We used to call it the long hard winter. From that point in late June, where the season finale passes and fans are left with a bitter 9 months of trudging until the next Game of Thrones season comes around.... but has anyone else felt different this time? For the first time since the show began, the off-season hasn’t felt like a painful ordeal of longing because weirdly, it hasn’t felt like the show’s been entirely gone. Sure, the episodes stopped but with all the fallout and mass speculation over “that” cliff-hanger ending, the rumors and rumblings about the show’s remaining longevity and movie spin-offs and all the regular tit bits like new casting news, filming details and endless fan theories, I can’t remember being away from the show for barely more than a week since last June. It’s official: Game of Thrones has transcended from being a cultural phenomenon to an actual part of our culture. That’s certainly a firm dracarys to the haters but that doesn’t stop the show needing a solid comeback episode and thankfully it has one.
The Red Woman – With Jon Snow dead, Alistair Thorne takes control of Castle Black while Davos, Edd and a few remaining loyalists face overwhelming odds. While the Boltons try to recapture Sansa, she meets a new ally. Jaime returns from Dorne with Myrcella’s body while the full ramifications of Ellaria’s actions reach House Martel.
Now, a fair amount of this episode is what many seasoned viewers will be expecting: a wide spanning recap and foundations to build upon. While a couple scenes, like a captive Margaery Tyrell and the High Sparrow, feel like little more than memory-jogging holding patterns for future episodes, the main bulk of stories and locations reunite with us under two common themes: vengeance and ascension, often with some overlap. Wherever the map takes, there’s a feeling of at least one key player in the game turning the corner and starting the path to their full potential or having a heavy blood debt to settle. The best example by far is Sansa Stark. The gorgeous opening of Castle Black tracking shot pledges that the episode picks up mere hours after the last season finished and here, we see Sansa transition from being a frightened fleeing girl to becoming the real key to the North. Director Jeremy Podeswa (episodes 5 & 6 last season) really stages this well as the initial runaway scenes show Sansa as weak and self-doubting, only to finish the episode standing tall thanks to the actions of Brienne... and that has absolutely nothing to do with saving her life from Ramsay’s trackers (despite making for some great action!).
When Brienne kneels before Sansa to pledge her service, she does so as someone that believes in her. That means everything, and she perfectly embodies Sansa’s entire purpose within the story. The Boltons mention it again in this episode, and it was a key part of last season that the people of the North will rally behind Sansa and her Stark name but now, for the first time, we see Sansa believing in herself rather than having it wielded by others. It’s the start of her ascension to take back the North with no shortage of vengeance against The Bolton’s and many more along the way. The Lord’s oath ceremony between Sansa and Brienne is also moving on so many levels. Firstly, you have Brienne, the character who has spent the better part of 4 seasons getting the emotional crap kicked out of her by one event and disaster after the next (losing Renly, losing Catelyn, almost getting raped, almost getting mauled by a bear, losing Ayra, being turned away by Sansa), finally fulfilling one of her oaths and we really feel what that means to her. Then, there is the fantastic harking to season 2 as Sansa stumbles through the same words her mother once said to a kneeling Brienne, like she was always destined to serve a Lady Stark, just not the one she intended.
The scenes in Castle Black are among the most interesting for the way The Night’s Watch as a whole deals with Jon’s death (yes... we all know he’s coming back eventually but for now, he’s still dead). It adds a lot more depth to the situation rather than the “Everyone Hates Jon” sentiments of last season. The council session brings this all together nicely. That in fact there were very few people completely in favor of killing Jon as Thorne gets openly labeled as a murderer and traitor by the masses. However, neither were Jon’s credentials soaring after the recent Wildling parlay, which places most people as swing voters in between. It’s only the fact that Thorne and his co-conspirators were the existing senior leadership that allows them to subdue some state of control. It very effectively stacks the odds against our heroes while leaving a back door open to switch things around again once a certain alluded help arrives. The Wall also gives us one of the most unexpected twist endings for quite some time. Unless you’ve been on a social media blackout, you’ve probably seen which character it concerns but thankfully, knowing who does not spoil anything and moment itself is incredibly well delivered. Although it isn’t actually the biggest shock of the episode, which takes place in Dorne as the show makes one of its biggest and gutsiest departures from its literary counterparts to date. It gets away with it though because it really creates tantalizing prospects for the future in the process.
For an episode with many big serious events and no shortage of good-byes, it’s quite impressive how the script (penned by show runners Dan & Dave) still finds a lot of genuinely funny moments and in surprisingly places. Catching up with Danny as a prisoner of the Khalasar could have been a very sombre affair but as we stay within Danny’s perspective of pulling her old language barrier routine, it’s utterly hilarious as the nearby horse riders talk of giving her a thorough mounting, thinking she can’t hear them. Similarly, Tyrion and Varys get some great humorous moments in while taking little more than a catch up stroll through Meereen. It’s all nicely placed to break up the heavier sections to create an episode that feels like it’s pausing for breath occasionally without every actually stopping. That is exceptional storytelling.
Game of Thrones steps back into the TV arena of another year having the chosen the right weapon to fight with. It doesn’t try to overwhelm us with CG dragons, zombies, gore (... that spear though) and wobbling buckets of nudity. It strikes with nothing but its dramatic quality and giving us more reasons than ever to keep watching: Jamie & Cersei taking the Lanisters back to glory, Arya becoming Daredevil, Danny taking back Meereen, and next week, we even get a long-awaited reunion with Bran Stark. Game of Thrones never really felt like it left for an off season but now it certainly feels like its back!
You can watch the preview for the next episode here.