The Flaying Man

I can't be the first person to have noted this, but I'll point it out anyway. When the episode opens, we see Roose, kingslaying dagger still in hand, ascending the final steps to the top of one of the Twins, and surveying the slaughter below. While an amazing shot and indeed sequence in itself, I couldn't help but compare it to Blackwater. What struck me was the sheer scale of the carnage outside the Twins; it actually looked like a huge battle/slaughter, as it should. I have always thought that while Blackwater was a fantastic episode, I never really got a sense of the scale that the battle was supposed to possess. All of the shots were too close to the actors, and there was never a large amount of combatants on screen at once. Since the scale of the slaughter outside the Twins was so accurately shown in just one shot, I think Blackwater definitely would have benefited from at least a couple of similar shots. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it bears thinking about.

I agree. Also, Melisandre's absence has provided a nice opportunity for some fleshing out of Stannis and his family. I loved Dillane's awkwardness around both Selyse and Shireen. Hopefully we will see more of this!

Very impressed with this episode, it just seems to be getting better and better.

Since you're taking a risk, as you said yourself, I'll keep it spoiler free. I'm by no means an expert, but here I go: 1. Tywin and Arya never even come into direct contact in the book, she acts as another character's cupbearer after Tywin leaves Harrenhal. 2. The bulk of the season roughly covers book 2, although there are elements from book 3 included, such as certain scenes in Robb's camp (Riverrun in the books) 3. I honestly have no definite idea, but my rough guess would be about 2 months?