Book readers can already see she knows. Look at her and Jorah's reactions to what Kraznys says. It's subtle, but it's there. The only thing I didn't like from the premiere was Jon/Mance/Tormund either. We'll have to see how that works out. Ygritte was wonderful as always, Rose's chemistry with Kit is awesome. Oh and no Arstan. I understand no Belwas (comic relief character, serves little purpose in plot that other characters can't cover), but I'd have liked to see Barry with the full blown Gandalf beard and quarterstaff owning it up.

Bronn/Tywin/Margaery were my fav characters this ep. Even though they are playing Bronn up very hard, the guy delivers well and Margaery does it way better than expected. I'm looking forward to Cersei descending into full-blown paranoia.

That's not until Book 4 (season 5), isn't it?

I, too, was disappointed with the Mance scene. It's one of those scenes that really stood out to me. The "bard" was some side show figure in the description, and then we learn he's the king. It really drives home how differently the Wildlings do it from the 7K people. But I suppose the scene itself was sufficient.

Even though Belwas is not crucial for the plot, I can easily see him as being a fan favourite, even among those who haven't read the series. They seemed to have thrown in some more minor characters than him anyway. Besides, staying true to the plot in an efficient and timely manner is only a secondary goal. The primary goal is entertainment. It just seems strange to me that one of the most entertaining, likeable characters would be scrapped for the purpose of efficiency.

Cersei gets paranoid pretty much as soon as the Tyrells enter King's Landing, but in the books you only really get to see how bad it is when you enter her POV. Cersei already hates Tyrion for sending Myrcella off to Dorne, and in the books Tyrion takes control over Tommen too. That combined with Maggy's prophecy (Valonqar, she dies after her children do, her children are captured by Tyrion) is what starts the descent. Plus Margaery is everything that Cersei used to be, so jealousy plays a big role too. I'm excited to see Lena play it out, she did drunk Cersei with such flair.

On Belwas, yeah he is a fan favourite, but they can't cast everyone. Lem isn't there, no Bloody Mummers, no Butterbumps singing, plenty of fan favourites that are left out. I actually feel like they are going to introduce Belwas at Meereen/Yunkai, as a pit fighter.

Plenty of comic relief left, especially with Bronn getting a bigger spotlight, and Tormund making his appearance (really hoping for the bear story to make the show). HAR!

jaqen h'ghar!!!!!!!!!!!

Best show ever, hands down.

Come on guys stop talking about the books in here....

Spoiled some for me already...

did the scene with maergery and joffrey with the crossbow really annoy anyone else? that is way off her character (although i think they are using it to portray her deception towards joffrey but its not clear)
kind of refreshing to see detours from books because now the outcome is unknown to me

im not exactly sure what is happening on the show now lol...especially the Bran storyline.

They are introducing him as a "warg" or I believe called seer in the book

He's a warg. He can enter the body of animals while he's sleeping. It's not really a new concept. They've been showing him "dreaming" inside of his dire wolf since season 1 episode 1.