Oh, and as it occurs to me. The House of the Undying may have been the worst scene of the series thus far. Even falling beneath the Littlefinger 'play with her arse' nonsense. A shame because it's the only really interesting thing that happens to Dany in ACOK. I don't know how you'd have kept in the visions from the book because they'd be so spoiler-tastic in a visual medium but I don't know why you'd bother to invent a totally new one (well, a reason to  feature a certain person again with no shirt on, I suppose) instead of just skipping them and having more stuff with Pyat. 
 
I suppose it might have some ramifications for the books though. Since the producers know how the books will end - maybe all the prophecies that the books are jammed full of are all just distractions and are irrelevant in the long run.

I thought the finale was pretty good apart from the house of the undying. That was rubbish. They could have at least tried to make it similar to the books.  

Brienne and Jaime are brilliant. I wish we had seen more of them!

The only thing that is confusing me at the moment is the Shae story. She's coming across very differently to the way she is portrayed in the books. I really like her in the tv series and I didn't at all in the books. 

There was a lot to fit in for this series in comparison to book one which is why I think book readers have been disappointed. I am a bit worried that it is going to get worse as the seasons progress though because books 3 onwards only get more detailed and confusing when it comes to new character introductions e.t.c.

I do agree with Neil that RW will completely turn people off if they haven't read the books. Especially with the way they have been developing certain characters differently on screen to how they were in the books. 

I had assumed Davos had drowned in the sea, still I suppose I wouldn't have been too shocked if he turned up again.  They seem to be rather good at having characters disappear for a couple of episodes and then turn up again later in a sort of "we've been here the entire time" way.  
It was also hard to tell whether I liked the last episode as it kept going out of sync and I had to reload it (should have bloody torrented) but generally I thought it was cool.  They did the same thing as last series whereby the finale was really the episode before and the last one was a sort of calm after the storm and setting up the next series.  But a couple of observations I will make:

2 things really annoyed me to the extent of briefly shattering my suspension of disbelief.  1, Stannis was left at the end of last episode being caught on the palace walls and now he's suddenly free?!? Also reminds me of when Jon was attacked by Crastor as a sort of cliffhanger then suddenly the next time we saw him he was completely fine and it was barely mentioned.  Shoddy and misleading.
2, "the iron people have left yay, but suddenly winterfell has been burned and we're running away even though it was supposedly liberated by an army loyal to Robb"..... eerrrrr what? Very confusing.

another annoyance is the constantly changing number of people in Dany's camp.  two episodes ago they were all killed bar Jorah.  Now she's got loads of followers again? Again makes it far more confusing than it has to be.  Also as I've said before I don't really like the supernatural stuff (particularly dragons) but after reading the first book I can sort of accept it more. 

a final observation about the series as a whole I thought was interesting: both the first two series have a character you thought was going to be important suddenly die around the 4th episode (King Robert and Renly).  And both the penultimate episodes end with a major character possibly dying (Ned and Tyrion).  This second one made me think that they probably were going to kill Tyrion (along with the way it was shot making it look like the sword went all the way through his head) but I couldn't wait to find out and foolishly read spoilers.  Hohum.  Also both the final episodes end with a shocking twist of some new supernatural thing being revealed.    

tyrannosaurusket

2 things really annoyed me to the extent of briefly shattering my suspension of disbelief.  1, Stannis was left at the end of last episode being caught on the palace walls and now he's suddenly free?!? Also reminds me of when Jon was attacked by Crastor as a sort of cliffhanger then suddenly the next time we saw him he was completely fine and it was barely mentioned.  Shoddy and misleading.
2, "the iron people have left yay, but suddenly winterfell has been burned and we're running away even though it was supposedly liberated by an army loyal to Robb"..... eerrrrr what? Very confusing.

This is one of my grievances with the series, that they don't really explain what is going on well enough. How anyone was supposed to know that Ser Loras was dressed in Renly's armour in the last episode is beyond me. 
 
But I'll answer your points below. But beware, they are full of spoilers: 
 
SPOILERS
 
 
1) That was Stannis' men dragging him off when they realised the battle was lost. 
 
2) Remember way back a few episodes ago when Winterfell's guards heard that Torrhen's Square (I think) was under attack, and rode out to help; thus allowing Theon and the Ironborn to sneak in and take Winterfell? Well, they return. And it's them who have surrounded the city. Whilst surrounding the city they spot another army, lead by Ramsey (the Bastard of Bolton) Snow, approaching. As the Bolton's are Stark bannermen they aren't weary to their approach, infact they welcome them as reinforcements. However, the Bolton's attack and kill the Winterfell guards when their guard is dropped. 
 
Theon sees this as believes the Boltons to be on his side, so he rides out to meet them. However, unbeknownst to the Ironmen the Bolton's have actually been bought by the Lannister's. They capture Theon and then burn Winterfell to the ground, as per Tywin Lannister's orders. 
 
Bran, Rickon, Osha, Hodor and Jojen and Meera Reed (not in the series) don't escape during all of this. Infact, the burning wood and rubble has actually trapped them down in the catacombs. They eventually escape, however, to find Winterfell burned to the ground and Ramsey's army gone.
 
END SPOILERS

huh, I'd already heard about it being Stannis's men on the battlemeants.  I guess the second part will be explained on screen at the start of series 3, I should really try harder to avoid spoilers lol

Maybe I missed something, but why didn't Sansa leave with The Hound?
 
Also, what happened to Bronn? It briefly mentioned that he no longer held his position within the city but didn't say what had happened to him.

Because she'd have been safer in KL no matter who held it than out in the wild with a nutcase who's just broken his oaths.

He was removed from his position by Tywin and Cersei because he was Tyrion's man.

You watched the last two episodes, right?

nfe

Because Littlefinger she'd have been safer in KL no mater who held it than out in the wild with a nutcase who's just broken his oaths.

He was removed from his position by Tywin and Cersei because he was Tyrion's man.

You watched the last two episodes, right?

 
Yes, I thought they were both very good.
 
I don't remember Littlefinger saying that, hence the question. I know he said he would get her out of KL last night.
 
I know he WAS removed, and I know WHY he was removed, but I wondered if it mentioned what became of him or whether we would see him again.
 

Sorry, that shouldn't say Littlefinger in there, that's my phone being hard to work the pop-up box with, I thought I'd deleted it. So ignore that word. There may actually be another reason - there is in the book but it involves a character we've only seen twice and never involve in that plot -  and I'm tempted to think it might be revealed as a surprise later. Probably not though since Littlefinger has now been so explicit.

What happened to him is that he lost his job. That's it. Other things may or may not happen to him later.

Episode was all over the place really but oh well still a good watch anyway.
 
Danys scenes in the house of the undying were a let down but atleast it managed to get out one cryptic scene that was somewhat significant metaphorically.(That in earnest goes beyond ADWD)

lemonhed

Maybe I missed something, but why didn't Sansa leave with The Hound?

Cause she's a bloody idiot.

I wouldn't go for a several-hundred-mile trek with a guy who's just betrayed the most powerful family in the land, who've a penchant for extreme brutality, wiped out two entire families just because they embarrassed them and have the two hardest guys in the world amongst their number.
 
Plus she thinks Stannis is going to win, and knows she'll be safe and treated well if he takes over.

He told her how to cope with Joffrey and saved her from being raped AND calls her pet names like bird or dove
 
If I was Sansa I would have sucked his dick by now.
 
Great end to the season, I thought.

Enjoyed how Pycelle wasn't acting like a senile old man when he was with Tyrion.The end of it proper had a black metal feel,was sort of waiting for Immortal to kick in.

Well as a non-reader, I bloody loved the finale. I thought it was amazing. Loved how following the nice tense build-up and then the battle last week, this one tied up lots of loose ends but without feeling rushed. All the good characters were touched on, I thought Brienne was totally NAILS, very interesting developments in general, and I didn't mind the Dany stuff at all but as I haven't read the books I obviously didn't have any expectations.
 
Bronn and his men were paid off to leave - that was explained. I also didn't understand how the Greyjoy men just torched Winterfell and escaped, that didn't make sense, especially after the old dude (sorry forgotten his name) had explained to Theon how they were surrounded by 500 men etc. Very strange. That was the only bit that confused me.
 
Love the bit with Jaqen, wasn't expecting that at all. Also Margery (sp?) - assume she's going to become a bit of a force to be reckoned with. In general I think that apart from Cersei (who's position has stabilised) the series ended with women in the ascendancy - Margery, Brienne, Dany - could be significant (as I say, speaking from a purely non-reader POV).
 
Anyway those are just my rambling thoughts. Gutted it's over, already can't wait for the next series. I've decided I'm going to read the second book now, and stick to that pattern (TV, then book) as I don't want to ruin the series for myself - it's the best thing that's been on in years.

Yeah the 500 Northmen outside weren't explained,they'll have to explain that next season.In the meantime they'll be casting Ramsay Snow (Bolton) for the conclusion of that event.

 

 

 

 
 

They've announced that season 3 will only be the first half of a Storm of Swords. A pity, as I was hoping we'd get a longer season instead.

On the plus side, at least it means they will be going into greater depth. But I agree, a double-length season would have been preferable. It's going to take YEARS to get to the end!! It must be a very expensive series to produce.

So apparently they've got into a spot of bother for using (or admitting to use) a George Bush Jr prosthetic head on a stick in Season 1.