Game Of Thrones is finally back. I can’t think of a final season of a show with as much
anticipation since Breaking Bad ended. Hopefully, this review/recap will be a weekly thing for the next few weeks.
Anyway, let’s get into Sunday’s return…
What’s Old Is New
The episode begins the same way the series began, with an army entering Winterfell. Except instead of King Robert coming to greet Ned Stark, it’s Daenerys and her army entering the North’s capital.
A lot has changed since then amongst the Starks and Winterfell. Half of the Stark family has been killed and those who remain have all been through their own personal hells. During the debut episode, the Stark children were on top of the world for simply receiving puppies. Now they’re all hardened and leading the way into a war they don’t think they will win.
This episode is also full of reunions. Jon Snow reconnects with all of the Starks for the first time since season 1. Arya meets with The Hound and Gendry again. Sansa speaks with Tyrion for the first time since Joffrey’s wedding.
It’s All About The Setup
I liked this episode, but unfortunately it almost all feels like a setup for the final season and as a recap of the end of last season. There are a few interesting scenes, but for the most part, not much happens to move the story forward.
Even the sequence of Jon Snow riding a dragon for the first time felt like it was just there to set up him being able to ride one into battle at some point later on.
Last season ended with the awesome cliffhanger of the Night King breaking through the wall and leading his army into the North. This episode? Just people talking. Not a single battle or fight. If I was not so worked up for the shows return, then I don’t think I would be as forgiving or enjoy this episode too much.
Cersei
Most people went into the season expecting Jamie to kill Cersei as some point, but they turned that theory on its head a bit by having Cersei send out Bronn to kill Jamie and Tyrion instead. Jamie could of course still kill her (and I think he will), but this was an interesting twist I was not expecting at all.
Cersei also seems worried that the Golden Companies army is not as big as she expected. Did she sleep with Greyjoy over concerns that she needs to strengthen her ties with him because of it?
Her and Greyjoy are now officially a couple. It’s always nice when the two biggest dicks in the world find each other, don’t you think?
Arya
Will Arya be the one who kills the Night King? She asks Gendry to forge a weapon for her. What does she need this weapon for? Is the Knight King on her kill list now? They touched on all the storylines going forward, but no mention of the faceless men. Are they just dropping that now?
It Feels A Bit Early For It
Samwell Tarly tells Jon Snow he is not a bastard and the heir to the Iron Throne.
I was surprised that they decided to let Jon Snow know of his real parents so quickly this season. I thought they were going to draw it out over a few episodes for a bigger reveal to him.
By letting him know now, it adds quite a bit to the dynamic between him and the dragon lady. Now that he knows he is the one with the true power between him and Daenerys, does he hold it over her head? Does this lead to a power struggle in which Daenerys is now a villain? All of Winterfell already hates her. Will he ever even mention it to her and let her continue to rule as queen? Does he choke on his own vomit when he realizes he’s banging his aunt?
She’s Starting To Get On My Nerves
Daenerys that is. She keeps on telling everyone to take a knee to her so much, it’s getting
annoying. At one point halfway through I realized that I do not like her anymore. Is it possible to hate her more than Sansa? Maybe if the dragons are so hungry they’ll just turn and eat her.
Would not mind it at this point.
The One Thing They Always Get Right
If there is one thing this show does right it’s cliffhangers. Game of Thrones has a number of episodes where nothing happens for an hour, then does something in the last 60 seconds that hooks you into binging the next episode even though it’s 2 in the morning. They did it again here. It was very small, but Jamie locking eyes with Bran for the first time since pushing him out the window did a lot for me and was a nice end to the episode.
Nothing explosive, but high impact none the less.
Random Thoughts
Everyone from the Iron Island’s seems so convinced that they are safe because the dead can’t ride boats.
But who said they can’t? If the Night King could ride a dragon, why couldn’t he captain a ship? I think at some point they are going to have a holy shit moment where a boat pulls into port and it’s full of white walkers.
Prior to the show’s debut, the actors who play Cersei and Bronn were in a relationship that
ended badly and hate each other enough now that the producers don’t ever put them together in a scene, so it was kind of funny that in Bronn’s one scene in the entire episode, she did not ask him herself to kill her brothers.
No major deaths.
Cleganebowl will have to wait at least one more week.
That flaming fire sword never gets old.
Bran was not revealed to be the Night King and Varys has not been revealed to be half fish, so no major fan theories were confirmed on Sunday.
Cersei drinks wine while she is pregnant with her brother’s child. So the baby will be an inbred with fetal alcohol syndrome. Great start to life.
Anyway, those are my thought on the episode. It was good and enjoyable, but not great.
Your thoughts?
