Rewatched the episode; still as enjoyable.
I said it in my initial reaction post, but I'll say it again; this is Jon's resurrection episode.
I don't get why people are being so hard on him; the war council came up with a solid plan, and Jon made two mistakes; failing to take Sansa's advice seriously, and caring for his brother. Ramsey may have played that particular card well, but what is Jon to do? He's see his little brother running for his life, Ramsey's intentions clear. Is he to do nothing, to sit and watch? It's not being noble, it's not being naive; it's being emotional and reactionary to his brother's life being threatened. Jon, the stalwart of right, irrespective of code or honor (Ygritte, meeting with Mance, allowing the Wildlings passage - all examples of Jon defying convention for what feels right), chases to SAVE his brother. Whether it was bait by Ramsey is irrelevant, because Jon chooses to try.
Tormund highlights this, in pleading under his breath for Jon not to take the bait fully. Jon's emotions take over, and he makes mistake number two. Both are forgivable; his combat prowess outshines Sansa's, and the heat of the moment emotion is also understandable. There's a rawness to him that speaks to us on a level that other characters don't; not many of us are are scheming as Littlefinger, as cruel as Joffrey or Ramsey, or as vicious as the Mountain. Jon makes mistakes, he falls in love with who he wants to, he defies tradition and he acts impulsively. Much like our own lives, he also falls victims to his mistakes and choices, and whilst a lot of the themes and characters in ASOIAF are balanced, morally grey and multi-faceted, Jon is one of the more human characters, who rises from the depths of obscurity to levels he's not totally comfortable with.
The battle takes an interesting turn for Jon, IMO, when he falls from his horse. This is when the contractions start in his rebirth. Watch the scene again; just before he removes his scabbard, he gives a nod, a nod of acceptance IMO. He's accepting his fate, and plans to go down in a blaze of glory. This is rock bottom for him.
Once his death is averted by his own cavalry charging in, instinct takes over, and he fights on. It's brutal, and raw, and full of anger and self-preservation. There's no flair or showmanship. It's abundantly clear he's a very capable swordsman too, much like Ramsey tells him, if the stories are true. One of the best living swordsman in Westeros, maybe?
Anyway, Jon's revival as a character takes a further turn when he's pushed over, and is being trampled on. Credit to the show, because this sequence is terrifying, claustrophobic, and extremely tense. I may be reading too much in to it (and I'm preparing for the quoting of that in relation to the whole post), but I think I hear Jon give a muffled "no" in amongst the shouting and panting. To juxtapose his acceptance of death earlier facing the cavalry charge, he's refusing to die, and choosing to fight on. His gasp of fresh (ish) air as he scurries above the crush of bodies is extremely symbolic; Jon is now reborn into the man he's going to be.
It's telling, that when Tormund saves his ass early in the fight, that he almost has to reassure Jon, giving him a look to snap him out of the red mist that's descended. Come the beating of Ramsey, Jon looks at Sansa and has the humanity to stop and walk away, knowing that Ramsey's life isn't necessarily his to take. It says a lot about him IMO.
There's a lot of subtleties that are depicted, and that's not down to the writers before someone says I'm giving D&D too much credit. That's very much in the direction, and maybe it'll be swept under the rug and Jon will carry on questioning why he's here, but I'd love to hope that we will look back on that battle as the turning point for Jon Snow.
Also, can I just say, that pretty much every second of Dany's scenes were on point. The Dragons looked awesome, riding Drogon actually looked good, the shots of the three dragons dying above Mereen were brilliant and the interaction between Dany, Tyrion, Yara and Theon were some of Dany's best, IMO. We get one of the best episodes of the season, if not one of the best ever, and still people rip it apart. To each his own I guess, but it seems a shame not to enjoy an episode like that.
