Tangentially, I don't remember Brienne kicking Jaime's ass that hard in the books.
I'm pretty sure she did, but the whole thing went on for longer so it certainly took her a lot longer to get the better of him, and it was all based on her wearing him out than superior ability.
Over in Essos, I am both dissapointed but understanding of Barristan Selmy's insta-reveal. It's harder in a TV show to make him totally unregnisable for a decent run of episodes, but if they could have pulled it off it would have certainly created 'mo drama. And where is Strong Belwas? Probably not a necessary character, but a fun one, and gods know they could use something to lighten the mood over there.
How do we all feel about the casting for the new characters? I feel like they've done an amazing job. I love the Reeds, I love Thoros Of Myr, and although we haven't seen a lot of him, I quite like McKenzie Crook as Orell. I have a feeling, as he's a fairly well known actor in Britain, they might give him a bit more than they do in the books, but that's fine with me because he looks like he'll do an interesting job with him.