Exactly what I was thinking. Bringing Jon back is the exception, and it's still a gift that you're excited to open even though you already know it's what you asked for.

"Home"

This one packed a punch or two, didn't it? Three significant deaths, and one very significant undeath. Power shifting hands, wildcards being played, opportunities being seized and fumbled. A long-awaited appearance from the Crow's Eye, the resurrection of a Crow, a long awaited preview from the eye of the crow, and a demonstration of power through vulnerability by the High Sparrow. It was not a flawless episode, but the exposition took a backseat to the story rocketing forward. And once again I'm left saying, "That was NOT an hour!"

North of the Wall

We begin with Bran (wow, he's aged) communing with the three-eyed crow, watching scenes of Winterfell That Was. A young Ned Stark is working on swordplay with his brother Benjen. A young lady rides in, showing off her equestrian skills. It's the first appearance in the show of Lyanna, sister to Ned and Benjen (and to their older brother Brandon - Yes, there are lots of Brandon Starks in the history of Winterfell).

The current Brandon never met his Aunt Lyanna. She was dead before he was born. He's only seen her likeness in the family crypt. He also mentions that his father Ned never spoke of her.

There are a lot of interesting background notes in this scene. One is a young Hodor, at this point named Willas, who can speak perfectly clearly and uses a whole vocabulary. What caused his current challenges? We also get a glimpse of Old Nan when she wasn't that old.

Another is Lyanna's comment to Benjen - who are you going to spar with once Ned goes to the Eyrie? This is a reference to Ned's imminent fostering under Jon Arryn, Warden of the East, Lord Protector of the Vale, and eventually the husband to Crazy Lysa Tully, sister to Catelyn. While being fostered there, Ned meets and becomes a friend (and then co-conspirator) to fellow fosteree Robert Baratheon.

But of course what this scene REALLY does is set the precedent for another, more important flashback regarding some of these characters. It hasn't happened yet, but it's coming.

Outside the tree, Meera Reed is chafing at the lack of action. She is given a pep talk by the Child of the Forest, who assures her that Bran needs her and that there will be plenty of action in the future.

King's Landing

Some random drunkard tells a story to his friends about how he sexed up Queen Cersei, and generally mocks the royal family. The newest Kingsguard, Ser Robert Strong, takes offense, smashing the man's head in with a shove into the nearby wall. Probably a deliberate juxtaposition with the death-by-giant at Castle Black. Ser Strong is not to be effed with.

In case you didn't get the point, we immediately see it again. Cersei wants to go to her daughter Myrcella's funeral. The guardsmen show up to prevent her from leaving the Red Keep, at King Tommen's orders. Ser Robert looks to Cersei in case she wants him to wreck shop on all the dozen or so guardsmen. The head of the guardsmen is a pro. He does his job in a respectful but firm way. Still, he breathes a sigh of relief that Cersei doesn't push the issue, because he's not sure he'd be on the winning end.

At the sept, Tommen and Jaime say goodbye to Myrcella. Tommen is growing up a bit, and starting to see his mother for who she really is. He suspects she might be behind the death of Myrcella's betrothed - Trystane Martell. Even if she didn't do it (and this time, she didn't), he knows it's something that wouldn't be out of character for her.

Mostly, though, Tommen is feeling a bit sorry for himself, and ashamed. He let the Faith Militant seize his wife and his mother, and he did nothing to stop it. Jaime forgives him, and suggests he visit his mother and apologize to her, as well.

Into the sept arrives the High Sparrow. He is taking his life into his hands by intruding upon Jaime's grief for his daughter/niece, and putting himself in Jaime's power after imprisoning Cersei and parading her naked through the streets of King's Landing. But the High Sparrow has faith. He knows Jaime might kill him, and if he does, then so be it. But he's there to deliver a message, and it's this - no matter how weak and powerless any individual is, by acting together the "nobodies" can do anything they wish. This seems to be a central theme for GRRM, and it should be interesting to watch it play out.

Ultimately, Jaime lets the High Sparrow leave unharmed.

Tommen, having left Jaime, does indeed go to apologize to his mother. He apologizes for keeping her from the funeral, and for failing to protect her from the Sparrows. He wants her help to be strong (and ruthless) like her.

Meereen

The future is looking dim for Daenerys' great experiment by the bay. Yes, she swiftly conquered Astapor and Yunkai and Meereen, but taking and holding are two different things. Astapor and Yunkai are already back in the hands of the slavers, while Daeny's partisans are killed in the streets of Meereen by a guerilla force. Daeny herself is out of the city, at the mercy of a Dothraki khal who is taking her to Vaes Dothrak, where she will wither with the crones of the horselords.

Tyrion still has his sense of humor, though (and many of the show's best lines). He also has an idea that they're going to need the dragons. The two that remain to them, at least. He also knows that the Targaryens made the mistake of keeping the dragons of old penned up, and as a result the dragons failed to thrive. The dragons they have are not eating, and he's worried they too will fail to thrive. He goes down into the crypt and sets the (now quite large and seemingly thriving just fine) dragons free. He seems to realize after the fact just how much a risk he took.

By the way, I'm going to adopt the line "That's what I do...I drink and I know things" forthwith.

Braavos

A girl is still blind. A girl is still begging, and homeless. A girl is still getting her arse whooped by a girl who doesn't like her. A girl has maybe suffered enough? A girl is offered sight, food, shelter if she will say her name, but a girl does not fall for that. A girl is led back to the House of Black and White by a man. But a girl is not out of the woods yet.

Winterfell

Roose and Ramsay Bolton listen to the new Karstark lord report that he found the bodies of the men searching for Sansa and Theon. Ramsay and Karstark advocate taking a small force to Castle Black to kill Jon Snow, take Sansa back, and thereby prevent any Stark from threatening their rule. Roose is not a fan of assassinating the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but Ramsay is content to rest on the support of the Karstarks, the Umbers and Manderlys, who field the lion's share of the fighting men in the North.

Roose, in a fatherly style reminiscent of Ward Cleaver's chat's with Wally and the Beav, informs Ramsay that if he acts like a mad dog he's going to get put down like a mad dog. But before he can drive the point home with a gesture of his pipe, he is interrupted by news of his new son's birth. Softened by the news, Roose tells Ramsay that he'll always be the firstborn. Ramsay takes steps to ensure that he won't have to rely on Roose's good opinion of him. He knifes Roose, then sicks his dogs on moms (wow, she's up and about quickly) and little bro.

Hey, Jaime did some pretty despicable things, but now we kind of like him. Maybe Ramsay isn't irredeemable? I'd still rather hang with him than Joffrey.

Kind of a disappointing way for Roose to end, isn't it? He'll always be defined by his actions in the Red Wedding. I'd hoped for something a little more cathartic, but I guess this way was fairly appropriate. His character in the books is a bit creepier and more menacing...maybe his fate will be different, too.

Headed to the Wall

Theon, Sansa, Pod and Brienne are presumably heading to Castle Black. Brienne gives news to Sansa of her sister, Arya. You'll recall that Brienne saw her (but lost her) while Arya was traveling near the Vale with Sandor Clegane (the Hound). Brienne put a hurting on Sandor, which freed Arya up to catch a boat to Braavos, but nobody is aware of that.

Meantime, Theon is going to part ways with Sansa and crew. He knows he can't be forgiven for what's he's done, and he doesn't want to be. He's going to go home.

Pyke

Yara (Theon's sister) argues with Balon Greyjoy about continuing the war, a war in which they have lost all the land they took, and lost a lot of men in the process. Balon points out that he is the only king from the War of the Five Kings still living (Joffrey, Robb, Renly, Stannis) and he'll wage war until he's ready to stop. He leaves Yara and starts to walk across the rope and plank bridge between island towers. Halfway across, there is a man standing in his way. The man is Euron Greyjoy, younger brother to Balon, and known as the Crow's Eye. Euron has been sailing all over the world, and has been missing for years. He's home to take a crown, and he's not going to wait for Balon to die of old age. He throws Balon off the bridge to his death (although not before getting a scratch from Balon's knife). Congratulations - the set of five is now complete.

Incidentally, Euron is an interesting character with an interesting, multi-national crew. The show has largely ignored the Iron Islands, so we'll see if they invest in development.

A priest of the Drowned God performs the funeral service for Balon. Yara speaks to him (presumably, the priest is Aeron Damphair, youngest brother of Balon and Euron, but the age doesn't look right), and tells him that she will get revenge when she rules. He tells her that she may not rule, regardless of her father's wishes. A kingsmoot will decide who rules the Iron Islands.

At the Wall

Ser Alliser Thorne is done waiting for the Onion Knight to open the door and give up. He has a man use a war hammer to start breaking down the door, while others of the Night's Watch look on with crossbows cocked and ready. But while they're hammering on Davos' door, someone else starts hammering on the door to Castle Black.

Dolorous Edd found Tormund Giantsbane and a bunch of other Wildlings. And, oh yeah, they found a giant, too. The resulting spat is mostly bloodless, except for two unfortunate souls. One is taken out by Tormund, and one gets to play Crack the Whip at the end of the giant's arm. Which pretty much ends the festivities. The Night's Watch lays down their swords, and the folks who knifed Jon are jailed. Suck it, Thorne.

Melisandre can't be bothered with all that noise, though. She sits in a chair staring into the flames, wondering how she could be so wrong about her visions. Davos asks her to try to bring Jon back from death. He's seen her drink poison and live (the same poison that killed Joffrey). He's seen her give birth to a shadow demon. Surely she could do something?

Melisandre saw Thoros raise Beric from the dead, but she doesn't understand how. Still, she's willing to try (perhaps shamed by Davos' willingness to invite every...single...god's wrath with his words).

Mel bathes Jon. Cuts and rinses his hair. Cuticle treatments are extra. She chants over his stabbed body. Edd, Tormund and Davos look on. Ghost snoozes.

The ritual doesn't work, and one by one they leave the room. But after they are gone, Ghost wakes up and whines toward Jon...who suddenly gasps as his lungs inflate.

Damn right it wasn't an hour. More like 51 minutes.

Scenes From Next Week:

• Jon sits up
• The Night's Watch and Wildings gather in wonder.
• Arya spars with hateful girl
• Someone has brought a gift to Ramsay
• Daeny in Vaes Dothrak
• Cersei is back in form, backed by Ser Robert
• Bran and the three-eyed crow do another flashback, this time to a very important encounter

My favorite scene last night was Tyrion with the dragons. Dinklage is so damn good.

I will say I really didn't need the camera/audio lingering on the dogs mauling and eating Walda and the baby. Similar to Shireen's death last year...you can convey the same horror without lingering there.

Ramsay may have support of some of the northern clans but this just lost him Walter Frey's alliance though.

The "no one is safe" concept has served the story well, but I think they've done too much foreshadowing of the X + L = J to kil off Jon Snow for good. It'd be incredibly frustrating to spend all this time building that narrative and character and then...never mind . (I can't remember the other letter in the equation)

I just don't see the Lannister's not being able to get enough troops together to overthrow a bunch of untrained under armed peasants and the High Sparrow.

"Shield up, or I'll ring your head like a bell."


"Shield up, or I'll ring your head like a bell."

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A curious thought.. Do you think that Jon Snow is revived fully human or will he have any mystical/divine characteristics? In the preview for next weeks show they referred to him as a god.. Didn't know if that was any foreshadowing or just people simply amazed at his resurrection..

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I think it's just how people will see him after returning from the dead. Beric Dondarrian was a "normal" man after being revived by Thoros of Myr...although a less whole man, to be sure. He had been revived 5 times (I think) and still seemed pretty normal from what we saw.

While they aren't killing each other.. you could add that jamie/cersei could use some family therapy

Stannis killed his daughter

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Can someone remind me why Robb had to take Papa Karstark's head?

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IIRC he killed two Lannister boys after Robb had said that they werent to be harmed.