I'm very confused by a lot of the choices that were made plot-wise this season that culminated with this episode. There were several things (Jon's storyline especially) that I was expecting would get back on track once they set up for that to happen, but it seems like they got a lot of characters where they needed to be to follow their actual plots, and then went ahead and deviated anyway. I can understand when changes are made for time or clarity or budget reasons, but I think there were some decisions made this season that could set up some very drastic changes later on. As far as the House of the Undying, it was something I knew wouldn't be exactly the same, and I thought the temptations/visions they did give were good, and made sense in the context of the show, but I wish they'd given a little more exposition, and they really could have just put those things through open doors and kept the instructions from Pyat Pree about the door on the right, etc. He could have spoken to her without appearing physically until later. Aside from that and the lack of Qhorin/Jon interaction, I'm also quite upset that Irri was killed off this season - I thought they had just decided to keep Doreah instead, but if she's dead now, it feels like Irri was killed arbitrarily, and it's a real shame, because Amrita Acharia was really excellent. I liked the Brienne/Jaime scene, even just as a brief check-in before the end of the season. I hope Jaime will start to call her "wench" next season! Sophie Turner did a great job reacting to Joffrey breaking the betrothal, I'm really impressed with all of her performances this season. Seeing all the white walkers on their way to the fist was great too, although I don't know how Sam is going to magically survive being completely surrounded like that (Sam the Very Prolific Slayer?) Overall, I'm left with a disappointed feeling, although maybe on a second viewing I can appreciate it more.
