Knee-jerk reaction to “The Winds of Winter:” five best and worst moments

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN (WORST) MOMENTS

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN FIVE: Varys has a doppelganger? Yes, this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it really felt like Varys was in two places at once (Dorne and on Dany’s ship as it left Meereen) this week.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN FOUR: Can little birds stab full-gown men to death? I suppose they can, trained to do such things by Maester Qyburn. It didn’t really bother me that much, but I’m scraping for brown this week, dear reader.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN THREE: Melisandre kinda got off a bit easy. I loved the scene where Ser Davos, stampeding from one emotion to another to great effect, forces the apparently remorseful but defiant Melisandre to confess her part in the murder of Shireen in front of Jon. But Melisandre’s exile ended the sequence a little flat for me. Perhaps Jon knows he may need her in the future.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN TWO: I don’t get the hold Littlefinger has on Sansa, even now, after he promised to do anything and everything she asks of him. That look they shared while the Northmen shouted their allegiance to Jon as the King in the North was unsettling. It’s making Sansa seem weak-hearted, and I don’t see her that way.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN ONE: Bury my heart in dopey Dorne. Ah! Our brief visit with Lady Olenna and a surprise drop-in from Varys was a little better than I expected, but I wasn’t expecting much. Ellaria and her Sand Snakes are up to their usual slimy, one-note machinations, and still lessening all of the other characters who come into contact with them.

BONUS VALYRIAN STEEL MOMENT: the art of murder. Arya made only a short appearance this week, but the scene where she cuts Walder Frey’s throat—that look on her face in full-on-murder mode, a glimpse of her interior darkness—was unsettling. The girl is back, working hard on her list of names.

WRAP IT UP AND PUT A BLOODY BOW ON IT: This may go down as my all-time favorite Game of Thrones episode. I thought it was beautiful storytelling, brilliantly directed (love me some Sapochnik). I didn’t even get to tell you how much I loved the Daenerys-Tyrion tear-inducing ‘you are Hand of the Queen’ now moment. What did you think?