No way they cut out Cersei's shaming. Or everything leading up to it. That's, like, the one plot line that even moves at all in AFFC. And Cersei's behavior in this finale was basically just a taste to come of her going full Queen Batshit.

After that second Jamie-Cersei sex scene on the LC's table, where Cersei is the one initiating it, I'm convinced that D&D felt a little bit of guilt from making the tomb scene a lot more rapey than in the books. Like that was thrown in to make up for it, almost.

It's probably for the best that they put off the Lord Commander Snow stuff until next season. It gives them SOME meat to work with in the early part of next season, especially with the other plotlines already extending into AFFC/ADWD.

I think we'll see Lady Stoneheart next season, too, at some point. Hell, it may even be more appropriate to introduce her then, as it would serve as a pretty neat parallel to Cersei going batshit.

Also, if this is any indication, we will indeed be seeing plenty of Dorne next season.

Tyrion and Jaime parting on friendly terms, with nothing about Tysha. Tyrion's hatred and distrust for everyone in his family, Jaime included, was integral to his ADWD development.

No Lady Stoneheart=mind blown.  Ending on that seemed like such a no brainer that I'm stunned they didn't do it.  Maybe they felt like it would be TOO big of a cliff-hanger?

No Coldhands is really disappointing.  I thought, maybe, he'd pop up in that scene where they're approaching the tree, but nope.  Killing Jojen also seemed strange, because it's heavily hinted that Bran has to eat him in order to become what he becomes.

But most of all I was disappointed at the lack of the Tysha reveal.  I get that they're really going for a brotherly love thing with Jamie and Tyrion, but there was so much raw emotion in the book that to spare us from that on the show just seems really out of place and it seems like really poor writing, especially when you already had it to work with.

I'm starting to wonder if they're changing things/leaving things out because they don't think the audience will remember/will care, and that just feels insulting.  I still love the show, and I thought it was a good episode, but it could have been knockout-amazing, and all they had to do was stick with what had already been written.  I'm not saying the books are infallible (in fact, I think the show has improved on a lot of it in many, many ways) but they're leaving out some of the best material by far, and it's just...confusing.

I am glad they kept the burnt child.  That was really well done.

resurrecting Catelyn or even recognising the corpse if they came across it. River water not being known for its preservative properties and that.

Speaking of which, anyone else think that Bran's ability to see through time is going to be how the show justifies prequel material (a whole season or even a smattering of prequel episodes) down the line? (For the record, I'd be totally OK with this. The show's gonna have a lot of history and context to step back and explain anyway if it's going where it could be going.)

For all we'd know her resurrection could've already happened in the show timeline, but they'll just reveal her in proper Stoneheart form when appropriate.

I can't imagine them cutting her out though. Especially with the comparatively thin plots of AFFC/ADWD, they'll need all they can use.

I mean, come on, they teased freaking FrankenGregor aka "Robert Strong" and he's no more significant at the moment.

Even seeing Jojen get stabbed half a dozen times, I still thought, "Oh man, they'll save him! They have to save him!" I love Jojen, so it makes me sad to see him more or less confirmed as dead in the books.

No Lady Stoneheart was a waste of an amazing cliffhanger, though honestly I can't even remember what happens with her in books 4 and 5.

Essentially nothing, which is why I think they'd have to expand her story some--and expand Brienne's too--in order to give both actresses something to DO.