Though you wouldn’t know it from how it starts. The show opens on Walder Frey of all people, holding a feast for his household, and it catches you off guard considering he died in the last episode. But a little more David Bradley is never a bad thing, and it soon becomes pretty apparent it’s just Arya in disguise. As she reminds the Frey household of their crimes in a mock-gleeful way, they all drink poisoned wine and die as she remarks, “leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe”. Arya has completed her revenge for the Red Wedding, doing exactly to them what they did to the Starks. She spares one of Walder’s daughters purely to tell others that the North remembers. Arya has always been one of my favourite characters on the show but she’s become a stone cold killer. It’s been a really fascinating arc that through experience and unbelievable trauma, she’s lost her moral compass, exemplified by her murdering this large group of people. Because all that matters is killing the people who did her family wrong and in another context, a more standard one than Game of Thrones, she would be a villain. She’s become such a complex character I’m curious whether she’ll find a trace of her former self on the road to murdering Cersei. As for now, I don’t know whether to like her or not, and I love that. She does appear fairly human when she stops for food with a troupe of Lannister soldiers and oh my god, what is Ed Sheeran doing with them? She’s drawn by his voice and stays for their cheer. It’s a nice scene that shows how the lower people view everything that’s happening, and what their lives are like in contrast to those in power. And they all seem to be decent guys. It ends with Arya flat-out telling them she’s going to King’s Landing to murder the Queen, safe in the fact they obviously assume it’s a joke.
Not a long ways away, but moving further north, is the Hound still in the company of Beric Dondarrion and the Brotherhood Without Banners. He’s forced to confront his past when they stop at the small house where he’d been with Arya previously and had robbed a farmer of his means to procure food for the winter. Now that winter has come, both he and his daughter are dead, apparently from starvation-induced suicide. The Hound and Beric then have a good conversation with some witty rapport during which he questions why Beric of all people should continuously be resurrected by the Lord of Light. Rory McCann and Richard Dormer are good in this scene, and I forget how cool Dormer is. He’s just such a delight in every moment of screen-time. Thoros “Man-Bun” of Myr in a Lion King moment, prompts the Hound to look into the fire, and the Lord of Light gives him a vision of the Wall and the army of walkers. I wonder if this moment will be a major turning point for the up until now cynical Hound. Between this and his interactions with Ian McShane last season, he’s developed a new outlook that’s allowed him to feel regret for the family he doomed. We next see him burying the dead father and daughter which may be indicative of this. He comments they deserve better.
What the Hound saw was quite accurate. We get a glimpse of the dead army, complete with a few dead giants, and they’re looking ever more intimidating. Bran is clear of them though, arriving at the Wall purely to show us he’s made it back, and to give Edd an excuse to appear.
At Winterfell, Jon urges the other Northern Houses to collect as much dragonglass as they can find and to start training their daughters as well as sons for combat. It’s nice to see Tim McInnerny back, and of course the breakout character from last season, young Lyanna Mormont, being just as badass as ever. Tension rises though when Sansa openly pressures Jon to give the ancestral castles of certain Lords to others in recompense for betraying him in Ramsey’s war. Jon will have none of it though, refusing to punish the children for the sins of the father. Also the traitorous lords died in the battle. Though I see Sansa’s logic I kind of agree with Jon here. But their relationship is bound for rocky roads as they argue over leadership practices. Sansa still respects Jon but she feels unheard, especially as she warns him about Cersei and even admits to having learnt from her. Later we see that Littlefinger is still creeping around trying to influence her but as she tells Brienne, she knows what he really wants. Like Arya, Sansa’s grown exponentially, and though she at times undermines Jon and lets her emotions drive her decisions, she’s still smart and has admirable control over Littlefinger, putting up with him purely because she needs his army. I particularly liked her cutting his last words saying “I assume it was something clever”. Quite honestly, I’m surprised he’s lasted this long.
She and Jon received an invite to King’s Landing to swear fealty to the new Queen, but Cersei knows they’re not going to come. We’re introduced to her having a map of Westeros painted mostly so the audience can get an idea of the political-geographical situation. As she points out to Jamie, they have enemies to the east with Danaerys approaching Dragonstone, south with the Dornish still after her head for Oberyn’s death, west with Olenna Tyrell after her head for the death of her whole family, and north with the Starks who never really liked her to begin with. She asks for advice but Jamie knows how grim their position is. Winter is coming and they don’t have the resources to survive without allies. I love when Cersei proclaims she’s Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and Jamie responds “three kingdoms at best”. Yet she still seems convinced they can win this. Cersei really is showing further signs of the madness displayed last season finale. Even when Jamie confronts her about Tommen’s suicide she convinces herself he betrayed her. Lena Headey is of course very good, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Jamie’s uncertainty and subtle mixed loyalties impeccably. Cersei has one genuine strategy which comes with the arrival of the Greyjoy fleet, whom Jamie considers to be little better than the recently lost Freys. Euron proposes marriage to her in exchange for control of the seas via the Iron Fleet. And while Euron’s utterly horrible, I do like his frank diplomacy. Pilou Asbæk is very good at playing this clever, uncaring, and duplicitous asshole and for better or worse I look forward to seeing more of him. And it’s most likely going to be the latter as upon rejection, he promises to win Cersei’s marriage with a “gift”.
Far away from all this is Sam Tarly at the Citadel, working the worst jobs they could find for him, most involving shit, illustrated through a montage that looks like it was edited by Edgar Wright. He’s studying to be a Maester and in the most Harry Potter of subplots, is attempting to get into the restricted section of the library to research dragonglass. He finally finds someone who believes his story about seeing white walkers in the always welcome High Maester Jim Broadbent. Broadbent believes him, but isn’t all that concerned seemingly because they’ve survived the white walkers before. Later while collecting bowls from celled rooms, Sam is startled by one prisoner with heavy greyscale on his arm. So this is where Jorah’s been! And he’s still asking about Dany. We don’t see much of him, largely I assume to make the extent of his condition a bigger reveal, but I wonder what role he’s going to play, or if he’ll ever see Dany before he inevitably succumbs. The sets of the Citadel, reflective of a monastery are very nice, and with the little town nearby it’s an interesting location. There Sam lives with Gilly and upon sneaking out one book, he learns that a horde of dragonglass is under Dragonstone -something he apparently didn’t need the book for because Stannis told him.
And it’s at this fortress that the episode ends. Dany and her crew reach Dragonstone, formerly occupied by Stannis Baratheon, but the home of the Targaryens. It is very satisfying to see Dany after six seasons finally set foot in Westeros, and her triumphant walk up the stone stairs and through the castle to the throne is played very dramatically. There’s no dialogue, but Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage convey all the emotion and wonder. And of course the cinematography and set design is terrific, evoking a true feeling of grand homecoming. It ends when they reach the Dragonstone council room and Dany addresses the audience as much as her crew, “shall we begin”.
“Dragonstone” re-aquaints us with the world and begins to set up the final chapters of this series. It shows us a few of the storylines we’ll be following this season and I hope it finds time to address more. Game of Thrones has such an expansive world and dozens of characters and subplots that need resolving. Hell, half the title cast of this episode got little more than a couple lines, and Liam Cunningham, Conleth Hill, Nathalie Emmanuel, and highest-billed star Peter Dinklage didn’t even say a word. But the writers of this show have earned our trust; there’s still development and unexpected directions this show could take. And the action seems a lot more consolidated here on out, with no more meandering in Essos for instance. Arya’s and Sansa’s arcs are fascinating to me, I want to know what Cersei does, there’s a lot of promise for Dany and Tyrion, or Bran reuniting with Jon, and those white walkers are bound to stir everything up. We saw in the Hound’s storyline how winter is starting to progress south and a part of me really wants to see King’s Landing overrun with white walkers. “Dragonstone” is by no means a return to the thrills we ended on last season, but the suggestion of greater thrills to come is instantly enticing.
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