The Jon Snow scenes and the problem with Littlefinger's first scene
As much as I agree that the Jon Snow scenes are just repeating something we already know very well about him, I think it's still important because of what they represent: despite the fact that the Night's Watch is filled mostly with murderers, rapists…

Is it a retcon?
My memory of season 1 and 2 is a little sketchy so I might need a bit of help here, but I do remember that yes, Stephen was trying to protect his kids. But is it really a retcon to add this detail, i.e. that he was protecting them from getting mixed up in this business with the CIA and the Alpha…

Jaime Lannister
That line from Jaime, "If I stabbed the mad king in the belly instead of the back, would you admire me more?" says so much about his character. I love it. He clearly sees himself as the hero for taking down a tyrant, but the years of being derisively referred to as the Kingslayer have made him bitter…

But it is!
Casey's story was thematically related. The whole episode was a pretty simplistic (as is typical of Chuck) morality tale about lying and forgiveness (as well as estrangement but you've covered that). It's so simplistic that Casey is the most easily forgiven for his lie because he's a "hero". "You have…

"I'll have what he's having."
Very nice bit of foreshadowing actually.

Boyd
Do you think he might be recruiting by going back to the mining business? "Nature abhors a vacuum," and all that.

I've given up on this show.
I can't take it anymore. Nothing frustrates and hurts me more in storytelling than a contrived return to the status quo.

Recycled plots
This was obviously wishful thinking on my part, but I was REALLY hoping that when his mum did that… thing a few episodes ago, she wasn't removing the Intersect so much as removing the need for Chuck to flash. It would've explained why he panicked that he couldn't flash - because he didn't need to and…