[guf]

I loved last night and this past season.

It's going to be a long year without the show.

[Rob Babcock]

Agreed!  A good episode and the story is moving along.  A few characters dead (par for the course with GoT ), some of them kind of surprising.  It will be long year waiting for the next season.

[Chazro]

It's going to be a long year without the show.

That's exactly how I felt at the end of season 1.  The very next day I bought book 2 which practically picked up exactly where season 1 left off.  Having read the entire series since than I don't think one could pick up book 4 and get the same sense of gratification I did, different books, different storytelling style.  The further the show gets into the tale, the more changes they make.  For instance, the amazing battle between the Hound and Brienne last night never happened in the books.  The backstory behind Tyrion's escape, especially between him and his brother was completely changed.  There were changes made to the battle at the wall, also to Brandon's trek to the north.  I think the changes are for the better, they're streamlining the story, trimming the fat, moving the story along at a quicker pace.  I can't wait to see how they improve the story next season, as book 4 was the slowest of them all!  Did you hear that GOT has surpassed the Sopranos as HBO's most-watched series ever!?

[John Casler]

Had to repost the link.

LOOK HERE GOT

Thank me later   

[Rob Babcock]

The further the show gets into the tale, the more changes they make.  For instance, the amazing battle between the Hound and Brienne last night never happened in the books.  The backstory behind Tyrion's escape, especially between him and his brother was completely changed.  There were changes made to the battle at the wall, also to Brandon's trek to the north.  I think the changes are for the better, they're streamlining the story, trimming the fat, moving the story along at a quicker pace.  I can't wait to see how they improve the story next season, as book 4 was the slowest of them all!

That seems to be the source of my only minor quibbles with the last episode.  It felt like some things were 'shoehorned in' that didn't really fit in order to synchronize the show to the books.  For instance it felt to me like Shae's death didn't come about organically but rather was forced because she died in the book.  I didn't get the sense of her feelings transforming from love to hatred as they must have, and if her motives were merely mercenary that wasn't explained well, either.  Sersis reconciliation with Jaime also felt like it was tossed in there because it was artificially created in the first place with a rape that didn't occur in the books.

But those are minor issues indeed!  This was probably the best season yet in an overall sense.

It's gonna be a loooong 40 months til it's back again!