I'm a bit torn about this. I would find it satisfying if the heroes burn up all of the White Walkers and restore some kind of decent government (relatively speaking) to the people of Westeros. However, part of me thinks it would be kind of awesome if Martin stuck to his deconstructionist guns and had everything end up…

It's entirely possible that they intend to do something more with Dorne, and it may perhaps be good. But that doesn't excuse how excruciatingly awful it was this season.

I believe it is the red comet that signaled the return of magic, and the dragons were part of that.

It's an option that Cersei plans to utilize in the books.

Yes, I'm aware of that. It would still have been possible, and it would have made the reason for the stabbings less dumb than "We don't like Wildlings, Wildling lover."

Sam and Gilly spent the bulk of the book trapped in Braavos. They don't have the budget for some rooms? But that really ignores that he did two things all season, gave a speech and fended off some rapists. At least when he was stuck in Braavos, Sam was trying to accomplish something. The changes effectively turned his…

We'll just have to differ on it I guess. Most of his men seemed to merely tolerate his Lordship, and there was none of the hard won inclusion of the Wildlings in the defense of the Wall.

Here is what bothers me about this season. If you are going to bring everyone back to the points they reached in the books, more or less, why change so much of the journey for the worse. For example, if Sam is going to take Gilly and the baby away to Oldtown, why have him spend the season doing basically nothing? If…

Nothing in Song of Ice and Fire has come close to the low point of Wheel of Time. I have a lot of patience of extraneous characters, and even I almost gave up on it.

There was basically no plot in Dorne. It was just a series of things that seemed to serve no purpose. I mean, people complain about books 4 and 5 containing a lot of filler, but if you want real filler, just watch any scene in Dorne.

Hey, at least he got a dumb scene where he and his daughter got to hug.

I didn't start reading the books until after the first season, and I didn't skim any chapters in Game of Thrones even though it was the season that hewed most closely to the book. Why would anyone skim chapters in a work they've never read before? There's a world of details you'd miss.

I just watched the Big Bang Theory clip out of curiosity (still a terrible show), and it did explain it better, though it left out the decaying atom part, which is sort of key to the whole thing. It also used it as a metaphor for a potential relationship between the blond girl and the lead nerd. Did I mention the show…

The only thing I remember her from is 50/50, and I thought she was fine in that.

You're right. I take back my snark. Even if some of it was hamfisted, it still counts as set-up.

After the rest of this season, you still think they're paying attention to set-up?

I assumed the Faceless Men intended to use Arya for some purpose or another, which is why they let her remain herself while training her in their arts.

Aerys?

I liked most of the secondary characters in Tyrion's travels, possibly all of them with the exception of the lady dwarf. I guess I'm in the minority of people who actually likes the world building in the 4th and 5th books.

I don't think Tommen's and Margaery's perspectives added anything (though they're necessary for the show), and the same goes for Hardhome. It was thrilling to see it, and it is necessary to show and not tell that kind of thing on a TV show, but I wouldn't say they improved on the books. They were simply parts of…