game of thrones - part deux

So after this last season of Game of Thrones ended on June 26th, I felt like -- for the first time in six seasons -- I finally understood what was going on... sort of. (Probably because they'd finally killed off enough of the extremely large cast of characters that there were fewer people to figure out.)

All I really could tell you prior to the end of Season 6 was:

• Sean Bean really doesn't have very good luck in fantasy dramas.
• Dany and her dragons are awesome (except when they're charring goats and small children).
• If anyone invites you to a wedding on this show, don't go!
• Bran Stark -- who I don't really even remember from Season 1-5 (except for when Jaime pushed him out that window at the end of Episode 1) -- is apparently very important.
• Jon Snow has the best luck of any character in television. (Well, except in the Season 5 finale...) 
• These people sure are fighting a lot for what looks like an extremely uncomfortable chair.

So I decided to binge-watch the first six seasons again to see if I could actually make sense of all the "houses" and who is on who's side and why or why not. Here are some of my most eye-opening "Oh yeah.. forgot that" (or in more cases... "Huh? I TOTALLY missed that the first time") moments from watching it again:

• That 3-eyed Raven has been around since Episode 1... who knew?
• So have the White Walkers (I swear I don't remember them since before in Season 3).
• So have clues about Jon Snow's real parentage...
• Arya's had her "list" since her dad... well ... you know... in Season 1. Poor Arya. (And poor anyone whose name is on that list, even though they totally deserve it. But she's scary now... I'm worried about her)
• The Red Wedding was Robb Stark's own fault... and his mother warned him.
• The crazy lady with the giant hole in the floor of her tower is Catelyn Stark's sister. (Which explains the army coming to save the day at the end of "Battle of the Bastards"... well, that and creepy Littlefinger being obsessed with Catelyn and then Sansa).
• Littlefinger took care of Joffrey... I forgot who had that honor. Gotta give him props for that too. (But that's enough.)
• Jon Snow was working with the Wildlings back in like Season 3 or 4? And actually climbed UP and OVER the WALL?!?!? (Yeah don't remember that AT ALL.)
• The Hound isn't all bad, he just acts that way... likely due to his emotionally (and facially) scarred childhood. 
• Jamie Lannister isn't either... (Hey, he helped Tyrion escape. And he saved Brienne from a gladiator bear.)
• A LOT of these characters cross each other's paths a LOT. And when you're paying attention (which apparently I wasn't the first time I watched this) the things they say and do make a LOT of sense.
• The 100-year-old blind monk adviser guy at Castle Black is a Targaryen?!?! I thought they were all dead except for Dany and ... well, you-know-who (and if you listen to fan theories perhaps another very short you-know-who... 3 dragons. 3 riders.)
• Ser Jorah (aka Dany's right hand knight) is actually a Mormont from Bear Island?!?! AKA related to 10-year-old badass "Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is Stark" Lady Lyanna Mormont?? How did I totally miss this the first time? (Seriously. Multi-tasking is bad people. Bad.) 
• That Sparrow that ended up following the little bird into the catacombs and setting off the big boom is the Lannister cousin Cersei slept with when Richard Baratheon was still alive back in Season 1?? Yeah, totally missed that too.
• Bald weirdo Varys is seriously Game of Thrones' version of the game master from The Hunger Games. 

Other thoughts from the final episodes of Season 6...

• "Hold the Door!" ... still heartbreaking.
• Dany and her dragons ... still awesome.
• Jon beating Ramsay's face to a pulp ... still made me cheer out loud.
• Sansa and the starving hounds ... still the most satisfying moment of the series so far. Karma's a bitch (literally).. and then you die :p 

mad binge

As of this afternoon, I have officially completed my four-month binge of Mad Men.

Now what am I supposed to do?

What are the chances there is a third series out there as good as Mad Men and Breaking Bad for me to binge-watch?

I've been very spoiled by these two well-written, superbly acted and highly-addictive series flying out of my Netflix queue the last 16 months...neither of which I watched when they originally aired, coincidentally both on AMC.

I actually had no desire to watch Breaking Bad until it was over and had won every award imaginable. I had to know why. How could a show about a high school teacher who gets cancer and decides to cook crystal meth so his family will be financially taken care of when he dies be that good? Well, I was hooked by the end of the first episode. It won all the acting and writing and series awards because all of that was that good.

And with Mad Men, many people I know were addicted to it the last few years. (Some even had viewing parties and bought props in an auction after the show wrapped.) I knew I'd end up watching it eventually, but I was too far behind by the time I realized that. So I purposely avoided social media about it and even totally skipped the year-end TV wrap-ups last month so as not to have Don, Peggy, Joan, Roger and Betty's end stories spoiled.

Now that I've learned them, I'm kind of at a loss.

With Breaking Bad, let's just say the ending for most characters left little to the imagination. My questions (well except for one) were answered and there is nothing left to tell.

With Mad Men, while they showed the paths the main characters were headed down, I still want more...I want to see them in those next chapters... especially Peggy and Joan (aka the "Unmarried Professional  Women" of the DVD extras featurette). They were just heading into their "kick some major ass and take names" phase. That would be awesome to watch. But alas....

So I ask again, now what?

I added practically no new shows this fall because my quality gauge was set at "Is this show going to be more entertaining than another episode of Mad Men?" The answer was no. 

What is? 

If I don't start binging another show, I might actually get bored enough to read my book pile :p  Help!!