- Analyze the Petyr Baelish backstory

- Evaluate Catelyn's mental state as she returns to the Riverland

- Answer whether Starks can commit war crimes too (they can)

- Get deep on Brienne and how her brokenness doesn't make her unique, only more human

- Do some war shit by taking a look at Edmure's plan

- Take a close look at Edmure and Catelyn's relationship and their relationship to their father

- Answer the question as to what happened to Ned's bones after Riverrun

Next week: we go to a magic show with Dany where Quaithe says some cryptic shit in ACOK, Daenerys III!

- Praise George's writing of an army in motion

- Talk about the transitional, small-scale nature of the second of three wishes

- Frame this chapter (laden with animal imagery) as the food chain, a hierarchy driven by hunger and pain

- Discuss Arya's conflicted loyalties between identities and conceptions of justice

- Dig into the conundrum Arya faces regarding whether Weese was a worthy target

Next week: we return to Riverrun for Catelyn V, in which Brienne swears her sword to Catelyn, Edmure prepares to give battle to Tywin at the Fords, and Ned's bones pass on through. 

- Praise George's in medias res structure for the chapter

- Watch Theon's opposing identities come into conflict

- Roll our eyes at the selfish violent ways he tries to resolve that conflict

- Raise a glass for Dagmer Cleftjaw, the only person who loves Theon

- Dig into the layers of folly in Theon's plan to take Winterfell

Next week: we haunt Harrenhal once more in Arya VIII, in which Tywin marches west and Arya whispers a second name to Jaqen H'ghar...only to regret it far too late. We will be joined for this episode by returning guest Michal from Vassals of Kingsgrave!

- Talk about how we evaluate combined reading orders of Feastdance and whether the battles should have been in ADWD

- Get in depth on Varys and the small council as detectives in noir fiction

- Get in on Joffrey and Littlefinger's scheme to marry that little shit to Margaery Tyrell 

- Look at all the foreshadowing!

- What was Littlefinger up to in ACOK. The NotACast iTeam investigates!

Next week: we sail back to the North for Theon III, in which our “hero” commits a bunch of war crimes and then comes up with a crazy plan to take Winterfell with a handful of his Ironborn bros. Thank the gods this will never work, right? Right?!

- Talk about why Robert didn't have sworn men around him

- Get into the philosophy and metaphysics of the shadowbaby and its impact on the narrative

- Talk about how the shadowbaby attack didn't just kill Renly. It nearly got Brienne killed and very much got Robar Royce and Emmon Cuy killed 

- The impact of Renly's death on the characters surrounding him: Catelyn, Margaery, Loras, Stannis

- Will Brienne kill Stannis?

- Was Renly's death justified?

Next week: we interrupt our regular chapter-by-chapter flow to bring you an episode all about *sigh* Renly Baratheon. This will be our Patreon episode for the month, but we’ll also be doing it live for all to see on Monday 4/20 at 830 PM EST! 

Check out our friends we referenced at the start of the podcast!

Learned Hands Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/958693

Planetos Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/planetos-podcast

- Trace Catelyn's changing relationship to the Seven

- Dig deep into all the gorgeous imagery in this chapter

- Talk about how gods (and stories) are fluid vessels needing an audience to be complete

- Praise Catelyn for sticking up for the truth

- Boo Renly for rejecting her plea for peace

Next week: Renly is killed by a shadow with his brother's face in the second half of ACOK, Catelyn IV!

- Indulge in one of Emmett's favorite tinfoil theories: Renly as Robert's bastard son

- Discuss how the political is always personal and vice versa with Stannis v. Renly

- Marvel at how George builds up Stannis with one hand while cutting him down with the other

- Take a big ol' juicy bite out of Renly's peach

- Set up the battle between the Baratheon bros...which will, of course, not actually happen

Next week: Catelyn bares her soul before her gods in (the first half of) ACOK, Catelyn IV!

- Talk about why Renly didn't back Stannis

- Get into the type of castle Storm's End is and why it works as archetype for Stannis and Renly

- Stannis and Catelyn dance. More accurately, Stannis huffs, Catelyn tries to smooth things over. It doesn't work

- Does Stannis have a point? Is he right? Is he wrong? The Amen Brothers throw some elbows

- Stannis: the true sad boy of ASOIAF

- Is Storm's End a spaceship? We discuss

Next week: Stannis, Catelyn, Renly and a peach!

And we were joined by Chloe, AKA liesandarbor from the Girls Gone Canon podcast for this episode for her voice work as Lady Catelyn Stark! Find her stuff and listen to GGC!

- Talk about the news Bran, Rickon and those little monstrous Freys receive from Oxcross

- Analyze Jojen's green dreams and how everyone takes it so damn literally!

- Witness House Bolton entering the Northern game and get introduced to "Reek"

- All the foreshadowing of things to come!

- Who killed Stevron Frey? (It was Black Walder)

Next week: Catelyn, Stannis, Renly and the parlay at Storm's End!