When it comes to the "highly anticipated" American drama, only "Game of Thrones" is qualified... Yesterday, I (we) witnessed how crazy the return of this show's final season will be. Today, we Let’s take a closer look at the first episode.
There are only three locations in this episode. Except for King's Landing and the Last Hearth City, most of the stories take place on the main stage of Winterfell. Considering that it is the first episode of the opening, the greater significance of this episode lies in the connection, foreshadowing and transition, the amount of information At the same time, it also quickly prepared for the next run-in and "life-and-death battle".
(Before reading this article, it is recommended to look at the "Clue Sorting" post I wrote yesterday. " Game of Thrones" S8E1 Clue Sorting: The reunion that I can't get tired of watching and the "hard" Boron , the "emotional" content is more There, the following will be relatively more rational, such as never mentioning the plot of a certain two people falling in love.)
Winterfell-Assembly
The episode opens with Daenerys and Jon riding together , leading the Legion of the Unsullied and the (not directly) Dothraki to Winterfell.
Daenerys can be said to be obedient to Jon now. In order to "express sincerity and win the trust of the northerners", she first arrived in the north by boat, and now she rode into the city, knowing that she could have been riding a dragon to "demonstrate" - even if In this way, the people of the North still generally ignore/hostile her, so it is necessary for Drogon and Rhaegal to fly over the city to give her a proper shock.
The S8E1 has many scenes that pay tribute to the S1E1 , such as the excited unknown boy, the missing Arya, the meeting of relatives, the narrow road between friends, etc., which are not listed.
Bran interrupted everyone's reunion greetings very "stunningly", and broadcast the latest news of the dead army, everyone must make corresponding arrangements immediately.
After the White Walkers broke through the Great Wall, the Stark family's strategy was to "harden the walls and clear the fields", so that all vassals retreated to Winterfell, not only to leave no potential soldiers for the Dead Legion, but also to concentrate on fighting the enemy . The migration has not yet been completed. People who work need to hurry up, like the Amber family.
Here, the Stark family obviously made a very serious mistake (at least no reasonable explanation was given in the play): the "Last Hearth City" where the Amber family is located, as the city closest to the Great Wall of Desolation in the North, theoretically at any time. It may be attacked by the dead army, but now everyone is still carrying out the transfer work as usual, at least the hat of "misestimating the progress of the enemy's march" cannot be taken off.
At the same time, Jon also sent a letter asking the Night's Watch to abandon the castle and retreat to Winterfell as well.
This is not difficult to understand. After all, the biggest reliance of the Great Wall of Despair is the magical high wall. The East China Sea has been broken, and other fortresses such as Castle Black and Shadow Tower are meaningless to garrison.
But the most important problem at the moment is not to fight against the White Walkers, but that Winterfell can't even "unite together" , because most people in the north have no good feelings for Targaryen, and have always dared to think and say "little bear." Female" Lyanna pointed this out sharply.
Nominally, Jon is still the "King of the North" when he returns to Winterfell, but he is now "hooked" with Daenerys Targaryen, and no matter what, he can't convince the public.
Jon is very contradictory. From an emotional point of view, he is not too unfamiliar with the title of "King of the North", but practically speaking, he desperately needs power to unite people and achieve alliances... At the critical moment, it is still Tilly Ang jumped out to help him out.
What Tyrion said was actually the same theory of " seeking common ground while reserving differences ", not to mention that there was even worse news for the people of the north - the Lannister army would also come to help.
When everyone was talking about the big truth, Sansa said the most practical problem : there are powerful allies, but with so many new troops, they are still eating the reserves of Winterfell and the entire North, not to mention the two dragons. now...
Apart from the secret rivalry with Daenerys, what Sansa is worried about is the real crisis of Winterfell. As early as the seventh season, she, as the acting city lord, has been supervising the harvesting of grain and preparing for the winter, and now it is difficult to prepare. That's enough, it's only for the vast and sparsely populated North, with so many new allies, they will soon be eaten up.
Sansa didn't take the Lannister army into account when she said this - because she believed that Cersei would never contribute to the "community of human destiny".
Compared with the reunion of others, the reunion of Sansa and Tyrion, the "nominal couple", is much more bland...Tyrion is also miserable, Sansa, Cersei and others have become " Smart and clever", to a certain extent, at the expense of the "mediocre" of Tyrion, Baelish and others.
King's Landing - Breakthrough
Euron came to King's Landing with the Golden Company as promised, and he always took Yara by his side, "Because we are the only two people in the Greyjoy family who still have seeds. Without each other, it would be so lonely."
Not to mention Euron's rants and Yara's cynicism, Euron obviously doesn't care about the "Cersei must lose theory", his goals are only "the last queen" and "conquer the seven kingdoms" . For him without loyalty, whether or not Cersei wins the war is just an "adjustment step".
This time the Golden Group brought 20,000 people and 2,000 horses, so Cersei naturally wanted to offer Captain Strickland as a treasure.
After the last season of "Rage", the Lannister army suffered great losses . Under the premise of being unable to rely on other lords, the 20,000 horses of the Golden Group are the biggest capital for the Iron Throne to dare to challenge others - as long as the Golden Group True and faithful words as they say.
Euron once again made the wrong idea, and Cersei was going to use the old way to prevaricate him, but this time it didn't work.
Cersei lost James at this time, and only the weak Prime Minister Cobain and the brainless "Biochemical Demon Mountain" were left. There was no one to check and balance Euron, so it was not the way to "hang" him all the time . You can't just tell the horses to run without giving them grazing, and think twice about feeding them to the sea monsters.
Cersei didn't see the elephant she was thinking of, Euron made up for her with his "elephant"...
Euron never concealed his stubborn words and inflated ambitions . Now that the "queen" has succeeded, it is time to attack the "heir to the throne".
On the one hand, Cersei was playing fake Tai Chi with Euron, and on the other hand, she was preparing to kill two younger brothers who betrayed her. She was short of "talents", so she thought of the "easy-to-use" Bronn - the lion How deep is the family's obsession with the crossbow, and Bronn's complaints are still so sharp.
But I strongly doubt Cersei's motives for this move. It's not that she doesn't know about Bronn's relationship with Tyrion and Jaime, and now it's too simple to treat him as a downright "mercenary sergeant". How rude?
Theon, who "raised up" at the end of last season, finally became a man. While Euron was enjoying himself in the Red Fort, he led someone to secretly attack the Iron Fleet. rescued.
For the next arrangement, the two little sea monsters have different ideas: Yara is going to take back her hometown while the Iron Islands are empty. If Daenerys and the others are defeated in the north, then they will at least have a way to retreat, and they will have a better way. The near "second line of defense", the premise of the success of this foreshadowing is that Euron disdains to go back to the Iron Islands;
Theon prepares to go to Winterfell to complete his duty and redemption.
After a brief reunion, the siblings said goodbye again. I hope they can meet again... I hope that the "dead do not die" in their mouths is not realized in another "blue-eyed" way...
Winterfell - Prepare for War
Arya and Jon's reunion is the most exciting scene in the episode.
When Arya watched the army enter the city, she saw that Jon was not squinting, and he was so dignified, she gave up the idea of meeting Jon in a formal setting, and reunited with Jon when he was alone in front of the heart tree - Arya wanted to see It is not the "King of the North" Jon Stark, but the close "illegitimate" brother Jon Snow.
After some reminiscences, Jon talked about the hidden worries of reality: Sansa hides needles, and she is tit-for-tat with Daenerys everywhere, which is not good for the newly formed alliance. And Arya spoke for Sansa: No matter which Stark is, it is protecting the family in its own way.
There are the same concerns as Jon, and the "think tank" led by both sides.
Compared with Tyrion and Varys, Davos, who has been in the North for a longer time, obviously understands the stubbornness of the people in the North. To convince these unruly "stubborn donkeys", he must come up with something. "Hard currency" comes out.
Davos had a good idea of La Lang's match. After all, history has fully proved that "marriage" is a tried- and-true panacea, and Jon and Daenerys are indeed a good match.
Varys was not too impressed with the idea. Judging from his words, it seemed that he knew more "insiders".
People from the north don't like the arrival of "Mother of Dragons", so why does Daenerys like others to be disrespectful to her? In fact, she was mentally prepared for the scorn she would suffer when she went north, and most people would ignore it, but as the leader of Winterfell, Sansa repeatedly offended herself, but she couldn't bear it...
After all, Daenerys returned to Westeros as the "Queen of the Restoration of the Dragon Dynasty", and this alliance against ghosts is also out of "righteousness". She doesn't expect to be friends with Sansa, but she keeps "at least the other side" It is completely understandable to ensure that the bottom line is respected on the surface.
Sansa is so "ignorant of the general", and naturally she has her considerations - just because Jon and Daenerys are allied, Lord Glover does not recognize him as the "King of the North", and leads people back to Deep Forest Castle alone Go, this is a manifestation of the dissatisfaction of the northern lords .
Jon disregarded traditional prejudice and formed an alliance with the Dragon family for the "life-and-death battle". Both Bran and Arya were both "regardless" and lacking prestige Starks. Daenerys greeted her with a smile, fearing that the wolf family will lose their hearts further - this has nothing to do with whether Sansa likes Daenerys or not, it only has to do with the long-term stability of the Stark family.
Of course, as a woman, it's impossible for Sansa to fail to notice the "intimacy" between the two.
When racial justice and personal feelings are mixed, everything will become complicated... Sansa doesn't give Daenerys a good look, and it also means to warn Jon to "don't mess up".
On the other hand, Daenerys and Jorah came to Sam to express their gratitude. They wanted to give some good rewards, but they found out that they had burned Sam's father and brother to death, breaking the Tully family ( Sam is the night watchman).
Here we must affirm Daenerys's practice of telling the truth. After all, this kind of thing can't be concealed at all. If someone else passes the news to Sam in the future, the nature will be completely different, and the reputation of "Mother of Dragons" will only be Worse... it's best to "open up and speak up" yourself for the first time.
Sam is affectionate and kind, and is not willing to hurt others by nature, so he is reluctant to disclose Jon's life experience. He doesn't know how to stumble in secret, and now he has the urge to change his mind.
With Bran's "encouragement" and support, Sam responded to the "sad thing" in his own way: informing Jon that his real identity was Aegon Targaryen, "You are the true heir to the Iron Throne. "
Didn't Daenerys want to restore the Targaryen dynasty and become queen? Now you have a "king" in front of you who is more competent and better than you (when I saw this scene, my first reaction was "With those identities in the north, Jon's name is finally longer than Daenerys. ”).
Sam's actions weren't entirely selfish - Daenerys didn't tell Jon about her burning Tullys because she didn't care as a "conqueror"; compared to her, she was always humble and The merciful Jon is king, and it is everyone's well-being.
In addition to the internal stability of the "Anti-Ghost Alliance" , the "combat readiness" of Winterfell is also a problem worth noting.
The first to bear the brunt is the manufacture of dragon crystal weapons - in fact, according to Jon's statement in the Dragonstone Island mine in S7E4, the reserves of dragon crystal are sufficient, and the trouble is mining, transportation, smelting and forging.
Judging from the work of Gendry and other craftsmen, the technical difficulty of making dragon crystal weapons is not too great, but compared with the huge military supply gap, their progress is not enough.
Today, in addition to the rougher dragonglass daggers and spearheads, Winterfell can only give priority to some "high-strength characters" to build weapons that can specifically deal with the White Walkers and ghouls, such as Sandor's personal customized dragonglass axe... ... Wanting to equip all the northern armies, the valley reinforcements, and the Daenerys reinforcements would be a fool's errand, and what Winterfell lacked most right now was time.
Arya had an idea for Gendry's weapons.
When I saw this design, my first reaction was that in the movie "Five Ancestors of New Shaolin" I watched when I was a child, the weapon used by Hong Xiguan and his son was a long gun that could be disassembled and assembled. It's good for distance combat.
Arya now has two weapons, the "sewing needle" is ineffective against the White Walkers, and the "keel-handled dagger" made of Valyrian steel has limitations in actual combat, so she urgently needs a more effective main weapon .
After all, Arya is relatively thin, and ordinary knives, guns, sticks and axes are not enough for her to fit in with her "faceless" ability.
Compared with weapons, food reserves are the biggest crisis in Winterfell: Drogon and Lei Ge ate 29 sheep in one meal, and Daenerys saw almost no food... This is in the barren north, one can imagine it. Know the logistical pressure of the Allied forces (you burnt out all the grain and cargo in the Reach when you were told to "fire a prairie fire").
The battle is not only about the number of people, but also about the logistics. The Legion of the Dead has absolutely no concerns in this regard, and the Alliance army will soon be sitting on the mountain... So the most important thing in Winterfell right now is time, it is really better to face a battle immediately - or win, and then go south in batches , or lose the battle and consume most of the "mouth", otherwise the Allies will collapse without a fight because of the food problem before the battle is fought.
Last Hearth City - Destruction
For the first time (and probably the last) in the opening sequence of this episode, "Last Hearth City" appears as the closest fortress to Donghaiwang, and it is also the first northern city to fall.
Logically speaking, as the young master of the Amber family, Ned Amber should not die in it. You must know that the strategy in the North is that everyone retreats to the vicinity of Winterfell and prepares to fight to the death. In the end, even if there are still people in Hearth City, they should Not much is left.
So the only explanation is that (many) people in the north have committed the problem of "hands-on" , and as the owner of the house, he has to personally supervise the relocation work, and finish the last shift...
At this point, all the Night's Watch had left the Great Wall and retreated in the direction of Winterfell. It was not too surprising that Tormund, Berry, Eddie and others met in the nearest castle.
The most terrifying part of this episode is the scream of the dead little Ned who wakes up again. This "message" left by the White Walkers is so unfriendly, they seem to have calculated that someone will come to this ruins.
At present, the marching and garrisoning conditions of all parties in the northern border are as follows:
After the White Walkers captured the Last Hearth City , the two nearest castles were Karstark's Kaho City and Bolton's Horror Castle , of which Arleigh Karstark had completed the relocation work, while Bolton had completed the relocation. The family has been removed from the list, so these two places are empty cities. The next closest human gathering places are the Glover family's Deep Forest Castle and the waiting city of Winterfell.
From a distance point of view, the Legion of the Dead is indeed most likely to attack Winterfell first. In any case, Eddie and the others must rush ahead of them to report to Winterfell... Under the circumstance of non-stop, the Legion of the Dead will not be discovered, attacked, and then attacked by the Legion of the Dead. To arrive at Winterfell first, this exaggerated goal can be achieved, can only be explained as the Night King has no fear and deliberately spread fear ...
Winterfell - Reunion
"Stupid" Bran sat on the edge of Winterfell Square for a long time like a game NPC in this episode, blocking the road without saying a word, and staring at everyone in a panic... Fortunately, everyone knows that he is "Shi" The eccentric paralyzed man of the Tuckers" , or 80% will be beaten...
According to Bran, he is waiting for an "old friend" . There are three people who fit this identity, namely the Night King, Theon and James. From the end, this person should be James.
This is also in line with the tonality of this episode's all-round tribute to S1E1 , because at the end of the first episode is the scene where James pushes Bran, who broke himself and Cersei to have sex, over a high wall.
As the "Three-Eyed Raven", Bran has long lost all human emotions, so he must not be waiting for James for "emotional" appeals such as reminiscing the old days... Perhaps, "One person is the Lannister army" James is in In the next life-and-death battle, shoulder a special mission?
No matter what, the "Kingslayer" will certainly not be better off alone in Winterfell, and let's see the breakdown next week.
After watching the first episode, I was so excited that I had to change my plan - let's update a "clue sorting" today, and show some relatively minor but interesting details first. , This can also reduce the pressure of tomorrow's main drama review.
If nothing else, the "clue sorting" series will also become the norm in the next five weeks.
[The following focuses on sorting out the various interactions, recognizing relatives, and recognizing the old in the first episode. It will not be expanded in too much detail; it also contains certain spoilers, please read as appropriate. 】
1. The new title
The new title of the final season can be described as a "big change". In addition to adding a lot of interior scenes of Winterfell and King's Landing, the "star trail" pattern in the connecting part has also been replaced with the plot of "Game of Thrones".
The first picture should be the Night King riding the "Ice Corpse Dragon" Viserion to break through the Great Wall.
The third picture is the allusion of Daenerys bringing the three dragons to the world after being reborn from ashes.
It corresponds to the plot of the red comet across the sky in S2E1.
The second picture is the famous "Scarlet Wedding" , one of the key events in the Battle of the Five Kings.
It corresponds to S3E9 and S3E10. The Frey family colluded with the Lannisters and murdered the "King of the North" family at the wedding. Robb died in a different place, and was finally put on the wolf head of "Grey Wind".
2. Children of Winterfell
The opening scene of this episode obviously pays homage to the bridge in S1E1.
At that time, Bran climbed the top of the Winterfell Wall to look at the mighty King's Guard of Honor. He climbed the top of the wall very much like a boy climbing a tree.
But I realized something: he's not just like Bran, he's also a symbol of Arya.
Because at that time, Arya was also eager to see the king and his party, and squeezed through the crowd to the front.
Therefore, when this boy, who was Bran and Arya, ran past him, Arya's smile was very warm.
Winterfell was once destroyed, and the children of the wolf family were not what they used to be, but the "blood" of the north has been flowing and has not been cut off.
3. Arya and the Dragon
In the second season, Arya and Tywin had a lot of interactions, including chatting about the history of the "conquering the war" period.
Arya corrects a "little mistake" in Tywin's words, more than one dragon rider.
Then the episode has Jon riding a dragon with Daenerys.
In addition, Arya also made no secret of her longing for dragons and her love for "dragon knights". Unlike other girls, she dreams of "hero beauty", her dream is "hero".
So, when the people in the north saw the dragon flying past, their first reaction was panic and avoidance, Arya was excited and looked up.
4. Brother/Sister Reunion
S1E2 Jon came to say goodbye to the unconscious Bran before leaving Winterfell for Castle Black. Among the brothers, Jon and Bran are the closest.
Because Catelyn hated Jon's existence and wanted to drive him away at the beginning of the fight, Jon said a few words, then kissed Bran's forehead and hurried away.
In S4E5, the two had a chance to meet again in "Custer's Castle", but Bran quietly left for the "great cause"... making Jon's kiss a long time later.
Of course, of all the siblings, Arya has the best relationship with Jon.
Before Arya leaves for King's Landing, Jon gives the "sewing needle" as a gift to his beloved little sister, and the two hug and say goodbye.
At this moment, Jon and Arya's hug is almost the same as in the first season (Arya really likes the "illegitimate" brother)...
5. Bronn of "Bitterness"
Why do you say that? Because every time Bolong wants to do "good things", he will be interrupted, and "welfare time" will always go to waste. Are you angry?
Once in S3E1, Bronn was just about to bite off the girl's trousers (belt) in the brothel, when the unpleasant Podrick appeared and asked him to rush to work for Tyrion.
This time, I was in the mood to play "Three Flying", and was interrupted by the unpleasant Keben again. It's uncomfortable (I typed the picture for safety!).
6. Cave with waterfall
In S3E5, Jon chased Ygritte to a cave with waterfalls and pools, where he broke the oath of the Night's Watch and became a man with his heart.
Ygritte hopes that the two of them will stay in the cave like this and never leave, forever...
"We could hide here for a thousand years and no one would find us."
Now it's Daenerys' turn to say such "love words" to Jon. Does it sound familiar?
7. Arya's Deceased
In addition to Jon, Arya also has two old friends who are in the team returning to Winterfell this time.
One is Sandor Clegane , the "hound" who has "guarded" him for a season and a half - although he doesn't say it, he is still very happy to raise Arya into a strong child.
In S7E7, Sandor learned about Arya's current situation through the mouth of Brienne... Now, although the girl did not give her a good face, Sandor is still very pleased.
The other is Gendry, who joined the "Night Watch Recruits" with her. When he learned of his identity, Gendry took the title of "Miss Noble" to make fun of Arya.
Now, Arya and Gendry are not the same hairy boys they used to be, but some things have not changed, and more of what is revealed in this "joke" is still closeness (I agree with this marriage!).
8. Umber and Karstark
In S7E1, Jon as the "King of the North" pardoned the Amber and Karstark families who helped Rams in the "Battle of the Bastards", and let the young heirs of the two families, Ned Ann Bai and Arleigh Karstark remain loyal to the Starks.
There are many considerations for Jon to do this. One of the most important is that the fiefs/castles of these two families are the closest to the Great Wall of Desolation. It is far more effective to entrust their lands to others than to let the two families "guard their homeland". .
In this episode, the army of the dead who broke through East Watch has captured and swept the "Last Hearth City" of the Amber family. Tormund, Berry, who escaped from East Watch, and Eddie who evacuated from Castle Black are here. When they met, the last Hearth City was a dead city.
From this point of view, Sansa and Jon's strategy of urging Ned Umber to return to the city and relocate people at the beginning of this episode is still ill-considered, at least seriously misestimating the marching speed of the Dead Legion.
In contrast, Arleigh Karstark has already arrived at Winterfell. It is conceivable that the Karstark family's Kaho City is an empty city , and even if it is taken by the White Walkers, it is meaningless...
As for the "performance art" of the White Walkers, this is not the first time we have seen it. As early as the Fist of the Ancestors, the White Walkers used the corpse of a horse to pose a "spiral blossom" pattern.
This time, the use of human corpses and Ned Amber's corpse to leave a signal on the wall is ingenious... Poor child, may you rest in peace...
9. James and Bran
At the end of S1E1, Bran, who climbed the wall, saw the secret of Jaime and Cersei having sex.
For "love", Jaime pushes Bran off a high wall.
Without the push of "Kingslayer", Bran wouldn't be "Three-Eyed Raven".
In this episode, the "old friend" that Bran is waiting for probably refers to James. What will these two people say when they meet again?
OK, the clues that need to be reviewed in this episode have been roughly sorted out, and the detailed drama review will be posted later.
View more about Winterfell reviews
