Perhaps overshadowed by Queen Beyoncé’s grand release of Lemonade this past weekend, “Game of Thrones” made its return as well Sunday — with many powerful women, queens or otherwise, present too.
The premiere episode, however, opened with a man — or a dead one rather. We were immediately reunited with Jon Snow’s bloodied corpse freezing on the ground. This direct continuity to the ending of season five was appreciated, because this sure was one jam-packed episode, even by the program’s standards.
The first third or so, however, kept us firmly rooted in the north of Westeros. After Davos discovered Snow’s corpse along with Snow’s thinning band of companions, they locked themselves in a room filled to the brim with tense contemplation of what to do next. With new Lord Commander Allister Thorne surely set on their demise, Davos, now without Stannis, will have to make his greatest escape yet.
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From there we caught up with Ramsay Bolton, or the new Joffrey. Reeling — or not — after the death of his complicated side-beaux, he now needs to find Sansa alive or risk not being able to conceive a legitimate heir, therefore losing his own stake as Warden of the North.
Again embracing continuity, the show then took us directly to Sansa and Reek/Theon on the run from Ramsay’s vicious hounds and knights. About to be captured, none other than the oath-obsessed Brienne of Tarth rescued them alongside Podrick Payne.
Caught up with happenings in the North, it was clear that this episode was unlike a lot of the other seasons’ openers. It was action-packed almost to the brim at this point. After the episode left the North, however, it also ran the risk of overstuffing the viewer with content.
We left the North for the balmier Casterly Rock, where Cersei finally awaited the return of beloved Myrcella — or not. The viewer would’ve felt sympathy, if it wasn’t Cersei, looking at the Queen Regent’s face after having looked at Jaime’s own crestfallen, dejected one from the approaching boat in the harbor.
Though anyone will be hard-pressed to forgive Cersei for her actions of the past, it did speak to Lena Headley’s acting ability to tempt us to do so. Her dialogue with Jaime displayed genuine heartbreak — she was simply not a monster, as the show’s creators pointed out.
From there, we check in with High-Sparrow guilt-tripping Margaery, a coup-d’etat in Dorne and Tyrion and Varys building a case for a one-off sitcom. Jorah and Daenerys’ mercenary side fling are trying to find her while she is busy navigating hilarious yet very sexist Dothraki banter and terrifying customs. Newly blinded Arya is starting from the bottom (again) and a twist involving the Red Lady closed things out.
Whew. There really were a lot of things that went on, and it’s well worth the time to check out this episode — there was too much to touch on in one review. That being said, a few scenes in the latter half of the episode definitely stood out.
Something actually happened in Dorne! Ring the bells because the most wasted setting in all of Westeros had finally been developed. With Bronn and Jaime out of sight, Ellaria Sand and the all-female Sand Snakes made their move, and offed the current prince and his heir to seize control.
This was refreshing, not only because of the lack of plot in Dorn prior, but because it will hopefully set a precedent of female badasses taking names during the rest of the season. Ellaria spat venomously, “And weak men will never rule Dorn again” — one can only hope other powerful women in the show will take up such initiative.
Overall, this was a powerful — if at times rushed — first episode. It hit almost every note, except answering the burning curiosity of what the hell is up with Bran. If this episode is any indication, this should be an awesome season — aside from returning to the familiar agony of waiting for every Sunday to roll around.
