Bump.

Oh, yeah, Did we really need to see Hodor's package?

In regards to tonights show ending and not bnjmnrlyr's post above this.... I saw that coming from a mile away but WOW! What an ending.

Yeah...

man. That was one of the best endings since the show began. I kept hoping it would turn out differently, but ...wow. Joffrey is a major Dick to be contended with.

Tyrion deserves a bit better, hopefully that will change with the ending.

LOVED the bit with Maester Aemon and the boogledong Jon Snow.

It seems that no one is coming out of this unscathed.

There is only 1 or 2 episodes left before the end (of the book) and we are on to A Clash of Swords...

Next Sunday should be the season finale. I can't wait to see where they leave us hanging for 9-10 months. I guess it will give me the green light to start reading the book though.

I can't remember the last time a show sucked me in this much emotionally. Me eyes welled up there at the end. Joffrey can't die a cruel enough death for me. I. HATE. HIM.

I can't wait to see Cersei (and the other Lannisters) get their come-uppance as the show progresses through the other books.

Khaleesi Danyreas is going to be interesting to watch as her son is born and the Dothraki face some major changes to their power structure as well I think.

And, when are we going to start seeing the White Walkers again?

I wondered why a relatively big star like Sean would tie himself to a multi-year TV show.

Now I know.

Gotta give the author credit for pulling on the emotional heart strings. This show is officially my number one HBO show.

Too bad we only have one week left.

Ah,well. At least I'll have TruBlood, Dexter, and Walking Dead to tide me over.

I started to think I was the only True Blood fan around here. Every time I made mention of it, it got so quiet you could hear a rat pleeple on cotton.

TB lost a step last year IMO, but I'm hoping they'll get back on track this season.

Burly, does it look like the book ends at about the same place as this season is?

I know I'm getting WAY ahead of myself, but I can't help but wonder what they're gonna do in a few years when they catch up to the books. Martin's been taking longer and longer to come out with them. Book 5 is about to hit, and that took like 5 years for him to write.

At this point, the book and the show aren't linked as tightly as they were in the first half of the season.

A lot of what is happening is being kinda re-organized and re-plotted. It makes sense on tv, but some of these events happen either much later or much earlier in the books.

Example: Tyrion's story about his wife is told to Bron while they are leaving the Eyrie and waiting for the Hill Clans to arrive.

Everything from the Eyrie forward is a bit of a departure in terms of pacing and presentation. Some changes are glaring and a bit disappointing.

At this point in the book, Ned is in prison, he has received his one and only visit from the Eunuch, Rob just crossed the Twins (and agreed to the marriages which was better to watch on tv than it was to read in the book), and Jamie Lannister is tearing it up on the battlefield. Quick switch over to Dany and she has JUST gotten to the market and had the encounter with the wine merchant. She hasn't even gotten back to Drogo yet to convince him to march. Jon just had his confrontation with the risen Dead escaping from PRISON at the wall to save the Old Bear but he hasn't spoken to Maester Aemon yet.

Like I said, changes big and small.

so... I have no idea how the show will end in comparison to the book.

I read the summaries of each book on Wikipedia and all I can say is WOW!I hope the TV series continues until the end and covers all of the books.

The part I'm puzzled about is a scene I watched in the lead up to the season where Ned came across some people getting ready to burn a witch at the stake. I haven't seen this all season in the show proper. Am I imagining this or did it happen in the book.

I have also heard some of the things we are seeing now are from book two. Not sure exactly what.

jediblood, while some crazy stuff happens while making shows (I'm looking at you Deadwood) but as of now they have plans to make a season for at least each book. So it's a good chance we will see all of them. Let's just hope they don't come up with some stupid plan to make the finale season a major motion picture that they sit on forever...I'm looking at you again Deadwood

Nothing in the books about a Witch. Ned has been represented fairly well in the book and on screen, more so than any other.

Not sure what you are remembering, but its nothing I recognize or remember.

My Brother remembers it too. Basically Ned and some others come upon some people getting ready to burn a woman at the stake for being a witch. Ned walks up cuts her bindings says some words to the crowd and then stabs her in the gut. Basically doing the deed to quickly put her out of her misery and keep the group from getting out of hand.

Maybe it was something they threw together for the promos...I don't know.