Meanwhile, the Northerners all seem pretty salty after naming yet another King in the North who looks content to throw away all of his power and strategy as soon as he meets a gorgeous foreign woman.
Tyrion, Varys, and Davos think a wedding is the best course of action, because that's generally been every "lonely old man's" default plan in the Seven Kingdoms when it comes to forging a lasting alliance.
R+L= Treason?Īs expected after last season's cliffhanger ending, much of this episode focuses on Jon and Daenerys' newly-cemented status as Westeros' most attractive power couple, and how everyone around them doesn't quite know how to feel about it.
It's entirely possible that the next five episodes will be a roller coaster of death, destruction, and drama that won't let us catch our breath, and in that way, it feels reminiscent of the Season 6 opener, " The Red Woman." We're setting the table for a larger feast to come here, and while there are plenty of tantalizing morsels in this hour, it doesn't quite add up to a completely satisfying meal after almost two years of GOT deprivation - but let's face it, it's still better than most TV shows ever get. There's certainly the sense that this premiere is the calm before the storm.
Plus, Sansa and Arya's mistrust of Daenerys plays a lot like conflict for conflict's sake (much like the friction between Sansa and Jon did) when all of our heroes are aware that they currently have much bigger priorities than worrying about who's bending the knee to whom. There's still evidence of the narrative corner-cutting that proved so divisive in Season 7, where it seems like showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are so concerned with getting their characters from A to B, the logic of their journey becomes secondary (Theon's rescue of Yara without breaking a sweat seems like a total rush job).
Martin has been wrestling with for decades at this point. The Season 8 opener has a number of spectacular and satisfying moments (some that feel like outright fan-service and others that are completely earned), but it also feels like a lot of set-up considering we only have five episodes after this installment to tie up a tale that George R. That has given me more time to ruminate on it than I'll have when cranking out reviews for the rest of the season, but my immediate reaction upon walking out of the screening is pretty aligned with how I feel now. Maybe you've spent that time scouring the internet for intel on what might happen in the final six episodes, or perhaps you've been dodging every teaser and promotional photo to go into the last season completely Unsullied either way, if you're anything like us, you've probably been anticipating this episode for a long time - which might explain why it feels a little anticlimactic.įull disclosure: I had the opportunity to watch this episode at the show's New York premiere on April 3.
It's been 20 months since a new episode of Game of Thrones graced our screens - the longest wait for a new season fans have had to endure since the show debuted.
This review contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 1, titled "Winterfell." To recap where we left off, check out our review of the Season 7 finale, and for more on the Season 8 premiere, watch our Dragons on the Wall video above, or download the podcast version of our premiere breakdown here