Valar Dohaeris.
I had heard bad things about the season finale of Game of Thrones, but they aren't true. It wasn't all I'd hoped it could be, it didn't live up to Blackwater, but you can hardly fault it for not being the best episode of the season. It was a perfectly fine episode, just not a spectacular finale. It was the same way with season one: "Baelor" was the episode everyone buzzed about; the finales are more a coda, with an extra "oomph" in the form of supernatural intrusion. It certainly didn't leave the bad taste in my mouth that "The Old Gods & the New" did. Yes, The House of the Undying was a bit disappointing, but in my head-- & out loud-- I had hoped for an homage to Twin Peaks, or something else very Lynchian. Is it too much to ask for Peter Dinklage to learn to talk backwards? Still, as a series of vignettes it succeeded; the throne, the khal, the wall. I liked the stitching of it, & Daenerys keeping a strong sense of self. Theon's speech was pretty ridiculously great in a predictable fantasy epic way, & so how that played out was alright. Tyrion's bit was sad, but the bit of political theater with Joffery, Margaery & Sansa was solid. Jaime & Brienne! I'd watch their "buddies comedy;" it comes on right after One & a Half Man. Jaqen H'ghar's departure is another highlight; he's had a great counterplay with Arya; the dramatic triangle between Jaqen, Arya & Tywin has been one of the legs of the tripod that this season stands on; the other being Tyrion & then a wobbly third being all the b-plots of the struggle for the Iron Throne. While the show went back to the Wall, I was in the middle of asking Jenny-- "do you think this show will ever show the Others?" when the undead horse staggered on screen. We hadn't seen one in the first episode; in A Song of Ice & Fire is that the only time we've seen one? In the prologue? Anyhow, I am very happy with how they look; the glass spear, the pinched face, the blue eyes. I'm not surprised the rainbow crystal armor was left off; maybe the next White Walker we see will have it? That is the sort of thing you have to figure out how to pull off. Ice Nazgûl! How great is that! Combining Jadis the White Witch with the Witch-King of Angmar in one fell swoop.