Some observations:

I think GRRM's point is that this sort of duplicity and ruthlessness is effective in the short run, but over time, it has the effect of surrounding you with people as untrustworthy as you are and inspires more opportunism than loyalty in your allies so that in the end, you don't see the dagger that kills you. I think…

Easily the best episode of the season so far. It's the first episode of this season to as deftly combine the satire and plot twists of the first two seasons.

Ramsay is sort of the anti-Ned Stark. Whereas Stark was too trusting and noble to survive the shifting sands of alliances and betrayals, Ramsay is probably too cruel and impulsive to last much longer himself. In the end, the people who win are those who are capable of being trustworthy enough to ally with, but…

Jon Snow: So how many men do you have?
Thormund: About two thousand. And, oh yeah, one freaking giant!

So… if Dany reclaims the throne of Westeros, she'll basically be ruling the entire world minus a few free cities.

If you ever enter a room to find Ramsay Bolton peeling an apple or eating a sausage, just slowly back out and walk away.

The more the Eagle started talking in earthy aphorisms, the more I started getting a Being There vibe. By the time Selina calls him up in the middle of the night for validation, you know this isn't going to end well. I like the fact that he gets a little retirement cubby in the sub-basement, though. I hope I go out…

Mission Accomplished!

Bran's flashback confirmed my long held fan theory that Ned Stark doesn't really know what to do with his hair.

By the way, did we really need a lingering shot of Ollie's dead face staring at us from the gallows?

Ghost is the new Lord Commander.

That would have been a great line.

If there's a noose around my neck, that's pretty much all I'm going to be focused on.

A big theme of Game of Thrones is how war destroys the cultural and traditional norms of a society. The War of the Five Kings was Westeros' Vietnam. Ramsay Bolton its Charlie Manson.

I hope Ramsay blames Sansa Stark for the murder of Roose and Walda Bolton. People are going to be like, "Whoa, she killed King Joffrey AND Roose Bolton? Steer clear of that redhead."

I don't know. Circumstantial evidence seems to work in his favor. Sansa Stark flees with the help of outsiders. The next thing you know, the man who killed her father and his wife and son turn up dead. Seems plausible, especially if you control the narrative.

Yeah, but they still have mountains of gold they obtained when the mines were active. They need to find a new source of power for the future, sure, but it's not like they were living paycheck to paycheck.

Yeah, he really just kind of announced his take-over, which is not how things are done in the NW. I think he was just taking advantage of the chaos of having lost a Lord Commander and a Maester in such a short time. Once they get a chance to catch their breath, the ancient rites of ascension will reassert themselves.

Yeah, good points. She's kind of meaningless now. Put her on a slow boat to Braavos.