I think I was a bit disappointed with this finale, but, as I think back on it, it really was one of the more packed episodes, especially compared to last season's finale which felt more like 'the episode after the Red Wedding' as opposed to the season finale. It almost makes up for the few episodes this season where nothing seemed to happen. Almost. That said, the changes, they were irk-worthy. Most fall into either 'I don't mind this' or 'WTF is this shit??' Not much on the positive side. I try not to let my uber-nerd fanboy side take over after every miniscule alteration, but sometimes... it's just more fun to bitch and moan about pointless things. Book spoilers ahead, ye have been warned.
What was awesome:
Mance and Jon and Stannis surprisingly because I have not been a big fan of how the Wall storyline has been adapted in the past. Mance needed to be on the show more, Ciaran Hinds is pretty awesome and just to remind the viewers of who Mance is.
What didn't piss me off:
Arya and the Hound meeting Brienne and Pod. Just as long as we got that last scene between Arya and the Hound, that's all I cared about. And we got it and it was glorious. Where the heart is indeed. Now it just makes me wonder what Brienne is going to do next season? Her plot in AFFC was already a bit threadbare, but now? All she has left to do is meet a certain someone and I'm really dubious of the showrunners being able to make up other things for her to do. Their track record on such things is... spotty.
Shae attacking Tyrion. Eh, it worked. I won't complain.
Jojen's death. He doesn't do much going forward so meh no big loss for me and hopefully his death means we get some Ironborn PoV's next season.
Bloodraven. I was kinda disappointed with how he looked, but I guess there's only so much they can do with makeup and prosthetics on the show. Can't have of that money cutting into their annual boob budget!
Weirwood Hand Grenades.
WTF... C'mon!:
No Tysha. This is a really great scene between Jaime and Tyrion and Tyrion and Tywin and really important for both Jaime and Tyrion's characters going forward. I can understand why they didn't put it in, I mean Tysha was mentioned what, twice like three seasons ago? But still, what a missed opportunity.
Jaime and Cersei screwing in the white tower? That's the moment when he turns away from her. I'm sure they'll make it happen next season but bleh, the white book and white tower scenes were great.
Is Balon Greyjoy still alive? I don't remember him dying on the show so I'm assuming he's still out there raiding and pillaging, though it's funny that nobody seems to give much of a crap about him now. Not even Roose seems to care much.
No Lady Stoneheart. I'm not surprised by this at all. I had gotten myself so hyped up that this would be the scene that closes out the season so I have no one but myself to blame but still, that would've been awesome and I'm disappointed nonetheless.
No "Tywin Lannister did not, in fact, shit gold." I don't know how they would've fit that in but it should've been in there. C'MON!
So overall, I think this season might be tied with Season 2 as my least favorite. For all the material that it had to cover, there was just too much random filler and too many strange cuts. The finale was quite good though, but was only disappointing when compared to my expectations. I hope they find some great actors to fill the voids left by Grenn, Tywin, Joffrey, Oberyn, even Lysa, and, of course, Karl the fookin legend of Gin Alley!