If you didn’t like Season 7’s fast paced story, then you are in luck. Game of Thrones’ Season 8 Premiere slows down things considerably, giving viewers time to catch up to all the characters.
It’s great that the episode does this to a consistent degree, since we only have five more episodes to go till the story ends.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
As Jon Snow and Danaerys Targaryen arrive in King’s Landing, accompanied by the ‘largest army the world has ever seen’, Sansa and Arya Stark clash with Jon, disagreeing with his choice to give up his throne for Dany’s support. The Northerners in general are susceptible of Dany, especially since she’s the Mad King’s daughter. However, Jon manages to muster some support from his Northern lords, while Sansa remains vocal about her opinions on Jon’s choices and their consequences.
In the South, Cersei plots to battle the leftovers of the war between the living and the dead, abandoning the North for Jon and Dany. Of course, she isn’t going to send her own army to help them. Rather, she’s hired the mercenary Golden Company to clean up the mess in the North once the battles are over. Euron continues to make advances on Cersei, and that’s partially responsible for Theon sneaking to his ship and spiriting Yara away.
Qyburn also rehires Bronn to act on Cersei’s behalf, entrusting him with the infamous crossbow Tyrion used to kill Tywin, way back in Season 4. He is to take care of Tyrion and Jaime, in case either of them survive the upcoming battle with White Walkers.
The episode is filled with reunions, from Sansa and Tyrion to Arya and Gendry. There’s also a touch of romcom sensibilities throughout much of this episode, with Dany encouraging Jon to go dragon riding with her, and Arya sparring with Gendry, teasing him that he didn’t know any rich girls other than her. There’s only a touch of politics left in the mix, with Varys and Tyrion debating if Dany and Jon would make a good power couple; but there’s plenty of horror left for the second half of the episode. Tormund and Berric discover a grim site of human sacrifice, while Samwell Tarly finally reveals Jon’s lineage to the former King in the North.
Of course, Sam has an axe to grind against Dany, given that she burnt his father and brother to crisp after they refused to surrender. This kind of complication does make the plot a tad bit thicker, but it’s doubtful these will lead to many long term consequences. After all, both Jon and Dany have a war to fight, and the enemy combatants are almost on their doorsteps.
The episode ends with Jaime arriving in Winterfell, head and beard dyed black, and noticing that Brann Stark, the boy he threw out of a tower window in the series premiere, is still alive. Now won’t that make for some interesting conversations?
There’s a lot of setups and exposition in this episode, but thankfully it moves along briskly enough. It sets up a monumental battle in the coming episodes, while laying out the character conflicts at Winterfell in an effective manner.
If you are still interested in the death count, then you might be happy (or horrified) to know that 21 people died in this episode. That’s a pretty acceptable number, given that it’s going to increase a lot more once the battle with the dead begins.
Of course, it’s hard to judge this season on the merits of a single episode, but if they keep this up (and maybe even improve on it) this could end up as one of the better seasons of the show. Not as good as Season 4, maybe, but at least as good as Seasons 2 and 5.