And all the scenes. I'm always sad when they leave Tyrion to focus on other story lines.

I was like that, but if it's jumping to Tywin and Arya, I'm fine with that.

Another good episode last night....the exchanges between Tywin and Arya are always enjoyable.

It will be interesting to see how (and if) the writers navigate the final episodes to bring this season's conclusion back in line with Clash of Kings.

I'm the only person in my group of friends following the show that has also read the book.

Needless to say, they were flipping at the final scene of the episode. There was anger, sadness, and much frustration about not being able to watch the final two episodes immediately.

So I'm not caught up on the show, and I'm only on book 2 in the reading but... are they doing a book a season?

Thats very ambitious of them to count on George R.R. Martin to have the next book out in 4 years, and the final book out the year after that.

Yes

And this is what I said.

Right now, season 3 has been approved, so we'll get that much; if that clears, its uncertain how they will structure the adaption of books 4 and 5 since in the authors notes, Martin identifies them as two halves of the same installment.

As for book 6, it is probable that it might be done in time , however, and assuming it gets that far, it's just as probable that we will either not get a book 7 or it will be so radically different given it would, in theory, only have Martin's notes to work from, leading to the sort of segregation we usually only see in Manga/Anime titles.

Considering how drastically divergent the series is from the books, it's not like it is going to matter whether the books come out on schedule or not.

Is it? We've only watched the first three episodes. It didn't seem to off so far.

The first season is more or less in line. Season two is where the divergence starts getting big, characters start getting cut or having their roles drastically changed, and the plot goes off in its own, new, direction. Whether that's a good thing or not is questionable, but it does indicate that the show is less reliant on books 6 and 7.

The people the cut are usually minor characters whose roles can be filled by others. Osha takes over the Reeds, and Bran can do all the dreaming he did. Ramsay's role is split between his father and Dagmir, I think. It seems more like they are just trying to streamline the story.