I'll care more about HBO Go when I can cancel my TV subscription and get a Roku. These streaming services really need to divorce from the cable companies.

Sounds like a provider thing. The only time I've ever had that happen is when FX neglected to tell DirecTV that they were running an 1:05 minute episode. Usually the provider knows when schedules are skewed or shows are going to run long. 
p.s. You can't set an over-run on your "record this series" DVR schedule?

Qybin says hi.

Was going to mention the same thing… glad it's already been covered. They have to sail past KL to get to Dragon Stone from the river lands. I also assume she's telling Edri… Gendry his parentage since she doesn't expect him to be alive much longer. Wanting to burn him to raise stone dragons and all, mind as well let…

I thought this was the best episode of the season. GRRM put some of the adaptations back on solid footing with some needed character work. And this episode was even shot better than most. Lights, camera, and actors all felt much more convincing. No idea who Michelle MacLaren is but she's good and I hope they user her…

Ricken and Osha are totally out of place. ;)

It also introduces Mel to Thoros and Arya…. which is pretty lame. 
So now the "dead Stark girl" has bumped into Little Finger, Tywin, and Melisandre. Doing a great job of staying hidden… [eyeroll]

first episode this season was pretty out there… there were some last season that were mostly fiction as well. (Robb's bride?)

Yeah, I've been largely disappointed with the handling of Sansa's time @ Kings Landing. I enjoyed the book portrayal a ton more. It had all the great metaphor of her being a little songbird in a guided cage (just like the hound was telling her all along). And she doesn't break out of that cage and become a person…

People that read the books also had foreshadowing. Bran gets a vision of dead Rob and Grey Wind in the Stark crypts… just like he did before Ned lost his head. After that I was just waiting for the "how does Rob die"; I was certain it was coming.

easy to forget, it was just shoehorned in haphazardly. one of the crows finds the bundle under a rock in a contrived scene last season.

There's so much more to complain about I hadn't even thought about that yet… good point though. He probably also saw the place when he "escaped" LOL.

I have a terrible confession to make: […]I’m much more into the series for the politics and the relationships between the characters. I could care less about the White Walkers.

I thought they go through the Hodoor.

IIRC they were all TVs … he was watching a bunch of videos all at once… he my have even had VCRs hooked up to them. /rolleyes

It takes a man like Ron Swanson to tame the Warrior Princess.

Very good post, and I would love it if they kept Moriarty off-screen as a spider spinning his web. Unfortunately I agree with MilesMcNutt; I don't think TV has the balls to do it. Though unlike Miles I don't think using him as a cloak-and-dagger antagonist detracts at all from the narrative. I'm actually more…

Stray observation… Sherlock needs Photoshop.

How are there people that didn't pick up on Ron doing Xena until now? 

Burt Macklin saved this episode. All the Leslie politics was just weak filler and all the droning on "are you better" stuff made me want to throw something at the screen. Very un-Knope. Sub-plots of quality kept it at a B- though, as they were above average and had some good laughs.