Jon Snow lives! - and his resurrection breathed new clarity into the show. It put an exclamation mark on the fact that it was the best episode of all six seasons.
It gave us something of everything we wanted to see: a juicy selection of scenes that covered an array of characters including lots of screen time for the ogre and the dragons. We never see enough of them!
Best of all though was the clarity of the script. Each scene was clear - I knew exactly what was going on with who and what their past was.
I'm convinced that the script was different and that they've got a new strategy with the scriptwriting - that they're using the dialogue to remind us of the past and the details we might have missed or don't remember. I've never felt so chillaxed watching an episode before because I often feel that I'm missing details on who and what in the past.
In previous seasons they've made assumptions that we know everyone and remember everything which was alienating at times because there are so many characters and so much has happened it isn't possible to know it all.
They haven't made these assumptions in the season so far though because they're elaborating. It was very noticeable in the scene between Ser Davos and Melisandre when he asked her to work her magic on Jon. Their dialogue reiterated everything we needed to know, especially:
Davos: Do you know of any magic that could help him, bring him back?... Have you seen it done?
Melisandre: I met a man who came back from the dead but the priest who did it... it shouldn't have been possible.
Davos: But it was, it could be, now.
Melisandre: Not for me.
Davos: Not for you? I saw you drink poison that should have killed you, I saw you give birth to a demon made of shadows...
Melisandre: Everything I believed, the great victory I saw in the flames - all of it was a lie. You were right all along. The Lord never spoke to me.
Davos: F$%&ck 'em then. F$%^ck all of them. I'm not a devout man obviously, seven gods, drowned gods, tree gods, it's all the same. I' asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist.
You didn't have try to remember each detail because he totally clarified her, him and the long time situation. There were numerous other similar examples. Overall the script filled me with relief because for the first time I can honestly say: I know exactly what happened when and why and with who.
Do you feel the same?