"Also, how did Meera seem to know the army of the undead was already outside?"

It suddenly got very, very cold. Like, you saw it coming from every character in the scene when they exhaled.

The Sansa/Littlefinger confrontation seemed a bit long and forced to me. especially since we all know he is unable to feel empathy for anyone else, and so does not give a fiddler's fart what Sansa is saying. Everyone knows what Ramsey is, Littlefinger included. Also a bit hard to sell the "Sansa gaining independence" angle when Littlefinger only has to pretend to give a crap because Brienne is right there, her hand directly on her sword.

Greyscale affects children and adults differently, think of it as GoT's horrible version of chicken pox. Hits adults really hard, but often just leaves kids with scars. No one knows why it kills some people, but does not kill others.

Sansa being a good seamstress was one of the first things we learned about her way back in the first episode, by the way. The scene was an excellent visual of how much Sansa is accepting Jon as her brother instead of half brother.

On an unrelated note, I think the Other's storming of the cave is foreshadowing that they will eventually overcome or knock down the wall and storm south. Perhaps with the unwitting help of Bran's new icy tattoo? It did allow them to break the magic barrier on the cave, why not the one on The Wall?

Re: the Kingsmoot, elective democracy was actually a thing, e.g. in Anglo-Saxon England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elective_m…

@3: Agreed, on just about every point.

Hey, let's not entirely write off that play as lowbrow and stupid. (Setting aside that's what most of them were back then. They had to play to an audience, after all.) Remember that Joffrey's legacy has apparently become "the Bitch-Slapped King." "King Robert" and "Tyrion" both give him a taste (even if he did give one to the foolish depiction of "Ned" at one point). Finally, shouldn't there be some credit given to the full-screen cock that followed directly after? I can't help but feel like they did it almost as a wink to South Park, but still, they make up for all the female nudity with the rare major male nudity. Equality, I guess?

What a fantastic episode. Learning the true meaning of "hodor," I never expected something like that. Maybe it's because I've known these characters for more than 15 years, but I actually wept while watching the finale.

Is it just me or was the Hodor storyline last night a direct ripoff (or re-imagining) of A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving? Thematically at least. I don't remember any zombies...