Ranker is a nasty little thing, but then we meet Kegan who is a nasty little thing. It's a good chapter.

Governing, it would seem based on this chapter, is the art of letting other people govern while you go meet yet other people where they are governing. Truly a delicate practice.

We have fun on this show, but for real: don't nail people to things. It's unkind.

Isn't a SKU like some kinda think when shopping? I'm gonna check it out, maybe we'll all learn something.

I did research. It's a Stock Keeping Unit, so it's like a barcode. It's prolly relevant to this chapter because money has serial numbers and it's kinda about the treasury. Cool stuff!

"Thank the gods you're awake! It's been months!"

"Oh boy, I'm so excited to walk through Laure under a fractious combo of martial law and Praesi coup!"

It's only fair to assume that the title is a reference to John Darnielle's hit song "Sudden Oak Death" wherein the lyric When the crack sounds in the woods, you will know that I'm down for good. Because this is the chapter where Catherine's pair a' more is down for good.

This is the kind of intertextuality you can only get on PGTEE.

I pledge allegiance

To the Horse

Of the occupied Kingdom of Callow

And to the Knights

For which it neighs

One quadruped

Under the gods

Full of strings

With broken legs and panic for all

I'll be real: it sounds very wrong to me to say "a shambles." It's "in shambles." This is another big L for the Brits, who are also wrong about The Magna Carta. "There's no 'the' in Latin!" Yeah, so? That's not how languages work. Do you not say "the" Kremlin? Grow up.

A short king, a shorter king, and the Bard's thing

Now goblins are cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted. They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones. They can tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, when they take the trouble, though they are usually untidy and dirty.