I agree, the Stannis/Davos thing worked fine for the show. Some of the backstory about Davos consenting to lose his fingers as payment for his pirating even though he saved Stannis and was being made a knight by him makes it all plausible to me. Stannis has less sentimentality than anybody who ever lived, and Davos is the most loyal person to ever live

This episode benefited from only using the plots that have been moving forward all season. The previous episode was as bad as it has been due to mostly using the plots that haven't