I'm kinda glad they changed it, found most of the Daenarys portions of A Clash of Kings to be boring and couldn't wait to read through them. Unfortunately, this dislike has carried into the TV show, as I find her constant "I WANT MY DRAGONS!" and "I WILL CLAIM WHAT IS MINE THROUGH FIRE AND BLOOD" to be rather tiresome. I'm hoping the House of the Undying scenes are markedly more interesting.
Tywin and Arya's scenes are fantastic, really fleshing out both characters in a manner not entirely shown in the books, at least as early as this; Tywin is shown to be incredibly astute and intuitive (detecting that Arya was a girl straight away, figuring that she's a Northerner and that she's only pretending to be a peasant), while Arya appears to be more intelligent and resourceful than her novel counterpart (just look at the Jaqen kills, The Tickler and Ser Amory make far more sense than Chiswyck and Weese, choices she laments as wasteful in the novel).
What else was there? Theon's scenes were good, though I think they made the wrong choice in omitting Ramsay, who I think needs to be established as soon as possible for us to see how Theon's treachery and tyranny pale in comparison to the ruthless bastard of Bolton. Jaime's attempted escape was good, another alternative perspective of his character; he's broken so many vows, what's killing a distant relative going to do? The Jon/Ygritte dynamic was excellent, though the outcome wasn't so, hope we don't miss out on a fight with Halfhand. I recall some dialogue between Cersei and Tyrion about Joff and the Targaryen heritage, but I'll have to watch again to get a better idea of what was discussed.
Overall, I like the direction they're taking things and can't wait to catch next week's episode.
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