The wait is finally over! Lannisters, Mother of Dragons, Arya, our beloved king in the North Jon Snow, the Imp, the Eunuch and everyone else are back in our lives one last time.
The thrill of downloading pirated version for most of us is the only option to watch Game of Thrones episodes, as I impatiently waited for the torrent to upload, I turned off the lights and started the last journey along with millions and millions of fans across the globe; connected to all these characters and favouring either the Starks or the Targerans or the Army of the Dead.
I’d like to start with the beginning of the episode with the credits, I’d recommend not to miss it, perfectly apt and will reflect on from where we have left.
The most enthralling part of this first episode is, it takes you back to the first season’s first episode and there are so many scenes where you could feel that it’s the beginning of the end. With the arrival of a new ruler and her army alongside her most trusted companions as once King Robert travelled to Westeros along with everyone else.
Game of Thrones season 8’s first episode is packed with so many details that it gives you less time to reflect on the fast forwardness of all the reunions and the missing elements of how these characters were unable to spend more time reflecting on what they have gone through.
At least I’d like for most part to see these characters to converse more but there is no time, the dead are marching….
One of the most important element of this episode is of course Jon’s status after he has given up his status as the king after Jon bended his knee and swore loyalty to the mother of dragons Queen Daenerys.
With no place to begin with and no royal status Jon is still pleading his kin folks, and Winterfell’s main council to focus on the army of the dead marching instead of what title he needs to be given. You shall see how many people are still questioning his status as to why he’d bend the knee to Queen Daenerys. Then there are cold stares shared between Lady of Winterfell aka Sansa Stark and Queen Daenerys..
We see more of the other Queen in the South who has been anticipating the sell swords army sailing to fight her cause. Queen Cersei with no shred of worry about the dead marching is plotting her ways to retain her power across the seven kingdoms with the help of self-proclaimed King Euron Greyjoy.
Their chemistry in this episode shows that there is still no trust between them yet they both have one thing in common the thirst for keeping absolute power in their hands. In one part of the scene it seems Euron is making his way towards his goals than Cersei ever will be, since she’s now in a very vulnerable state and is alone in this cause as we saw how she and her twin Jamie parted ways in the last season. And yes, she is plotting to kill/assassinate both her brothers.
As I said earlier, there were too many reunions packed in this one episode, the most shocking was the Sam Tarley’s meeting with Queen Daenerys, I’ll leave that part for the viewers to watch and reflect on it themselves. Some might say Danny’s past mistakes are coming back and might sprung misunderstandings in between her and Jon, but for that we’d have to wait and see
There were more characters which we saw but they were kept in the background and were not included much in this episode. Having said that I’d say my favourite reunion was when Arya unites with some of the characters from her past in this episode her brother/cousin Jon, the Hound and Gendry.
Now let’s talk about the missing parts of this episode, it was too crammed up for those GoT fans who have watched over and over again the past seasons. In previous episodes, you could see the chemistry between the characters and can make a subtle guesses about their experiences together even their body language was enough to understand how well they trust each other.
However, in this season’s first episode it seemed as if the characters were only meeting up or stumbling up each other because they have to not because they were supposed to.
Second, too many enforced dialogues, there were none of the witty conversation or a smart comment from Tyrion there was one or maybe two but it was not enough. You could easily guess most of the parts of the episode unlike the past season’s shocking death of little finger which swept most of us away; I couldn’t find myself clenching on to the nearest pillow but I am excited and waiting for the next week’s episode.
For now, I’d say I will watch the episode again, because I missed my favourite characters. And one more thing, I might be favouring the army of the dead marching, since they seem to have less of a concern for the ensnaring politics and plotting of assassinations; and are only moving ahead to destroy human kind…
We shall wait and see what the other episodes unfold…
