I am doing two play-throughs; One is my unapologetic northern take no bullshit kind of play-through, and the other is a more subtle, long-con kind of play-through. Both have ended terribly, but at least it felt good being a rebellious little shit on my first play-through. I have only played through the most recent episode once, and I decided to leave Asher behind for a couple of reasons. I don't think Asher is a "lord" type. He would have thrived as a second son who can be Rodrik's right hand man and do the dirty work (at least that's how I played him, the cut-throat rogue type who puts family above anything). He has no business leading a house. While it sucked that he came all the way from Meereen just to die within 30 foot steps of the boat, but I think Asher totally would have sacrificed himself for Rodrik before Rodrik did the same for Asher. I think Beshka will be loyal to Rodrik now after seeing Asher sacrifice himself for him. The pit-fighters may be trouble, but I think they could fall in line with Beshka around, and for revenge purposes. You also have the marriage with the Glenmore lady to worry about (dat ass doe). Though I can imagine a scenario where Asher unites the two houses by marrying Gwen if he survived.
I will definitely make the opposite choice on my second playthrough to see how its different. Also, my traitor was Royland (because I chose Duncan as Sentinel...the fuck...) I actually was so fast to kill him I didn't catch what he said about Asher.
Also, I do know that knowing about the ambush changes nothing. One or the other must die.
All in all, it was a thoroughly depressing episode. Well deserving of the Game of Thrones title.