The director of the episode addressed the criticism of the speedy back and forth:

“We were aware that timing was getting a little hazy,” Taylor told Variety. “We’ve got Gendry running back, ravens flying a certain distance, dragons having to fly back a certain distance…In terms of the emotional experience, [Jon and company] sort of spent one dark night on the island in terms of storytelling moments. We tried to hedge it a little bit with the eternal twilight up there north of The Wall. I think there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there. I think that worked for some people, for other people it didn’t. They seemed to be very concerned about how fast a raven can fly but there’s a thing called plausible impossibilities, which is what you try to achieve, rather than impossible plausibilities. So I think we were straining plausibility a little bit, but I hope the story’s momentum carries over some of that stuff.”

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/game-of-thrones-season-7-episode-6-beyond-the-wall-timeline-director-1202534403/

Are you kidding? Daenerys was the only one with any sense last episode. Jon's stupidity is the reason all of these stupid plots are happening. He needs to be killed off.

Martin takes his time, the wait for book five was agony and books six gets worse eith each passing year. That said seeing this show I am actually glad he is taking a while because he thinks and he cares. This writing from season six and seven has been abysmal and as someone who loved the first four seasons it is now just boring and annoying.  Budget wouldnt save them from laziness or incompetence. The dragons are a sight to behold, but when everything elseis so bad I dont get invested.

Aryas story has fallen  apart ever since Braavos training went off the rails. I adore this character and they turned a bad assassassin into a petulent child. I was cheering for freaking Sansa I was so fed up with Arya. This may be worse characterization than Loras and Stannis at this rate.

I think it will be Dany, Tyrion, and Jon. However I think Euron will take Viserion from Tyrion with the horn. My big question is if Bran can skin change into a dragon or even Wights as I see him having a major role.

In the show my guess is Jon and Dany versus Night King in dragon battle.

I couldn't help myself and read Season 8 alleged spoilers (NOTE: we don't know if they're real, apparently from 4Chan) that are out there.

All I'll say is if that's season 8 ... people are gonna be pisssssssed off, lol. Also for those complaining about season 7's writing, they are going to lose it with season 8 if those leaks are legit. Please don't be real, please don't be real. Some things do make sense though as I read them. 

YOUR argument was about them waiting to tell Dany while the NK seemingly took forever and a day to walk over with the spear and kill a dragon.  Frankly, why we are talking about this instead of the part where the NK took out the flying dragon instead of the grounded one makes 0 sense to me, as that was the obvious logical flaw, but whatever.   Anyways, others have pointed out that Jorah and Beric had already been talking about taking out the NK so it certainly is in the realm of possibilities that they could have told Dany to take them out as they climbed on top of Drogon.  But let's think about this, adrenaline is high and those guys had been sitting on an island for probably 4-5 days.  Do you honestly believe it would be in character for them to make the smartest decision?  And still, none of them had a clue that the NK had a gold medal in javalin throwing, the most logical thing would be for them to wait until everyone is safe before telling Dany to take out the NK.  However they never got that chance, because it became clear that if they attacked the NK they would likely die.

Again, YOUR argument isn't hard to argue, but there are other arguments that could be made to show the flaws in that scene.

It's not that Martin takes his time, it's that he hasn't figured out how to finish his story.  It took him like 5 years to deliver 3 amazing books.  The other 2 came out 11 years later and they weren't even remotely as good as the first 3.  I wouldn't get your hopes up too much for the winds of winter, assuming it even comes out.

Arya is playing the long con with Little Finger.  10 bucks say she kills Little Finger next episode.  But I do agree, her character could have been so much better, they messed up the Braavos stuff, and rushed her return to Westeros.  Her arc was the only one I didn't like last season.

Fire doesn't do jack to the Night King, and probably the other Walkers neither (didn't do anything to the one at the Cave of the Three Eyed Raven did it?) anyway.

The dragons are serving a higher purpose in the story now though, which I'm glad to see. I hoped the wolves of the Starks would have that too, and I once figured Summer would be important and a tool for Bran, but then they easily killed it off just like that last season (in one of the best episodes ever but that's beside the point). One of the dragons being turned is cool, and I had no idea it would be a possibility until I got a "Oh my, what if.." moment when Daenerys went towards the Wall.

I do agree I'm a bit annoyed by the unrealistic travel-times throughout this season, but I already mentioned that last week.

Cercei will become a White Walker Queen and ride the Ice Dragon

Well, I just wanted to say my piece. I went straight to the quick post box and clicked away as soon as I posted. Survived until the airing with just one minor spoiler.  Didn't even read your reply until just now.