In this week's installment of Game of Thrones, Catelyn Stark teams up with Brienne of Tarth, Tyrion Lannister makes plans to defend King's Landing against the fleet of Stannis Baratheon, and Daenerys Targaryen gets invited to party with the warlocks of Qarth.

The episode, entitled "The Ghost of Harrenhal," was a marked improvement over last week's entry, "The Garden of Bones." There's been a strong correlation between nudity and suckiness on HBO's hit show, which is based on the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. That held true this week as well, as the total lack of nudity (is that a first for Game of Thrones?) corresponded with one of the stronger episodes in recent memory.

The fact that "The Ghost of Harrenhal" is so successful is especially impressive given that the events in the episode come smack-dab in the middle of an incredibly complicated, slowly simmering story arc.

(Spoiler alert: Minor plot points follow.)

In general, the show is at its best when it sticks close to its strong source material, A Clash of Kings (the second book in Martin's series). Many of the deviations from the printed page have been exasperating, but the highlight of this episode for me was actually a scene that's not in the novels – the interaction between disguised tomboy Arya Stark and flinty paterfamilias Tywin Lannister.

Tywin, having intuited that Arya is of the North, interrogates her about how her countrymen view the King in the North, her brother Robb. Arya repeats rumors that Robb rides his direwolf into battle and can't be killed. When Tywin presses her ("Do you believe that?"), Arya answers flatly, "No. Anyone can be killed." It's a tense, chilling moment.

But not all the changes made for "The Ghost of Harrenhal" were as effective. Here are a few differences that fans of the books might second-guess:

1) Why is Loras so chill about Renly's death?

In A Clash of Kings, when Loras Tyrell hears that his lover and king Renly Baratheon has been murdered, he flies into an inconsolable rage, murdering two men whom he blames for failing to protect Renly. When he later learns that Renly was murdered by sorcery, Loras is guilt-stricken, and this guilt and loss permanently alter his character in interesting ways.

In the show, he doesn't fly into a rage and kill anyone. In fact, he doesn't even raise his voice. He just seems vaguely bummed that Renly's dead. I can understand if there wasn't time to show a Loras rampage, but some sort of overt display of emotion would have been nice. I think part of the problem is that Renly is supposed to be the sort of man who inspires grand passions in his supporters, but on the show he comes across as an average, wimpy guy. This has been bugging me ever since the character was introduced, and I'm actually a bit relieved now that he's been shadow-monstered offstage.

Speaking of, I'm sure the show did the best it could given time and budget constraints, but Renly's death is much cooler and creepier in the books. His shadow on the tent wall suddenly raises its sword, and Renly is just remarking that he feels cold when the shadow sword cleaves – impossibly – through his steel gorget, slashing his throat. In the book these facts prove key to corroborating Catelyn's fantastic account of events – after all, why would Brienne help Renly into his armor if she were planning to attack him? Whereas in the show, Loras immediately deduces that Stannis must be behind the murder, which seems quite a leap given the facts at his disposal.

I continue to have mixed feelings about how Natalie Dormer's Margaery Tyrell seems to have been turned into a carbon copy of her Anne Boleyn character from The Tudors, but I did think it was great when she remarks, "No, I don't want to be a queen. I want to be the queen."

Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) could really use a few minions with grotesque disfigurements.

Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

2) Why doesn't Dagmer Cleftjaw have a cleft jaw?

In A Clash of Kings, Dagmer is known as "Dagmer Cleftjaw" due to a hideous scar that bisects his mouth, giving him four lips rather than two. In the show he just looks like a normal guy. The show has been pretty stingy so far when it comes to ladling out disfigurements (e.g. Rorge), and this makes me nervous that we won't be seeing some of the major mutilations still to come in the series.

>Characters in fantasy novels tend not to suffer these indignities.

One of the distinctive features of A Song of Ice and Fire is that the population of Westeros suffers from the wide range of afflictions you'd expect in people living without modern medicine, including more mundane ailments such as pimples and digestive problems. Characters in fantasy novels tend not to suffer these indignities, and the fact that Martin's characters aren't all perfectly fit and able-bodied greatly enhances the gritty realism of the books.

This is being lost somewhat on the show. This episode also introduced us to Qhorin Halfhand, but there was no indication of whether he's actually missing half his hand. (In the book, he lost his fingers grabbing a wilding sword; he then used the spurting blood to blind his opponent.) I hope that'll be mentioned in a future episode.

3) Where are Jojen and Meera?

Jojen and Meera Reed are two of the coolest characters in A Clash of Kings. They're the son and daughter of Howland Reed, lord of Greywater Watch, a floating castle that drifts from place to place among the bogs and marshes of the crannogmen. Jojen, with his eyes the color of moss, is a greenseer, and his "green dreams" foretell the future.

In the book it's Jojen, not Bran, who dreams of the sea coming to Winterfell. Howland Reed was also a close friend of Eddard Stark, and Jojen and Meera are able to tell Bran things he never knew about his father. The fact that Jojen's dream has been transplanted to Bran seems to indicate that Jojen and Meera will not be appearing this season, which is disappointing. They play such a large role in future events that it's a little hard to imagine leaving them out entirely, so maybe they'll show up sometime in Season 3. If not, it'll mean some fairly major divergences from the books.

4) Why does Jaqen kill the Tickler?

Another terrific part of this episode was watching Jaqen H'ghar offer up his hitman services to Arya. Jaqen here is the perfect mix of charming and spooky, and while his hair color isn't quite as distinctive as in the books, the white streak at least makes a nod in that direction. The final moments of the episode, in which Jaqen raises one finger to indicate that the first of his three victims has been accounted for, were thrilling.

But in the novel, Jaqen's first victim is a soldier named Chyswick, not the Tickler. In the books, the Tickler dies much later in the story, in a dramatic fashion that would be very intense to see play out on screen and which would provide a payoff to match the setup of his sadistic interrogations. Obviously with him dead, that scene will have to be substantially altered or removed, which is too bad.

Xaro Xhoan Daxos (Nonso Anozie) is a lot more charming on TV.

Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO Paul Schiraldi

5) Why is Xaro Xhoan Daxos so cool?

Xaro Xhoan Daxos is unctuous and insincere in Martin's books, and it's clear that the only thing that interests him about Dany is her dragons. In the show, Xaro is a super-smooth dude who at first sight of Dany slashes his palm for her. He also throws kickass garden parties complete with masked informants and Nosferatu, and owns an awesome crib with a vault like something out of Uncharted 3. What's the point of any of this? I'm not sure.

>Might there be some sexual tension between Dany and Jorah?

Xaro also tells Dany that Jorah Mormont is lusting after her, and this unsettles Dany greatly. This all made a lot more sense in the book, in which Jorah is a big hairy bald guy and Dany is 15, so it's believable that she's never considered him as a potential suitor. But in the show, she's in her 20s and they're both pretty hot, so it's a bit of a stretch that it's never crossed her mind that there might be some sexual tension there.

In the books, Dany's first indication that Mormont is into her is when he tells the sad story of how he lost his home and honor trying to provide an extravagant lifestyle for his beautiful wife. When Dany asks what his wife looked like, he replies, "Why, she looked a bit like you, Daenerys." That's a great scene that reveals a lot about Mormont, and I'm not sure why the show would choose to have Xaro broach the subject instead.

6) What's up with the Fist of the First Men?

The scene at the Fist of the First Men, the ringfort that the Night's Watch attempts to garrison, was filmed on location in Iceland, and the scenery is absolutely extraordinary. Also, the actors genuinely look like they're freezing their butts off, which adds greatly to the immersion.

But the Fist of the First Men itself is different from the books in some significant ways. The Fist is supposed to be at the top of a steep hill that rises out of the surrounding forest, and is supposed to be topped by a low stone wall. In the show there's no forest – which makes it seem as if the characters are much farther north than they actually are – and there's not much of a "fort," either. The fact that there are sheer drops rather than steep hills in at least two directions, and no tree cover for miles, would seem to substantially alter the dynamics of any battles that might take place there. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out in future episodes.

In A Clash of Kings, Jon's direwolf Ghost leads him to a bundle buried in the snow – the black cloak of a ranger wrapped around a broken horn and a cache of obsidian daggers and arrowheads. In the book, this happens before Qhorin Halfhand arrives, whereas in the show it hasn't happened yet (maybe it'll be in a future episode). The dragonglass proves useful but not indispensable, but the horn itself would seem to be important to the overall plot.

The interaction between Jon and Lord Commander Mormont here is also different from the book, and felt a bit out of character. In A Clash of Kings, Qhorin Halfhand requests that Jon accompany him because the old gods are still strong beyond the Wall and Jon has Stark blood. In the show, Jon insists that he should go, bragging that he's killed a wight, unlike the rest of these chumps, and then Mormont totally disses him, pointing out that he got his ass whupped by an old man (Craster).

That whole thing with Jon getting knocked out by Craster was silly, and the last thing we needed was to be reminded of it. And why is Jon acting so bratty, anyway? This is another example of something that's perfectly straightforward and logical in the books – there's no need to try to add more "conflict," which just makes the scene play strangely.

7) The three-eyed raven?!?

In this episode, Bran tells Osha about his dream of the "three-eyed raven." Um, hello? It's the three-eyed crow, moron. Oh what, I guess all corvids just look the same to you, huh? Not cool, dude. Not cool at all.

What's Your Take on Season 2 of Game of Thrones? ————————————————

Give us your spin on Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones, and/or your take on the HBO series so far, in the comments below.