Game of Thrones Season 8 Review Part 2: "Winterfell"

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones

The episode begins in the Stark castle of Winterfell, with House Stark awaiting the arrival of Queen Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, the latter of whom is their bastard brother and the second King in the North. The scene is an obvious parallel to the time King Robert Baratheon visited Winterfell at the start of the series. However, this time, there are only four surviving Starks, after Ned's beheading, Robb and Catelyn being murdered at the Red Wedding, and Rickon being killed by Ramsay Bolton's men.

Tyrion Lannister and Varys, two individuals who ended up siding with Daenerys, are in a carriage together. Tyrion, jokes about how Varys the eunuch' severed testicles won't freeze, and after Varys calls him out on making eunuch jokes despite being offended by dwarf jokes, makes one of the most cringeworthy lines of the season, "Because I have balls and you don't." As the first dialogue of the season, this gives us some idea of what to expect.

Jon introduces Daenerys to Sansa, and the two exchange pleasantries, but Bran says they don't have time for that. Using his omniscience, he learned that the Night King has turned Daenerys' dragon Viserion into a wight, used the undead dragon to destroy the Wall and is preparing to march south.

Jon, Sansa and Daenerys hold a strategy meeting with the northern lords, who are busy preparing for the war. Unfortunately, many of the lords, such as Lyanna Stark, are displeased with Daenerys' presence, as well as Jon's decision to bend the knee to her. Jon defends his decision by asserting that he gave up his crown to gain the allies to protect the North, and Tyrion backs him up by pointing out that they have two dragons and the Lannisters, unaware that Cersei has reneged on her promise to support him, making his foolish expedition north of the wall last season for naught.

Sansa complains that while she has enough food for winter, she didn't account for the new wave of reinforcements. She asks what dragons eat, and Daenerys replies, "Whatever they want," resulting in the two women exchanging cold stares. While Game of Thrones often has characters exchange threats or insults through subtext in their dialogue, here, it's particularly clumsy and causes Daenerys to seem like a smart aleck when giving this reply to what is (at least textually) a legitimate question.

Gendry oversees the wagons unloading the dragonglass, which he intends to use to forge weapons. Meanwhile, Tyrion greets Sansa, whom he hasn't seen since Joffrey's wedding. Sansa apologizes for leaving Tyrion behind to take the blame, while Tyrion is impressed with how far Sansa has come. Tyrion tries to reassure Sansa about the Lannisters coming north, but Sansa instead chides Tyrion for believing Cersei. Tyrion claims that Cersei has something to live for now- her unborn child- but Sansa isn't impressed.

Meanwhile, in the Godswood, Jon and Arya have a heartwarming reunion for the first time since Jon gifted Arya her sword.

In King's Landing, Qyburn informs Cersei that the dead have broken through the wall, and Cersei, hoping that the dead will kill her enemies in the north but not knowing what to do with them afterwards, is pleased. One recurring aspect the series struggled with was conveying how large Westeros and Essos are. In early seasons, it's clear that months can pass between episodes, and it often takes that long for news to travel, but over time, characters began to move around Westeros at unbelievable speed. Obviously, a single rider can travel more quickly than an army, and a raven can fly more quickly than either, but that doesn't justify how quickly Daenerys flew north of the wall at the end of the previous season. House of the Dragon not only is better about showing the passage of time, but also makes it clear how much time has passed, with usually at least one line per episode referencing the previous episode and how long ago it was.

Elsewhere, Euron Greyjoy has his niece Yara as a prisoner aboard his ship, and notes he keeps her around because otherwise, he'd have no one to talk to.

In the throne room of the Red Keep, Euron and Harry Strickland of the Golden Company report to Cersei about her reinforcements, which unfortunately do not include the elephants she hoped for. Meanwhile, Euron continues to make advances on Cersei, but Ser Robert Strong (aka Ser Gregor Clegane) discourages him from pushing his luck too far.

Elsewhere in King's Landing, Bronn is having sex with prostitutes and recalling the battles he fought in during the previous season, in which dragons wreaked havoc on the Lannister forces, when Qyburn interrupts. One of the girls tries to hit on him, but Qyburn, with just a glance, notes that she'll be dead of the pox within the year.

Qyburn tells about how Jaime and Tyrion made promises to Bronn and broke them, and while Bronn accuses Cersei of denying him the castle he was promised, Qyburn blames Jaime. Qyburn, however, has an advance payment for Jaime, and while Bronn correctly guesses it's for an assassination, he's wrong about Daenerys being the target. Cersei wants Bronn to kill Jaime and Tyrion using the same crossbow Tyrion used to kill their father Tywin Lannister.

You might notice that despite being on the same side for much of the show and in close proximity to one another, Cersesi and Bronn don't directly interact. Apparently, Lena Headey(Cersei) and Jerome Flynn(Bronn) had been in a bad breakup prior to the show, and rumor has it that they made it so they would not have to shoot scenes together. Flynn, however, denied those rumors.

Euron asks about how he compares to the others who shared Cersei's bed, and while Cersei doesn't mind people speaking ill of Robert, talking the same way about Jaime is a sore spot for her. Euron promises to give Cersei a prince.

Unsurprisingly, many book readers are rather disappointed with Euron, who in the books was a warlock who wielded dark magic, could possibly control dragons and apparently owned a suit of Valyrian steel armor, making him a strong candidate for main antagonist of the series. In the show, however, he's a mere Ironborn pirate whose successes seem to be due to luck and plot armor more than anything else.

Theon Greyjoy saves his sister Yara, who, still bitter over his refusal of her rescue attempt, headbutts him. She goes to retake the Iron Islands, while he heads to Winterfell to fight with the Starks against the dead.

At Winterfell, allies are arriving, including houses like the Karstarks who fought with the Boltons in Season 6. Davos is concerned, noting that many of the newcomers are loyal to Jon but suspicious of Daenerys. Davos suggests that Jon and Daenerys marry to unite the Seven Kingdoms. He, Tyrion and Varys, all "old men," look down on the young couple and wonder what they'll do.

Daenerys observes that Sansa dislikes her, but Jon counters that Sansa doesn't know Daenerys and disliked Jon growing up. Daenerys states that she doesn't need Sansa to like her, but she expects her to obey her queen.

Some of Daenerys' men tell her that the dragons are barely eating, and only ate a few livestock. Daenerys and Jon go to Drogon and Viserion, along with the charred remains of their most recent meals(which makes it hard to tell whether they actually ate them). Jon goes riding on a dragon, and finds he enjoys it once he gets used to it.

Back in Winterfell, Arya meets up with Gendry again, who's busy making weapons out of dragonglass, and makes one for her. Sansa is furious that Lord Glover has withdrawn to Deepwood Motte, since he only agreed to stand beside the King in the North, and Jon has renounced his title. Jon insists that they can't win without Daenerys' forces, but while Sansa trusts Jon, she doesn't trust Daenerys.

Jon introduces Daenerys to Sam. Daenerys is pleased to meet Sam, who saved Jorah's life, but Jon is troubled to learn that Daenerys killed Sam's father and younger brother. Sam's father was a horrible person who threatened to have Sam killed in a "hunting accident" if he didn't join the Night's Watch, thereby renouncing his inheritance and serving in a dangerous and miserable role for the rest of his days, but that doesn't help matters for Sam. Sam tries to keep his composure and politely excuses himself.

Sam has a conversation with Jon, who was unaware of what Daenerys did to the Tarlys. Jon points out that he's executed men for disobedience- Janos Slynt for insubordination and the four mutineers who killed Jon- but Sam points out that Jon also spared thousands of wildlings despite the fact that they refused to bend the knee to him. Jon insists that he wasn't a king at a time, and when Sam says he still is. In fact, Sam isn't talking about King in the North, but "the bloody Seven Kingdoms."

Sam then reveals that Jon is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, making him the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, and more infamously, his new lover Daenerys' nephew. Jon is horrified that Ned Stark, his "father," lied to him all his life, but Sam points out that Robert would have murdered Jon if he'd known, due to Robert's hatred of the Targaryens. Considering that Ned lied and claimed responsibility for Catelyn's abduction of Tyrion to protect her, Ned is clearly not above telling lies for the greater good, so it's not hard to see him willing to allow his wife to consider him an adulterer to protect Jon. After all, it's safer for Jon to be a bastard than a Targaryen.

Despite knowing of his birthright, Jon insists that Daenerys has a claim to the throne, saying, "Daenerys is our queen," a bit of dialogue he repeats like a broken record and is shown as evidence of the script's declining quality. Sam then reminds Jon that he gave up his crown for the kingdom and asks if Daenerys would have done the same.

Further north, Dolorous Edd and Tormund Giantsbane find the dead(and soon undead) Ned Umber and realize that the army of the dead will be upon them shortly.

Back in King's Landing, Jaime Lannister arrives in Winterfell, and shortly after removing his hood, comes face to face with Bran, the boy he pushed out a window at the beginning of the series. The episode then ends.

Review

On its own, "Winterfell" isn't that bad, although the dialogue and other storytelling is notably inferior to the first half of the show. The main problem is that there are only five episodes to go and this episode, by establishing new character relationships and continuing ongoing plotlines, makes it less likely that things will be resolved in a timely and satisfying manner.

One thing I liked about this episode is that it shows how far the surviving Starks have come. Jon has gone from being a lowly bastard boy to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and King in the North. Sansa has gone from a naive and spoiled girl to a capable leader in her own right. Arya, formerly a tomboy who prefers archery practice to sewing, has become a killer who has taken vengeance on her foes. Bran, whose crippling shattered his dreams of being a knight, has unlocked many of Westeros' secrets. Of course, their actual character arcs aren't handled this smoothly, but I can at least appreciate what the writers were going for.

As such, I give this episode two melted Iron Thrones out of five.