Game of Thrones is back everybody! And about time too. We finally get some answers (emphasis on "some") after last year's multitude of cliffhangers. Be warned. The night is dark and full of spoilers, so click on the jump at your own discretion. My full thoughts on the episode follows.
Ok, are the poor fools who have not caught up on GoT gone now? Good. Because we can now safely say that Jon Snow is most definitely dead. Yep. Super dead. Not that much of a surprise, most of us guessed that. Will he stay dead? Well, we did not find out tonight. Though, notice that Kit Harrington's name is still top billing in the opening credits. Charles Dance did not even get that for his brief appearance as Tywin's corpse during last season's premiere. They put him down as a "guest star" during the end credits. That is it. Hell, even the actor who plays the recently zombified The Mountain (which I will not attempt to spell and screw up here) has only ever been listed as a guest star, including his future appearances this season by the looks of IMDB. If Jon Snow is staying dead, wouldn't he have less screen time than any living character? Unless they paid Kit Harrington mountains of cash just to lay dead on a table for multiple episodes, I doubt it. Just some thoughts to consider while we wait for next week's continuation.
But let's actually get into the episode! We picked up immediately after last year's final scene with the discovery of Jon Snow's body and the ensuing stand off that begins with his friends and the other a-holes at Castle Black. The opening establishing shot zooming in on the castle was absolutely beautiful and I have to admit that any emotions I had during Jon's death last year have not gone away one bit. It was still incredibly sad to see his body laying there alone in the snow. Jon's friends reactions seeing him, especially poor Edd's, were particularly heartbreaking. I would love to know who those other guys are who eventually hole up with Davos, Melisandre, and Edd. I do not think they were developed at all in past seasons, so it was actually surprising to see how many supporters that care for Jon this much there are. They may be here because some violence and mayhem are about to go down at Castle Black and we need some bodies to go down, but we will have to wait and fight out. I'm really hoping for a Jon resurrection scene soon so he can go kick some Thorne and Ollie ass.
Speaking of Melisandre, what an interesting development huh? It was interesting that the premiere episode was titled after her. The entire episode I was wondering why that was since every thing else seemed to have more of a focus. The titles are there, obviously, to remind us of the focal point of each episode and really only that ending scene justified it in some way. It is most definitely set up for a larger character arc later, so it will be interesting how important this all is to the overall story. As for the reveal itself, it sort of supports a theory I've had since she was introduced way back in season 2. While someone like Beric Dondarrion of the Brothers Without Banners seems like a true representative of "The Lord of Light", being resurrected several times already, Melisandre has always seemed so distant from that kind of holy influence. There is nothing "light" about her and many of her predictions and sacrifices have been false. I have never believed that she was working as a holy priestess. She has always been a witch dealing in witchcraft and blood magic; something much darker. (RIP demon Stannis baby) Seeing her true form at the end of the episode was a very chilling reveal. In fact, it reminded me of the portrayal of the witch in February's excellent horror film The Witch. I am sure the parallels of the changing forms is not intentional, but it is interesting for sure. I think it is obvious that this is witchcraft at play, but a new thought occurred to me during the last season or so. All along I have thought that Melisandre was completely deliberate. She knew she was false and was using the idea of religion to mask the evil magic she was practicing so she can manipulate others to gain power. Now, I'm not so sure. Seeing how defeated she was at the end of last season and seeing her looking into the mirror tonight has made me think that maybe she really did think she was holy. She really thought she was working for the Lord of Light and was confusing blood magic for revelation and miracles. A false prophet without even realizing it, if you will. I think she is starting to realize that perhaps she has been wrong and deceived the entire time. My prediction for the rest of her character arc is that she will come to see this fully and will attempt to make amends for the evil she has done and created (again, RIP demon Stannis baby) by rediscovering her role as priestess. Maybe by resurrecting a certain super dead bastard? We shall see. I think that would be a really interesting character arc to explore this year that would give more weight to the purpose and role that faith and religion plays in the world of Westeros, especially with the added emphasis on the Faith Militia in King's Landing.
That was a lot of rambling, but seeing as that is what the episode wanted to put the most focus on, it is warranted. As for the rest of the episode, it was a lot of setting up without too much development. We had to be reminded of everyone's position on the chess board before we could start getting into the juicy plot developments to come. I especially liked Brienne's rescue of Sansa and Theon. We got to see Pod kicking some ass (Yay Pod! I smile every time you are here! Go Pod!) and Brienne finally doing something to uphold her vows. She also made a new one to Sansa. This was an incredibly lovely moment between her and Sansa. Brienne looks as though she finally feels validated and important. The light coming through on her face was one of the few nice moments in this episode, given all the other gloominess. It was also an amazing parallel to Brienne's original vow to Lady Catlyn in season 2. They are positioning Sansa to really be the next Lady Stark, down to her very appearance. This has been a thing for the last season, but she really took a few steps back in that development once she became Ramsey (Bateman) Bolton's play thing. It is really nice to see her finally have some loyal and honest companions with her so she can build up her confidence and strength again. It reminds me of a time where we still had a major Stark presence before all that horror fell upon them.
Also, where the hell is Petyr Baelish? It seems like it has been forever since we've seen him. I totally forgot where we saw him last and what he is up to. If someone knows, please enlighten me. He is super MIA right now. No wonder Aiden Gillan has had time to be in Maze Runner movies and Quantum Break.
We got brief moments with Tyrion and Varys as well. Not too much to take from it except that Meereen is going to be a scary place without Dany. As for Dany, it was interesting to see her hold her own and biding her time, biting her tongue too, before she met the Khal. I am curious as to what this relationship will be, but I must confess that I am not entirely invested in Dany's plot right now. It feels like we took a few steps back with her when it was so thrilling to see her rise to power. I thought the Dothraki days were over, but I am sure that the show will have a perfectly good reason for this back-tacking.
Another piece I am not too invested in is the action going on in Dorne. Interesting, sure. But it does not feel necessary yet. It feels so separate from everything else. It does not help that we only spent maybe two minutes there in the whole episode. I'm guessing that they are setting up a conflict with King's Landing with this plot, but I feel like King's Landing already has an interesting dilemma to follow with Jaime and Cersei battling the Faith Militants. Not a lot of development here yet either, other than that really sad scene with Cersei discovering yet another dead child, but this is something that will have more of a focus next week, so that is fine. Same with Arya. She had the one scene this week, but I cannot wait to see what she does with her new problem next week. If only Stick from Daredevil could come along and show her a few things. Also, no Bran this week! This is the season where he returns! I want to see him so badly! Maybe he'll be involved with the potential magic going on at Castle Black around Jon Snow.
I could type for hours if I wanted to touch on every single character, but I will save you that misery and wrap things up. This is a satisfying season opener with a lot of set up and re-positioning of characters. I am the most invested in the Castle Black dilemma and seeing that it was not all wrapped up tonight gives me hope that something huge is about to go down there. I loved seeing the devotion of Jon's friends, even after his death, and it made for quite the emotional start to this season. I sense great things are about to happen. I really like this idea of redemption and resurrection that seems to be a major theme for everyone on the show at the moment. We are getting close to the end game and the Night's King is somewhere causing some undead shenanigans, so we will need all the redemption we can get. Winter is here and it is going to be coooooold. I hope Wun Wun the giant is somewhere close. I like that guy.
Grade: B+.
Note: Next week's recap/review will be a bit more concise and focused once we get some decent plot developments, I promise. There was a lot of catching up to do and I needed to ramble some thoughts out there so we are all on the same page. The patience is appreciated.
Game of Thrones airs every Sunday night on HBO.
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