- Watch with Sansa as the smoke rises from Stannis burning the kingswood and Tyrion burning the suburbs of King's Landing

- See how Sansa is responding as a disappointed romantic to Dontos and his promises of salvation

- Get deep into Sandor Clegane's relationship to Sansa as the dark mirror to Sansa's disappointed romanticism.

- Empathize with Sansa as she menstruates for the first time and what that means for her as she's hauled in front of Cersei

- Explore Tyrion's pre-battle planning and praise Tyrion for his tactics even as Sansa remains our POV for the coming battle and has a unique POV on things to come

Next week: We're up in the Frostfangs with Jon, Qhorin & co as they strive forward to discover what the wildlings are up to, only to find out that the eagle has landed. And we'll be joined by Stefan Sasse of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour as special guest for this episode!

- Contrast the competence of Qhorin & Co with what we've seen of the Night's Watch so far

- Plunge into the new setting of the Frostfangs

- Break down Jon's ethical crisis with Ygritte

- Explore the layers of the Bael the Bard story

- Watch as Jon chooses mercy, unlike Theon last week

Next week: back to King's Landing as Sansa has to deal with Dontos, Sandor, Cersei, and her first period in ACOK Sansa IV!

- Wake Theon up from his power fantasies into his new nightmare

- Watch as he unravels himself in front of the people of Winterfell

- Break down the traps he faces from within and without on the manhunt

- Praise Maester Luwin for trying to save as many lives as possible

- Wonder what's coming next for Osha

Next week: even farther north to the Frostfangs for ACOK Jon VI, where the bastard in black learns from Qhorin Halfhand and his wrecking crew. 

- Talk about whether Tysha will return to the story

- Do that war shit by talking about the clansmen's deployment into the kingswood.

- Criticize Tyrion and the Lannisters for being a) bad b) bad politicians c) short-sightedly bad.

- Find out what the fates of Ser Osmund Kettleblack and Ser Balon Swann will be in TWOW. 

Next week: we're heading up to Winterfell to see how things are going for hero Theon. It's going great. Thanks for asking.

- Talk about the monster coming for Daenerys, mythology, the Others, Dany herself

- Analyze how the warlocks and Undying are appeals to authority to keep Dany in the HoTU

- Unpack and theorize on what the different visions means (treasons and brides)

- Watch the Undying be put to the lie that they are. They can die.

- Answer the question: Does the ASOIAF fandom prefer theories to analysis and does that hinder our enjoyment of the books?

Next week: We're back in King's landing with Tyrion getting ready for the king's arrival and the Battle of the Blackwater.

- Break down the act of looking and reading through Dany's eyes

- Take note of how George weaves in Red Wedding foreshadowing

- Dissect HOTU as a projected labyrinth of fantasies

- Compare George's work to Nabokov and Kubrick

- Lock eyes in passing with Rhaegar Targaryen, ASOIAF's prime mover

Next week: Dany encounters the Undying at last, only to find out they're serving her for dinner

- 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.