Sxxman

I would give it a solid 8, contrary to what some people are posting, the episode did wrap up a lot of story-lines. The only criticisms I have is towards the Dany scene, partly because it was unintentionally funny and also it wasn't powerful enough to be the last scene of the season (in fact I would think that the Arya scene would have worked better of the ones shown).

Definitely the best one in a while, I don't think there was anything in this episode that I hated, just a few nitpicks, 9/10.

This is one of those episodes that if it I were to watch it in succession with the other episodes on DVD, it would rate higher, but as a stand-alone-once-a-week-episode, this was good. Of course episodes like these are going to happen when ASOS is split into 2 seasons, but it is better than the alternative. Overall an 8. FYI I do find it rather amusing that when the other episodes had weak moments people blamed the writers but with this episode some (keyword some not all) are blaming the producers for foisting this onto GRRM. I will say if there is one thing that seemingly all of the writers seem to mess up IMO over the last few episodes is the order in which they show the scenes.

I would give it a 8.5, gun-to-my-head rounding down to an 8. I didn't think it was as bad as people are saying. I for one actually like what they are doing with Gendry as it makes him a more important character to the story. If I had any criticism about GRRM's books it would be that I thought Gendry would amount to more than just a smith. I'm not going to waste time on the strong points but go straight to the weak points. I didn't like the whole Osha-Meera conflict, it seems rather forced and even though everyone complains about Ros's role, I think that Osha has been more of an annoying character IMO. Also I think that the order of the scenes seemed a little off, I for one would not have started the episode with Sam/Gilly, lovely as a coupe as they are (how can you hate them?) they're not the strongest arc to start the episode. Finally, though I do like Gendry's seemingly more meaningful role, I was a little disappointed by how easily the BWB gave him up, they're not the type of group to be bought off that easily, I guess it was the only way to keep the ball rolling but could have been better.

I think you just answered your own question

I didn't like the song choice but I doubt they did it to be hip and cool. I mean if they were trying to make the song hip why would they use a punk rendition?

I would give it a 9, mostly loved everything about it, the thing with the Pod scene is that if it happened to any other character BUT him, I probably would've been annoyed but I thought it was hilarious and harmless. The only issue I had with the episode was the punk-style rendition of BATMF, it was really off-putting. Best episode of the season IO.