By Maria Ramos (@MariaRamos1889) By displaying a fierce determination to go against convention, Arya Stark has left viewers spellbound with several standout moments in the HBO series Game of Thrones, based on best-selling books by George R. R. Martin. A daughter of the Lord of Winterfell, she is stubbornly independent and headstrong - and rarely without Needle, the sword she so skillfully uses to display her impressive fighting skills. As the fifth season of GoT gets underway (check here for listings), here are five of the most awesome badass Arya Stark moments we've seen...so far:   After Arya joins efforts to thwart the attack on Yoren, she loses Needle when Polliver knocks her over and takes it from her. He ends up getting his just desserts for the murder of Lommy Greenhands, not to mention payback for saying that he'll use the sword to pick his teeth, when Arya, with some help from Sandor "The Hound" Clegane, gets Needle back and kills Polliver with it at the Inn at the Crossroads. The "badassness" of this moment is fairly clear, especially the irony of Arya killing Polliver with the sword he stole from her. (Season 4, Episode 1) Shortly after receiving Needle as a gift from her brother, Arya gets back to her training exercises as she continues to hone her abilities with the sword. After stumbling upon some dungeons, Arya overhears talk of a possible war. She follows the men she overheard and discovers a passage out of the castle. In an effort to get back in, she displays her feisty side on a grand scale by giving the guards a piece of her mind, confronting and threatening them to get back into the castle. How badass is that? (Season 1, Episode 5)   In a lighter badass moment from the series, Arya is having a discussion with her father about Bran, who won't be a knight since he's paralyzed. Arya goes on to ask her father if she can become a knight. Amused that a daughter of his would ask such a question, Eddard laughs and tells her that she'll marry a lord and have children who may grow up to become lords and kings - assuming that they're males. "That is not my destiny," a defiant Arya replies. It's a badass moment because such an attitude was unheard of in the time period in which the series takes place. (Season 1, Episode 4)   In the Riverlands, Arya and The Hound continue to make their way eastward. After mercifully killing a seriously wounded man they come across, the two are attacked by Biter and Rorge. The Hound kills Biter and, after learning that the other man is named Rorge - a name on her "death wishlist" - stabs him directly in the heart. It's a badass moment because Arya showed no fear or hesitation. In her mind, it was part of her purpose. It's also a moment that's in line with Martin's style of not falling in line with convention by having a strong female who doesn't let gender dictate her actions. (Season 4, Episode 7)   Some moments are badass because what you expect to happen doesn't happen. Arya makes a decision that seems to go against her apparent desire to become a lean, mean killing machine when she refuses Jaqen H'ghar's offer to go with him to learn his killing abilities. Instead, she takes an iron coin that he gives her with "Valar Morghulis" on it, a phrase she is told to say if she should need to find him again in the future. (Season 2, Episode 10)   All of these moments, so expertly acted out by Maisie Williams, whether involving some type of physical action not characteristic of women of the time period or making decisions that seem to have no rhyme or reason (including the decision not to mercifully kill a mortally wounded Hound at the end of season four), show that Arya Stark is a total badass on many levels. She is clearly her own person with all of her motivations for doing what she does yet unknown to Game of Thrones viewers.

Wait, there's more!

10 Most Shocking Moments of Game of Thrones

Straight Outta Austin!: Episode 162 – Too Violent for Wal-Mart

My Thoughts, Solicited: January 2015 Solicitations

After months of waiting and anticipation the second half of Breaking Bad Season 5 is finally here. Episode 9, appropriately titled Blood Money continues from the bombshell cliffhanger at the end of the mid-season finale. Blood Money jumps right into it and we see the confrontation between Walt and Hank that’s been building for years!

Blood Money begins with a flash forward, not too dissimilar from the one at the beginning of Season 5. Walt is looking pretty grisly, sporting a beard and messy hair and driving an old beat up car with a shotgun in the trunk. Walt pulls up to his old house, now abandoned, in shambles and seized by the government. To add to the surreal nature, there are kids using his empty pool in the backyard as a skate park. Inside the house “Hiesenberg” is spray painted on the wall so it’s clear that Walt’s double life has become public knowledge at this point. We find out why Walt risked going back to his house, he returned to retrieve the capsule of ricin hidden in the wall socket cover. As Walt’s preparing to leave he’s recognized by his neighbor, Carol, who’s frozen in fear. She drops her groceries as Walt greets her just as warmly as he would if he hadn’t been exposed.

Bryan Cranston prepares his costume for next year’s Comic Con

The Midseason Finale ended with Hank finally connecting the dots that Walter White was Heisenberg all along. Hank steals Walt’s book Leaves of Grass and makes an excuse as to why he needs to leave so abruptly. Once Hank gets into the car with Marie, he’s so furious and disturbed that he suffers a panic attack and crashes. After Hank’s released from the hospital, he compares the handwriting in Leaves of Grass with the handwriting in Gale’s notebook and confirms his suspicion. Hank opts to stay away from the office for the next few days while compiling all of the files they have on Heisenberg. He re-watches the security video of Walt and Jeese stealing the methylamine and looks over the sketch of Heisenberg which further help drive the point home.

Probably should have dropped that duece years ago

We peak in on Jeese, who’s in an all too familiar state; downtrodden and guilt ridden over the evils that they’ve done. He’s hanging out with Badger and Skinny Pete who are just as oblivious to how tormented Jesse is as he is their conversation. This scene is easily the funniest of the episode and one my favorites. Badger is telling Skinny Pete all about his pitch for a Star Trek movie; let’s just say it involves a pie eating contest and a tractor beam accident. You never really see these two geek out like this so it’s a real treat. Jesse takes off just as Badger is “getting to the good part” of his story. Someone even made an animated version of the would-be script.

Tullaberries? That’s Voyager dude!

Jeese goes to see Saul in the hopes that Saul will help him  give away 4 million dollars; 2 million to Mike’s family and 2 million to the family of the kid who Todd killed. Saul advises him against it, cautioning that the money Mike sent to the his granddaughter has already been seized by the feds twice. Ultimately Saul tells Jesse that he’ll take care of it. Only Saul calls Walt instead, who tries his hand at easing Jesse’s guilt.

Bitch

Walt tries to convince Jesse that he needs to put all of the “darkness” behind them. But Jesse can’t get around the fact that he has 4 million dollars in blood money. Walt questions Jeese about why he’s so concerned with Mike’s family, which leads to Jeese accuse Walt of killing Mike. Walt, of course, denies killing Mike and assures Jesse that Mike is alive and well so he’s perfectly capable of taking care of his own family. He tells Jeese twice, that he needs Jeese to believe him. I found it funny how Walt said “none of that is true” right after explaining that Mike is alive and well as if it was a Freudian slip. At the end of the episode Jeese gives a stack of money to homeless man asking for change and then drives around a poor neighborhood tossing stacks of money out of the window. Clearly, Walt’s pep talk didn’t do the trick.

Come on, cheer up, the last time I saw Mike he looked rather peaceful…

We see a familiar face show up at Skylar and Walt’s car wash. It’s Walt’s former business associate, the mousey, Lydia. She tries to convince Walt to start cooking again, explaining that there’s been a significant drop in quality since he’s stepped away. Her attempts are fruitless as Walt is unconcerned with her plight, even with her life being at risk. Skylar confronts Lydia after Walt explains that she’s trying to get Walt back into the business. She orders her to leave and never come back. Lydia promptly leaves but I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of her soon enough.

May I interest you in the, “kindly fuck off”?

Towards the end of the episode Walt notices that his book, Leaves of Grass, is missing. He’s unable to find it and rules out who could have possibly taken it. Walt goes to bed, only to wake up in the middle of the night to search his car. He finds a GPS tracker and it turns out to be the exact same kind that he and Hank had put on Gus’ car way back when. Walt wastes no time and goes to confront Hank the very next day. At first Walt pretends as though he’s just visiting to check on Hank’s condition. Hank is noticeably uneasy and nervous as Walt banters about. It looks as though Walt is going to carry on the game of cat and mouse as he turns to leave, only he stops after a few steps and then asks Hank about the tracker.

I couldn’t help but notice that my cover’s blown…

Hank just stares at Walt, calmly shuts the garage door and then punches Walt in the mouth, dropping him to the floor. Hank rattles off the laundry list of awful things that Walt has done. Walt makes an attempt to convince Hank that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about but Hank isn’t buying it so Walt tries to appeal to his sympathy and reveals that his cancer is back and that he only has 6 months to live. Hank is unmoved, he tells Walt that he needs to bring his children over to their house and then they’ll talk. Walt of course refuses. Hank admits that he doesn’t even know who Walt is anymore. Walt leaves Hank with a chilling rebuttal, he better tread lightly.

To be fair Hank, had you caught Jeese in episode one we wouldn’t be in this mess now

- Prometheus

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Spoiler Alert! If you don’t know what the purpose of dragon glass is than you may want to finish watching Season 3 before you read this. You’ve been warned.

  We’re a week removed from the season finale of Game of Thrones and it’s well passed time for me to jot down how I felt about Season 3. Unfortunately, it would be impossible for me to even attempt to comment on everything that happened this season, without writing a book that is. Instead I’m going to touch on the parts of Season 3 which I enjoyed the most. Overall, I felt like Season 3 inched along very slowly but when something big happened it was absolutely game changing. Yes, the Red Wedding. Holy Hells! But, I’ll get back to that in a bit. Whether you rep Team Stark or Team Lannister, both houses saw their share of hardship this season with the Starks unsurprisingly baring the brunt of it. Ah, again with the Red Wedding!

Damn you Walder Frey!

While Tyrion and Arya are my favorite characters I felt like Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth had the most interesting journey this season. I never cared much for Jamie until Season 3, at best I wanted him to not die because despite being a prick he was still very entertaining and I thought that it would have been a waste to kill him off. I felt very differently after he saved Brienne from being raped, revealed how he earned the moniker of Kingslayer, and saved Brienne again, from a bear no less. After those selfless acts it became very difficult not to like Jamie, at least a little bit. He became that much more empathetic after being humbled when his hand was chopped off, in what was a truly shocking scene. I seriously had to re-watch it just to make sure I saw what I thought my eyes had seen. I would have sooner expected Jamie to be killed before I expected him to be maimed. And ultimately, that’s what made it so powerful.

So he pushed Bran out of a window, he stared down a damn bear!

While we’re on the subject of Lannisters, let’s talk Tyrion. Tyrion was indisputably bad ass back in Season 2, he outwitted Lady Arryn, became Hand of the King, and saved King’s Landing, nearly being killed for his efforts. So of course I had high hopes for Tyrion in Season 3 and of course, no good deed goes unpunished. Tyrion spends the first half of the season in fear for his life after Ser Mandon tried to slice his face off. I felt like Tyrion was kicked around for much of Season 3. That is, until he’s forced into marrying Sansa Stark, then he starts to get more of an edge to him. Back in Season 2, I wouldn’t have expected Tyrion to threaten to castrate Joffrey on his wedding day, drunk or otherwise. Tyrion even threatens him again after Joffrey, being the charmer that he is, tells the Small Council that he plans to feed Robb Stark’s severed head to Sansa on his wedding day. That scene is absolutely priceless. I love how no one at the small council even says a word, not even Tywin, who deescalated the situation the first time. Joffrey looks around for support but only finds a stoic Tywin who sends him off to bed. I had been feeling very bad for Sansa throughout this season but she’s definitely in good hands with Tyrion, even if the marriage isn’t ideal on either end. Well it’s all said and done, I think Tyrion made out okay in season 3 despite being stuck in a difficult situation, trying to balance his love for Shae with his duty to his family. As for Sansa, sure she didn’t get to marry her dreamy Knight of Flowers, Ser Loras, but let’s face it, marrying Loras would have been it’s own can of worms. And she dodged a bullet by not being swept away by Little Finger, who totes gives off that creepy uncle vibe.

It may just be the wine speaking but I don’t believe that Tyrion cares much at all for Joffrey

Of all of the characters added in Season 3, Olenna Tyrell is easily the best addition. She’s just as witty as Tyrion if not even more so. Hell, she even left him speechless after they met. Her blunt attitude is not only refreshing but hilarious and I always look forward to what she’s going to say when she comes on screen. Likewise, Margaery Tyrell was very fun to watch this season. Seeing her put her claws into Joffrey, as Cersei put it, was like watching a tightrope act. There were times where I thought she was going to find herself shot full of arrows, not unlike like Ros. Margaery, unlike Sansa, obviously did her homework before she came to King’s Landing. She’s ambitious, savvy and practically operates like a political Green Beret. She always knows the right thing to say and it makes her a joy to watch.

Cersei strangulation threat aside, that is

Of all of the happenings in Dragonstone the relationship between Ser Davos and Stannis’ daughter, Shireen Baratheon, was the most captivating. I’m typically not a sucker for the mushy stuff but it’s difficult to not stop and gush when Shireen visits Davos in the dungeon and teaches him how to read. Both Davos and Shireen are rare characters in Game of Thrones: Shireen is still very innocent and loyal, while Davos is honest to fault yet so far has managed to stay alive. Even though he seems to be allergic to self preservation with trying to kill Melisandre and freeing Gendry. Speaking of Melisandre, she and her Lord of Light have became that much more interesting after The Hound killed Beric and he was brought back to life by Thoros using the power of the Lord of Light. We had seen her use the power of the lord of light before with Renly but it’s still surprises me everytime it happens. While it remains to be seen how The Lord of Light and the Brotherhood Without Banners will play into the big picture, I’m very much looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

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I was pretty indifferent towards Jon Snow until this season but his relationship with Ygritte was definitely entertaining. From the moment when he breaks his vows and takes her to bed to their lovers’ quarrel which ended with him shot full of arrows, it was a fun ride to say the least. One of my favorite Jon Snow moments occurred in The Rains of Castamere after he kills Orell and rides off, leaving Ygritte behind. The expression on Ygritte’s face is priceless and it’s no wonder that she shot him the very next time that she saw him. On the other hand, It was a bummer that Jon got so close to seeing his brothers, Bran and Rickon only to be separated from them again. Bran’s journey starts to get more interesting towards the end of the season after he finds out that he can enter into the minds of men. I found it funny that the moment Rickon finally gets to talk is the same moment where he’s having to say goodbye. I wonder how much we’ll see of Rickon and Osha now that they’ve parted ways with Bran. Regardless, I’m looking forward to what happens with Bran, even if Jojen Reed kind of creeps me out.

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds…

If you rep Team Targaryen, then you probably enjoyed this season more than anyone because Daenerys kicks ass the entire way through. She’s easily the most beloved character in Game of Thrones, not only as a fan favorite but even in the Game of Thrones universe everyone she crosses paths with instantly falls in love with her. The world over people spontaneously decapitate their comrades in admiration of her beauty alone. It’s only appropriate that Season 3 would end with Dany crowd surfing in sea of freed slaves. Dany optimizes the “rags to riches” narrative: She went from only having 3 baby dragons, a handful of Dothraki, and the ever loyal Jorah Mormont. By the end of Season 3 she had added Ser Barriston to her ranks, she now leads an army of 8000 Unsullied with unwavering loyalty coupled with Daario Naharis and his 2000 Second Sons and even her own Rosetta Stone, Missandei. It’s safe to say that she made out very well. Daenerys even has claim to the most hype moment of Season 3. In And Now His Watch Is Ended, after taking control of the Unsullied, she orders them to kill their former masters, then she kills Kraznys with her dragon and then rides out of the city of Astapor like boss. It. was. epic. And easily stands as one of my favorite moments of the series thus far. 

Unsullied! Give the Mother of Dragons a foot massage!

Now that we’re all feeling good let’s talk about Theon Greyjoy. Yes, Theon is terrible for betraying Robb and killing the shepherd’s two boys but damn did it get tiresome seeing him get tortured. Initially, I felt indifferent since Theon deserved a little comeuppance but after Ramsey Snow tricks him into thinking that he had escaped only to bring him right back to his torture room, it was got old pretty fast. Each time they cut to Theon it was just a matter of waiting to see what terrible thing Ramsey had in store for him. At least things ended with a light at the end of the tunnel with Theon’s sister, Yara, coming to his rescue.

I realize that the ‘Dick in the Box’ jokes are there, but hasn’t Theon suffered enough?

Can Arya catch a break? No, obviously not. It was frustrating to watch how at every turn her journey home was interrupted and she kept getting kidnapped by one person or another. When she finally took off from the Brotherhood Without Banners, only to run right into the arms of The Hound I wanted to punch something. Thankfully The Hound is not such a bad guy and he at least made good on his promise to take her to her brother’s wedding, the Red Wedding. 

What can I even say about The Red Wedding? I had the misfortune of knowing ahead of time that Robb would be killed at there but I figured it would be at the hands of a shadow baby like the one that killed Renly. My expectations couldn’t have been more wrong. The way everything came together was like watching a mafia hit; Blackfish left to take the most important piss of his life, Edmure was escorted out to bed his unexpectedly beautiful bride, then the door was shut and Rains of Castamere began playing. The entire dynamic of the room suddenly changed and only Catelyn seemed to notice. Then snikt! Talisa gets shanked in the belly, Robb and Catelyn get shot full of arrows while Walder Frey watched gleefully, sipping from his goblet. That would have been shocking enough had it ended there but then Catelyn attempts to convince Walder to spare Robb’s life. She tries to use his wife, Joyeuse, as a bargaining chip but good ole Walder Frey wasn’t even the least bit concerned about his wife and instead had Lord Bolton do the honors of stabbing Robb in the heart. On a side note, I knew Bolton was up to something when he let Jamie Lannister go free! But I digress. Mad with grief and as a final act of defiance, Catelyn slits Joyeuse’s throat before having her own cut.

The Red Wedding in a nut shell

Back to Arya. She was on the verge of being reunited with her family only to witness Robb’s men being slaughtered by the Frey’s. She then has a glimmer of hope when she spots Grey Wind only for him to killed right in front of her. And again, if that wasn’t bad enough, after The Hound rescues her from doing something foolish she sees Robb’s decapitated body with Grey Wind’s head attached to it being paraded around. Later, as she and The Hound are going wherever they overhear some of the Frey’s men bragging about desecrating Robb’s body. If there was any hope left in Arya up to this point, it’s far gone. She calmly approaches the group before viciously stabbing the guy who was quick to brag. The Hound finishes off the rest and they go about their business. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t damn gratifying to see Arya stab that chump like she was auditioning for Goodfellas. Not just that he had it coming, but I was tired of seeing Arya have her hopes crushed again and again. Now that Jamie and Brienne’s journey is over, The Hound and Arya are easily a shoe-in for the most entertaining odd couple.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship

Though there are still many question left unanswered, all in all, season 3 was pretty great and had some incredible and memorable moments. While the season finale was pretty anticlimactic, I couldn’t have imagined it topping Rains of Castamere. which is in a class all its own. Instead the finale served as more of a set up to Season 4 with Westeros learning about the threat of the White Walkers. I suppose the season finale did its job since it definitely left me wanting more. I don’t have many complaints about this season but what’s easily the worst thing about Season 3 is that it’s over and Season 4 is a year away!

And now my watch has begun…