**SPOILER ALERT for the MAY 8TH EPISODE**

This whole entry is fraught with them!

I’m not sure what you call a Game of Thrones fan. I googled it and found people coming up with different suggestions. There was Thronees, Throners, and Westerbros and Silent Hoes. The list went on depending on where I went. The official fan site is called Brotherhood without Banners, but I think it’s a bit wordy. Then there were others whom thought fans could be called masochists or virgins.

Why was I googling this tiny detail? Well, firstly because I’m addicted to the internet and all the juicy information at my fingertips. But the other reason is because I ran into three fellow fans last week and wondered what we’re called.

The first encounter I must apologize for again.

A friend’s husband walked up to me at a talent show and said, “Oh my God, Game of Thrones, right? When Jon sat up…!” Ok, side note – why did I not also say May 1st spoiler alert? Because if you are a true Fire and Icer (no?) then there is NO WAY you didn’t watch the May 1st episode before the May 8th episode. (Another side note – May 1st birthed people rock. Ask me how I know.)

Getting back: just having watched in the previous night I gushed, “I know! Jon can’t walk away from the Night’s watch! It would be desertion!”

First there was a look of confusion, and then we both comprehended at the same time what was going on. I couldn’t believe I had given away a spoiler! I give Fish a hard time for this infraction all. The. Time. I apologized, but the damage was done.

After the show was over, I was recounting my woeful tale to my friend Victoria. The last time we’d talked about the show, she said she didn’t watch it, so when she said, “He died. His time with the Night’s Watch is over.”

I was so excited about this pronouncement, but I was also surprised to hear it from a non-raven (maybe?). She shrugged. “We gave it another try and binge watched it.” I loved the idea that he has completed his term in the Night’s Watch on a technicality.

At Sloan Kettering, the knitting group was on the eleventh floor when I finished my appointment. I told them I didn’t plan on knitting, but could I join them while I ate my lunch. I was introduced to a new comer and immediately gushed over her Game of Thrones shirt. It had a bunch of bobble head characters from the show.

She asked me if I was caught up on the show so we could talk about it. I wish I’d thought to ask Jorge the same thing before spilling the big reveal. She told me she had met George R.R. Martin at a promotional gig last year and we went through all the possible rumors of future plot twists while I ate.

My favorite part of the May 8th episode is the point where Jon is feeling like he can’t do it anymore. He says he tried to do the right thing and got murdered for it. Kit Harrington does a great job of showing Jon’s defeat. His weariness that maybe it’s all a lost cause and any future effort will be just as fruitless. “I failed,” he says as he hangs his head. Then the Onion Knight delivers the next line. “Good,” he says enthusiastically. “Now go fail again.”

As a person who figuratively (and occasionally literally) falls down, I connected with the dialogue. Victoria, on the other hand, said she was surprised by Jon’s reaction. She thought he should be invigorated by being alive again.

You should watch the scene again, because it’s that awesome.

I don’t know what to call us as a group, but it’s something we can all bond over. Sure there are blood, guts, and tits everywhere, but the story is about multi-layered human personalities and how they handle adversary.

Man I’m so excited for tonight’s episode.