Game of Thrones, Season 8 (spoilers allowed)

I kind of want to go back to all of the predictions about who are riding dragons. It was always treated as it would be some great revelation but tonight Jon riding the dragon was really played off as no big deal.

 

It was mostly played for humor and you're right, it was not as big a moment as expected. It made sense that he would ride a dragon and find out the truth about himself in the same episode.

 

So why did the Night King leave a Targaryen symbol as a warning (the same symbol one of the Walkers left in the first five minutes of the first episode)?

 

I'm trying to decide if the white-walker crop circle things are going to be something important, of if decorating is just what the white walkers do. Otherwise, here's to poor Ned Umber, who died one of the creepiest deaths of the series thus far.

Otherwise: Yeah - it was the typical first episode for any season - "Here's where everyone is, and here's the thing this individual will be dealing with for the next several episodes."

Everyone on Team Breathing seems to hate each other, which is ominous ...

 

Damn forgot to round out the list (if I still may. No worries if it's too late)

Yara D
Theon A
Hot Pie A
Beric D
Daario A
Drogon A
Rheagal D
Dolorus Edd D

 

No deaths to report from last night, because little Ned wasn't on our list.

If you had Dany sitting on the Iron Throne at the end of the show, though, I think your chances took a small hit.

 

If you think back, the scene with the White Walkers in the very first episode ended with their making the spiral symbol out of body parts. That has to be meaningful in a way we don't understand yet. The kid pinned to the wall made me jump-scare hard.

We knew that they'd have to do a whole lot of set up to gather all the threads and remind some of us who was who. They got a lot of the reunions over with. Covered a whole lot of ground fast and still delivered some content. Loved the Jon and Dany dragon flying, it gave them a non-sexual binding moment before it all drops in the pot. Migod, the CGI on those dragons. Drogon giving Jon the staredown as he hugs Dany was awesome.

Probably the most obvious glossover of something that should have been far more involved was Theon freeing Yara. He frees her from the flagship in the middle of his uncle's fleet with six or eight arrows in thirty seconds? My willing suspension of disbelief was saying "Oh, HELL no!"

I suspect that we get the Battle of Winterfell next week, but I think it will spread over the next two episodes. Next week desperate preparation, battle. Following week, finish battle, aftermath and some mystic followup, plus the start of the various political maneuvering. Hard to believe that they dispense with the zombie army threat that quickly though, that may linger.

Edit - that may be rushing things. They may hold the battle for ep 3, do more political/relationship setup and maneuvering in ep 2, battle all of 3, fallout and reset in 4. Shrug. Who knows?

 

Friend of mine put this up last night before live tweeting GoT. That's her in the video, complete with a little UAB dragon on her arm.

 

They did rush through the rescue of Yara, but I don't mind. I simply don't care enough to get bogged down in that story.

The dragons definitely showed some personality during that scene with Jon and Dany, which was a nice nod to the idea of them being very intelligent creatures.

If you looked closely, you could see that little Ned Umber's eyes had opened and they were bright blue right before he started making noise.

 

I understand that they are under huge time constraints. It's just why bother with that whole subplot if you are going to pay it off that briefly? You see these images of a hundred ships spread all over and expect people to believe that Theon and a dozen men got in a rowboat, sneaked into the middle of them and pulled off the Great Escape and no one even noticed?

Drogon with the gimlet eye and the derisive snort was just great. The effects on those dragons are just amazing.

I'll have to watch for Ned on the replay. I was distracted by dialogue and missed that. I did wonder at the time if the Night King is aware of what he saw and heard somehow.

Can't wait for Sansa's "I told you so" look at Tyrion when Jaime tells they that Cersei is not sending her army. That "I used to think you were the cleverest man alive" line was dead solid perfect as it was, add that info to it and hooboy.

It looks to me like they've had Tryion make a long series of bad calls. I wonder where that goes, if he redeems himself.

I don't for a second buy that Bronn is going to try to kill Jaime and Tyrion, but it gets him to the North for the big battle, I suspect. After years of it takes forever to get somewhere, now people all but teleport across seas and continents.

 

Right before he began screeching, I was actually thinking “Huh, are his eyes open? I didn’t think they were open befo.... AAAARGH!” Damn near befouled myself.

 

I was sitting there waiting for it. The way they were standing near him, and with him not being dismembered and all, I figured he had to be a Walker. Then my wife went, "Um, his eyes are open."