There’s a lot of mixed reaction to this finale on the web. After a kick in the nuts right off the bat with the aftermath of the Red Wedding massacre, the final episode of this season of Thrones brings things down a notch to a very steadily paced character piece. Longer, drawn out conversations between sometimes-unlikely pairs of characters round off the episode before ending on a strange note of Disney-esque triumph, instead of the standard game-changing fare that past finales of Thrones have employed.

More than ever, it’s palpable just how constrained the show feels by its 10-episode limit every season. There’s barely enough time in this extended finale to visit every character just once or twice and quickly touch base to set things up for Season 4.

The back half of Martin’s third novel, a Storm of Swords, will likely serve as the backbone for Season 4, while elements from later books are already creeping into the show all over the place. It’s difficult now to even decide ‘where’ in the book we are at this point; every story has stopped someplace different. It’s become a truly fascinating experience to watch how things are adapted, and if Season 3 was a good indication, the rules are quickly becoming loose with the adaptation of the rest of the saga.

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