A man loved this episode very much. A man will read the books while anxiously waiting for season 3 to begin. 

For all you fans who haven't read the books, the series keeps this quality up, even getting better. Imagine 5 enormous books(they average 800 pages of small print) of things going dramatically downward. 5 books of this and WINTER STILL ISN"T HERE! (not exactly a spoiler sense the next book is titled "Winds of Winter)

Hey to Wiseguy's question of how come Winterfell was burnt down after Theon got tagged and bagged, I still dont get it. Who did it and why? wth happened again??

@jdiggeity or isgrimner or whoever else has read the series- so using the 5 giant books as a scale, what percentage has these 2 seasons covered of the entire series you think so far? 10% 20%. I'm hoping it's like 5%. haha

Violator your so close to the truth!  Winterfell was surrounded by the Bastard of Bolton (Rob's Men) so think.  Theon bagged and tagged (check), Rob's Men (check), burned Winterfell WTF??? That leaves two possibilities i'll let you think about it.  1. They weren't Rob's men 2. They were Rob's men and he just got seriously betrayed.

Oh no.... I think i just foresaw the future already of the entire series now. But I'll keep it to myself. Haha. Thx for the info iracors.

I liked the 2nd season, no way they will ever top the 1st season.  But I will stick with this til the end.  Pretty short seasons anyway. 

Finally watched it last night and loved it.

For those of you who are wondering who sacked Winterfell, I think HBO left it unanswered this season because they had not introduced The Bastard of Bolton this season at all. He wasn't cast and perhaps had no budget to show new characters/extras and then show he sacking. The Bastard (Ramsey Snow) was mentioned several times by Roose during the season so I'm sure he will come into play.They cannot ignore this character as he plays a more prominent role in the future books.

That would also mean Theon's men were all killed on the way out of Winterfell by him. No doubt we will see the fate of Theon, his men and WInterfell at the beginning of season 3.

I did notice the new casting for season 3 is up but no sign of the Bastard. I'm guessing HBO probably wants a bigger name for this character.

OK, I thought that seemed like big lapse. Makes sense or will make sense if they answer those questions next season

 (I was going to be original but "other man" beat me to it...)

A man enjoys this show. A man must see more episodes. You must give this man Season 3 fast, or the Red God will come for HBO...

Yes, I had hoped in season 1 when the crown was discussing assassinating Danerys they mentioned, in the book, about the possibility of having a faceless man do it but the cost would have been too great for the kingdom.  That 1st bit of background info to me was astounding...the organization is extremely principaled, they just don't take hits out on people for a pile of gold...alas, they ommited that one single line in season 1.

Dazzler  If they do a good job adapting book 3 and depending on where, in events, book 3 is split up (already confirmed this book is roughly two seasons) the shock value will blow out anything in preceding seasons.  Again, if done right, I'd be impressed if people could claim season 1 can't be topped.

My only complaints with this episode (which I liked like most) was the poor handling of the Halfhand and Jon along with the handling of Winterfell, without adding to budget or time both could have been much more faithful and much more powerful for the viewers.  I also agree about the ommision of some of the more badass and "hair lifting on the back of neck" visions Dany had in the house of undying in the book would have been better but the snow falling on a ruined iron throne was some powerful foreshadowing.  To me it says "Hey you idiots playing the game of thrones, none of that childsplay matters when a true threat comes".

Also non-readers should be aware that the White Walkers are not some mindless horde that want to see man destroyed like orcs from lotro, although no one is yet certain I trust Martin's writing will have them having some agenda beyond something so simple.  Also they are suppose to be extremely graceful and virtually unstoppable in melee fighting.