It was indeed predictable, but I agree that wasn't what hurt this episode. And before I elaborate, I have to say this episode was fucking awesome. Not the best of all time, but it was amazing, and if you feel otherwise you're lying to yourself.
The teleporting may not have been that bad, depending how long they were standing on that island. It was at least two days. Gendry running back to the Wall could have been ~6 hours, I'm assuming it would take a raven a day or two to get to Dragonstone, and dragons flying to the Wall probably ~12 hours. I think all of those numbers are reasonable. I can accept that those guys hung out for 3 days slowly freezing and starving to death.
The only thing that made me roll my eyes this episode was the Deus Ex Machinas. Dany showing up at the last minute was indeed predictable, and convenient. The Benjen bit was just completely unnecessary. Just jump on the fucking dragon Jon, you had so much time. They really didn't NEED to have that last round of fake outs for Jon. "Oh he's drowning!....just kidding! But he's fucked now, look at all those zombies!....sike! Coldhands to the rescue!" Yes, it added some tension for Dany, but whatever, they really could have skipped that bit and saved on the extra layers of silliness. Or at least had Rhaegal be the ex machina, not Benjen out of nowhere.
Anyway, insane actions aside, that was probably one of the best episodes of the series as far as satisfying character interaction goes. The Hound and Tormund stole the show obviously, but Jon and Dany and Beric and Jorah were all excellent. Jorah and Thoros was great. Gendry and the Hound was great. It was all fantastic, the whole episode could have just been those 7 just shooting the shit and I would have been thoroughly enthralled.
Also finally fucking undead bears. This episode was off the walls guys, don't trouble to deny otherwise!
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