Prince Doran Martell is a serious player in the Seven Kingdoms. And the Dornish part of the story is going to get pretty good. Still, the TV series has started to diverge significantly from the novels in some significant ways and it's left me wondering what's going to happen. Jaime Lannister didn't go to Dorne in the novels, and I'll leave it at that. Although more Bronn is certainly a good thing on the TV show.
Speaking of diverging from the novels? I'm surprised to see Varys continuing to travel with Tyrion. Again, it's something that didn't happen in the books, and Tyrion actually travelled through Essos with Varys's partner in crime - Illyrio Mopatis, who we only saw in the first season.
The scenes at the Wall were pretty good. And Jon Snow truly showed his character by turning down Stannis offer to be recognized as Jon Stark, and given the Lordship of Winterfell. Granted, Stannis doesn't hold the North or Winterfell - Roose Bolton does. And Stannis needs Jon's help to take control of the North. It was also cool to see the Night's Watch election process of the 998th Lord Commander. The process was trimmed down from the books, but it worked very well. I was glad to see that they got Denys Mallister in there. And it's always good to have a scene with Maester Aemon. Sam's speech was great. Especially when he took Janos Slynt down several pegs for being a coward during the battle for the Wall. One interesting point? The conversation between Shireen Baratheon and Gilly. Notably about Shireens greyscale. If that wasn't foreshadowing, I don't know what is.