Here it is– the actual beginning of the end. I think I was almost numb to it… In the months leading up to this final season, I put all things Thrones out of my mind in order to stave off the anticipation, the anxiety and the excitement.
As soon as the opening theme hit, however, I was plunged into all the standard feelings one might expect going into the episode: dread, melancholy, and a slight glimmer of hope…
Without delving into any spoilers at all, the first episode of Game of Thrones‘ Season 8 was a typical season opener for this series. It has a lot of set-up, a lot of conversation, and a fair bit of reunions that we have been clamoring over for several seasons now; some of them going quite well, and others leaving the viewer, well, me at least, a little flat.
I have faith that the relationships that we’ve come to love alongside these characters will pay off, and this was only the first episode with a ton of content that has to be covered over the next five episodes. Some things might not get the development we’d hope for.
The episode is slow, but that’s not to say nothing happens. As Gandalf from Lord of the Rings says, “it is the deep breath before the plunge”.
There’s plenty of stuff going on, mostly character interactions setting the stage for how these people are going to interact down the stretch, and how that will impact the coming events.
In the end, the long-awaited Season 8 premiere is a solid episode, though nothing earth-shattering and nothing we didn’t already know.
Yet the end of the episode was a damn fine reminder as to what series we are watching… Sheesh! 4/5 Snow Covered Bibles.
-Dan Witt