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I agree. And regardless of some cliffhangers (the book had many more), the season ending was much more satisfying than the book counterpart, as we did get to the climax of the stories: we see the conclussion to the Stannis vs. Bolton clash, we aren't waiting for a Battle of Meereen that didn't happen, Dany and Tyrion have met and Jon has faced the White Walkers.

the reception of this season has been really weird. When the first four episodes leaked, everyone was claiming that they were great (episode 1 was good, episode 2 was even better, episode 3 was awesome and episode 4 was pure gold, according to those who watched them), the strongest first bunch of episodes of all season. Then, as they started airing officially, all sorts of complaints appeared (and two shorts scenes of Ellaria and the Sand Snakes seemed to be the end of the show), until the season was considered slow, boring, disappointing... Again episode 5 was considered a strong episode at first... then episode 6 aired, and a certain controversial scene (and another short Dorne scene) grew into a disproportionate amount of hating. And again, suddenly season 5 as a whole was considered boring, slow, poorly written, the worst of all.... Thank goodness episodes 7 and (specially 8) seem to be appretiated again...right now. Hope it lasts. For me, it was absolute gold, the first half of the episode was just great, and the second half left me without words. And without any doubts, it's the best episode 8 to date.

Before the Hardhome sequence began I was thinking the episode was great: interesting Dany/Tyrion development discussing actual future plot development (she's about to be going to Westeros after all), awesome Theon/Sansa scene that hints at a future Stark reunion, great Cersei, perfect Braavosi atmosphere... And then Hardhome began. And wow. It's just perfect. The whole sequence,the lenght, the build-up, the tension, the drama... Absolutely perfect. Again, it sets up the future of the show (Jon Snow vs. White Walkers), and it uses several key moments of book 5 to create something superior to anything we read in that book. I also thought the structure of the episode was perfect. Instead of devoting a whole episode to the battle and missing all the other storylines, the first half developed most of the storylines while the second half worked as a condensed "Blackwater" episode. I think it's safe to say that this episode, overall, was better than the books.

Thank goodness this is Got and not ASOIAF. In the novels, that kind of apparent death at the end of a chapter always means that it's a fake-death -or that the character will be brought back to live in one way or another. :P

I agree. More than the actual episode at Craster's, the scenes leading up towards it (in episodes 3 and 4) were really strong and helped to turn Jon into a believable leader. The more I think about it, the more I like how they structured the Wall storyline this season. Episodes 9 and 10 are the "meaty" storylines, but there was a nice character-based buil-up towards it, which is more apparent (and works better) when you bing watch all the season.

The more I think about it, the more I like the fact that they didn't include Stannis. A sudden arrival saving the day at the last minute would've felt like Blackwater all over again. And it would've diminished the importance of the NW and Jon Snow in the defense of the Wall. What they did is much closer to what happens in the books. The northern and southern attack happen simultaneously, but once the action ends, the battle is not over and Jon has to go to try to kill Stannis (which, in the show, is a much more heroic moment because he is the one who decides to go). And as the producers repeatedly said, the climax of this season will happen in episode 10. For EVERY storyline including the Wall.

It's not the most important thing in the episode, but why the heck haven't they changed the credits sequence yet? I understand they can't change it every week, but this was annoying: five episodes and still the same title sequence, no Eyrie (and yet neither Dragonstone nor the Dreadfort appeared), Connleth Hill not credited (but appeared) while Jerome Flynn credited (but without appearing). Who's in charge of that?

Hey, but once again, the issue seems to be "it's different from the books" rather than "they ruined the show-character!". Meeting Brienne changes Jaime, and that's apparent in the show. Does that mean he becomes a purely good character who would never do anything bad? No. Thankfully, he's still a realistic conflicted and morally ambiguous character who's trying to figure out what's right and wrong. I can't understand how "having sex with his sister in front of their son's corpse" doesn't damage his redepmtion arc in the books, but "forcing his sister to have sex with him in front of their son's corpse" is suddenly so much worse in the show. We are talking about a very conflicted relationship with a lot of anger, hatred, spite and narcisism, not an ideal love story. And this doesn't mean I hate Jaime. I don't like or love characters depending on how badass or how evil they are. I like characers because they are complex and interesting.

Hmmmm,really??? Where did you get that?? Any examples?

So, we all like to say this show doesn't have good and bad characters, that all of them are grey.... and yet, we expect to see a traditional "evil conflicted guys gets a redemption arc and becomes pure and perfect" story? I'm tired of all the discussion on that scene (from such a modern angle), but I will say that I'm glad they haven't made Jaime a purely good character.

Do you think it' possible that Jon and Bran will actually meet at Craster's? It could be a powerful and poignant scene, Jon having to let Bran go...

So, was the scene with Sam written by Martin?

Nope, Winterfell will be taken in episode 6, Theon will hunt for the Star children in 7, yara will visit him in 8, and the sack of winterfel will be in episode 10. Otherwise, what will Theon do in the second half of the season? He's story is being one of the most interesting ones this season!