I guess I'm in the minority but this episode frustrated me at least as much as it entertained. All logic was completely thrown out the window at almost every turn for the sake of drama. I could go on all day about it. Add in numerous moments of ungodly convenient timing and luck and my suspension of disbelief was outright broken. To its credit though it did have some of the best poetry and cinematography of the series. That long shot of Jon amidst the cavalry in particular is probably the most impressive sequence of the show thus far.

The Starks are coming home! RIP Wun Wun. That's how you tank.

But I was wondering, why did Ramsay arrowed the giant and not Snow? Both of them were side by side.

Perhaps he wanted to kill a giant before he went away. Perhaps he thought the giant was the biggest threat. Perhaps he was pissed the giant took away his stronghold in Winterfell by breaking the door.

Or perhaps to the writers it was inconvinient to shoot Snow, that can't happen.

The High Sparrow is the most disgusting villain in the series because he is shoving down everyone's throat bullshit religion and he deserves the worst death possible.

Terrific episode. I still prefer episode 5, but both of them are easily in my GoT top 5.

- The Winterfell battle was totally sick. GoT has always managed to show the cruelty of war. But this was another different beast. The sound effects, the chaos of the battlefield... And the way Ramsay used the bodies to surround Snow's army... He would totally destroy Jon Snow. I kind of figured that Littlefinger will appear to save the day. He knew they will need him eventually. Another step on his scheme. I wonder what was the arrangement with Sansa. 

- Tyrion acting as a counterpart to Daenerys. She loses her temper sometimes, so they make a wonderful pair. The negotiation and the "unleash the dragons" moment was thrilling.

- But not as thrilling as the Stark regaining Winterfell. At last.

- About predictability. No. I mean, how many times have we seen the good guys in this show being slaughtered? It would be predictable in another show, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jon Snow died. It was close enough tbh.

-Also, Miguel Sapochnik. Astonishing direction. 

Wonderful episode, so the improvement over season 5 is obvious. I was worried because of episodes 2 and 3, but the rest of the season was pretty solid. Can't wait to see the finale! I still think that the last seasons were not as great as the first 4, but, at least, they were good enough.

Why the hell didn't Sansa tell Jon that she had messaged Littlefinger and could get his help... he even said so himself in a prior episode.

I suppose she didn't want to hear a "no, don't call him".

Littlefinger's entrance was vert LOTR: The Two Towers though.

The issue with inconsistent story telling is brings into questions why characters have limits at times and not others.  When you establish that moving from one place to another takes time (especially a large force) it makes someone going across a continent and back in days seem like deus ex machina or brings to mind earlier story lines why they didn't move so quickly before.  This was something even early on the show messed up in having people somehow know information half a world away far too quickly.  The whole idea is this a vast epic, making the world small changes that.

Arya's story is butchered. She becomes a bad ass assassin and can skin change into cats.  In this she fails, quits, and the assassin guild just...lets her go?  Even non book fans have to see the insanity of that.

Pacing issue can be excused at times due to logistics of shows versus books.  Books can have a character do little for a while, but show needs to use them so we get Sansa's story being dramatically different.  She's still incognito in the Vale in the books.

Dorne is a complete and utter disaster.  You cannot just kill the ruling family in a kingdom and expect everyone to be okay with it.  If Dorne is not engulfed in Civil War or chaos as every other house hunts the Sand Snakes to extinction then the writers are simply too lazy or stupid to understand how Westeros works.  Bad enough we have the Stormlands with no ruler (thanks to show Stannis being insane and killing his heir).

I will agree on Hodor, that was my favorite moment all year and alone bumped my score 2 points because it felt like Martin's work on screen with minor changes.  I was also pleased to see Coldhands finally show up.

The thing is in the first 3-4 season I was the optimist among book fans about the show forgiving many errors or changes, but last year an dinto this one they are so bad and so dumbed down I just throw my hands up.  If the writers care so little about the characters and world I have to ask why should I?

I'll keep watching, but more out of sense of obligation than joy I use to feel.  The wait for books 4 and 5 was bad enough, book 6 is agony now.

Pros

Fight was amazing probably the best in the entire show. It was top movie tier level imo. Sooooo much damn goodness and quite scary..... (@.@)

Cons

Though predictable with baby stark the only problem is it was obvious the vale was coming. Can this show and its wars get anymore repetive? Its the same scenario over and over. All hope is lost and bammmm somebody (another party) comes saves the day.

Black Water
Wall (Stannis comes)
Kalessi (last ep and this ep)
Bastard War

Always sooooooo convient they come at the very last second or right before shit gets real.:p

That's the issue.  Rather than being a historical fantasy tale, the show writers have warped it to standard hollywood fare where characters like Jon have plot armor and moments occur to be "cool" rather than grounded in logic.  

Seasons 1,3 and 4 are the best ! 

but 5/10 for season 6 why ? for me it's a solid 8 

The writing.   It feels like bad fan fiction and is at odds with established characters and world building.  The characters are not clever or smart now, they do what the writers need to get them to point B.   Rather than deal with consequences of a complex and interconnected world, they just kill people off for cheap shock value.  The prime example is how poorly Dorne was botched from being this major story component with political intrigue to...just have the Sand Snakes kill the Martells. 

It comes across as lazy and completely at odds of what A Song of Ice and Fire set out to be, a grand fantasy epic that felt grounded in mideval history.

That's not even getting into how badly characterization of people like Jaime is 180 degrees from his book arc away from Cersei showing his complexity.  No, keep him simple and stupid.  That amazing bath house scene meant nothing, he's right back to season 1.

I'm critical because I care and saw how brilliant the work could be that just a shame to see how without Martin's work to prop it up it really doesn't feel special anymore.