Game Of Thrones Season 8 Premiere Review – Waiting For An Old Friend

And then there were five. It may sound contrarian, but for many Game of Thrones fans, they were lamenting the fact that there are only five episodes left in the final season, and this season is already shaping up to be epic as our Game Of Thrones Season 8 Premiere Review is about to show you.

After such a long absence, the biggest question for the season 8 premiere was about how it was going to start, and then, how it was going to end. Seeing Daenerys and Jon ride in together with the Unsullied and the Dothraki and the dragons was a very powerful scene, especially with the callbacks to Season 1 via the child (mimicking Arya in the pilot) trying to get a better look, and Arya being there to let it happen. As well as Sansa’s “Winterfell is yours, your Grace.” Albeit in a more chilly fashion than when Ned said it to Robert.

And in my opinion, that’s what made this premiere so powerful. Because as viewers, we know how screwed they are, especially with the Night King having a dragon here. But for the rest of the people. For the Lords of the North, for Sansa, for the common folk, they don’t see the reason that Jon bent the knee to Daenerys in the first place. Even if he noted that she risked her life for his, it likely wouldn’t have mattered. These are people rooted in their ways, which was seeded last year when Jon left and they started to get cold feet and think that maybe they should’ve supported Sansa instead. It’s going to be interesting to see how this continues in the last five episodes.

But well and truly, the best part of this episode, and the crux of this entire episode was that this was the time when a whole bunch of reunions were going to happen, and we got pretty much all of them. And a tease or two of ones to come.

First, and most importantly, we got to see Arya and Jon’s reunion, which was just as touching and cheerful as you might have hoped. Seeing them go from serious faces to downright beaming faces is something you rarely see in Game of Thrones, which made it all the better. And even when it got a bit dour via the Sansa situation, it was still worth it just to see them reunited.

One I was expecting, but didn’t go the way I expected, was Sansa and Tyrion. It was very evasive, and while I loved the jabs at Geoffrey, I was expecting more warmth from Sansa. And yet, that didn’t happen. But during the post-credits talk, I understood why she was that way. It wasn’t that she hated Tyrion, it was that she didn’t like that he was serving Daenerys, and that affected her.

A very fun two-for-one was Arya seeing both The Hound and Gendry. The former was quick, but poetic. While the second was fun, and flirty, and now I TOTALLY ship them. You know, if they both survive. And you KNOW that they’re going to do something special with Arya’s “Wish”.

And when the ones that were expected were pretty much out of the way, they went and did scenes we never knew we wanted. Like Davos speaking with both Tyrion and Varys in a very fun conversation (“I’m not that old”), or Daenerys and Jorah going to see Sam…and revealing that she killed his father and brother. That was a reverse of Jon/Arya’s scene, and it was very well handled.

As was the small section of scenes that were focused on Ceresi. We needed to know what she was doing, …or should I say…WHO…she was doing? *rimshot* It was perfectly Ceresi to hear her say “good” when she got the news of the Wall falling. And then giving Bronn gold and a promise of titles if she killed Tyrion AND Jaime! Wow…what a bi…you know what she is. But, she still knows how to play the game, which led to her being with Euron to show she is a woman of her word…for the most part.

Finally, we got THE reveal of Jon FINALLY finding out who he was, well and truly, and leave it to the showrunners to not only make it powerful, but to shoot it in a way that allows you to feel all of Jon’s emotion as he hears the news. Which means that either next episode, or the one after, Daenerys has to learn the truth, and it won’t be pretty…unlike their dragon-riding session…because that was very pretty…I’m just saying.

What’s that? Everything feels happy go lucky? The showrunners know better than that. Bringing the Night’s Watch and the Wildling parties together through that great scene at the Umber house was a haunting reminder of Winter being here…and in there time, only a few night’s away. For the record, I’m going to hear that kid’s scream for the rest of my life.

Oh…and as for Bran…yeah…that’s some “old friend” you waited on… Hello, Jaime.

So, what was wrong with the premiere? A few things to be honest. One, I didn’t like how Bran’s reveal of The Wall being down and the Night King having Daenerys’ dragon getting basically blinked away with a scared look from Dany. Sure, WE knew about it, and we know that time has passed since the event, but I was really wanting to see the fear and horror that her child had been born again as a slave to the Night King, there’s a powerful scene in there to be sure, and yet, we didn’t get it.

In contrast, the Theon rescue attempt of Yara was quick, simple, and to the point…and yet I feel it was too quick. Granted, he only had one group of men to rescue her, but there was little build-up to it, and the action was so quick and furious I didn’t realize it was Euron’s ship getting sacked until I saw Yara. And while I appreciate Theon paying one debt to his sister (via life saving and getting a headbutt), I wish they didn’t just rush him off to the North to pay off another debt. Though props to the showrunners for using Yara to get the Iron Islands back as a possible “safe haven”…though clearly they don’t know about the dragon…but whatever.

In the end, the season premiere of Game of Thrones Season 8 didn’t disappoint. It brought back all of our friends, allies, enemies, and gave us scenes that’ll leave us hungry for more. And as the previews show, next week, Winter is coming in some fashion. Likely they’ll do a cutoff just before the battle…but you never know.