The question that has plagued the Thrones fans since the Season 5 finale has finally been answered. They really made us wait until the last, final breath.

*********** SPOILERS *****************

JON SNOW lives!!! Kudos to the cast and crew for being so tight-lipped about the situation. I always believed Jon would come back, but their constant lying about it did give me pause. But, no matter – Jon is back and alive! Let us delve into the 2nd episode of season 6, titled “Home.”

THE WALL: We start back at the wall where Alliser Thorne and his cronies are demanding that Davos and the other men defending Jon’s body to come out. They refuse, so Alliser starts hacking at the door with an axe, a la Jack Torrance. Luckily, Dolorous Edd and a group of Wildings, including Tormund Giantsbane and Won Won the Giant, burst in and put a stop to it. HA, HA to you Alliser. Olly almost gets his comeuppance, too. Davos and Jon are safe!

BEYOND THE WALL: Bran is back! Bran is back! And he’s having rad visions with the tree-connect Three-Eyed Raven, who takes him back to happier times at Winterfell, when Bran’s father Ned Stark was teaching his younger brother, Benjen, to fight. We see a young Lyanna Stark for the first time and also a young Hodor aka Wylis, who used to be able to say more words than just “Hodor.” Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the Three-Eyed Raven ends Bran’s vision for now. Meanwhile, Meera Reed sulks around, sick of waiting, but Leaf, a weird child of the forest, tells her Bran will need her soon.

KING’S LANDING: Down in King’s Landing, Ser Robert Strong aka the reanimated Mountain makes sure anyone who badmouths Queen Cersei has their skull immediately smashed in. Cersei is sad because Tommen bars her from attending Myrcella’s funeral. Tommen is worried about his mother, but his father/uncle Jaime tells him to forgive her. Jaime also has a run-in with the power-crazed High Sparrow, who speaks of overthrowing an empire. Jaime almost kills him and I was rooting for it to happen, but the other Sparrows quickly appear. The High Sparrow is so self-righteous, but I am seeing shades of hypocrisy in the cracks now. Tommen apologizes to his mother and tells her he is going to be strong now. Are we going to soon see a King’s Landing showdown? I hope so!

MEREEN: Tyrion continues to be the best character on the show. He cracks jokes, drinks wines, and “knows things,” like knowing that dragons are highly intelligent creatures who know when a friend is around. So, he and Varys head down to the dragon dungeons and Tyrion releases their chains. Aw, Viserion and Rhaegal are all timid and nice and happy towards Tyrion. Afterwards, Tyrion tells Varys that if he ever has an idea like that again to punch him in the face. Oh, Tyrion!

BRAAVOS: Arya aka No One continues to be blind and homeless. The Waif keeps fighting her, until the Faceless Man (Jaqen H’Ghar) shows up and tests Arya. She correctly tells him that she is “no one” and moves on to the next phase of her training.

WINTERFELL: Roose Bolton is pissed at Ramsay for letting the key to the North, aka Sansa Stark, get away. Ramsay is apologetic, he wants to make his father proud. However, when the Maester announces the birth of Roose’s new son with wife, Walda, Ramsay loses his mind (even more so than already, because let’s be real, he’s evil and insane). First, he stabs his father to death (telling the maester to tell the world he was poisoned by his enemies) and then he tricks Walda into coming into the dog kennel, where he promptly sets the dogs on her and her newborn son. It was all so awful. Ramsay is officially worse than Joffrey!

OUTSIDE WINTERFELL: Brienne tells Sansa about running into Arya (though she doesn’t mention she was with the Hound). Sansa expresses regret at not coming with Brienne back in the day. Theon tells Sansa he has to leave and go home. He can’t continue on to Castle Black. Sansa lets him go with a hug.

PYKE: At Theon’s homestead, his sister, Yara, is pissed at her father, Balon, for giving up their strongholds on the mainland. He pretty much just dismisses her. It’s a stormy night in Pyke and one should probably not lollygag on a highly wobbly bridge outside. But that’s just where Balon encounters his mysterious brother, Euron. Euron wastes no time in throwing his brother off the bridge, and thus all five kings of the War of Five Kings are now dead. The next day, they hold a funeral for Balon and Yara expects to rise to rule, but she is told she must first win the Kingsmoot (the Iron Islands way of electing a new ruler).

THE WALL: Back at Castle Black, Davos isn’t giving up on Jon. He begs Melisandre to, at least, try something after she expresses doubt. She gives in and performs a weird hair-cutting, spell chanting, wash on Jon Snow. Nothing happens. Everyone leaves, except Ghost, who suddenly wakes up and looks at Jon’s naked corpse. Jon bursts awake. He. Is. Back.

It was inevitable. They had to bring him back. It wasn’t quite as magical as I expected, but still well paced and thrilling. Anything can happen now! I’m most excited to see what Jon does next, if he is the same person, and if he’ll reunite with Sansa. Bran’s visions are also very intriguing. Finally, a look into the past of Westeros! It’s gonna be a hell of a season, hang out to your goblets and cheese plates.