The readers were not sure for a couple of chapters, if I remember correctly. So I expected them to give the viewers a little shock there. Here, the escape went rather smoothly. I wonder if Martin told them that it's okay to leave out the Reeds, because what function do they have anyway?
Overall I thought the Winterfell scenes were really well done, though.
So was the second killing at Harrenhaal and the whole Arya-Tywin interaction.

Halfhand was great and Ygritte works too.

The Hound finally got something to do and Tyrion slapping Joffrey is always a plus.

I wonder if they will introduce the Bolton bastard this season already. I don't see how they could not, considering what an important part he will play in the Theon storyline in the future, which certainly won't be disappearing from the show for as long as it did in the books.

My memory of this part of the book is a tad blurry, but I felt they took a lot of liberties, which is fine because the episode was flowing really well and worked great.