Make no mistake, this will go down as one of the most seismic 60 minutes in the annals of the show, up there with the Red Wedding and last year's epic White Walker battle at Hardhome.
Seeing Ramsay calmly eliminate his family was wrenchingly gruesome while, after months of speculation, Snow's resurrection had a genuine bolt-from-the-blue quality.
The question now is: across the rest of the season, how can Game of Thrones possibly top this?
Jon Snow lives. But what about that imagery?
Jon Snow's return played out like a piece of sublime fan fiction. As the internet had long suspected, the task of coaxing the Lord Commander back from the void fell to Red Witch Melisandre (Carice van Houten), thus fulfilling a script many of us had already written in our heads.
Director Jeremy Podeswa had fun lingering over the specifics of the ritual. Beard-trimming, hair-washing, a sponge across Snow's midriff. The imagery was absolutely unmistakable, however.
So why was Jon Snow identified with Christ? Because of his resurrection by the Lord of Light? It seemed to owe more to sorcery than spirituality. What were the makers trying to tell us?
Yet there was tension, too, as seconds stretched to minutes and still Snow lay motionless on that slab. When all but loyal direwolf Ghost had deserted, his eyes finally snapped open – a visual cliche that Game of Thrones somehow invested with actual, edge-of-couch oomph.
Kit Harington has since sent a message to fans explaining how sorry he is that he had to lie to keep the secret safe.
The episode reached Red Wedding levels of gore
Just as we'd begun to suspect Game of Thrones had calmed down and given up trying to trump its greatest hits came this: Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) calmly knifing dad/political rival Roose (Michael McElhatton) was a genuine shock considering GoT typically waits until the latter half of a season before killing off major characters.
What followed teetered on unwatchable as Ramsay cradled the mewling half-brother whose birth had driven him to patricide and then literally unleashed the hounds upon infant and mother. "I prefer being an only child," said Ramsay, as the dogs did their dirty work and his position at the head of House Bolton was bloodily secured.
Well done Game of Thrones, you've officially outdone yourself. We don't know whether to hate you or hug you.
Bran's baby-face is the latest Game of Thrones casualty
In the two years since we last checked in with Bran, actor Isaac Hempstead Wright has matured from pale-faced cherub to unnerving James Blunt lookalike. A reminder children grow up as quickly in Westeros as anywhere else (assuming they manage to avoid being stabbed in their cradle by the Kingsguard / run down by Joffrey's henchmen / eaten by Ramsay's dogs etc).
The ageing process did not pose a problem in the case of Bran's onscreen siblings, Sansa and Arya – we've been with them every step as they progressed from naive adolescents to brutalised adults. But as we reconnected with Bran his sudden (to us) mushrooming into a lanky young man was a distraction – to which was added lingering fogginess regarding his storyline.
Why did we care about the Three-Eyed Raven (a winningly craggy Max von Sydow)? What had compelled Bran and company to travel to the deep, deep north, far from even the putative safety of the Seven Kingdoms? You shrugged and resolved to look it up on Wikipedia later.
Game of Thrones: Isaac Hampstead Wright as Bran Stark and Max von Sydow as the Three-Eyed Raven in 'Home'
Game of Thrones: Isaac Hampstead Wright as Bran Stark and Max von Sydow as the Three-Eyed Raven in 'Home'
There was a peek at Hodor's origin story
Hurrah for Bran's trade-mark waking dreams, which helped get his story on track once more and will have reminded viewers why he is such a vital part of the grand tapestry. In this swords and sorcery tale, most of the "sorcery" has flowed from the Stark prince. A frisson of the otherworldly is restored now he's in the frame again.
The latest visitation flash-backed to Winterfell and the boyhood of Bran's father, Ned. It was sweet and surprising to peel the decades away and witness Ned and Benjen Stark banter with their sister Lyanna, who, in adulthood, would single-handedly change the fate of the Seven Kingdoms.
But most shocking was the appearance of a young Hodor : his real name, we learned, was Willis and he could speak and wield a sword. What had happened to him? Just when you imagined Game of Thrones had run out of mysteries to weave, here was a new one.
Tyrion vs Daenerys's dragons was as engaging as we'd imagined
What fun it was seeing Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) up against foes he couldn't seduce with gilded small talk. Instead, the two dragons rotting in the Meereen dungeons were won over by his gentleness as he unshackled their chains.
Yet, affecting though the scene was, doubts surely persist over the wisdom of plonking the token non-evil Lannister in the further reaches of Essos. The imp's road-movie adventures with Jorah were an engaging distraction last year but let's not pretend they in any way impinged on the wider plot (unless Ser Jorah's ongoing Fifty Shades of Greyscale arc shocks us all by becoming suddenly exciting).
Now Tyrion is marooned in Meereen and in danger of ending up a glorified spectator as the real action goes down elsewhere. Tyrion has always come into his own when at the heart of the narrative whirlwind, whether saving King's Landing from Stannis's fleet or shooting his dad as the old man relaxed on a latrine (still outstanding candidate for simultaneously best/worst GoT death).
With Daenerys off trading chuckles with the Dothraki Comedy Improv, Meereen feels even more peripheral than ever and Game of Thrones has its work cut out convincing us this is a clever use of the show's smartest player.
Who can stop Jaime and Cersei?
What do you get the scheming matriarch who has everything? How about the Westeros version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator? Gregor Clegane has been resurrected as Ser Robert Strong and is proving just the help around the house Cersei (Lena Headey) could have done with circa her Shamewalk.
He is steadfastly loyal, inhumanly strong and would probably laugh at her jokes if a) he possessed a functioning voice box and b) Cersei possessed a functioning sense of humour.
He demonstrated his murderous devotion by tracking down the public exhibitionist who had waggled his man-bits at Cersei during her penitential ambling through King's Landing, mulching the oik's head against a wall. Ser Killbot is surely just getting started.
Do we care that Arya is blind?
Nobody is pretending life as a sightless, homeless urchin is a basket of chuckles. But were the stakes really all that dizzying for Arya (Maisie Williams) as she continued to come to terms with life after the House of Black and White?
Her sister, lest we forget, was married off to a rapist, her dad had his head lopped off, her brother was hung drawn and quartered at the conclusion of an already dreary wedding. In other words, there are worse fates in Game of Thrones than begging for your supper on the balmy streets of Braavos.
In the event all it took was one more visually impaired face-off against the Waif and Jaqen H'ghar (Thomas Wlaschiha) was on hand to invite Arya back to the Faceless Men. File under: not very interesting.
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