Before I start, I just want to mention that THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! If you have not watched all of Season 2 up to date, and you have not read the books (and want to), you might not want to read this.
Anyway, I’m enjoying Season 2 of Game of Thrones so far, and I realize that it’s impossible to include every plot point of the books (which are quite dense), but I really feel like they’re missing some important things this season.
Mostly, I feel the big holes are sitting in the Winterfell plot line. In last night’s episode, Theon took Winterfell. I feel like this was rushed. Several things needed to happen that haven’t yet…things that lead into the plot later on. Where are the Reeds? How do we move on without them? For one, when Bran and Rickon leave Winterfell, they split up. Osha goes with Rickon, and he’s too young to set out on his own. The Reeds go with Bran and Hodor, which I think is necessary. Bran is crippled and Hodor is mentally disabled. The Reeds help them find food, and help them find their way in the North. Though they seem to be on the back burner in the plot so far, I also think they still have a role to play. It’s been hinted at that Howland Reed (their father) is the only other person aside from Eddard Stark who knows about Jon Snow’s parentage. I have a theory that this will turn out to be very important in the last books.
Secondly, Rodrick Cassel set off to arrest Ramsay Snow in the books. This hasn’t happened yet! If it hasn’t happened, where does Reek come in? If we don’t have Reek/Ramsay, we don’t have the downfall of Theon and Winterfell! I guess we have Roose Bolton sending word to Ramsay to retake Winterfell, but it’s not really the same. The sheer ruin of it has a lot to do with the level of trust Theon held for Reek/Ramsay.
I’m hoping that, since the writers and producers of the show have read all the books and are working with George RR Martin and have apparently been privy to the plot of the last books, that these things will be reconciled.
a canadian in berlin 
they haven’t introduced the Reed siblings? are you kidding me? I am a HUGE fan of this series, and I loved the 1st season, but I felt the writing really went downhill during the 2nd season (which is my favorite book). Yes, I get that this is HBO people expect a certain type of show on this station, but i feel like they are focusing only on the sex scenes all of a sudden, and not on like, the plot ‘n stuff. 😦
Yeah they wrote it so Bran had the dreams foreshadowing the fall of Winterfell and that Osha encourages him as a greenseer. It’s kind of weird without the Reeds, and I’m still wondering how it’s going to work out when they leave. Bran and Rickon need to split up, because that seems to be important so far. I don’t see how Bran is going to go north of the Wall with only Hodor and Summer, and Rickon can’t go off on his own.
I agree, what happened to the Reeds? I mentioned it and Garry said “I don’t want to hear about what’s in the book” so anyone who hasn’t read the series wouldn’t get it. It will be curious as you say how they’ll do the next few episodes where Brandon is supposed to split with Rickon. And yes, I agree how are they going to reconcile it all later when various allegiances come out in the plot. The Reeds, because they are of the North play a big role in all of this. Perhaps the writers don’t care because the series will never get that far?