She did say "Welcome home" immediately before saying the North remembers.

Show Sam has experienced character growth. It makes much more sense than book Sam, who still pisses his pants when someone looks at him funny despite having survived the ranging beyond the wall, the Wildling siege, etc. Show Sam is a much better and more rounded character than book Sam.

Calling them ISIS at this point is a real stretch. The called out and disciplined the High Septon for being a major hypocrite. They haven't beheaded people in the streets, haven't been destroying antiquities or non-religious works, etc.

My bet is that he wasn't completely finished with the climactic material, but he was being heavily pressured by his publisher and HBO to get out a book to coincide with the first season of GOT. As a result, they published the finished material essentially "as is" with little editing.

I thought that was a much more significant (and stupid) change that things like "Only Cat." Jaime's killing of his cousin was another weird misstep from that season that's best forgotten.

Cersei's amused (and knowing) sideways glance at Pycelle as Pycelle was ranting about the Septon's brothel trip being no one's business was golden. You could see Cersei mocking Pycelle with her eyes. Little things like that make this show great.

They needed Beric for the Arya story, plus the iconic duel between him and the Hound.

I agree with those as well. I've almost forgotten about Osha. I wonder if she and Rickon are going to make an appearance this season?

Maybe. It would be interesting to see Doran and Jamie play off of each other.

The show has improved several characters- Thorne's one of them. Sam, Brienne, and Bronn are others that immediately stand out to me as better on the show.

What about a Bolton grandson with undeniable Stark blood? That's probably a risk worth taking.

He still has Robin's loyalty, so he didn't give the Vale away so long as he's too powerful for Bronze Yohn Royce to oppose. So far, the show hasn't shown Royce to be particularly eager to oppose Littlefinger. He's more neutral about him than anything.

Given Thorne's contemptuous sneer at Slynt when Sam was mocking him for hiding during the battle, I think that Thorne had become completely embarrassed by Slynt. John's showing Thorne respect by naming him First Ranger sealed the deal.

Pyschopathic magical Viking with an inferiority complex? What's not to love? He had some of the best chapters in ADWD.

I liked the Ironborn plot as well- much, much more than Dorne. But I can understand why it was cut from the show. It would have added simply too much to cover. I think that it added too much for the books to cover as well, really. The Ironborn saga and the Oldtown plot add at least another book to the series to…

Fantastic!

Our disagreement seems to be a matter of degree. I think that show Littlefinger is lesser than book Littlefinger, but the difference isn't enough to take me out of the story.

I completely disagree with you. IMO, the switch the Sansa and Ramsey is more satisfying and interesting than the Jeyne Poole / Fake Arya and the Alayne and "Harry the Heir" stories in the books. I also think that actually killing Mance makes for a better story. I thought the glamouring in the book was a cop out. …

The sad part is that even AFFC and ADWD combined don't equal one finished book. The last part of ADWD (featuring the climactic battles) was apparently cut and is going to be placed in the Winds of Winter. Those chapters that GRRM has been dribbling out over the past few years were all written for ADWD.

I'm calling it now- either Jaime or Bronn is going to be on the receiving end of Areo Hotah's axe this season. They're definitely going to try to rescue Myrcella from the Dornish, and I think they're going to botch the job somehow.