- Discuss how we see HOTU as metafiction

- Put it in context with Qarth as a setting

- Explore the visual presentation of HOTU

- Go through Pyat Pree's absurd rules

- Introduce shade-of-the-evening, GRRM's catch-all psychedelic drug

Next week: Part 2 of our trip through the House of the Undying, as Dany sees some bizarre visions!

- See how Jaqen the extraordinary has an ordinary plan

- Explore how GRRM subverts an act of triumph by having the worst people live on

- Examine Jaqen's face change and how it makes the metaphor for Arya's journey in ACOK reality

- Try not to make direct eye contact with Roose Bolton ... my lord.

- Theorize on what Jaqen gets up to after Harrenhal and what he's planning for the future!

Next week: Don't do drugs, Dany. Just don't. Oh, you did. Okay. And now you want to walk into the haunted House of the Undying. Oh ... okay.

- Contrast Arya's perspective with Hot Pie's

- Praise George's careful setup work with the fake prisoners

- Explore Harrenhal further as a spooky setting

- Watch Arya and Gendry face off

- Explore the media-savvy way Arya dismantles Jaqen

Next week: Zack joins us again for the second half of ACOK, Arya IX, in which we spring the trap in multiple respects.

- Explore Bran's longest wolf dream to date

- Talk through the changing dynamic between Theon and the Starks

- Praise Bran for doing his duty, and Ned for teaching it to him

- Boo Theon as his reign over Winterfell immediately descends into cruel absurdity

- Wonder how Winterfell might fall once more with Theon's help...

Next week: new guest Wolfman Zack joins us as Arya helps Roose Bolton take Harrenhal and says goodbye to Jaqen H'ghar in ACOK Arya IX!

- Examine Edmure's personal and political motivations 

- Dig into Catelyn's lifelong devotion to duty

- Ponder the role songs and stories play in drumming up war

- Describe the Battle of the Fords as it unfolds in all its terrible beauty

- Watch prophetic dread coil around Catelyn's soul

Next week: new guest Stanford Fraser joins us to discuss the fall of Winterfell to Theon in ACOK, Bran VI! 

- Unpack the conspiracy to send Tommen to Rosby

- Get a glimpse of the streets of King's Landing after the riot

- Analyze Tyrion and Shae's relationship and wince at Tyrion slapping Shae

- Talk about Varys' origin story

Next week: we're back with ACOK, Catelyn VI where Edmure Tully holds the fords of the riverlands against Tywin Lannister with zero consequence!

- Judge the Lannisters justly for their conduct regarding Lollys Stokeworth 

- Talk extensively about Tyrion slapping Joffrey (again)

- Get into the political fallout from the riot

- Examine the root causes of the riot

- Theorize on what happened to Tyrek Lannister

Next week: we're back with ACOK, Tyrion X when Tyrion learns more information and hears Varys' backstory.

- Examine Myrcella as a political figure 

- Peel back the layers of Tyrion's mindset RE both Stannis and the smallfolk as threats

- Contrast the potentially manufactured spark of the riot with the genuine grievances motivating it

- Praise George's exquisite pacing and ramp-up to the riot itself

- Brainstorm better directions for justice in King's Landing

Next week: we cover the aftermath of and fallout from the riot in the second half of ACOK, Tyrion IX!

- Discuss the metaphysics of Davos and Melisandre's morality and culpability in the act that's about to happen

- Get in on the parallels between Robert and Stannis/Ned and Davos

- Note that Melisandre's onion metaphor is wrong.

- Get spooky with the birth of shadows and the death of kings and castellans

- Answer the question: how the hell did Melisandre make a shadowbaby?

Next week: we return to King's Landing where Tyrion encounters some minor civil disturbance, nothing major in ACOK, Tyrion IX, Part 1!