Well, as for the final scene: We know you hate Dany, so your opinion isn't surprising. I just figured the writers knew we needed to end on something uplifting after last week's episode or everyone would ditch the whole series.
It was overplayed and went on too long, but I kept sensing they were desperate to end on a high note.... pretty hard to do after last week.
You just get the sense that Dany's over in the east somewhere doing her own thing, while the War of the Five Kings wages and the Night's Watch tries to hold down the fort, so to speak.
What I think the writers did well was to find good places in the many storylines to end each for this season. They've left enough cliffhangers to woo everyone back and keep people talking, and yet it felt like a season finale too. Enough denouement from last week for everyone to breathe.
We got the reveals we suspected we'd get, with a few other things thrown in.
And, as usual, Tywin totally rocked.