A couple of other thoughts on "Hardhome"

Spoilers.

• At first I actually thought that was Zombie Jeor Mormont (you know, the previous Lord Commander) coming through the fire to fight Jon in the barn. You know, because a) Others don't like fire and b) it kinda looked like him.
• Kit Harrington reminded me of James Garner - think it's the jaw - when he was doing that staring contest with the Night's King.
• Jon Snow swore. What larks.
• Actually, I want to address this: either Kit took acting lessons after Season 3, or he was just off his game back then because of his broken ankle. Cuz he's on fire now.
• The editing was, while not great, just on the right side of Quantum of Solace for me to find it tolerable. If anything, the problem was the lighting and the costuming.
• If Ramsay actually accomplishes anything, I'll be upset. Joffrey was an evil little shit but he never crossed over in to Villain Sue territory because he had much more awesome people (cough Tywin) to actually win his wars for him. Ramsay, on the other hand, is the evil little shit who can fight of Vikings shirtless.
• People are whining that Sansa didn't show any empathy for Reek in this week's scene. Breaking news: she's human. Her courtesy has limits. 
• I'm also prepared to say that the Sansa plotline is stupid, alas. I don't regret spilling ink defending it, because it could have gone somewhere... but it didn't.
• People are complaining that Jon didn't need to go to Hardhome. Because, like, Tormund was the one who actually did all the convincing. Yes, but Tormund specifically said he wouldn't go unless Jon went with him. Was it a flimsy pretext to get a now-trained-by-Hollywood-stuntmen Kit Harrington into another fight scene, in a show that was suffering badly this season for a proper fight? Yeah probably, but at least it makes more sense than Jaime going to Dorne. 
• Daenerys the Babylon Project says she's going to "break the wheel." As far as bumper-sticker slogans that aren't a real policy outline go, it's somewhere between "hope and change" and "don't do stupid sh*t." 
• But really why is Tyrion allying with this dumbass? Dany is an idiot who has failed to control anything for more than one season! Her dragons don't obey her. Her Unsullied forgot how to fight. She occupied Meereen Marine for all of one season, making mistakes along the way and unable to deal with an uprising, and now everyone there hates her.