The closing moments of episode two had us all counting down the days this past week as we watched Jon Snow breathe life into his dead body - confirming what we all pretty much knew already - the Lord Commander lives! Although he's no longer a man of the Night's Watch anymore, but we'll get to that.

This week's episode, entitled 'Oathbreaker', opened where we left off - with Jon Snow returning to this mortal coil thanks to the magical mojo of the Red Woman. Naturally enough, he was a bit confused at his sudden burst back into reality again, but thankfully Ser Davos was around for some words of wisdom while Melisandre was busy fan-girling over who she believes is now the real Promised One. (Stannis was clearly the I-Can't-Believe-He's-Not-the-Promised-One.)

So what's our hero been up to since we saw him last? Well, a whole heap of nothing. He wasn't hanging out in heaven with all the Gods, Ygritte and the rest of the Starks, but in fact experienced absolutely nothing at all in the afterlife - although that is what he knows in fairness. Ey oh! (Sorry.)

Snow had a brief reunion with his Night's Watch buddies but we weren't left hanging around Castle Black long unfortunately as the episode quickly moved on to Bran's adventures in the past, as viewers were treated to seeing first-hand a much talked about battle scene when a young Ned Stark rescued his sister Lyanna from the Tower of Joy.

As believers of the popular Game of Thrones theory R+L=J will know, this scene is thought to be of incredible importance. R+L=J, by the way, is the belief that Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark are the real parents of Jon Snow, and that he was born in that very tower. If this is true, this would also contribute to the Red Woman's new-found belief that Jon Snow is in fact the prophesied prince as the previous dude who saved the Seven Kingdoms back in the day, Azor Ahai, was also of Targaryen blood. (This may be all a lot to take in if you haven't read about this before, but if you're curious, the internet is jam-packed with a more detailed version of this theory, and many more.)

Back to the rest of episode three though, which by all accounts was pretty much just a catch up with some of our central characters. Daenerys is still stuck up Dothraki creek without a paddle, while the Faith Militant are still busy lording it over King's Landing, with it looking like High Sparrow has recruited the King to his cause.

Over in Meereen, Tyrion was determined to get some craic out of Greyworm and Missandei, while we also got a look at Vary's 'little birds', which were revealed to be a load of street kids - did we know this? We always pictured actual little birds... like prettier ravens, no? Guess not.

The 'good news/bad news' events from the episode were, first off, Arya getting her sight back... although she is still insisting she is 'a girl with no name'. Sigh. We miss her days with The Hound. Also, Rickon is back! The youngest Stark has grown up quite a bit since we saw him last, but alas, he is now in the hands of Ramsay Bolton in Winterfell. We dread to think what he has in store for the young Lord and his wildling mate, but hopefully this pair have been busy becoming magical ninja warriors or the like since we saw them last, because we cannot watch yet another Stark suffer at the hands of a Bolton.

Thankfully, the final (and probably most significant) minutes of the episode were given to Jon Snow, who was faced with the execution of the men who had murdered him. These scenes were pivotal in giving us an insight into just who exactly this new (and hopefully improved) Jon Snow is.

His brief hesitation before cutting the rope shows that there still is a good man in there, while the fact that he goes through with it couldn't help but demonstrate that we are now dealing with a more badass Jon Snow.

This was confirmed when he removed his Lord Commander cloak and walked away from the oath he had so strongly pledged with the words 'My watch has ended'.

Pretty cool 'ey? Between that and his earlier uncharacteristic joke with Edd, we're looking forward to some more sassy one-liners from one of our favourite residents of Westeros. Pints with Tyrion are in order... stat!

What does this all mean for Jon Snow's future? Quite a bit really. Now that he no longer is shackled by his oath to the Night's Watch, he can now lead an army into war (hopefully in a bastard-off with Ramsay), he can find love again (although nobody will replace Ygritte), he can also head to any part of the Seven Kingdoms he likes, and most importantly, he could potentially be the one to sit on the Iron Throne... which is what we've always been rooting for really, isn't it?

Catch the preview trailer to episode four here.