Just my two cents after seeing the episode -
Both the wife and I are done with the show. We were rolling our eyes most of the time. Why was Bran ending up at Craster's necessary? Did they need an excuse to show some more rape scenes? It's totally pointless - Bran's story with him and Cold Hands being chased by the White Walkers was intense and thrilling enough. What's the effing point? And that part with the White Walkers and the baby? Really?
Debate all you want. I see some of you like the plane crash and others loathe it like me. I'm done with this show.
I'm not quite to loathing, but the show is definitely starting to lose me. It's not the departures from the books in and of themselves, it's that the last few episodes really haven't gone anywhere with them. Also I agree that the consistent depiction of rape/torture is getting a little played out.
As I mentioned earlier, the only scene that really seemed crucial was the end scene with the Others. It gives insight into how Others come to be (as opposed to the White Walker/zombies), particularly that they probably can't reproduce on their own, they require regular humans to convert. That implies that wiping out all the regular humans would also probably be the end of any increase in the Others' population. Whether they're o.k. with that or not remains to be seen, but it does set up an interesting dependency at least in the short term.

There are 5 books that take place over the course of about 18 months, right? You can't really have a show that does not get bogged down every once in a while. You also have created so many roles, that you have to have something for these guys to be doing while they are on the payroll.
Right now, you have a whole bunch of story arcs that need advancing:
Jon Snow/Wall - wilding fight(s), saved by Stannis, appointing Snow as Lord Commander
Bran's trip up north
Hound will die, Arya will end up on a ship for Braavos
Tyrion's trial, Tyrion's Trial by combat, Tyrion's escape
Sansa/Littlefinger in the Vale
Brienne trek to find Sansa/Arya
Ramsay's march on Moat Cailin - using Reek to lure out the Ironborn
Danerys attempt to rule Meereen
Intrigue between Margaery and Cersei in terms of who will control Tommen
I am sure they want the TV audience to stay connected with all of the main characters, and that is really hard to do - particularly since Bran's story is already so far advanced in the books - he needed a diversion, or he was going to be dropped until the middle of next season.