Early on one of the most compelling parts of GoT/ASOIAF was Martin's willingness to kill off main characters in an unexpected and dramatic fashion. A few episodes in I'd have put money on Rob being the main character of the series, with Nedd and Catelyn playing major roles, because that's how TV series work. Early on you pick your long-term stars, and they're essentially untouchable until the series either grows stale or starts drawing to a close. As much as anything GoT rose to where it is now by throwing the audience through a loop by continually killing off 'untouchable' characters.

Over time it feels like GoT has fallen into that same pit where certain characters are untouchable, which takes away from the drama. Jon 'dying' for about half a minute only reinforces that. It was a blatant attempt to keep up the whole 'nobody is safe' thing without actually killing a main character. As far as I'm concerned anything bad that happens to Daenerys, Arya, Bran, Tyrion, or Jon (in that order) should be assumed to be a temporary inconvenience, and it has been that way for a while. I didn't want Jon to die in that battle, but I would have been surprised and entertained if it had shaken out that his cop-out-resurrection was just misdirection.

That said we are about to move into the closing portion of the series. If the series is about to end anyway the plot is no longer shackled by the need to keep their stars relevant. Combined with the fact that in E09 the good guys all won and the bad guys all lost, I'm guessing there will be some heart-wrench in the finale, and I'm hopeful that there will be. Not because I want all of the characters to die, but because the deaths of major characters is a huge piece of what makes the story arc of GoT compelling.