Game of Thrones Season 8 first-look review of episode 1: Unsettling violence but plenty of one-liners
The voice of Sansa Stark, filled New York’s Radio City Music Hall last night along with 6,000 eager invitees. “Welcome to the beginning of the end.”
Outside, a giant Iron Throne sat in the spot more often occupied by Rockefeller Plaza’s iconic Christmas tree, while inside the auditorium, attendees were warned by the actress Sophie Turner of the penalties of recording, taking pictures or leaking plot spoilers of this, the premiere of the first episode of the final season.
“Remember what happened to the last person that f----- with us,” chimed in the voice of her co-star Maisie Williams, aka the trained assassin, Arya Stark.
After seven seasons, 67 episodes and 47 Emmy awards – a record for any scripted show in television history (it also holds the record for the most expensive pilot episode ever) – the wildly popular, critically acclaimed epic fantasy Game of Thrones, is finally bidding farewell.
And its creators David Bennioff and DB Weiss have wasted no time in getting straight down to business, with a season premiere packed with big plot point moments.
Directed by GoT regular David Nutter, the episode, as yet officially unnamed, is heavy focussed around reunions – many of them familial and long-awaited, between fond siblings (“all Arya has really thought about for a long time is reuniting with Jon Snow again”, said Williams on the red carpet) – others less so; the most unsuited of former wives and husbands are also flung together again, along with a would-be murderer and his seriously damaged would-be victim.
The show is based on the series of books A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin.“The allegory that I don’t think even George realised he was writing until recently was that, for seven seasons, you’ve got people vying for power, and suddenly, they have to come together and collaborate in order to save the planet,” said Jerome Flynn, who plays the sarcastic sellsword Bronn. “I think that’s coming from somewhere deep in his subconscious – that the most popular show on the planet contains that metaphor.”
Unlike some season openers in years gone by, this eighth premiere contains no epic battles or large-scale set pieces, but what violence there is, is dark, brutal and unsettling. That’s balanced out, however, by a noticeably lighter, more humorous tone, with plenty of witty one-liners.
Collaboration is also a key theme. In previous seasons, the competing houses were spread out across Westeros, waging wars on one another in a bid to expand their empires. As season seven set up, however, many of Westeros’ key players are now heading north – to fight together against the White Walkers, who are advancing on the kingdom in colossal numbers.
Danaerys Targaryan (Emilia Clarke) soon learns what the audience already knows from last season too – that the wall has been ruptured, and one of her dragons killed and conscripted into the army of the dead by the Night King.
But that’s not Danaerys’s only challenge. Fans of the show will know that her relationship with Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) was taken to the next level in the season seven finale. But now she’s on his home turf. With his snide, sniffy sisters (“women supporting women” is not, it seems, a motto that has yet reached Westeros), and a population of frosty locals. Not that the chilly welcome appears to be cooling Danaerys and Jon’s PDAs, or stopping them scampering off for romantic dragon rides.
There are plenty more new and surprisingly collaborations too – some merely political, others carnal, with, no doubt, an eventual eye to the political. But Cersei Lannister is one notable omission from the convoys heading north, remaining at King’s Landing – constantly scheming, and apparently, not letting her bed get cold in Jaime’s absence.
The premiere also served as an off-screen reunion too, as former stars of the series including Sean Bean (Ned Stark), Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo), Mark Addy (Robert Baratheon) and Rose Leslie (Ygrette) showed up to join their former colleagues – plus Martin himself, in a rare appearance – on the red carpet.
Leslie’s husband, Harington, whom she married last summer, had to leave the premiere early, however, to dash to his nearby rehearsal for Saturday Night Live – the actor is hosting the high-profile comedy show this coming weekend. Other non-cast members at the premiere and post-screening party included actors Ethan Hawke and Sarah Paulson, singer Debbie Harry, and Momoa’s wife, the actress Lisa Bonet.
The burning question, of course, regards the weighty secret fans have been carrying around since the summer of 2017: when will Jon Snow learn of his real parentage? “It’s a huge bit of information that’s obviously going to cause some friction, and make for some very compelling TV,” said Isaac Hempstead Wright.
As Bran Stark, his all-seeing abilities threw up season seven’s biggest plot twist – that Danaerys is actually Jon’s aunt, and, as the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, he is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
Rest assured it won’t be a secret much longer.
But who – if anyone – will finally claim the throne remains very much an open field. “I was worried about how the guys were going to wrap it up – that’s a high-pressure gig, and you’re never going to keep everyone happy,” said Flynn.
“But I was really relieved when I read it – they have done an amazing job. It’s deeply moving, it’s shocking, and it also makes sense, in some bizarre way.”
