The following review will contain SPOILERS for the episode ahead. Consider yourself fairly forewarned, and now to Westeros!
Leaving off season six we were promised to finally be seeing the big promises the shw made from the first season; The war with the Wight Walkers up north is underway, Jon Snow is the King in the North leading the fight against the forces of the dead, Arya has begun checking more names of her list and Daenerys had set sail for her home land.
Opening with what plays like a flashback of Walder Frey post-Red Wedding, masterfully turns sinster as actor (HAHAHAHAHA) plays a subtly master-class as he acts as Arya Stark acting as she imagines Walder Frey. The youngest remaining wolf balancing the cosmic scales of justice from the Red Wedding with a house-wide genocide that Tywin Lanister would be proud of is a well executed curtain raiser. As much as the death of the Freys is to be enjoyed one must wonder the mental state of a young girl who smiles upon murdering several dozen people. Her decision to not reunite with her family now restored to Winterfell perhaps the best indicator that all is not right with the lone wolf.
Her remaining family meanwhile are coordinating a plan to combat the Nights King - a plan which sees the Wildling hordes taking up a castle on the Wall, to defend that which they sought to breach for generations. Jon implements a new rule that all boys and girls over the age of 10 will be trained for combat, met with some debate before logic regarding numbers wins the moment. The biggest political concern for the King in the North seems to be his own sister Sansa, who continues to operate sporadically. Last season, her ineptitude will the political game led to thousands needlessly dying in the siege on WInterfell by keeping Littlefingers troops from Jon and now she outwardly combats the decisions made by Jon at the worst time. Her admitted influence from Cersie growing with each encounter, Sansa seeks to eliminate two ancient houses who sided with the Boltons as revenge. Jon, refusing to punish children for the sins of their fathers, has the remaining members of the houses swear loyalty anew, maintaining what little infrastructure is available to them. Sansa was right about one thing - its admirable of Jon to try and follow Ned Starks honourable example but he needs to be smarter than both Ned and Rob, as giving enemies another chance was both of their undoing.
The Unity of houses in the North stands in stark contrast to the shambles the rest of the realm is in. Thanks to Cersie’s short-sighted, selfish and plain stupid actions she finds her self with enemies on all sides. The North and East have united at Winterfell, the Southern Dorn and Westerly Tyrells are united against Cersie and even more dangerous than any of those - the mother of dragons has reached Westeros.
After the wildfire scheme at the previous seasons close, Jamie grows ever wearier around Cersie as he begins to observe comparisons between The Mad King and his sister. With allies few and far between, a suitor appears to solve the Lannister problems in the form of Euron Greyjoy. Offering his ships and hand in marriage, is soundly rejected in an unusually level headed moment from the Queen, though given that perhaps Tywin would have married her off to get his hands on 1000 ships in the same circumstance, it can be seen as another failure. Undeterred, Euron promises to return with “a gift” fit for a Queen. Last time a Queen was given a gift it was Tyrion Lannister to Daenerys, how unfortunate it would be if he found him self a gift for his sister once more.
Further afield we are shown how the Hound is adjusting to his new friends, The Brotherhood Without Banners, and confronting some ghosts of his past. Several seasons ago when Arya and the Hound took shelter in a man’s house before leaving with their silver with Sandor rationalising it with “they don’t need it, they’ll be dead come winter”. Now, as Winter has finally come, the Brotherhood use the same house for cover from the harsh snows. Clegane shows how far he’s come since abandoning the Lannisters in season 2, and even when still with Arya in season 4, showing genuine remorse when finding the the man and his daughter dead inside. Having run out of food and money, the father ended both their suffering. This leads to a nod for book-readers as Sandor takes up a night shift as a Gravedigger, burying the pair with a modicum of dignity. He and Beric Dondarion sit at night grappling with why neither of them seem to be dead when they should be and yet seem to serve no greater purpose. With Sandor highly sceptical of the “Lord of Light” Tyros of Mir shows the Hound a vision in the flames - a castle on the edge of the wall with an army of the dead climbing over it.
This would seem to be setting up our first major skirmish of the season as the Wights attack the newly Wildling occupied castle. Eastwatch-by-the-sea. Will this also tie in with Bran’s crossing last the wall? If the Nights King touch was enough to break the magical barriers at Bloodraven cave, will that touch enable him to overcome the Wall’s magical repellents? The feeling that the 8000 year old Wall is coming down before the seasons end is exacerbated by some of the little foreshadowing through the episode.
Far from the ice up north, Sam has begun his training at the Citadel. Game of Thrones has been known for is disturbing scenes but a several minute sequence that revolves around geriatric shit, literally, could have really been left out. He meets show newcomer Jim Broadbent as the archmaester and almost convinces him that the threat beyond the wall is real, as are Sam’s tales about it. Despite this, he still needs to sneak in to the Harry Potter-esque “Restricted Section” of the Library - sans screaming book - to find more information on the realms foe. Diligently as ever, Sam sacrifices his sleep and well being to read and read until he discovers that a veritable mountain of Obsidian - the Wights Achilles heel - exists in Westeros. Only now, its surrounded by the largest fighting force in the world and 3 dragons, as it sits beneath Dragonstone.
Dragonstone, the ancestral home of the Targaryans, is Danni’s first port of call. The show really milked every pennies-worth of the CGI realisation of the great castle with not a word spoken until the last second of the episode. The castle is certainly impressive and unlike most of the castles or keeps we’ve seen, the almost Chinese style dragons at the castles door were a cool addition. The throne room is where we see a key movement from Danaerys as she enters, taking in the architecture but by passing the throne and heading to the council/war room. Showing that her priorities are still in order, as well as not being so self serving as to take a throne without really earning it yet, highlight the difference between the two competing queens of Westeros. The board seems to bet set for the an epic season so, as the Mother of Dragons says, Shall We Begin?