by some tavern slut.” Stannis: “Perhaps. But that wasn’t Ned Stark’s way.” O RLY?!?

Jon Snow Knows Nothing. Melisandre tried to seduce Jon Snow. It was sexy, I thought. I mean, it must have been really uncomfortable for Carice van Houten to be naked with a fully dressed Kit Harington, but I liked the way she put his hand on her breast and that he was sort of into it until he thought of Ygritte. Poor Jon Snow and his affection for redheads. When he shut her down and Melisandre stands in the doorway and says “You know nothing, Jon Snow” I literally said “OH MY GOD” to the TV.

Kit Harington on the seduction: “I think that’s how the director wanted it to play out, in a way. There’s a small age difference between me and Carice and that kind of helped it, but it is that—it is quite maternal. He’s got all those mother issues, you know. He’s very Freudian, old Jon. He really does have a thing for redheads, too. And they come on in quick succession!” He also says he “respects” that Jon Snow is “a man of honor and principle and he swears—and has sworn—off women, and that’s because he believes he has a bigger task at hand, and if he falls in love he won’t be able to do that. He also sees Melisandre for the dangerous person that she is, and that’s a tribute to Jon.” You can read more of Kit and Carice’s interview here.

Sansa in the crypt. I like Sansa and I’m actually not tired of her moping around like a sad sack. I think she’s still figuring out how to manipulate people and be a leader. I like the idea of Littlefinger as a mentor/dodgy molester uncle for her because I genuinely think Littlefinger believes in her and wants to help her. Does he have a sketchy agenda? Of course. But he actually sees her potential as a leader, as a potential “wardeness of the North.” I also loved Littlefinger’s story – known to book readers now for years – about Prince Rhaegar presenting Lyanna Stark with the winter roses. Sansa still has the official Stark story of what went down, that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and raped her. The look on Littlefinger’s face tells us that was not actually what happened.

The Sand Snakes. I had been looking forward to the introduction of Prince Oberyn’s daughters but in an already busy episode, I was really disappointed with that scene. I thought it was… poorly written? Which is something I rarely say about GoT. But the dialogue felt really stilted. You can read a new interview with Keisha Castle-Hughes here.

The Sons of the Harpy. I find this guerrilla movement, this insurgency of “The Sons of the Harpy” to be terrifyingly realistic. And it really bugs me that Dany is still so f—king Pollyanna about all of it, especially after the crowd turned on her so powerfully two episodes ago. Well, she won’t be able to stay Pollyanna after the coordinated assault on the Unsullied which left at least two dozen of Dany’s soldiers dead. The fate of Grey Worm is unknown (I think he’s probably alive?) but we now that Ser Barristan the Bold is dead. The actor, Ian McElhinney, gave his exit interview to EW – go here to read. What I love about so many of these exit interviews is that you can just feel how much fun it is on the GoT set, and how so many of these actors just love their jobs.

Photos courtesy of WENN.