Did HBO make a huge mistake in last night's Game of Thrones?

It was great, wasn't it?

After what felt like one long winter, we were finally reacquainted with the great and good of Westeros. Blood was spilt, robes were shed and Twitter did its thing. You can hear our thoughts on its best moments right here. 

But amidst the murder and flesh, something was amiss. 

One tea-spitting sequence saw Melisandre undress (classic HBO), removing her clothes and that strange pulsing red necklace (which the books always make a massive deal of). As she took off this unusual pendant, she appeared to age into a withered old hag like something straight out of a Disney classic. 

"Oh," we exclaimed, mopping up the tea so it didn't stain the carpet. "So she's actually really old. Which... doesn't make that much difference other than making all those unnecessary sex scenes a bit icky." 

However, the ever-watchful web noticed a minor inconsistency with the implied direction of this episode: that the necklace held some magical, shape-shifting powers.

If the necklace is all-powerful, then how would you explain the above as anything other than a mistake?

"Maybe it's not necessarily the necklace that keeps her in her beautiful form," observed Reddit user PM-ME-YOUR-SUNSETS. "To me it just seemed like Melisandre was just shedding away the layers of what she appears to be so that she could look at her true self. This could be something she can do on her own. A gift from the Lord of Light.

"If she turned old every time someone tore off her necklace, I'd think she'd be more standoffish and cautious of anyone coming near her."

So - smoke and mirrors? A necklace that's just part of the illusion? Or a bit of a whoopsie on the part of HBO? Let us know your thoughts.