Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 2 “Home”: What Melisandre Did *SPOILERS*

George R. R. Martin and the execs at HBO have really done it this time. If you’ve seen this week’s episode of Game of Thrones already you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about but if not, I’ll assume you’d rather find out WHAT MELISANDRE DID first!

Every season of Game of Thrones so far has started out slow – and by slow I mean airing episodes where only minor characters die – and “Home” certainly appears to be that way…until the last five minutes, that is. I’d wait ‘til the end of this post to address the big reveal but we’ve waited long enough to see just which fan theories about the [possible] resurrection of Jon Snow would prove true to the actual story.

Up until this point, I’d considered Melisandre something of a fraud and rightly so. She’s been manipulative and shady AF with a truly bizarre agenda (what Melisandre wants is not what any other normal human being would consider sane – apart from wanting to jump Jon Snow’s bones).

In “Home”, Melisandre doesn’t appear until the very end of the episode. Ser Davos finds her moping in a chair by the fire and it’s not until he pleads with her to bring Jon* back to life that I sit up and start to pay attention. Given last week’s revelation that Melisandre is in fact 1000 or so years old – don’t quote me on that – I was hoping for more enthusiasm on her part since Ser Davos had basically given her his blessing to run her long spindly fingers up and down Jon’s cold, dead corpse.

And run her long spindly fingers up and down Jon’s cold, dead corpse she did! Admittedly, I didn’t really mind her doing so given that unlike Ser Davos and the other loyal members of the Night’s Watch, Melisandre took the time to strip Jon of his blood-soaked gear, clean his wounds and give him a shave.

Uttering a spell over his body as she wrings water out of his wet hair, she is watched by Ser Davos and Tormund (oh yeah, the wildlings have taken Castle Black!) who wait expectantly for Jon to rise up from the table where he lays.

After what feels like an eternity, it appears that Jon is not going to awaken. Everyone leaves disappointed and closes the door behind them. The camera pans from Jon’s body to Ghost, who lies sleeping on the ground. Will Jon wake up? Will Jon stay dead? Will his consciousness become one with that of Ghost’s?!??

Trying to still my breathing as the seconds drag on, Jon’s eyes suddenly burst open as he takes his second first-ever gulp of air before the end credits start to roll.

HOORAY! Melisandre has gone way up in my esteem.

Other notable character developments this episode:

Tyrion gets bored of sitting around, drinking and knowing things so decides to go and coax Dany’s dragons who are chained up the in basement out of their hunger strike. Kudos to Tyrion for being small but BIG. This guy is one brave SOB.

Arya sticks to her guns and despite continuously getting her butt handed to her by that girl with a bigger stick (you know the one; she was in The White Queen), she refuses offers of food, shelter and regaining her sight, thereby passing the test to becoming a super fly Westeros assassin.

Ramsay Bolton commits his worst act yet by killing his dad, his dad’s wife, and newborn baby brother. Currently, I hate Ramsay on this show the most.

*I feel lame constantly referring to Jon Snow as “Jon Snow” so from this point onwards he’ll be known as “Jon.”

Images courtesy of HBO