In the least sadistic way possible, I'm glad they showed Grey Wind's head stitched the Robb's body, because it emphasises and puts across the brutality of the Freys, something which non-readers may not be able to appreciate as much as readers would, although the RW may have been sufficient enough evidence of their raw brutality! In terms of the rest of the episode, I wasn't disappointed like a lot of people have stated. Mainly because I somewhat expected a less dramatic episode to Rains - can't get much more dramatic than the RW? Although I'll be feeling nervously anxious with excitement during the PW, for obvious reasons! 'Mhysa' didn't enthrall like a typical finale would enthrall, but what I liked about it was that all loose ends were tied up, we got appearances from more or less every arc, and each of these arcs setting up season four nicely with mini cliff-hangers. For those reasons, and that I expected a more settled down episode in comparison to the RW anyway, I enjoyed this episode. Scenes for me that stood out were Arya/Hound, Theon/Ramsay, Tyrion/Joffrey/Tywin, and Jon/Ygritte (although short, I really liked how the passion between them was portrayed). In terms of the Asha/Yara rescue, I can't see this materalising and becoming a major arc - I think season four will be primarily focusing on the major characters non-readers are aware of, with the introduction of LS added to this. Unless D&D want to seriously restructure how episodes are done, which would be fairly difficult. Staying with the notion of LS, I was convinced that she'd be the final scene of the finale, so I was surprised when it was, yet again, Dany. Though in hindsight, it would have made sense to leave LS's introduction until season four - structurally it would make more sense, but emotionally as well. I was convinced an emotional uplift was required in this episode following the RW, but LS would work better once Cat's death has sunk in, meaning a long-ish gap between death and resurrection would be required to happen, and perhaps some non-readers will have all but forgotten about her, then bang, her body is discovered and LS comes into the equation. In all, I think that way of going about LS is better, so now I'm glad she wasn't rushed frantically into the final scene after an already frantic-ish episode wrapping up arcs and setting up season four. In all, I really enjoyed this episode, and is definitely not worthy of some of the criticism it has received - if anything, it has enhanced the story and set up some serious excitement.
