[rating=7.00] “Winterfell”
With the almost two years it’s been since Game of Thrones last hit our screens, it’s easy to forget how often the series takes its time and teases out the big moments that propels its fandom. This is a series built on a foundation of shocking moments and big reveals but those moments are earned after hours of wheel-spinning tedium in which nothing much happens.
So it was with the premiere of its eighth and final season, a truncated, six-episode affair that has the unenviable task of bringing home the sprawling threads of narrative that have engrossed fans for years and made Game of Thrones the biggest TV show in history. The weight of expectation is massive to the point where nothing less than the Second Coming could fulfill the hopes and desires of the most ardent. With “Winterfell” we were reminded that it certainly will not be that.
It is, as it’s ever been, a soap opera with dragons. Which isn’t to say that it’s bad or uncompelling, because it’s certainly not that. But the melodrama was high and the fan service was out in force as the final season made its opening salvo. At times you could almost see the checklist of moments and images that must be ticked in order to give ‘em what they want, and the series was more than happy to oblige. Jon Snow finally rode a dragon. Arya finally got to see Gendry, the Hound, and Jon. Our beloved Starks finally got to share a roof again. We even got a healthy dose of incest—a theme that has coursed through the veins of this show since the very beginning.
The more things change, I suppose.
That’s not to say that the season opener wasn’t without its moments. Even with the frustratingly slow pace of “Winterfell,” Game of Thrones delivered enough foundational intrigue to establish its intentions for the final episodes, and the narrative tension certainly couldn’t be higher. With the White Walkers moving ever southward, the political squabbling and Machiavellian maneuvering has never been pettier, but pettiness in the face of impending doom is something that humanity has always excelled at. Even amongst the North, who stands the best and possibly only chance at defeating the ice zombie threat, disagreements threaten to derail their efforts.
Granted, as Lady Mormont pointed out, the north did send Jon south as a king only to have him return as a lord. That’s probably kind of frustrating even if a horde of largely unkillable zombies under the thrall of an ancient undead king is marching south to ensure your destruction. And I can sort of see where Sansa’s coming from because, impending doom and devastation of actual fucking zombies or no, Dany does bring a lot of mouths to feed. Politics, it would seem, whether you’re dealing with land disputes or world ending cataclysms, is tricky.
At least we know what we’re getting with Cersei, whose IDGAF attitude can always be expected. Like any good tyrant, she knows that cataclysms are fantastic opportunities for power consolidation and high level flexing. After all, who could possibly deign to care about the impending death of every man, woman, and child in the whole of the Seven Kingdoms when she could’ve had elephants? I’d be disappointed too, I’m not gonna lie.
While the pieces on the board are now more or less set, the one question that remains outstanding is what Jon intends to do with the information Sam has now provided him. You’d hope that the immediate response would be to, perhaps, cease his romantic designs on his aunt. Since this is Game of Thrones, however, that’s not a given. After all, the Targaryens are known for their incestuous breeding, so that doesn’t necessarily seem like a deal breaker for Dany. But will he turn on her, leading to more political infighting that takes the eye of the apocalypse ball? Will pride and arrogance in the face of impending climate doom bring about the downfall of man? Will Cersei ever get her elephants? There are clearly a lot of questions that need answering in the five episodes that remain.
Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights at 9pm/8pm central on HBO.
