[No Spoilers] Guest appearance by Jon Snow

[Cas Stark]

I totally agree, and it's probably why all of the wildlings seem like they're hating life, trudging around in the snow.

Also, the lack of scenery was boring. I bet it's very beautiful in real life but on film it translated to being desolate and uninteresting. I would rather they just did the whole thing in a snowy forest where it wasn't so cold that it sapped the actors' strength and personality.

Anyone else notice that both Tormund and Jon have livened up considerably since they have crossed the wall? Maybe it's the weather...

I totally agree, Iceland seems like a big mistake. Also agree about the scenery, I'm sure they could have found some desolate mountain top in Canada to shoot the bulk of the desolate looking wildling scenes, and of ALL the things they decide to be totally faithful to the book, this is what they pick..gotta film the beyond the wall scenes above the tree line....waste of budget and seems to have taken huge toll on the actors.

Maybe season 1 Kit will return and I won't feel so crazy that I loved his casting initially.

[Young Nan]

I totally agree, Iceland seems like a big mistake. Also agree about the scenery, I'm sure they could have found some desolate mountain top in Canada to shoot the bulk of the desolate looking wildling scenes, and of ALL the things they decide to be totally faithful to the book, this is what they pick..gotta film the beyond the wall scenes above the tree line....waste of budget and seems to have taken huge toll on the actors.

Maybe season 1 Kit will return and I won't feel so crazy that I loved his casting initially.

I know rite, he was great in S1. last year he had a broken leg too, so he had to limp around in the snow with it for the scenes that they couldnt have a double do for him. I bet he was so miserable and maybe even zonked out on pain meds lol.

I like Kit's attitude towards the series as well, he unintentionally got sucked into the books, even though he was just going to browse them for some character insight, and he's actually a fan of the series and tries to do his character justice.

I really do feel that they made a lot of poor filming decision this year. I would rather they kept it simple and focused on the things that matter rather than filming in expensive locations and blowing the whole CG budget on spiney drogon.

[Dove]

I wasn't crazy about the desolate look of the lands just beyond the wall because I always got the impression that it wasn't total tundra/icy desolation until the Land of Always Winter anyway.

Anyways, I thought Kit rocked it this episode. Jon's a thoughtful, introspective kind of dude so his character is hard to translate to a medium without an inner monologue, so I can forgive the more awkward previous stuff.

[Broken Fox]

Agreed. This is the first time Jon Snow has actually acted like Jon Snow since season 1. I've never been completely sold on Harington, but this episode showed that the problems mostly lies with the writing.

[David Selig]

Kit's always been terrible, sorry. Good actors are able to give decent performances more often than not even when given terrible material to work with. Look at Steven Dillane, Michelle Fairley, Rose Leslie, etc. All of them has had to sell plenty of mediocre or plain terrible lines and did it well.

No. She is infinitely better than Kit Harrington. She is salvaging that story.

Definitely. Even though she's given repetitive lines, she makes them work every time.

[Winterfellian]

Kit's always been terrible, sorry. Good actors are able to give decent performances more often than not even when given terrible material to work with. Look at Steven Dillane, Michelle Fairley, Rose Leslie, etc. All of them has had to sell plenty of mediocre or plain terrible lines and did it well.

Definitely. Even though she's given repetitive lines, she makes them work every time.

Agree 100%

[ViserionsFire]

Kit's always been terrible, sorry. Good actors are able to give decent performances more often than not even when given terrible material to work with. Look at Steven Dillane, Michelle Fairley, Rose Leslie, etc. All of them has had to sell plenty of mediocre or plain terrible lines and did it well.

To be fair, I re-read Jon's chapters from first meeting Mance to the Queenstower scene. Jon's dialogue is pretty thin in those chapters as he is always giving back one liners. So, the impression I got from those scenes of Jon with the Wildlings north of the Wall was developed mostly due to what was said during his encounters with Ygritte, Tormund and Mance. Ygritte telling the stories of Bael and the King beyond the Wall, Tormund being Tormund and Mance letting Jon know that he isn't a stranger to him, these associations gave book Jon a way to interact with these characters giving life to the story around his predicament of being a spy in their camp. None of this was developed in the TV Jon version. Instead the writers opted for the boy meets girl angle and ignored those scenes and dialogue that made book Jon character something that I looked forward to. What is so frustrating is that the writers invented dialogue where the original book dialogue was better, more succinct and informative then their invented stuff. Therefore, limiting Jon's character development.

[PhoenixFlame]

I didn't get as interested in Jon until halfway through ASOS. I think next season will be more Jon-heavy, like Tyrion in S2 and Jaime in S3.

Agree about Iceland. It's beautiful, but they had so little time for takes--I would think the lack of time and daylight would be even worse than the cold. Not that it wasn't frickin' cold. At least they're on the right side of the wall now.

The "swooning" complaint is a wee bit silly to me. She did an impression of a swoon; she was clearly teasing. Likely she caught onto his "er...that's a windmill" inflection.

I thought Kit was boring all through S2, but last Sunday's episode poked my opinion. I'm really curious to see him in full battle mode. My concern is if he can summon enough gravitas to earn Stannis's respect. He still seems very boyish to me.

[ebevan91]

Jon has become a little more interesting over the course of the last 3 episodes.

[juanml82]

I didn't get as interested in Jon until halfway through ASOS. I think next season will be more Jon-heavy, like Tyrion in S2 and Jaime in S3.

Agree about Iceland. It's beautiful, but they had so little time for takes--I would think the lack of time and daylight would be even worse than the cold. Not that it wasn't frickin' cold. At least they're on the right side of the wall now.

The "swooning" complaint is a wee bit silly to me. She did an impression of a swoon; she was clearly teasing. Likely she caught onto his "er...that's a windmill" inflection.

I thought Kit was boring all through S2, but last Sunday's episode poked my opinion. I'm really curious to see him in full battle mode. My concern is if he can summon enough gravitas to earn Stannis's respect. He still seems very boyish to me.

Well, he 'just' needs to kill the boy and let the man be born. Is Aemon casted for this season, BTW?

[Winterfellian]

Well, he 'just' needs to kill the boy and let the man be born. Is Aemon casted for this season, BTW?

But book Jon has some strong scenes prior to this speech. Mainly when he took command of the Wall following Donal Noye's death.

I am still unsure if Kit Harrington can pull them off. Given the lack of enough background for the Wall Jon's performance during the upcoming battles with the wildings will be crucial into making his ascension to LC believable. If he looks and acts as he did in season 2 when he bragged about killing wights I dread for the entire arch.

[Capt. Zemblanity]

The topic title made me chuckle. So did Tormond, for the first time. And I saw the real Jon Snow, the one I've been in love with since I first started reading the books, make his appearance for the first time in a long time. I now realise Kit is a fine actor for the role - HE JUST NEEDS THE MATERIAL. I'm hoping he will get more. I wish GRRM and Cogman would write more episodes and leave D&D to show running...

[dreamcatcher]

Totally agree! When I saw that scene, I was like... THANK YOU GEORGE. I knew why Jon Snow is my favourite character then, and why I hate Jon Show.

[Prince of Dragonstone]

As far as the future goes, I just hope people can get the correlation between Robb falling and Jon rising.

[Conchobar]

The highlight of the episode for me was finally having Jon Snow back for the first time since the end of season one. Kit Harrington has had sod all to work with for far too long as Jon's storyline has been gutted. His character exhibited no growth at all in season two and much as Jon and Ygritte are great together, most of their scenes have been vacuous.

It was therefore great to see some real moments of realisation for Jon and also for the viewers - hey, turns out Jon isn't a dumbass and knows a bit about military tactics and history as any Lord's son would. The scenes between him and Ygritte were just subtly more complex and revealing than all of their other scenes so far and I loved Jon's anguish when he was explaining how the Wildling's defeat (and by extension, Ygritte's death) is inevitable.

While I don't think Martin is a noticeably better script writer than the other writers on the show his ear for dialogue is streets ahead of the rest with the possible exception of Cogman. It was Martin's script for Blackwater that brought the Cersei and Sansa characters to life, adding depth and complexity, and he's done it again with Jon Snow, another of the show's criminally under-written characters. Added to that, the pithy way Ygritte captured Jon's character while talking to Orell was brilliant: "he didn't tell me anything, he barely talks".

I hope this will signal a shift in how the show handles Jon and this wasn't just a guest appearance by the Bastard of Winterfell.

Let's hope theey keep this up and it wasn't just a one off because of GRRM writing the episode.

[Tirilei]

Anyone else notice that both Tormund and Jon have livened up considerably since they have crossed the wall? Maybe it's the weather...

I just wondered why they are still walking around in all their massive big furs (which turned from gray to brown, by the way).

Iceland looked great, I'm glad they filmed there.

Kit Harington as Jon Snow is a major plus for the show because he turned out to be a women's favorite. Those who complain about him seem to be men mostly. They could have a show with only his scenes and nothing else, and I'm sure viewers would still watch it. And that hasn't changed since the first season. That can't be said about too many other actors or characters in the show. Maybe Tyrion, maybe Arya, maybe now Season 3 Jaimie, but that's about it. None of the other characters are as independently interesting.

And yes, let's just admit it: Kit Harington's sex appeal has a lot to do with his show character being a fan favorite. Not everyone is watching the show just to compare it to the books.

[DaveSnow House Stark]

I just wondered why they are still walking around in all their massive big furs (which turned from gray to brown, by the way).

Thinking the "gray" was snow / ice on the furs and now it has melted some to reveal the brown pelts of the animals, just my thought.

I think they had to keep Jon and other characters to a minimum because they only have so much air time. They need to get people vested in King Robb and Joffry before killing them off. Once they are gone then more time can be spent on Jon. Lets face it, Tommen is not going to get as much time as Joffry does.

[Mulled Wino]

Thinking the "gray" was snow / ice on the furs and now it has melted some to reveal the brown pelts of the animals, just my thought.

I think they had to keep Jon and other characters to a minimum because they only have so much air time. They need to get people vested in King Robb and Joffry before killing them off. Once they are gone then more time can be spent on Jon. Lets face it, Tommen is not going to get as much time as Joffry does.

which is a big fail so far.....

[AliKat]

oh man don't get me started on missing ALL that!! and no mention of the Horn of Joramun, there isn't even mention of Val and Dalla

Do you think they'll even mention the horn? I thought it was pretty important but so far hasn't been brought up.

Plus Dalla not being there means no mention of Mance's kid. One of Jon's biggest moves to doing what should be done vs. what he was told to do was hiding Mance's kid with Gilly. That was based solely on 'killing the boy to let the man be born' because he did it in direct violation with what Stannis wanted and risked the wrath of the king he was supposedly loyal to. Maybe Val and Dalla will be in Season 4 and they'll end Season 3 prior to the battle of Castle Black. Does anyone know if they intend for that to happen this season? I know that the actor playing Pyp - who is at Castle Black - filmed scenes this year so Castle Black will be shown but it could just be Jon arriving there to warn them.

[Tirilei]

Thinking the "gray" was snow / ice on the furs and now it has melted some to reveal the brown pelts of the animals, just my thought.

Could be. You're probably right.

Talking about the animals from which they get their furs, I've already wondered a couple of episodes ago what the wildlings supposedly eat. Their land looked as if there wasn't much wildlife that would support such a large group of people. They are made to be like Inuit hunters, but living in mountainous land instead of by the sea. Although that big-mouthed red-haired dude obviously knows of seals (Yuck to his lecturing of Jon...)