‘Game of Thrones’ review: 'Home' throws up questions as well as answers

Game of Thrones’ sixth season continues with an episode that throws up questions as well as answers.

After a season-long absence we finally caught up with Bran Stark as the Three-Eyed Raven, a brief guest turn from Max von Sydow showed him a vision of his father as a young boy. Along with Ned, Bran saw Benjen and Lyanna and a surprisingly talkative young Hodor, known as Wylis.

Outside, a helpless Meera is reminded Bran will need her help once they leave. ‘The Three-Eyed Raven says there’s a war coming,’ Bran warned, as events in Westeros look set to spiral out of control.

At the Night’s Watch, Edd and Tormund, with an army of Wildlings, overthrew Thorne and liberated Castle Black from his control. There’s a good amount of personal satisfaction to be found from seeing the wretched Thorne brought sharply back down to earth. Later, Davos pleaded with Melisandre to bring Jon back, however the Red Priestess, stunned by Stannis’ recent defeat had lost her faith in the Lord of Light.

Fortunately, Davos persuaded Melisandre to attempt the spell and, to the relief of millions of viewers, it finally worked. Except everyone had left the room by this point leaving Jon to wake up from death alone. On the other hand, it made a change for Game of Thrones to give rather than take away although perhaps we should be wary of such ‘gifts’.

Meanwhile in King’s Landing an indignant Cersei was barred from attending her daughter’s funeral and Jaime convinced Tommen to make amends with his mother. Standing over the body of Myrcella, Jaime confronted the High Sparrow and threatened him in retaliation against the humiliation suffered by Cersei.

‘The Gods won’t mind. They’ve spilt more blood than the rest of us combined,’ Jaime warned dangerously but allowed the High Sparrow to leave unharmed, for now. As a remorseful Tommen, a sincere performance from Dean-Charles Chapman, apologised to his mother for his recent behaviour, ‘you raised me to be strong and I wasn’t but I want to be’, Cersei realised she could still help her son.

At Winterfell, Ramsay suggested storming Castle Black and killing Jon Snow whom he believed to still be the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. However, tactical discussions were abandoned when Roose learned Walda had given birth to his son.

Despite Roose’s reassurance, ‘you’ll always be my firstborn,’ Ramsay seized his opportunity and murdered his father. Following this Ramsay lured Walda and the baby to his kennels where they were savagely mauled to death by his hounds and cemented Ramsay’s position as Warden of the North – as well as the most evil bastard in Game of Thrones.

In the Iron Islands, a long awaited event from the books finally took place when his brother, Euron, threw Balon Greyjoy over a bridge to his death. As Balon’s body was offered to the Drowned God, Yara swore to avenge her father’s death but she was reminded her chances of being Balon’s successor depended on the outcome of the Kingsmoot.

On their way to Castle Black, Sansa learned Arya is still alive but unseen since Brienne found her and the Hound in the Riverlands. As he still feared Jon’s retribution for his actions at Winterfell, Theon told Sansa he could not go with her any further and planned to return home to the Iron Islands. Poor Theon’s going to be in for a bit of a shock if he ever does get back!

Elsewhere, Tyrion was struck by a potentially catastrophic idea when he decided to free Dany’s remaining dragons from their dungeon imprisonment.

‘Next time I have an idea like that punch me in the face,’ said Tyrion after the dragons’ release. In Braavos, Arya was tempted by Jaqen and commanded to follow him after she refused all of his offers.

After a strong opening episode, ‘Home’ felt a little by numbers in parts but still packed a few terrific punches including the resurrection of Jon Snow and Roose Bolton’s shocking murder at the hands of his son, Ramsay.