I love that so much of the initial bile directed at this episode was because of a complete failure to comprehend what happened (such as thinking Stannis is dead) and because the show did not spoil The Winds of Winter. It's like some book readers came face to face with the faults of AFFC and ADWD again, and tried their best to funnel all of the blame towards D&D and away from GRRM. Which is doubly funny since I still liked AFFC and ADWD despite their faults.
As for the episode and the season, true, Dorne was bad. A waste of time and actors pretty much any way you cut it. But aside from that I can't think of anything I actively hated in this episode beyond the fact that we're left on nuttin' but cliffhangers. There are a thousand and one things I would have liked to add to the season, and numerous nitpicks and slight changes I feel would have made it better, but I'm sure any discussion will be drowned out by the 400,000th "Shirtless Ramsay's 20 Good Men" joke.
Anyways, the biggest problem I had overall with the season was one of pacing. A slow pace is understandable in this kind of show, but that wasn't the problem this time. What we got in most storylines was muddled and as a result the seasonal arcs didn't have the appropriate kick to them. King's Landing felt very much a part of the show in the first half, and then just fell off to being Cersei in the second half. This was redeemed in part by Cersei's material being strong for the most part. The Walk, in fact, was much better than I was expecting from the show. But overall King's Landing's other characters (except for the High Sparrow) just faded away. Much of that is intentional and as a direct result of the books, but that doesn't make it sit right in show form.
Then you get the plots in Winterfell, where two additional main characters are diverted there and neither they nor its other character of note, Theon, gets nearly enough time to develop what's happening. It didn't do any of the truly terrible things that certain book readers have conditioned us to believe might happen, like Sansa stabbing Walda, but it still earns a weak grade.
Dany was actually surprisingly.. tolerable despite having to deal with her worst book material, but I can't say that I look forward to Tyrion's show (and book?) arc ending with him bringing order to Slaver's Bay, The End.
Again, no excuses for Dorne. Bad scenes, some truly bad lines, squandering of potential with actors, especially Alexander Siddig. I'm guessing Myrcella will die sooner rather than later in the books, so I won't complain about that so much but the arc for Jaime is still, at best, dull.
Jon had his best season since Season 1, even if we are saddled with this major unresolved cliffhanger. It's surprising to me that despite all the minor grievances I have with The Wall's S5 storyline, it's still probably the one they actually "pulled off."
Minus points for no Ser Pounce or Varys and his crossbows of fury.
