“Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!”

If there’s one thing that last week’s seminal Game of Thrones episode, “Blackwater,” showed us it’s that the already-great HBO series can benefit even more by going outside the box and breaking their established character-hopping format. While not unconventional for other TV series, “Blackwater” was certainly a stand-out chapter for Game of Thrones; focusing on one night, one set of characters and one location. And the fact that both book fans and those who haven’t read the George R. R. Martin series loved the episode proved that epic set pieces from the "Song of Ice and Fire" saga could get, for lack of a better term, a “proper” treatment on TV.

This episode also could potentially pave the way for more focused, single-story episodes in the future, which I’m sure many book fans, knowing all the big moments that still await us, are also excited about. But a fear that, I believe, readers and non-readers still share is the fact that there are still two books left in the George R. R. Martin series, and given that Martin took five and six years, respectively, between the last two published books means that this show could catch up to the books and then hit a dead end. Yes, this is a problem that we probably won’t face for years – perhaps not for six more seasons – but it’s still a concern.

A List of New Characters You'll See in Season 3!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

So I say, let’s have some prequel episodes! If we’re not in a rush to get to the point Martin left us at in A Dance with Dragons, then let’s take some time to take a look backward. No, we don’t have to go so as far as having an entire prequel season (even though Spartacus was able to do it successfully), but I think it would be wonderful to do an about-face and actually see some of the major historical events that we’ve only, thus far, read about or heard about through expository dialogue.Here’s just some of the greatness it could provide:If one of the complaints people have bout this season is that the show is rushing through certain stories in order to try and fit Martin’s second book, A Clash of Kings, into 10 episodes, then let’s all lower our heart rates. Let’s settle into a nice, reasonable jog. Yes, creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have already said that, from now on, the series will be a bit of a shuffle and not a straight book-to-season adaptation. Book three, A Storm of Swords, will already be two seasons – but that’s not even counting the fact that there are still things they left out of Season 2, from book two, that will show up later in Season 3. And as for books 4 and 5? Well, those who read them and experienced Martin’s split-time/split-characters experiment know that the normal rules of adaptation will have to go out the window [insert Bran joke here].So let’s go back in time. What if the last episode of each season ended with a flashback chapter? Or the first? Or both? What if they bookended the seasons? Not that the image of Daenerys, naked, holding the dragons wasn’t a powerful way to leave Season 1, but if the finale had been a flashback instead then we would have gone out on a crazy cliffhanger – Ned on the chopping block. Likewise, if the Season 2 finale was a flashback episode then we could have left off, present day, with “Blackwater.”Or perhaps flashbacks could simply be inserted into the episodes? Like the way Lost did it? Of course that might also mean more episodes that focus mainly on one character – which I’m also not against. Just think, what if there was an episode down the line that was, say, only about Jon Snow and Daenerys? A true ice and fire split. With flashbacks spliced in for color. Now that's definitely something I would pay the "iron price" for.

Three more reasons for prequel episodes on page 2. Plus, a chance to vote!