He saw it coming because Stannis literally says that hes going to the wall at the end of last season. They've been careful not to mention this again this season and apparently this has worked because many non book readers still don't know that hes going there, but I think the show has already given away the surprise.

You see the knights storming the Wildling camp, the eagle bursting into flames, and Mance getting surrounded by the men. Regardless though, the show doesn't use strict viewpoints like the book so theres no reason why we shouldn't see more of the battle from Stannis's point of view.

I don't know, Littlefinger's comment last episode about how people some times die on their chamber pots certainly seemed to foreshadow it.

Stannis in this episode wouldn't have cheapened the sacrifices made, rather it would have shown that those sacrifices weren't made in vain. Beyond that putting Stannis's charge into the next episode will likely make it feel overcrowded and worse overshadowed by other moments such as what happens with Tyrion. So far…

Ygritte dying in Jon's arms on the battlefield while everything slowed down around them felt a bit too "hollywood" for this show. This episode really made me wish that they would have adapted book 3 into one 16 episode season rather than stretching it across season 3 and 4. Ygritte's death would have had much more of…

The ridiculousness of Mance managing to gather an army that big is part of the reason why everyone except Stannis ignores the Knight's watch call for help (well, that and people don't believe in white walkers either). I don't know how big the north is supposed to be in Westeros, but it is said to be the biggest…

I think Mance's attack is going to be cut out entirely. Stannis's men can be seen cutting down wildlings in the trailers so next episode will probably be Jon going into to Mance's camp to talk and then Stannis's army suddenly showing up and attacking.

Several of the trailers have shown quick shots of Stannis's men attacking the wildlings so we know for sure that its happening next week.

Tywin sending the letter to Dany was set up a few episodes ago during the small council meeting. They were talking about how dangerous Dany is because she has two seasoned warriors advising her and then Tywin asks Varys if he has any spies in that area just after bringing up how Jorah used to spy for them.

I loved how GRRM sounded genuinely irked by that. He spent half the commentary complaining about it.

I hope next season gives us more episodes now that this show has proven to be a success. I remember Entourage only getting 8 episodes in its first year too in order for HBO to see how it would do.

Granted, it was Don that pushed her in that direction when he told her not to be so cynical after she repeated what the jock had said. If it were not for that phone call I don't think Sally would have chosen him.

I think Don started drifting away from Megan the moment he realized he couldn't force her to fit the idealized image of a wife that he had in his head and that really began at the end of season 5. It got worse at the end of last year when Don's flip flopping caused problems for Megan.

I thought the Roger/Mcann story was set up enough in the previous episodes this season that it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere when Roger made the deal to sale part of the company.

Its been a while since I've watched the older seasons but I've been trying to remember when this shift in Harry's character started taking place because it seemed to happen so gradually that one day it was like "Harry's kind of a douche now, when did that happen?". But it kind of mimics real life in the way people…

Don realized what it was like to be without work this season and that was amplified even more by him slowly drifting away from Meagan. He could have pursued other options but he didn't because at the end of the day SC means something to him. He wanted to start the firm with those people and the ending of the last…

It didn't hurt the firm as much from a business stand point but you'd think it be just as damaging to the company's reputation.

Yeah and Peggy's advertising style is in some ways similar to Don's not necessarily something new and radical. The show has shown in the past that Peggy, having been groomed by Don in the advertising age of the early 60s doesn't quite fit in with her own generation while not quite fitting in with the people older than…

I took Ghost Bert's choice of song a little more literal. This season focused a lot on how lonely these people are and how the relationships they've formed with each other and the work they do together are what keep them going, hence the best things in life are free. Its not the lucrative deal that Don signed that he…

Yeah, I don't see why Peggy's rise has to equal Don's fall, but as others have suggested thats the arc that most people expected to see play out from the beginning and in some ways it feels like people sometimes try and force that interpretation of the show when it doesn't necessarily fit.