While the last episode was good....
The ending of the last episode...
SUCKED.
It wasn't even an ending.
They stopped in the middle [of the start] of the battle.
WTF?
At first, Sansa struck me as a silly girl so intent on hooking up with the prince that she would end up betraying her family. So #10 didn't surprise me at all, even though I haven't read the books.
Everyone knows the show is going to catch up at this point. GRRM still kind of denies it, but he's pretty much not capable of finishing both books before the show winds up. His latest statment is something like:
I'm now worried about it catching up, but if they split the next two books into two seasons each I might be able to do it - especially since they have to alter the format from the books as the following two aren't in chronological order. The last one will still be very tight though.
Of course that's a really shit idea, especially if you've read the last two books. There's already almost not enough there to make two full seasons all that compelling for television.
The show creators (I may have made this up) have said something like:
We've been briefed on a rough summary and timeline of the overall plot of the series. We can progress beyond the books if it comes to it
I think the second option is what's going to happen. Of course that's problematic, because I'm sure the publishers will shit a brick if that happens - it will probably cut their sales in half...at least. My guess (and I think this is a cool idea that I made up, but I'm sure it's a thing out there) is that they pick a point and diverge into two different timelines, showing how one event can change everything for Westeros - I think it'd be a decent way to keep the casual fans interested in both the TV show and the books. My guess for the divergent point would be John Snow's fate at the end of book 5 - although I think the Red Wedding would have been a better point, but we're too far past that.
In either case, I think it's too close at this point for them to not have a contingency plan that the publishers and the producers are both somewhat satisfied with. No one has faith in GRRM (nor should they)
That was a hell of a season, I'm still fuzzy on a handful of details but I haven't rewatched any of it since nor read the books past the first one, but the show still seems to hold every bit of my attention with each episode.
Some questions and spoilers:
So Ned Stark isn't Snow's father yea? Just adopted I take it? I'm having a hard time remembering who he was fighting and what for earlier in the season. Also something I've been confused about for awhile now and just never bothered to look up: those two kids that Bran runs into from last season, the girl and the boy with the same ability that Bran has, who the hell are they? I just remember they randomly run into them in the forest while on the run and I don't remember anybody explaining anything.