It's amazing how nitpicky people are. You're predisposed to think that this season will be the best thing to ever happen to television drama, and you're then easily finding little flaws that undermine that expectation.
- Daenaery's slow Essos storyline isn't a show problem. It's a book problem.
- You can't just devote entire episodes to single characters. That's a ballsy move because it's a stupid move. Characters like Jon, Dany, Cersei, Tyrion and etc need to be in most episodes. Because they're main friggin' characters, not reoccurring characters. The 'fractured' style of the early episodes is just a necessary evil at the moment, but it's not even that annoying anyway.
- For f**k's sake, we will see the White Walkers again this season. The trailer makes that clear enough even if Ayra was watching it. If they were in most episodes, I best most people would complain that they've lost their sense of exciting mystique. People lose their shit when we see the white walkers exactly because they're a relatively rare occurrence.
The Umbers didn't really 'betray' the Starks for 'no reason', he made it clear that it was because of the Wildlings, although it is a very thin argument, and it's why I'm skeptical of the Umbers joining the Boltons. Why would the Umbers betray the Starks just because the Lord Commander, who is not a Stark and has absolutely nothing to do with the Starks anymore, let the Wildlings in? Sure, it does look like that Jon Snow will at the very least reassociate himself with House Stark after ending his Watch, but Smalljon doesn't know that. Greatjon is still alive in the books, and there's been no indication of them joining the Boltons. If it's really not a conspiracy, and the Umbers really are genuine about being turncoats and f**king the Starks over for such a frivolous reason, then I won't hesitate to call that shit writing. But for now I predict that the Umbers are conspiring with the Manderlys against the Boltons.
