Game of Thrones Season 5 Discussion [SPOILERS WITHIN]

[Aroura]

So... we reach the end of the story in the books... almost.
Arya's blind... just like in the books.
Jon Snow has been pierced by a bunch of his "brothers" and left for dead... just like in the books.
Sam is going to Old Town... in the books, he's made it all the way there already!

Stanis is dead... unlike in the books.
Theon helps Ramsay's wife to escape Winterfel... in the books, it wasn't Sansa, but who cares, now?

Danny goes away with Drogon... we didn't have the shitting stage... awwww.... straight to getting caught by another khal... did they need so many riders to capture one single white-haired girl? This is sort of like the books.
Tyrion and Varys team up to rule Meereen, while the queen is away... that's definitely not in the books.
BlueBeard and Sir Friendzone team up to find Danny... good luck!

The Dorne plot sees the sand snakes victorious... I only remember the girl missing an ear in the books, and I don't remember her going to King's Landing.

And Cersei... that body double with CGIed head wasn't great, but good enough... As for Robert Strong (Frankenstein's monster)... we'll see how he fares against whitewalkers if they ever come this far...

And now my watch begins - 42 weeks and counting.

Good synopsis.

I was over at the Game of Thrones TV forums, and I'm baffled at the number of people saying the show is so different from the books, they are now going to quit watching. Also, lots of people hated this entire season and really hated the last 2 episodes, claiming the number of cliff hangers was annoying, and how stupid everything was.  

a) Books 4 and 5 have WAAAY more cliffhangers, and way more treading water doing nothing.

b) Most characters are either where they were by the end of book 5, or just pushed a little past it but not fully off the rails (Tyrion, for instance).

c) The ones really off the rails make sense to me, for the most part.  
I liked that Brienne turned away from her watch for Sansa to kill Stannis. She had vowed to do both, and one vow was also backed up by love, so of course she was an idiot and followed her heart/vow.  But I liked that she got to presumable kill Stannis, or perhaps show him mercy and drag him along somewhere to be given some ind of trial.
I actually loved how quickly Stannis's army fell apart.  If he's toast in the books, I appreciate the show runners condensing that for us.  Watching him forcably burn his daughter alive was not a loyalty inspiring act.  Also love that even Mel abandonded him.  I think she finally realized she'd been backing the wrong horse.

Regarding Dorn, even though the kid only lost an ear in the books so far, she was still under attack, and we know she's going to die sooner rather than later.  Cersie has the prophesy that all 3 of her golden haired children will wear golden shrouds, so just pushing Marcella's story forward a bit, too.  
I was kind of liking the little feisty sandsnake, but now that she was in on the plot to murder Marcella (really, innocent of anything except being born into the wrong family) against her uncles wishes, I'm back to hating all the sandsnakes again. I think Jamie will be back with murder on his mind.

Loved the rezzd Mountain...scary!

Loved the Walk of Shame...CGI or not, Lena's acting was excellent.  I felt real pity for Cersie.

Hated FTW, but I knew it was coming.  Now....like Porcaracas, waiting 42 weeks to see if he's actually dead or what.  At least it's only 42 weeks.  I've already waited 5+ years for Martin to tell us....SOAB. But yeah, I'm thinking he's not DEAD dead, maybe zombie dead though. More likely Red priest Rezzed like Dondarian not-dead.

All in all, I thought it was a good season, one of the better recent ones.