Which isn't to say that it's bad, just that my expectations were too high, I suppose...

Anyway, the Theon scenes were all well done, and very much like the books. The stuff with Asha is exactly the way it was there, except for her name being changed to...whatever it's been changed to. Balon is superb.

The Littlefinger scene with the whore seemed pointless and far too long. Yeah his threat made him seem kinda badass, but I would think that Littlefinger's deviousness has already been established by now. Or even if not, it's not like he features prominently in the first two books either. It's only when he gets to the Eyrie that we really realize the extent of his manipulative ability, so I see no reason to waste precious screentime on him threatening whores.

Stannis and Melisandre is another part I dislike. Is this going to be the manner in which all her shadow children are conceived now? From the books I had gathered that she formed them by stealing Stannis' essence somehow, but I thought it was more like she sapped away his energy and strength through magical means, not via sex.

Yoren was really awesome in this episode. The Arya scenes are good too, though it's a shame we didn't get a chance to see Lommy or Hot Pie introduced properly. I feel like the show isn't doing justice to how vicious Arya can be, which is a significant part of her character... Certainly more significant and interesting for the show than superfluous whore scenes. I mean, really, when I want to see tits, I have the whole internet at my disposal, and it does a better job than Game of Thrones ever will, so the show should try sticking more closely to sex scenes that actually matter to the plot. Like the Theon scene in this episode, since it showed the viewers that he really isn't a nice guy at all, despite being buddies with Robb. That's significant, given everything that is to come.

And finally, I've saved the best for last... or worst rather. The Craster portions of the episode. First of all, why are they still at Craster's? Relative to the book, the plots of the other arcs are moving along nicely, but Jon's arc is at a standstill. Do they not have enough other things to occupy Jon's time with? Gilly doesn't give birth yet, so either they seriously screwed up and had her give birth already, or Jon went chasing after a random one of Craster's sons. Either way, it isn't something that happens in the book. They don't find out about Craster sacrificing to the Others until much later (if they find out at all), and Craster certainly doesn't hit Jon. I don't think at this point in the book they even know about the Others actually existing! They still think wights and wildlings are their biggest concerns, so I don't see why this segment was included now. Also, I don't think I liked Sam's performance very much this episode. He doesn't seem nearly as blundering and incompetent as he is in the books, or as scared and sensitive either. In the show he seems pretty much like an ordinary guy.

And the Tyrion segments were good. But that's nothing new.