I was looking forward to the season, but I wasn't super excited or anything. Very early into the episode, though, I realized that I underestimated HBO again. Sometimes, I forget what true prestige TV feels like. The writing, production quality and immersion, especially, are unmatched. It makes The Acolyte, which I'm also currently watching, feel like a live action cartoon in comparison. This is truly a show written for adults and serious fans of the genre.
Admittedly, I didn't pick up right away on the implication of "what if we don't find him?", but I love that it's cryptic and realistic and forces you to think about the dialogue. I'd rather miss something like that because the writers hope that we're smart enough to pick up on it than for them to assume that we're not and add dialogue that removes any mystery, interpretation and doubt.
I do share the criticism that the infiltration at the end looked far too easy, especially since you'd imagine that security would be heightened after the previous episode, and it took some of the impact away, but it was still a tense and engrossing sequence of scenes and my only criticism in an overall very good episode.