I thought it was awesome. I have one small quibble. "Dawn" is supposed to be one of the greatest swords of all time, why go for a double sword thing?
I will accept it though because I guess the thinking may have been : "OK do we play up the power of the sword or do we play up the power of the man" for the show writers.
They obviously picked "play up the man" and they did him justice. Ser Arthur looked boss as fack.
I went through the same thought process. At the end of the day, HBO simply cannot develop each and every character the way the written series does. I mean, how many times would the show have had to work in a reference to a dead man's sword to make the sword significant for one flashback scene? Quite a few and, even then, only the most ardent show watchers (those types who will alsmost rewatch everything before each new season), might connect them to the flashback.
Really, I am loving HBO thus far. It's entertaining, moving at a good clip and keeping me interested in the next reveal. I no longer think of it as Fatso's work and don't care if it's different or predictive of Fatso. I realized that when John seemingly walked away from the Watch last night. At first I wondered if that's what will happen in Book 6. Then I dismissed the question as unimportant.
HBO owns the story now for me. The books are extra canon material that may or may not be useful for predicting what happens on HBO.