i figured Frey was unusually accepting of Robb OPENLY VIOLATING HIS DEAL LIKE A MORON WHO DOESNT KNOW WHAT A MISTRESS IS, but i had no idea he would go THAT far. honestly, it feels more manipulative than anything: from what people here are saying it doesnt play out so mindnumbingly atrocious in the books; they take whatever guests they can alive because hostages are more valuable than making walder frey look slightly more like satan incarnate with pointless cruelty, and grey wind goes out in a blaze of glory probably because two mythically badass wolves dying helplessly in one series is just disappointing. i digress... the point is, it was a horrible, horrible act, but its clear Frey did what he did to further his power, nothing wasted on pointless cruelty, and the wife escaping and the wife being repeatedly stabbed in the fetus are two very, very, VERY different things, because to me getting rid of the only two things fucking with your political marriage would be the motivating factor of the whole bloody mess.
and the bit with Cat? a perfectly timed masterstroke of tragedy.... which is why its feels so bad and out of place. GoT has been nothing if not one of the most engrossing, realistic series ive ever watched, and perfectly disturbing bits like that just make me go, "really? was that REALLY necessary?" who the fuck waits til that one moment to slit a grieving woman's throat? it takes one EXCEPTIONALLY sick fuck to do that, not something your standard pitiless wretch of an assassin would do, and they already have theon's little friend to fill the role of westeros' exceptionally sick fuck. and of course arya arrives just in time to see that everything's gone to shit again, not arriving in the aftermath, not reuniting and being a new element walder doesnt have time to consider leading to her escaping again, no, she arrives JUST in time to see a frey man kill a stark man. it all falls perfectly into place, and perfect tragedy takes me out of the moment. that guy (was it one frey's sons?) did not act like a human, he acted like a scripted mustache-twirling villain his sole purpose is to make people hate him, and every character so far in the series, however minor, has been
been infinitely better disguised as a human who acts like a human. did he have some undying loyalty to Walder Frey? some cause to hate Cat Stark with a pitiless passion? im pretty sure he was just a hired knife or household guard, and if he was given some rousing speech to make the traitors suffer or something he would've been pumped, moving about anxiously, maybe shouting curses at them (like the other guy who couldnt help but mention lannisters), something, but instead he kills her with emotionless efficiency, like an assassin... except for the whole efficiency part, waiting for that one perfect moment of torment when Frey had intended for them to already be dead from all the fucking crossbows, and just took the opportunity to get a little bit of satisfaction. the point is cat watching her son die and wailing wasnt part of some planned cruelty, Frey told them to hold off and really never gave another order to finally kill either of them, so the only reason a calm, calculating killer would take that one moment above all others to kill her is if he was an exceptionally sick fuck, or he was a villain in a story designed to make readers/ watchers want revenge.
maybe later he is explained to be an exceptionally sick fuck, or we get some banter in the aftermath along the lines of, "yeah, i dont know what came over me, Frey told us to hold off, but then Steve killed Robb so i figured it was back on, only she had just finished wailing and it felt kind of f**ked up. guess that's the job i guess." at this point though, it feels transparently manipulative, and it pulled me out of the story, only because its been so realistic up to this point though; it was inconsistent. The actual event makes perfect sense in the confines of the story, Robb's army was falling part, winterfell was taken, so really there would be no backlash for taking them all out AND you get lannister gold, its just the details that irk me.