Dragonstone

Season 7, episode 1. The Hound and Beric Dondarrion are aligned - both wonder why they are still alive, Beric talks Hound into looking into the fire to see what he can see. Cersei is trying to find allies - Jaime is there to help her. Arya pays a visit to all the Freys to remind them "The North Remembers". Daenerys, Tyrion and their fleet arrive in Westeros. Sam and Gilly are adapting to their new life in Oldtown - Sam discovers a Stannis must have been correct. The Night King is making his way south.

9/10

After being impressed by how impressive the sixth season of Game of Thrones was when it continued the character arcs for the surviving Stark and Lannister family members and the writing was as strong as the previous five seasons (despite one episode in season 5 that I considered to be my least favorite, Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken even though it was decent). Anyway, when I saw the first episode of the seventh season last summer in order to catch up with the series finale coming in 2019, it lived up to my expectations and it became a great start. The reason why I'm giving this a 9/10 is because the only quibble that I have with Dragonstone is that while it was great to see Ed Sheeran and the other song artists Will Champion, the drummer from Coldplay and Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol playing Lannister soldiers and sharing a scene with Maisie Williams, they only appeared for four minutes. I mean, after they sang that song together, I was expecting them to have more screen time in the seventh season, but sadly, they didn't. What a shame.

Anyway, the rest of the episode is solid. The storyline continues to be exquisite much like the previous six seasons and continues to up the ante with the relationships. Not only that, there are some great scenes that made it worthwhile to other viewers. Arya disguising herself as Walder Frey and having her revenge on the House of Frey for killing her mother Catelyn Stark and her brother Robb Stark by killing them, Sandor Clegane, who survived his wounds after the fourth and sixth seasons and having to atone for his old life of working with the House of Lannister, and Daenerys's dramatic homecoming to Dragonstone. Those sequences are amazing and another perfect example of well-paced and atmospheric filming which makes them on par with The Red Wedding, the Execution of Eddard Stark, the destruction of the Great Sept, and more. Ramin Djawadi continues to create more excellent music for his score for this season. It fitted the scenes really well as well as retaining the scale and scope of the production designs, which are still as gorgeous and before. The editing is sharp, the pacing didn't drag, and the acting continues to be strong with the best coming from Maisie Williams, Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, and Emilia Clarke.

Overall, Dragonstone delivered what it promised. It showed the characters trying to make an army to they can begin the war against the White Walkers while continuing the depth and development. This deserves a thumbs up from me. :)

Well, the longest wait in between seasons is finally over. Winter is here and Game of Thrones has returned. Much like most of the season premieres, 'Dragonstone' dealt with a lot of aftermath to last season's events, and a whole lot of set-up for this season. The one thing that separates this season from most is that it seems like the majority of the characters are actually beginning to realize the bigger threat at hand. That is, besides Cersei and Daenerys, they haven't gotten there just yet.

Ironically, that's part of what really excites me about this season, though. The inevitable battle for Westeros and battle of wit between Daenerys and Cersei, and how everyone else deals with the army of the dead. Nearly half of the scenes mentioned the Night King or his army in some way shape or form. Of course, Cersei chooses not to associate herself with any of that, even going as far as mentioning every other threat in Westeros besides the white walkers. However, her scene with Jaime was just as interesting anyway. You can tell how torn and worried Jaime is. You can only hope the best for him, even after everything he's been through. And what might this gift be that Euron is offering to give Cersei? It's hard to think of anything she'd want more than Tyrion's head at this point, but I hardly believe that will be the outcome. Instead, I think it will be something or someone we haven't seen in quite some time. I tend to believe that Gendry Baratheon theory the more and more I think about it.

In the North, we had a few important but predictable things happen. We had heard that there would still be some (unnecessary) tension between Sansa and Jon, well that was definitely the case. Isn't it about time Sansa trusts Jon's way of things? I get it, she's trying to warn Jon about being too honorable, something that got Robb and Ned killed. But there's something to be said for 2 family members on this show not arguing their way to an unpleasant death, am I right? Elsewhere at The Wall, Bran and Meera were let in after convincing Ed that he's the three-eyed raven and he knows everything. How long until Jon meets back up with Bran?

Speaking of Starks, perhaps the person with the most memorable moments of the episode was Arya's 'Red Wedding Redemption' at Riverrun. I can't believe I'm saying this, but if it took spending 2 seasons at The House of Black and White for Arya to produce great scene after great scene, then I think it was all worth it. A reverse Red Wedding was exactly the cold open we needed, once again proving that George RR Martin can be good to the Starks after all. I was a little bit surprised to not see her immediately kill those Lannister soldier's, but I guess it was done to show us that there's still a little bit left of innocent Arya in her.

There was a lot of Sam in this episode, perhaps too much. Check that, there was definitely too much screen time for Sam. It's not that I don't like his character, but I just don't see the reason behind wasting valuable time on something that could be sped by in a minute or two. He may have found the key to defeating the white walkers, and we found out Jorah isn't doing so well and spending time at the Citadel being partially taken care of by Sam himself. Cool to see Jorah, but man those scenes with Sam were crappy (for the most part). But, Seriously though.

The last few bits included The Hound finding his way back to the house him and Arya stayed in a few seasons back, and Daenerys finding her way home. Both very different 'homecomings', but both very emotionally resonant scenes nonetheless. There isn't necessarily a parallel to be drawn between the two, but it's very interesting to think about how far those 2 characters in particular have come since the opening episode of the series. I love seeing The Hound in a different light, one that's less bloody and far more forgiving, and Daenerys is certainly at her most powerful after reaching her home. And that was about it for a first episode. Certainly an impressive opening, albeit not as surprising as last year's Melisandre shocker. It's annoying to think we only have 6 more weeks of this, but it will have to do for now. I'm 100% sure that the rest of the season will be top-quality Thrones.

+Recap & set-up

+Daenerys reaches home

+Jaime is torn

+Arya's redemption

+The Hound's transformation

-Sam cleaning up crap

8.3/10

HBO continues to be the home of fantasy and action combined with thought- provoking drama. GoT Season 7 premieres with all the depth of Season 6's finale. Without spoiling the fun, "Dragonstone" doesn't just pick up where "Winds of Winter" left off, it amps up the intensity and brings a promise of another great season of GoT.

Most of our favorites get plenty of airtime, difficult considering the breadth of the series. As befitting a season premiere, we're given some surprising twists, reintroduced to some we've missed, and left ready for the next episode. In between, time flies... although the dragons wait a bit before appearing. But when they do appear, the title becomes both appropriate and poignant. The lack of deep dialogue provides a perfect background for the setting.

Couple of tips - wait for that snack, make sure you watch from the start (before the credits) until the end. Pay attention to small talk and detail, and remember that we're off the books now... for the most part, DB and DW have the reins with GRRM providing oversight!

Waiting for "Stormborn"...

Just out of this world awesome, has to be the best season premier of any show ever. Every second of this one hour episode was pure gold, everything from the writing, to the amazing acting, directing and effects.

HBO has done it again, this is the reason why Game of Thrones is the greatest show that has ever been. I have to also praise the score by Ramin Djawadi.

All and all, this episode made it official, that Game of Thrones is way way better than the books it's based on. Sorry George, but sometimes adaptations are just better. And this is one of those times.