If you have not watched the episode yet, I would stop reading if I were you. This is really a piece meant to read after you’ve watched “Winterfell”. It is full of spoilers, so be warned. Now with that out of the way, I am beyond excited for this season to be here. But first, maybe I should give you a little backstory on my life with Game of Thrones over the past 598 days.

I didn’t watch season seven when it aired. My best friend passed away 34 minutes prior to 9pm EST on July 16, 2017. As a result, I understandably did not watch that first episode. The following week, I was just trying to stay in a condition that resembled not crying, so I didn’t watch. And each week after that I didn’t watch. It snowballed and before I knew it, the season was over.

I managed to stay spoiler free even though I heard snippets of overarching plots for ten months! Then I decided I needed to watch season seven before I went to Con of Thrones. As a result, this past year of waiting for the new season has not been as hard for me as I know it has for other fans. My two year wait was unplanned and paid no attention to and therefore I didn’t feel it.

As I sat down last Sunday, with my glass of wine, and the bottle there for refills, lights off, blanket on, the other cats gathering around me, I couldn’t help but be a little sad and a whole lot of excitement: Season 8 was finally here. And I enjoyed every minute of the episode, though admittedly more than others. Keep reading to get a glimpse as to what is which.

Akash Singh did a fantastic recap of the first episode so check it out. This is not a recap, although you will be able to follow the episode along with my notes, and what follows is more reactions to and thoughts on the episode. Let me know what you think, enjoy! – Olivia

Hints and Clues in the New Introduction

We knew Game of Thrones‘ final season would be full of changes – and season 8 starts with a brand new opening title sequence! We start North of the Wall in the opening credits and move our way south, unlike the credits of seasons one through seven. White tiles flip over and become an icy blue wave as we move, indicating the White Walkers moving south. We also see Last Hearth and the tiles flip over around it – I am only catching this now on my rewatch but it should have been a warning for us that sending young Lord Umber back home for his people was a bad idea. Then we move on to Winterfell. 

This is where the credits really start to differ from other seasons, in more than just looks. Instead of traveling outside and around the buildings and seeing them build up, we move through the gates as they are built and then move inside Winterfell, into the great hall. I’ll discuss this more when I get to my “Sansa, Lady of Winterfell, Queen in the North, and Protector of the Living” piece, however, I think it is very important that we are seeing time inside. It likely means that politics – in less of when-you-play-the-game-of-thrones way – will be just as important as the places this season – and it also likely foreshadows Sansa’s importance. We also see the inside of the crypts. Fans of the books and the show know that important things happen down there. King Robert asks Ned to be hand of the King, Sansa and Arya reunite, et cetera. Spoiler: Like with Last Hearth, we should be unsurprised that Jon Snow learns that he is really Aegon Targaryen VI, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, down in the crypts.

I find it interesting that when we jump down to King’s Landing, we go through the gates and see the expanse of the city before we go into the Red Keep and the Throne room. Nothing major happens in Westeros’ capital in this first episode but I suspect that the city’s population becomes important at some point: a fighting force for either the dead or the living? It is mentioned multiple times this episode that there are more than a million people living in the capital. When you combine the two, this is potentially a big “hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge”. I have not come to a conclusion yet as to what it means that we see the dungeon/deep, dark parts of the Red Keep where the dragon skulls are kept before we get to the Throne Room. I mean, we even see a dragon skull. It means something! Aaaaand… That’s it! That’s all we see in the new intro. Three locations (well four if you count passing through the wall where the Viseryon blew it to pieces), two dungeons/crypts, and two places of policy and kingdom decision-making.

[nextpage title=”Thoughts on the Rewatch”]

I find it really interesting that the Hound has made an allegiance with Daenerys. Perhaps I missed something in season seven, but I don’t recall him having a reason for going south with Jon and Daenerys to King’s Landing, other than to help with the wight they brought as proof of the undead threat. This path for him sets him up for #CleganeBowl2K19 and the Arya reunion we get in this episode. On the flip side of the coin, it makes sense that Gendry has allied with Daenerys via Jon Snow because his true allegiance is to Ser Davos (who is currently not Hand of the King to the Not King in the North?).

I’m glad to see that the Dothraki are warming up to their outfits but man, the Unsullied cannot be warm in their thin leather armor. I know they are trained for anything and can have nipples sliced off without reacting, but in Essos, they really didn’t have the ability to desensitize them to the cold. This could very well become a problem for the Unsullied in the future.

There was also a racially charged vibe from the northern villagers looking at Missandei and Grey Worm, and at Missandei’s facial expression in return. Is it just because they’re a foreign army coming ‘uninvited’ to the North? Or is there really some prejudice against those of different skin tones?

I have a couple of notes about the dragons in this opening scene. Jon says “I warned you, Northerners don’t like outsiders.” Then the dragons come, and pretty much everyone (except Arya who stands there and says “cool” with her face) starts running and Daenerys smirks. This smile I take as initially being happy to see her dragons but then it turns into satisfaction that the Northerners are afraid of her dragons, meaning they’re afraid of her. That’s Dark Dany in the making. Please be advised that I use Dark Dany and not Evil Dany because she always has good intentions but often bad actions – but that is a whole other piece I could write and probably will at some point.

And despite what the internet says, I do not think that Sansa is afraid of the dragons. She has a similar look on her face as Arya, but less “that’s awesome” and more “holy shit that’s a real life dragon.” Imma be honest with you, if a dragon goes flying over my head, I’m going to have a similar reaction. But at the end of the shot, she looks resigned. To me this means she realizes the implications of dragons being present in the North. Daenerys has the power here even though it is not her territory.

Ladies and gentlemen and non-binaries of That Shelf, I want to say I TOLD YOU SO. In my predictions piece a few weeks back I said that Arya would jump in Jon’s arms when they reunited and for a moment she’d be a little girl again and not a bad ass assassin. And that is the payoff we received! I’m gloating and will be gloating until Sunday at 21:00 EST. Thank you very much, I know, I know thank you.

People have been focusing on the verbal exchange between Sansa and Daenerys, “What do dragons eat anyways?”/“Whatever they want.”, as sparing words between the two women. But it’s a valid question and a valid answer. It is the look that Daenerys gives Sansa that is provoking.

Euron’s wittiness from last season is gone. This season and I find him irksome and gross. I wait for his scenes to end at this point.

“If you want a whore, buy one. If you want a queen, earn her.” Yet another valuable lesson we can learn from Cersei. These are powerful words that anyone, not just women, can learn from. However, this sentiment is sadly undone seconds later when she caves to Euron’s peer pressure.

I am really annoyed with where we are at this point in this show and naked women. They are beautiful, yes. But if we’re going to get boobs and ass, can we not get Bronn’s ass and a little bit more as well? I wouldn’t have an issue with the nudity if it were equal, but it’s not.

I really think that Cersei lost the baby she told Tyrion and Jaime she had. For one, she’s drinking wine and for another, after Euron tells her he wants to give her a son and leaves the room, she has tears in her eyes. Maggy the Frog told her that she would have three children. I am taking this to meant that she cannot have any more and it is making her sad and mad – in a crazy sense of the word.

It makes so much sense for Yara to prepare the Iron Islands for Daenerys if/when both Winterfell and King’s Landing fall to the dead. Also, what poetic justice it would be since the mainlanders continuously shit on and make fun of the Iron Islands that it ends up being the one place in Westeros where they are safe (along with other islands such as Tarth).

Does anybody’s head get cold? Especially Varys! Man, I’m freezing just watching them walk around without hats on.

Somewhere a while ago I predicted that Gendry would become master of arms or head blacksmith, or whatever the proper title is, of Winterfell. And he is! Of course he is. He took over the smithy in King’s Landing, the next step is running a small city like Winterfell!

I’m not sure I understand why people can’t understand why Sam is upset over his father being executed aka burned alive. At the same time, Daenerys telling Sam about his father and brother was probably the smartest thing she’s done in a long time and the smartest thing she’s done while in the North.

Is that old friend that Bran is waiting for, Jamie? Is Jaime going to some how become important to Bran – perhaps sacrifice himself for him or even save him?

The Umber kid’s wight scream is straight out of nightmares.

[nextpage title=”Comic Relief”]

Is it just me or was there an excessive amount of comedic moments in this episode? I don’t remember ever laughing so much during Game of Thrones. Because I’m writing this article, I am deciding that I am going to list out the occurrences of these moments. Note: I am aware that I have an odd sense of humor.

• Tyrion + Varys in their carriage: first, they are the only ones who seem to be in a carriage. It makes sense for Tyrion but as far as I know Varys is capable of riding a horse. Or is he just stylish enough to warrant sitting and being warm. Also, I did find this eunuch joke pretty funny because it wasn’t funny at all.

• Bran is less funny and more just tactless. “We don’t have time for this.”

• Lord Umber. Oh Lord Umber. The shot sees a bunch of hardened men and then the little boy pops forward and stagers to his feet. And his adorable addresses, “My Lady, my Lord, and my Queen. sorry.” So sweet.

• “Last time we spoke, we were at Joffrey’s wedding. Miserable affair.” Tyrion comments. “It had its moments.” Sansa replies. Tyrion looks up at her in almost disbelief.

• This is going to get repetitious but Bran. Just Bran chilling out there in his rolling chair getting people’s attention at the right moment to make them think that he heard the entire conversation and disapproves. (It’s not a stretch, he probably has heard the conversation.)

• So many meme’s from this moment. Cersei and her Elephants.

• The three whores making Bronn’s life miserable right as he’s trying to have a good time. I found this refreshing – them taking back control over men even if it’s subtle and accidental in writing.

• For some odd reason, I found Yara head butting Theon very, very funny. I mean, laugh out loud, almost spill my Moscato, scare the cats off my lap, funny.

• In general, Varys, Tyrion, and Davos make a humorous trio. Especially when discussing their ages.

• Mounting the dragon:

“Go On.”

“I don’t know how to ride one.”

“No body does until they ride a dragon.”

“What if he doesn’t want me to?”

“Then I’ve enjoyed your company, Jon Snow.”

Jon mounting the dragon is just stupid awkward and chuckle cute.

“What do I hold on to?”

“Whatever you can.”

I find this scene to be a definition of comic relief. It is also critical to the story (since Jon is a Targaryen and therefore being a seeker is in his blood like his father James Potter – oh sorry, I mean riding dragons is in his blood just like it is for Daenerys.)

• Rhaegal and Drogon keeping an eye on mommy.

• Drogon’s “I’m watching you, always watching you” face.

• Arya and Gendry: I find it embarrassing funny and I hope their not-flirting flirting continues. Not because I ship them, but ship their friendship and their playfulness.

• “As you wish m’lady”: It’s not really comedic but I suppose the entire scene is light hearted and mildly comedic. Doesn’t his just warm your heart? 

• Samwell Tarly asking for a pardon for stealing books and a sword. What a sweetie.

• Who the hell keeps pushing Bran around?!

• When Beric Dondarrion goes into the dark Keep before Tormund and he shakes his head thinking, “that mother fucker is cray cray”.

• Not to mention the classic: “Stay back, he’s got blue eyes!”/“I’ve always got blue eyes!” Gotta love Ed and Tormund.

• But seriously, has Bran been sitting there in the courtyard the whole time, waiting?

Okay, so on rewatching I didn’t find things as funny as the first time around. But nineteen moments is still quite a few. Let me know if I’m wrong or missed any that you think should have been included!