Spoiler alert: this blog is published after Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US on Sunday night and on Foxtel in Australia on Monday. Do not read unless you have watched season seven, episode one, which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic on Monday at 9pm, and is repeated in Australia on Showcase on Monday at 7.30pm AEST.
‘When I was Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch I executed men who betrayed me. But I will not punish men for their father’s sins and I will not take a family’s home from them.’
Hello and welcome back everyone. How you felt about tonight’s opening episode, which was largely concerned with power and how to wield it, will probably depend on your tolerance for large chunks of exposition. Overall, I was OK with the odd clunky scene: at this stage in the game, there are a lot of pieces to manoeuvre into place and, by episode’s enp d, things were nicely set up for the season.
- It’s a measure of how very creepy Arya has become that I genuinely expected her to kill all the soldiers, even after they’d kindly shared their meat and blackberry wine.
- That said, I wasn’t entirely sure about that scene – and not just because it featured Ed Sheeran, who I have yet to forgive for inflicting Galway Girl on my household. While I liked the reminder that many soldiers are just ordinary men far from home, the dialogue was at its most heavy-handed.
- The line about stealing a family home from Jon had a lovely echo in the scene with Sandor – it was The Hound’s theft of the farmer’s money, over Arya’s protestations, that led to their cruel deaths. A fact he acknowledged in digging the grave.
- Did David Benioff and DB Weiss have some sort of bet with each other about how many times they could squeeze the word “cunt” into an hour?
- Speaking of dialogue, this was a particularly quip-heavy episode, from Sandor’s comments on Thoros’s top knot to Sansa’s enjoyably sharp putdown of Littlefinger (“No need to have the last word Lord Baelish, I’ll assume it was something clever.”)
- What do we think Euron’s promised gift is? There is an interesting possibility from the books (see here, for those who don’t mind spoilers), but it’s equally possible that he intends to bring her Dany’s head.
- I can’t be the only one who was sad that Arya was heading to King’s Landing to kill Cersei, rather than Winterfell for a reunion.
- Also please tell me I wasn’t the only person thinking “I wouldn’t run my fingers along that, Dany”, about Stannis’s table of former invasion plans and wild enchantress sex.
- I love Brienne’s face of great disdain whenever Tormund is in the vicinity.
- I’m glad Edd took Bran and Meera in to Castle Black, although also a little worried for the Night’s Watch given that Bran is basically a human tracking device for the Night King.
- The brief cut to Davos’s face when Sansa and Jon were arguing said everything. Listen to Davos, people – he’s probably the only person on this entire show with any sense.
- Whose creepy hand grabbed Sam just before the end? An old maester, or something more sinister?
Violence count
A surprisingly unbloody start to the season saw only one real act of violence (two if you count Brienne’s knocking of Pod into the snow). That said it was a particularly good one, as Arya donned Walder Frey’s face to ensure that every single member of the Frey family was wiped out root and branch. I somehow think that she and Sansa might have rather a lot of common ground, when (if) they finally reunite.
Random Brit of the week
Sorry Ed Sheeran, but this can only go to the wonderful Jim Broadbent who turned up to dispense wisdom to Sam before frustratingly refusing to accept that The Wall could actually fall.
So what did you think? Will Jon and Sansa manage to compromise? Can Cersei possibly stay on the Iron Throne? And have you ever had a job as bad as Sam’s? As ever, all speculation and no spoilers are welcome below ...
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