Pretty good episode, much better than last season's premier. Well directed, everything looked nice - I just hope that carries through the rest of the episodes. I was bummed to learn Alan Taylor, who has directed some of the best episodes (Baelor, Fire and Blood) wasn't returning this year, but the director list looks good. Michelle MacLaren has an episode this season, which will rock I'm sure.
The show is usually best when it spends some time with the storylines instead of becoming a glorified clip show, and I think this episode succeeded in that sense. While I didn't like Mance's introduction or the Robb/Harenhel stuff, just about all the other scenes/stories were nice. I really liked Davos' scenes, especially the one with Saan. And of course Tyrion's scene with Tywin was great; I look forward to more Charles Dance.
PUPPY-GATE: Who fucking cares. Forcing children to kill infants gets the point across.
Mance: I'll wait to see how it plays out for the rest of the season. It's way too early to declare him a disaster. Same with Giantsbane. I'm sure he'll be fine.
Ros: Wasn't annoying for once.
Dany's scenes were much better than last season's, despite the introduction of another exotic culture/city; there's always a danger of being too cheesy/SyFy channel-esque when it comes to that in fantasy or sci fi shows. I'm curious to hear what non-book readers thought of the final scene. I kind of wish they cast a younger actor, even though that guy is a very good actor. Still, I wonder if the impact would be bigger if it was a guy in his mid 50s instead of his 60s.