Game of Thrones Review: Season 8 Episode 1
Game of Thrones is back, all right! (Kudos to you if you got that very early 2000s reference).
Like everyone else in the English speaking world, I was beside myself waiting for season 8 to air. I almost can't believe it's happening! I feel like I have to keep pinching myself. As I was watching episode 1, I kept thinking "this is the last GOT premiere ever! How is this real?"
I thought this episode was a good way to start off the season. True, we didn't get any big surprises or dramatic battle scenes, but this episode did a good job of setting up the stakes and conflicts for this season. Plus, we got to see some great reunions between our favorite characters.
The episode opens with callback to season one. We see a nameless little boy running to see the Dragon Queen and the King in the North arriving in Winterfell. I have to admit that when I first saw this little boy, I expected there to be a horde of wights behind him. I was imagining him getting killed in some grisly way and then seeing his eyes turn blue. Mercifully, the GOT creators spared us that until the end of the episode. (More about that later)
Anyway, there were some great moments in this scene. Watching Jon and Dany arrive through Arya's eyes was a great way to humanize the moment. We also got to see Arya's face as she realized that the Hound and Gendry are still alive. (By the way, I'm shipping Arya and Gendry with all my heart...more about their couple name later). However, the best moment is when the dragons do a fly over (much like fighter jets at football games) and everyone flips out!
I'm glad that someone is finally acknowledging that dragons are scary AF! For far too long, people have been calmly accepting the dragons way too easily. I'm glad we're finally seeing a human reaction to them.
Next, we find ourselves in the courtyard of Winterfell (another great callback to when Robert rode into the courtyard in season one). Jon's relief and joy at seeing Bran is touching, especially since Bran has no emotional reaction whatsoever. I think Isaac Hempstead Wright said in an interview that Bran was going to be more human this season; if that's the case, we haven't seen it yet! I like how Jon glances over at Sansa while he's hugging Bran and she gives him a look like, "oh, yeah, he's weird now, did I not say?"
Then, we get the long awaited (at least, long awaited by me) meeting between Dany and Sansa. Dany is very polite and charming, but Sansa wants nothing to do with it. I've seen a lot of reviews criticizing Sansa for this attitude, which is a perspective I don't understand.
Sansa has no reason to trust Daenerys. She doesn't know her and she doesn't trust her motivations. This is actually a really smart approach. Over the years, we've learned that people who take other people at face value tend to end up dead in Game of Thrones. Sansa probably should have been more polite, but I don't think she needs to be warmer toward Dany. To Sansa, Dany probably seems like a younger, prettier version of Cersei Lannister.
Anyway, Bran breaks up this heart-warming scene by announcing that Dany's dragon is a wight and the wall has fallen. Way to move the plot along, Bran!
No one really reacts to this, which is a bit annoying, but I can move past it.
Next, we cut to the great hall in Winterfell. Am I the only one who thinks that Jon, Dany, Sansa, and their advisors should be having these conversations in private? I don't think it's smart to argue in front of your vassals. Long story short, dragons can eat whatever they want and the Umbars and Karstarks are dispatched to bring their men to Winterfell.
The rest of our time at Winterfell is chock full of good moments. We have, of course, the much anticipated dragon riding scene. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Jon is now a dragon rider. While it's nice to see Jon and Dany's relationship move forward and develop, I have to admit that I didn't love this scene.
I'm bothered that Dany seems to let Jon ride her dragon without giving it a second thought. Letting someone ride a dragon is not the same as lending your friend you Camry so they can go to the grocery store! I feel like it should have been a bigger moment. Also, no one seems to recognize the significance of the moment! By allowing Jon to ride her dragon, Dany is placing him on the same level politically. I don't think she really meant to do that, which seems like an uncharacteristically stupid move on her part. Also, doesn't she know that only Targaryens can ride dragons? It seems like a lot of things were overlooked here.
On the other hand, the dragon riding scene was wonderfully funny! I love that Jon struggles to figure out how to ride the dragon. For a minute there, I thought he was going to fall off and that would be the end of Jon Snow!
We also have several great Arya related reunions! First, who didn't love her moment with Jon? That scene made me want to cry. I love that he asks her if she's ever used Needle and her response is "once or twice." Like, OKAY ARYA.
We also see Arya reunite with Gendry (swoon) and the Hound. I feel like everyone needs to give Gendry more credit because he made an AMAZING axe for the Hound. I'm sure we're all on the edge of our seats waiting to see that in action.
Anyway, Arya and Gendry have such a great, cute flirtatious moment. I really hope they get to kiss at least once before one or both of them die. The only problem is that they don't really have a good couple name. Aendry? Not so good. Grya? Ugh. Let me know your suggestions for their couple name in the comments.
Arya's reunion with the Hound is also really satisfying. I love how the Hound is all like "you left me for dead!" and she's like "I robbed you first." That's the Arya I signed up for! I wonder if Arya still considers the Hound to be on her list. If so, I hope she doesn't kill him before he gets to use that cool axe.
We get a not so great meeting when Sam meets Dany. I like this moment because you can tell that Dany is regretting (a bit) killing the Tarlys. You can almost see her realizing that there are repurcusions to killing people willy nilly in the Seven Kingdoms. She has to navigate political situations now, which is new to her.
John Bradley also played that moment really well. Without him saying much of anything, you could tell he was going through all of these complicated and multifaceted emotions.
Of course, after that scene, he rushes out into the courtyard and Bran tells him he has to go tell Jon who is true parents are. In my mind, I was like "finally! We're 45 minutes into this episode and no one has taken a moment to tell Jon that he is actually a Targaryen, SMH."
Also, let's take a moment to talk about Bran. HE'S SO WEIRD IN THIS EPISODE. Granted, he's weird in every episode, but it seems like he spends the entire episode sitting in the courtyard saying unsettling things to people. Granted, he does have a good moment when he says he's waiting for an old friend and then Jaime rides into the courtyard. Jaime's expression at that moment is great. It's like seeing Bran reminds him of all the things he's done wrong in his life. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is such an unbelievably fantastic actor, I can't even stand it
Anyway, back in the crypts of Winterfell (which is everyone's favorite hang out spot, apparently), we see Sam telling Jon that he's KING OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS (NBD). Obviously, this is a huge moment for the show because someone can finally act on this hugely important information! However, I really don't know how this is going to work out for Jon. In any other fantasy show, everyone would immediately acknowledge that Jon is the true king and give him a huzzah, but, in GOT, who knows what's going to happen? It could cause a rift between Jon and Dany or it could make the Northern lords distrust Jon. Or both! The whole situation could be a total mess. Of course, we'll have to wait until next time to find out.
I think that's everything that happened in Winterfell. Next, I want to talk about King's Landing, which is full of things and people I don't really care about. All of Cersei's machinations seem pretty hollow compared to the very real zombie crisis going on in the North.
The Golden Company has arrived in King's Landing, which is good? for Cersei. I don't know how that plot is gong to work itself out. It seems like the Golden Company doesn't have a lot of cause to be loyal to Cersei once Dany starts heading back south.
We see Cersei's blossoming relationship with Euron, who seems to be the star of a weird GOT meets Pirates of the Carribbean mash-up spin-off. Honestly, I didn't know how to read the scene between the two of them. One minute, we're seeing sexually empowered Cersei, but, after he leaves, we see her crying. I'm not sure how we're supposed to interpret that or what it means for her alleged baby (I'm still not convinced she was pregnant to begin with; I think it's just something she said to manipulate Jaime.)
On the other hand, Cersei does have one of the best lines this episode: "I wanted the elephants!" Please, someone put that on a t-shirt.
In other news, Cersei decides to make herself the only Lannister and hires Bronn to kill her brothers. I think we all know (or suspect) that Bronn is going to do no such thing. He has one of the best reactions in the episode: "that f*cking family!" I think that's how most of us feel about the Lannisters at this point. I imagine him riding north to Winterfell to fight alongside Tyrion and Jaime, which would be tremendously satisfying.
Also in King's Landing, we have the Greyjoy sub-plot with Theon and Yara that I just can't bring myself to care about. I suppose it's good that Yara is free again and can help Dany; however, I'm just not that emotionally invested in that group of characters. On the other hand, Theon's hair looks much better than it ever has before in this episode for some reason. Maybe he got his hands on some Pantene.
Of course, the most emotionally impactful scene in the whole episode was when Tormund and co. arrive at Last Hearth. I was squirming in my seat the whole time, expecting something horrible to happen. I was kind of thinking that the Night King was going to jump out from behind a pillar and murder them all, but, instead, we got something worse. The image of little Lord Umbar screeching and on fire in a burning spiral of severed arms will be in my nightmares for weeks! That was one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen! The moment when his eyes turned blue behind Tormund, my blood ran cold. Kudos to whoever wrote that scene, they are a master of horror.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to more horror in episode two!
Valar dohaeris.
Like everyone else in the English speaking world, I was beside myself waiting for season 8 to air. I almost can't believe it's happening! I feel like I have to keep pinching myself. As I was watching episode 1, I kept thinking "this is the last GOT premiere ever! How is this real?"
I thought this episode was a good way to start off the season. True, we didn't get any big surprises or dramatic battle scenes, but this episode did a good job of setting up the stakes and conflicts for this season. Plus, we got to see some great reunions between our favorite characters.
The episode opens with callback to season one. We see a nameless little boy running to see the Dragon Queen and the King in the North arriving in Winterfell. I have to admit that when I first saw this little boy, I expected there to be a horde of wights behind him. I was imagining him getting killed in some grisly way and then seeing his eyes turn blue. Mercifully, the GOT creators spared us that until the end of the episode. (More about that later)
Anyway, there were some great moments in this scene. Watching Jon and Dany arrive through Arya's eyes was a great way to humanize the moment. We also got to see Arya's face as she realized that the Hound and Gendry are still alive. (By the way, I'm shipping Arya and Gendry with all my heart...more about their couple name later). However, the best moment is when the dragons do a fly over (much like fighter jets at football games) and everyone flips out!
I'm glad that someone is finally acknowledging that dragons are scary AF! For far too long, people have been calmly accepting the dragons way too easily. I'm glad we're finally seeing a human reaction to them.
Next, we find ourselves in the courtyard of Winterfell (another great callback to when Robert rode into the courtyard in season one). Jon's relief and joy at seeing Bran is touching, especially since Bran has no emotional reaction whatsoever. I think Isaac Hempstead Wright said in an interview that Bran was going to be more human this season; if that's the case, we haven't seen it yet! I like how Jon glances over at Sansa while he's hugging Bran and she gives him a look like, "oh, yeah, he's weird now, did I not say?"
Then, we get the long awaited (at least, long awaited by me) meeting between Dany and Sansa. Dany is very polite and charming, but Sansa wants nothing to do with it. I've seen a lot of reviews criticizing Sansa for this attitude, which is a perspective I don't understand.
Sansa has no reason to trust Daenerys. She doesn't know her and she doesn't trust her motivations. This is actually a really smart approach. Over the years, we've learned that people who take other people at face value tend to end up dead in Game of Thrones. Sansa probably should have been more polite, but I don't think she needs to be warmer toward Dany. To Sansa, Dany probably seems like a younger, prettier version of Cersei Lannister.
Anyway, Bran breaks up this heart-warming scene by announcing that Dany's dragon is a wight and the wall has fallen. Way to move the plot along, Bran!
No one really reacts to this, which is a bit annoying, but I can move past it.
Next, we cut to the great hall in Winterfell. Am I the only one who thinks that Jon, Dany, Sansa, and their advisors should be having these conversations in private? I don't think it's smart to argue in front of your vassals. Long story short, dragons can eat whatever they want and the Umbars and Karstarks are dispatched to bring their men to Winterfell.
The rest of our time at Winterfell is chock full of good moments. We have, of course, the much anticipated dragon riding scene. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Jon is now a dragon rider. While it's nice to see Jon and Dany's relationship move forward and develop, I have to admit that I didn't love this scene.
I'm bothered that Dany seems to let Jon ride her dragon without giving it a second thought. Letting someone ride a dragon is not the same as lending your friend you Camry so they can go to the grocery store! I feel like it should have been a bigger moment. Also, no one seems to recognize the significance of the moment! By allowing Jon to ride her dragon, Dany is placing him on the same level politically. I don't think she really meant to do that, which seems like an uncharacteristically stupid move on her part. Also, doesn't she know that only Targaryens can ride dragons? It seems like a lot of things were overlooked here.
On the other hand, the dragon riding scene was wonderfully funny! I love that Jon struggles to figure out how to ride the dragon. For a minute there, I thought he was going to fall off and that would be the end of Jon Snow!
We also have several great Arya related reunions! First, who didn't love her moment with Jon? That scene made me want to cry. I love that he asks her if she's ever used Needle and her response is "once or twice." Like, OKAY ARYA.
We also see Arya reunite with Gendry (swoon) and the Hound. I feel like everyone needs to give Gendry more credit because he made an AMAZING axe for the Hound. I'm sure we're all on the edge of our seats waiting to see that in action.
Anyway, Arya and Gendry have such a great, cute flirtatious moment. I really hope they get to kiss at least once before one or both of them die. The only problem is that they don't really have a good couple name. Aendry? Not so good. Grya? Ugh. Let me know your suggestions for their couple name in the comments.
Arya's reunion with the Hound is also really satisfying. I love how the Hound is all like "you left me for dead!" and she's like "I robbed you first." That's the Arya I signed up for! I wonder if Arya still considers the Hound to be on her list. If so, I hope she doesn't kill him before he gets to use that cool axe.
We get a not so great meeting when Sam meets Dany. I like this moment because you can tell that Dany is regretting (a bit) killing the Tarlys. You can almost see her realizing that there are repurcusions to killing people willy nilly in the Seven Kingdoms. She has to navigate political situations now, which is new to her.
John Bradley also played that moment really well. Without him saying much of anything, you could tell he was going through all of these complicated and multifaceted emotions.
Of course, after that scene, he rushes out into the courtyard and Bran tells him he has to go tell Jon who is true parents are. In my mind, I was like "finally! We're 45 minutes into this episode and no one has taken a moment to tell Jon that he is actually a Targaryen, SMH."
Also, let's take a moment to talk about Bran. HE'S SO WEIRD IN THIS EPISODE. Granted, he's weird in every episode, but it seems like he spends the entire episode sitting in the courtyard saying unsettling things to people. Granted, he does have a good moment when he says he's waiting for an old friend and then Jaime rides into the courtyard. Jaime's expression at that moment is great. It's like seeing Bran reminds him of all the things he's done wrong in his life. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is such an unbelievably fantastic actor, I can't even stand it
Anyway, back in the crypts of Winterfell (which is everyone's favorite hang out spot, apparently), we see Sam telling Jon that he's KING OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS (NBD). Obviously, this is a huge moment for the show because someone can finally act on this hugely important information! However, I really don't know how this is going to work out for Jon. In any other fantasy show, everyone would immediately acknowledge that Jon is the true king and give him a huzzah, but, in GOT, who knows what's going to happen? It could cause a rift between Jon and Dany or it could make the Northern lords distrust Jon. Or both! The whole situation could be a total mess. Of course, we'll have to wait until next time to find out.
I think that's everything that happened in Winterfell. Next, I want to talk about King's Landing, which is full of things and people I don't really care about. All of Cersei's machinations seem pretty hollow compared to the very real zombie crisis going on in the North.
The Golden Company has arrived in King's Landing, which is good? for Cersei. I don't know how that plot is gong to work itself out. It seems like the Golden Company doesn't have a lot of cause to be loyal to Cersei once Dany starts heading back south.
We see Cersei's blossoming relationship with Euron, who seems to be the star of a weird GOT meets Pirates of the Carribbean mash-up spin-off. Honestly, I didn't know how to read the scene between the two of them. One minute, we're seeing sexually empowered Cersei, but, after he leaves, we see her crying. I'm not sure how we're supposed to interpret that or what it means for her alleged baby (I'm still not convinced she was pregnant to begin with; I think it's just something she said to manipulate Jaime.)
On the other hand, Cersei does have one of the best lines this episode: "I wanted the elephants!" Please, someone put that on a t-shirt.
In other news, Cersei decides to make herself the only Lannister and hires Bronn to kill her brothers. I think we all know (or suspect) that Bronn is going to do no such thing. He has one of the best reactions in the episode: "that f*cking family!" I think that's how most of us feel about the Lannisters at this point. I imagine him riding north to Winterfell to fight alongside Tyrion and Jaime, which would be tremendously satisfying.
Also in King's Landing, we have the Greyjoy sub-plot with Theon and Yara that I just can't bring myself to care about. I suppose it's good that Yara is free again and can help Dany; however, I'm just not that emotionally invested in that group of characters. On the other hand, Theon's hair looks much better than it ever has before in this episode for some reason. Maybe he got his hands on some Pantene.
Of course, the most emotionally impactful scene in the whole episode was when Tormund and co. arrive at Last Hearth. I was squirming in my seat the whole time, expecting something horrible to happen. I was kind of thinking that the Night King was going to jump out from behind a pillar and murder them all, but, instead, we got something worse. The image of little Lord Umbar screeching and on fire in a burning spiral of severed arms will be in my nightmares for weeks! That was one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen! The moment when his eyes turned blue behind Tormund, my blood ran cold. Kudos to whoever wrote that scene, they are a master of horror.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to more horror in episode two!
Valar dohaeris.
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