2. Deviation From The Source Material
Though the show's first season was a highly faithful adaptation of A Game Of Thrones, the first entry in the literary series, seasons two and three deviated quite significantly from their source material at times. In some instances, this was justifiable to simplify convoluted plotlines, whilst in others, the addition of new scenes and storylines served to explain story developments and flesh out characters who didn't feature heavily in the books, resulting in great scenes such as Varys and Littlefinger playing off against each other, Tywin Lannister's interactions with Arya Stark and Ramsay Snow's torture of Theon Greyjoy (which will hopefully continue). In other instances, however, the decision to deviate was a poor one events such as Gendry taking the place of Edric Storm was a mess, whilst the replacing of book character Jeyne Westerling with Oona Chaplin's Talisa Maegyr adversely affected the story arc of Robb Stark, whose decision to renege on his promise to marry a daughter of Walder Frey (the action that gets him killed) was much more justifiable on the page. It remains to be seen how faithful season four will be, though if the past two seasons are anything to go by, there will be significant deviations good and bad. Let us hope for more of the former than the latter.