We’ve talked before about changes the show has made that’ve been neutral or positive, but tonight we come to one that’s negative. In the books, Lysa Arryn’s death did not happen with only Sansa, Littlefinger, and her; there was also an additional character, a singer named Marillion. Marillion was interested in Sansa Stark, continuously harassing her, and Sansa rebuffed him again and again. When Lysa tried to kill Sansa, Marillion sang and played his harp so no one could hear Sansa singing. Still, Littlefinger arrived and killed Lysa, just like in the show, but he afterwards screamed, “Guards! The singer just killed my lady wife!” It’s a wonderful reversal and a great moment of instant plotting on Littlefinger’s part. I understand that the show has many characters to begin with and we don’t exactly need another scene of sexual harassment, but Lysa’s death lacked a punch and I think it’s the lack of Marllion that did it (Marillion did appear in the show in the first season, but had his tongue ripped out on the order of King Joffrey).

I’m giving tonight’s episode a perfect score even though it wasn’t necessarily a perfect episode thanks to one clunker storyline. However, the ending sequence was above and beyond what I expected and Peter Dinklage’s performance reached new heights so I’d be remiss not to give it some sort of reward because I’m still reeling from that damn scene.

Last week, we took some time to discuss changes from the books with the presence of the White Walker “priests.” Tonight, the episode’s deviations aren’t as huge in terms of plot revelation, but they are nice and give us some great character moments. Bran’s imprisonment by the mutineers is completely made up, but it’s a great way to keep Bran involved in the plot since the timeline is more dragged out than it is in the novels. Bran has long been one of my favorite characters (I’ve never understood fan complaints that he’s boring- I always look forward to his chapters) so I certainly have no objection to him getting some more plot and the show doesn’t deviate from his characterization unlike the change with Jaime made a couple weeks ago. I have no problem with the show creating new scenes and a lot of tonight was made up of them yet at no point did I feel like the episode was out of step with the books. Take, for instance, Tywin’s revelation the Lannisters are running out of gold. It’s not in the novels, but it fits with the books’ exploration of how certain people stay in power solely because they can keep up the appearance that they are useful as opposed to actually being useful. It’s a smart touch. Plus, extra scenes for Charles Dance are always appreciated.