Next 2 episodes are supposed to be around 80 minutes.

All I know is Ghost better make an appearance.

Yeah from what I understand you have to be a legitimized heir to have a claim. So Jon has the strongest claim. Direct, legitimized descendant of a prince.

Makes all the scenes between Robert and Ned in season 1 a little different, especially the ones in which Robert joked about Ned's 'bastard' son.

The episode felt unusually rushed and there was no doubt stuff I didn't pick up on (always is) but I still liked. The setup is there for a continued action heavy last two shows.
It really stood out that Jamie & Tyrion's big reunion were filmed separately; like Arrested Development season 4 level.

Oh yeah. The pace was awkward as hell. Some of it was pretty jarring. Going from Dragonstone to King's Landing and back to Dragonstone and finally sailing up to Eastwatch in the span of a afternoon was awkward. Stumbling upon Gendry and him just being all yeah let's go was silly. And a lot of the other scenes seemed contrived too. Like Jorah magically showing up at that exact moment.

Looking forward to the next episode even though the purpose for the mission beyond the wall is pretty damn silly.

That may be, but a line in a book won't make him a king unless someone looks for it while they're in a situation to name a king. It was a nod to book/theory readers if anything.

Well it gives Jon some added context and it's kind of a big deal that Jon wasn't the product of rape which was the prevailing gossip. The other character that was the product of rape was Ramsey.

It could create some friction between him and Dany as well.

this is the least discussion of an episode the day after the show ive seen in this thread.

I mean, not much really happened except Jon touched a dragon

Ton of fluff. Just characters meeting and moving around.

Jon is the heir to the Targaryens (son of crown prince Rhaegar, and the grandson of the mad king), he is the second closest living relation to Robert after Gendry (since the Baratheons and Targaryens are related), but the closest that is legitimized, and he is the elected king of the north, and the son of a Stark. It will almost certainly matter somehow, but perhaps not in a way that puts him on the throne.

Feels very strange that Daenarys would agree to an alliance with Cersei at this point. Even with the army of the dead. I really can't see the three armies working together.

Besides that the season does feel rushed. They are travelling great diatances in seconds, and even with time passing in between, with the way the scenes mix, it doesn't make sense. The mission beyond the wall, the people on it, and how they are prepared, also seemed really off.

What would you do if you were Littlefinger, and wanted to marry Sansa, and rule vast lands? He has to scheme and come up with something special.

That would make too much sense.

The fast traveling doesn't bother me. It is the lack of character development to understand their motivations and tactics that is the problem.

this

Which motivations and tactics are you thinking of?

All of the battles have seemed rushed. Part of it is for the element of surprise to the viewer, but the logistics of these battles are left unexplained.

The scenes around the Painted Table have seemed rushed.

Jaime/Cersei has been rushed.

Jon and Dany's relationship is progressing at warp speed.

The Starks at Winterfell have been rushed. Arya "knows" Sansa's true motivations and they've spent like 2 scenes together since they were reunited.

Assembling the Avengers to go north of the wall all happened in like 20 minutes of this episode. Rushed.

In previous seasons all of these would have been explored/shown in much more detail.

I wonder how much the actor's salaries go up over the seasons.

Yes, I really loved last week's episode, and have enjoyed the season, but I agree with most of those. There should be more room for relationships to evolve, more scenes between characters to flesh out what is happening, a feel of time passing and people travelling. With the amount of time that has passed elsewhere, Arya might have been back to Winterfell for months already. But it's impossible to tell.