Daily Times

The last season of ‘Game of Thrones’ begins and is approximately an hour long. We see the various storylines coming towards a big set-up, the war for conquering the world, the war for revenge and the war for survival.

Arya Stark is a girl with no name. She is also a shape-shifter, bearing the power of changing her face and person at will. The episode begins with Walder Frey addressing all the Freys that he could possibly gather in his home – he has invited them for a feast in which he serves them wine. Clearly this is not Frey, since the last season saw him decapitated at the hands of Arya Stark. “Brave men, all of you, butcher the woman, pregnant with a baby. Cut the throat of a mother of five. Slaughter your guests after inviting them into your home. But you didn’t slaughter every one of the Starks. That was your mistake.” The Freys begin to cough and start falling dead like flies. “Leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe.” It’s a weak allegory, considering Freys were the ones that wreaked all the havoc and Starks were clearly the sheep, but the graphic depiction of tens of people falling dead stops you from focusing on the confusing metaphor. There’s a lot of mirroring of mass murder going on so it’s hard to figure out who’s the sheep and who’s the wolf anyway. As the last of the male Freys are coughing up bile, Arya tells a female living survivor that “The North Remembers”. Considering how much of a brutal murderer Arya has turned into, the question becomes – does she leave this survivor out of mercy or to tell the tale? It’s hard to tell because killing a whole bunch of people for a burning revenge may seem justified but it’s also entirely sociopathic.

Winter has come and the army of the White Walkers has a giant now. The Three Eyed Raven, AKA Brandon Stark, has seen this in a vision. He is still bound to a cart but thankfully he and Reed have come to the Wall to seek shelter there. While Brandon is safe things couldn’t possibly get any worse and the anticipation of the set-up continues.

The scene that had the most emotional tension in this episode was the next, where Jon Snow and Sansa Stark call a meeting of all the heads of the houses and speak about the strategy for fighting these deviled beings. It sounds simple enough – get the Dragonstone, find it, build weapons from it and kill the White Walkers with it. It is more important than gold, says Jon underlining the statement on how, in times of war, many items of value fall in ranks and many items, that would otherwise be considered obsolete or unimportant, become essential.

The scene is important for three main themes: family, leadership and gender. Jon and Sansa have met after a long period – neither are what they were before. The new norming of their relationship is out in the open in front of the many leaders and it speaks of a possible fissure in the leadership of House Stark. Sansa openly defies Jon and tells him to reward loyalists and punish traitors. Jon seems visibly upset by her defiance but stands his ground. Jon Snow’s a revolutionary in his own right as he puts forth the idea of letting women take part in battle, since they are half the population. It is here where Lyanna Mormont makes a delightful return as the dynamite in a small and powerful package. She rejoinders with “I don’t plan on knitting by the fire when men fight for me” – when someone protests about not letting women join in the war. Her belligerence and confidence is as astounding as it is delicious. Jon breaks yet another rule, throwing the status quo for a loop again, when he announces that Wildlings are to be given the Eastwatch Castle and the responsibility of the Nights’ Watch, much to the chagrin of many. Sansa and Jon later argue again and we see that their friendship is still as much there as it ever was – perhaps even stronger because they are the only family they have. “I loved father and I loved Robb, I miss them. But they made stupid mistakes and they both lost their heads for it.”

“And how should I be smart,” Jon asks. “By listening to you?”

“Would that be so terrible?” Sansa responds.

A raven comes to them from King’s Landing – it is Cersei telling Jon to kneel or suffer the consequences. Sansa is as obsessed with Cersei as Jon is with the Night King. Quite obviously, the Night King is a more formidable enemy than Cersei but I’d listen to Sansa about the woman who destroyed an entire flock of people by burning them alive.

Cersei’s character has developed into even more of a sociopath than ever before. The sense of impending war and the blood-filled victory of torching the Sept have gone to her head and she has little or no feeling of mourning and despair for Tommen, her dead child. Cersei has created a map in a patio, consumed by wanting a dynasty for herself and her brother, but her brother, Jaime, tells her there is no dynasty to live for, to fight for. Cersei, in a strange echo of Sana, says about her dead children and her dead parents, “I loved them, I did. But they’re ashes now and we’re flesh and blood. We’re the last Lannisters, the last ones who count.”

Cersei’s plan to survive enemies in the east, enemies in the south, enemies in the west and enemies in the north by taking the help of Euron Greyjoy’s ships. Euron Greyjoy would want Cersei as his Queen – and Cersei plans to use him for this. In a snarky meeting between Euron and Cersei and James, Euron decides to win Cersei’s favor by promising to bring her a priceless present. There is a lot of mistrust as Greyjoys had rebelled against the throne to be monarchs. Jaime reminds Euron that it was Euron himself who had started that rebellion by sailing to Casterly Rock and burning the Lannister fleet. Jaime fought in the Iron Islands in return and Euron compliments Jaime’s skill but within minutes also insults him with a snark about having two hands and killing his own brother. That must have hurt, Jaime.

Samwell Tarly is in the library shelving books and cleaning poop of sick and old archmaesters. In a thoroughly disgusting sequence that goes on for far too long, we see that Samwell is living a life of all guts and no glory. ‘GoT’ showrunners never seem to shy away from pushing the envelope when it comes to evoking the visceral responses from the audiences. Perhaps this is their smelly secret of success which no one dares touch with a ten-foot-pole. David Benioff goes where no showrunners have gone before.

Jim Broadbent appears as Archmaester Ebrose who is conducting an autopsy and Samwell is assisting him. Tarly requests Ebrose access to the Restricted Section to study more about how to fight the White Walkers. Ebrose believes him by sheer logic. Broadbent beautifully creates an importance of the work he and his fellow maesters do – but also believes, perhaps arrogantly, that the Wall is able to stand the test of time. The scene brings forth a tussle of age-old held beliefs with the pressure of evolution that the young bring with them. Time and experience, sometimes, are on the opposite ends of a spectrum of wisdom.

Brienne and Tormund are in a moment of brief flirtation and Littlefinger attempts to win Sansa’s favor again. Sansa snubs him – and the conversation between Brienne and Sansa reminds us the importance and the unnecessary evil that is Lord Baelish. Perhaps this scene shows us that Baelish is going to continue to be a thorn in Sansa’s side and if history has anything to tell us, Baelish has either always gotten what he wanted or left a trail of disasters whenever he was unable to get his wish. His manipulation is clever always, but his wants are often childish and obstinate.

Arya is walking through Riverlands to Kings’ Landing and who should she meet but Ed Sheeran and his band of merry men – aka the men of the Lannister army who are heading to Walder Frey’s castle to ‘calm things down’. Sheeran’s song is sweet and his melodious voice echoes the words through the forest, “For she was his secret treasure, she was his shame and bliss/and the chain and the keep are nothing, compared to a woman’s kiss/For hands of gold are always cold/but a woman’s hands are warm”. Sheeran’s vocal talents are the sum all of his appearance in this episode for he says little else. The rest of the actors structure the scene and it becomes about Arya’s humanity and what is left of her compassion.

Sandor Clegane, riding with Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, refusing rum because it’s ‘too sweet’ says a lot about his character – even the bitterest things aren’t bitter enough for him. However, this bitter, cruel, brutal human being stares into the fire and sees the light, it seems befitting that a man like him could only see God in something as brutal as fire itself. Clegane is uncomfortable in the house because of the father and child that have died in the house and later buries their skeleton. Again, we are made to see the humanity in monsters and the guilt of killers. Or perhaps it was simply the discomfort of staring at skeletons for too long. Nevertheless Beric helps Clegane bury the dead and in the bitter cold and piercing wind, the effort seems to bring some sort of peace to Clegane.

Samwell discovers that dragonglass can be found in Dragonstone and writes to Jon immediately. He also chances upon Jorah Mormont who is kept in the Citadel as a patient. Daenerys, with Tyrion and the Unsullied by her side, has now reached Dragonstone and the place of her birth. She is filled with anticipation and a breathless keenness to set foot on the land that was her birthplace. She walks up to the castle and with disdain casts aside the remnants of a banner. It is interesting to note that she sees the throne but does not sit on it – rather goes inside the castle and sees the table where Stannis was planning his armed excursions. The episode closes in with, “Shall we begin?”

As first episodes go, the first of season seven was filled with intrigue. It did not rely on the easy shock-and-awe method but a gradual involvement and investment of the audiences into the newly shaping plotlines and stories. Without any shocking deaths or any unusually new paranormal activity, the main achievement of this episode is how it still managed to create suspense and thrill. Perhaps most of these emotions are derived from the idea that this is the beginning of an end – an epic tale comes to close. And it has everyone on the edge of their seats. The gradual hum of this episode’s beat, the quiet but steady development of the various plotlines is raising expectations for the finale and what will be one of the most watched events of the year.

Published in Daily Times, July 20^th , 2017.