I think the early-mid season was so good that the episodes since have seemed a bit weak, and I had my expectations up too high for this one, decent enough episode but, well, it could have been better.

I'm just going to layout some weakness, as I saw them, with the episode both generally and in terms of changes from the book.

First, the titular song, I don't remember any lyrics being given during it being played or if that was even the right music, but they really should have emphasized that more by maybe having someone comment "Strange choice, that". TV isn't books, there is too much going on, and you can't pause to quick re-read a sentence, so you have to spell stuff out.

Same applies in the second scene, at the Twins, with them eating. There's a repetition throughout the books that once you eat under someone's roof you're safe there, hence when they send around the wine and cheese and little sandwiches at diplomatic functions it's not a vague gesture at hospitality but rather a very real and important thing. They didn't make any effort to spell that out but still drew attention to it.

'Jeyne Westerling' - Moment I saw her at the Twins I figured we could safely assume further book deviations and they were planning to kill her or have her in on the treachery as I've mentioned before, since they're discarding her from the series and choose to do it this way I really wonder why they modified the book at all, beyond the name conflict with Jeyne Poole. Her entire role in the books, as a person, is simply 'meh' and it seemed they wanted to bring her up as a more interesting character... the treachery route would have been better IMHO as they did with Doreah but whatever, toss away character in the books and the show. Having Cat fling herself across the table at Jeyne 2.0 to murder her and getting her face clawed up in the act then her throat slit would have been far better but we're jumping ahead.

Dany - Gates for sewer, no big deal, but the book deviation is in other respects. They really should have justified 'me plus two others' with something like a small boat. I'll leave 'why those two, Jorah and Grey Worm, important officers?' be, though Selmy not being there, when he was, makes little sense, I can only assume the actor playing him was originally supposed to be there and sprained something or other and between the book and that they felt obliged to say why he wasn't.

Sam - Just a toss away scene, we're here, Wildlings find the wall unnerving apparently and find reading especially awe inspiring. Really weird remark about how wildlings believe that to look upon the wall is death, coming from a girl who's father played host to the Night Watch, not wildlings, routinely, and BRan's upcoming reminder how this obviously isn't so..

Arya and the Hound - Good scene, though its a bit strange for Arya to be telling him about how she knows a real killer and him being skeptical when she's a scion of an ancient family of Warlords whose war camp they're on their way to visit and he just re-met in the company of Beric Dondarion. It's a fairly obvious reminder and foreshadowing of her going off to Braavos but still a bbit clumsy, overall good scene though.

Bran - Petty much starts off remind the audience that Gilly's wall=death belief of wildlings is pure crap, as he explains the Gift is mostly empty because Wildlings raids are a serious issue. Nice to see Rickon spekaing a bit.

Jon - decent scene, a bit shoe-horned to give the guy an excuse to escape and bring Jon and Bran together.

Arya again - solid scene, looking at the Twins then confronting Sandor about fear.

Jon/Bran - Again, solid scene, some warg exposition and a redo of Jon's fleeing the wildlings minus Ygritte trying to kill him which could mean they plan to change how they kill her off, we'll see.

Jorah et all - This seen would have been better with Selmy in it, but was fine.

Red Wedding - The actual Wedding scene is just fine, a little humor about Edmure's wife's veil and her being nice on the eyes to everoyne's surprise.

Bran - So Rickon finally gets some speaking lines and they ship him off. I wonder if that maybe means they're planning to show him next season, as they did with Theon this season.

Dany - I'd like to have seen some more of the fight for Yunkai but action is expensive, the Dany-Jorah-Daario tension thing is presumably going to be the specific reason Jorah leaves to eventually encounter Tyrion.

Red Wedding Feast - Some Bolton foreshadowing with him not drinking, and Cat being offended out-of-character that Bolton married for money, both things she would absolutely know already but inappropriate ignorance as an excuse for exposition is understandable. It could have been done by the Blackfish, who refused a political marriage, rather than a woman who married her arranged fiancé's younger brother after hisdeath and disliked 'Jeyne' because her son married her apolitically, as they will remind us in twenty seconds by having Robb talk to 'Jeyne' about how Cat is just beginning to warm up to her after being the pretty face that damn near destroyed his kingdom.

Surprise moment: Considering how the show never misses a chance to show breasts and there weren't any the whole episode, I'm frankly amazed they bypassed the rare chance to do this - the bedding ceremony - when it was probably one of the most justified chances to do so. Ditto not a single severed head, when it would have been easy to justify.

... and the bloodshed... Loved Cat's slap of Bolton... okay good scene right up until Robb finally dies... WTF? Bolton just walks up off screen, stabs Robb and makes the Lannister reference, and walks off. Felt sort of shoehorned in there. Then Cat cuts Frey's wife's throat, someone casually walks up to her and does the same. Better if Bolton walked to Robb as he's sitting there bleeding and Robb asked "Why?" and Bolton had said the line and stabbed him. And again I thought, if they're changing 'Jeyne' and killing her off anyway, an enraged Cat stabbing her to death while getting her face clawed up would have been much more memorable.

</end rant>