"this season has improved in the books in many ways"?

the battle scene was indeed great, as were the Cersei scenes, but I wasn't fully impressed with the episode. Tyrion isn't enough to make Dany any less dull, and I still feel she's being given too smooth an image.

No, I'm saying the point of killing (or not) a character is to advance a plot. Not to make the audience care momentarily - that's not storytelling - but for the entire storyline. Barristan advances the plot because he is a rich character. He's interesting. He provides backstory for the Targaryens, for Robert's…

Everyone cares about Barristan - he's the greatest knight in the realm!
And I really don't see why this is what needed to be accomplished.

I think killing Barristan is a ridiculous decision - even in terms of plot development they could have accomplished the exact same results by killing off "Boring Sad Eunich" instead, for whom nobody has ever cared in the slightest.

Are you seriously trying to praise Daenerys' leadership when everything areound her is screaming "you are an incompetent idiot who makes everything worse all the time"?

No, Jojen is not dead (yet anyway) in the books.

Varys does disappear in the books as well. It's not stated (I think) where he goes, but he's not in King's Landing.
I just hope they remember there is a guy called Kevan Lannister too.

Close, but not really, in the book it's basically the massive punch that kills him. GRRM was actually more merciful to Oberyn.

Without spoiling anything (I don't really remember the equivalent scene anyway), this father-son moment was a divergence from the book, where Roose despises Ramsay for very good reasons.

I think you're in the minority - I haven't met a book reader who didn't love Oberyn all along. He's always been a fan favourite.

the trailer for the next episode has Eyrie scenes

B+? I think this was by far the best episode of the season until now

Cunning and smarts? Daenerys? Seriously?

This is a change that may make it easier for the plot to develop regarding Jaime and Cersei's relationship, which was easier in the books with the POV chapters, but it probably does so at a bigger expense.