Tony Black with the top five moments from the first episode of Game of Thrones season seven, ‘Dragonstone’…
1 – ARYA FREY
“Leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe.” What a way to start Season 7. David Bradley must have been surprised to get a call back but the moment you see Walder Frey, you just know Arya is enjoying her new shape-shifter role. A wonderful inverse of the Red Wedding and cool justice for the Stark wolf, there are plenty of hints here that Winter may be less the Night’s King, and more the avenging angel that is the girl who is no one. We can’t wait to see what you do next, kid.
2 – SHALL WE BEGIN?
No, Benedict Cumberbatch hasn’t popped in for a Khan cameo. This is rather Emilia Clarke’s sole line of dialogue as Daenerys Targaryen as she finally arrives on Dragonstone with her massive fleet of ships and ton of allies. After a bit of dragon stone porn with the lingering camera, Dany is ready to rock and ruin. In one line, we are pumped up to the max for next week. Come on Dany!
3 – ROCK STAR EURON
Remember Euron Greyjoy? Declared the last major new character in the saga by the writers, he rocked up in season 6, killed his bro, talked about his big cock and planned to find himself a Queen. Well now he *literally* rocks up at King’s Landing, having had a fashion reinvention pitching him somewhere between Bono and a glam rocker, and Pilou Asbaek utterly has a laugh swaggering around before an unamused Cersei. He’s going to be a pantomime riot of evil this season.
4 – THE HOUND, THE FLAMES & THE BURIAL
The writers clearly have bags of fun writing Sandor ‘the Hound’ Clegane and Rory McCann just chews up his dialogue, but his continued redemption into a glorious anti-hero continues with his noble burying of a family he and Arya left for dead a few seasons ago, mixed with a surprisingly eerie moment where the Hound sees a vision in the flames – could he have predicted the burning fall of the Wall?
5 – IS THAT ED SHEERAN?!
You may have heard the ginger singer was rocking up at Westeros for a cameo, but did we expect it to be this early? In all honesty, Ed’s appearance as a cheery Lannister soldier isn’t all that, but he is part of a fun scene where Arya makes some pals and very blatantly announces her Cersei-killing intentions. Sing us a song for that one Ed!
HONOURABLE MENTION – SAM TARLY’S DAILY GRIND
Best. Montage. Sequence. Ever.
Tony Black
Originally published July 17, 2017. Updated April 21, 2018.
