Spoilers will flap their wings and fly or something.

I’m not sure about boarding this hype train to be honest. It’s been a great, sometimes awesome, sometimes just above average ride. The show will go down in history and all that, but the amounts of time that I’ve thought I’d honestly just give up on it are just infinite. At this point, there are very little theories that have not been exposed and we’re just waiting on some of our favourite characters to learn them. All and all, it felt just slightly above a recap episode even with some characters seeing each other for the first time in ages. After a few minutes I had the familiar feeling that I’ve been watching this show for a bit too long.

Highs, lows and three-eyed crows:

  • The obvious high is that we’re finally doing this and paybacks are all due this season. Every revenge and loose thread will be either resolved, tied up or plain forgotten. There’s no more delays, no more slow burns and since it’s been a while since George R. R. Martin fell behind, we’re all in this together. Nobody knows any spoilers and we’re all going to know who sits in the iron throne (or perhaps it will be melted down for scrap and nobody wins).
  • One very, very cool thing that the show started doing in the latest seasons is that no longer will we have a character en route to a destination far away just to be diverted and not get there until two seasons more. Everyone needs to get to where they make their stand and they need to get there soon as in now. So, a bunch of people arrived in Winterfell seemingly very close to each other. Daenerys and Jon are back. Samwell Tarly is back. So are the dragons. Let’s do this.
  • I still fail to see much chemistry between Jon and Daenerys. They’re in a lot of scenes together, they do the Superman thing with the dragons and we even have other characters comment on how young they look and everything. I don’t see see it. Sorry, no chemistry. I dare say there’s more between Cersei Lannister and Euron Greyjoy’s affair. By the way, Cersei is already seating in the freaking Iron Throne. The question is if she keeps it or not.
  • Jon learns who he really is from Sam and it’s anti-climatic. The real dealbreaker is going to be if and when he decides to disclose that information to Daenerys. Also, Sam learns about his father and his brother’s death from the person who ordered them executed. Jon making up excuses for Daenerys was just pure cringe. When you don’t learn old lessons you’re required to repeat them, Jon Snow.
  • Tyrion’s judgement, mental sharpness and influence have really taken a dive. Even Sansa notices it. He’s become more hopeful and idealistic than his iconic traits of smart and pragmatic. I fear he’s been set up to become sacrificially heroic at some point and that’s a shame, because I’d rather have him outsmarting everyone. To quote Sansa, “I used to think you were the cleverest man alive”. Tyrion, we hardly knew you. I want to be wrong about this more than anything else.
  • Theon rescues Yara. You know, the Greyjoys. The sea-faring Kingdom. No? The pirates. Sigh. They have really had only very few scenes here and there, so I can’t blame anybody from getting them lost in the shuffle. Anyhow, it should have been a high point but they’re so far removed from the central story line that they might as well be a lesser-known web-only spinoff of the show.
  • All reunions felt a bit lukewarm. The Hound running up against Arya should have rung a million bells but they were barely amused to see each other. At least Jon hugged his sisters Sansa and Arya.
  • The sole exception was the last minutes with Bran Stark sitting on his wheelchair and staring at the conspicuous arrival of Jaime Lannister. The full circle on this one was something we never expected and thus, it sets us up for Jaime’s trial. If either him or Tyrion still have some wits left, they’ll be wary of their sister sending them both a message via crossbow bolt. With Bronn doing the aiming, this still has the potential of being interesting.

That will do for now.