I'm in two minds on this episode, so lets get to the more negative stuff.
I hate the fact they killed of Roose. I always felt him to be one of the best villains the show ever had, an ice cold killer that never really showed emotion. I was really hoping he would go further with the show ans almost take the place of Stannis as the unrelenting force. However, whats more annoying is how he got killed off. Remember, Roose was just as big apart of the Red Wedding as the Freys, and he was the one who struck the killing blow to Rob, so i felt Roose would always get an ending that was just as gut punching and vengeful as the audience deserved, and i guess while from a stroryline point of view it was in that it was his son that delivered that blow, i didn't feel like it payed off as well as it should have.
And speaking of his son, I really don't like how much they feel the need to push Ramsey as thus psychotic lunatic. Its like they feel the need to out-do how hated Goffrey was, and this week really pushed the line of shock for the sake of shock. I get if your gonna have Ramsey kill his dad, he'll also need to kill Fat Walder and the child, but it just felt like cheap heat the way they went about it. We get it, Ramsey is evil, can we move on now?
Really enjoyed the Sansa/Brianne stuff, and the fact they brought up Arya, as its easy to forget the connections this family once had. Arya and Sansa haven't been in the same scene since Season 1, so its nice to be reminded of what they once had. And speaking of Ayra, development seems to be incoming, so looking forward to that too.
Tyrions scene with the Dragons was simply excellent. It taught us so much more of the Dragons and specifically, the "rules" so to speak the show has when it comes to how smart the Dragons are. Really enjoyable stuff that again, feels like a great starting point for the show to move forward from into a new development.
The Greyjoy stuff was decent, although i wish we'd have been given a little more time with Balon before his death. I always felt the show did a great disservice to the actor, who portrayed Balon so well, i was kinda hoping the show would delay his death for a while to allow the character more material. I worry the show will unfortunately ruin the Iron Island plot as much as they did Dorne, and that would be gutting. Hopefully Euron and Yara get some decent screentime to set up the arc they need, because if don right, it could really add a fresh feel to the whole story.
Various developments in with Bran, Tommen etc were fine. Jamie and the High Sparrows speech was riveting stuff.
And finally, what we all knew, Jon Snow is back! I actually felt the scene between Mel and Davos was brilliant. Two peaple that really hated each other for so long, working together in someway was brilliant. What i really enjoy is not just how unique and how much intrigue this adds to Jon, but also to Mel now. I think her character has to be one of the most compelling in the show, and i honestly can't wait to see what they do with her moving forward.
So yeah, Episode 1 was a reminder episode, and episode 2 was an establishing / setting up episode. I reckon next week will be where things really start to kick off.
8/10