Spoilers below for the first episode of season 7, Dragonstone.
Just a quick recap of the first episode, and then I’ll put in some updated predictions:
– The cold open with the Freys was excellent. I did not realize the show would have that many Freys. There was just an acre of them. And they all deserved every second of it. “Brave men, all of you…” Also, the person who wrote the line, “when people ask you what happened here, tell them that the north remembers. Tell them Winter came for House Frey” is a damn genius.
– That view of the army of the dead was interesting. I’m not sure where they were — it looked like grass, with wispy bits of fog blowing toward the army as it froze around them. That’s not north of the wall. Also, they had several giants. Can’t be Wun Wun — they would have burned his body. Right? I didn’t expect Bran to be able to cross the wall with that mark on him from last season.
– “Dragonglass is worth more than gold.” I know a place with a lot of that, and there’s someone interesting there with some dragons now. If Jorah Mormont had half the spine Lyanna Mormont, he’d be in a lot better position now. Hearing Tormund say, “Looks like we’re the Nights Watch now” was hilarious. Littlefinger annoys me more with every minute, as I realize his grand plan isn’t so great, and he reacts too slowly to events. And Sansa is letting her personal anger get in the way with the Umber/Karstark thing. Though, personally, last season I wanted Jon to turn to the Glovers and eradicate them after the way that asshole turned down his plea for help.
– “You have to be smarter than father. You need to be smarter than Robb.” — yep. And smarter than Catlyn, and smarter than Oberyn, etc, etc. Several characters on this show have made absolutely stupid mistakes. Like, it would be far too stupid for Jon to go to Kings Landing for Cersei to cut his head off. And Sansa is right on this: Cersei will not stop until all of her enemies are dead, real or imagined.
– Cersei is big on throwing blame around for Tyrion being loose, but she likes to duck blame for her stupid mistakes. Also, “I’m the queen of the Seven Kingdoms.” “Three. At best.” — yep. Things were in much better shape when the show started, for the Lannisters and the Baratheons. And a large number of decisions were Cersei’s schemes. And I thought her alliance with Urine would be cemented a lot quicker, rather than his vague offer. However, looking at a map of Westeros… he had to pass Dragonstone to get to King’s Landing. Which… well, I’ll save that for predictions. Urine has been marathoning Pirates of the Caribbean, as well.
– Sam knows where the dragonglass is. And he also met a sick fellow we all know. Also, he has a gross job. There wasn’t a lot to this scene other than: yeah, ok, Sam figured out where dragonglass is. So next, what? That’s all I had him figured for this season…
– Sansa has figured Littlefinger out. OR, he’s letting her figure him out. I’m not sure; she’s being awfully haughty, and he’s supposed to be very clever.
– Arya ran into Sir Ginger Songalot of House Lannister. She’s heading South to… get Cersei?
– THE HOUND! Who is far more north than I thought — I guess he won’t be meeting Arya any time soon, since they are still going north. He’s rapidly becoming one of the most interesting characters, namely because he’s growing — the guilt over the people he left? Burying bodies? (Uh…? Burying not burning?) And seeing visions in the fire.
– Dany is on Dragonstone. Which means, yeah, Urine is trapped? Or is there more time passing than I’m catching?
So, Predictions for Episode 2, based in part on the preview:
– That Lord Royce guy from the Vale is getting on my nerves, but he has a point. That said, he’s not one of Jon’s subjects, and Jon is free to get rid of him. They don’t have to trust Dany (I wouldn’t — she’s done some shady stuff), but they do need to work with her.
– Yara is not wrong about hitting KL as soon as they can; that said, they won’t. If anything they’ll run into Urine and his fleet, which he magically built very quickly using the same time saving device Varys uses to travel. Seriously, I expect them to nerf Dany at some point. She’s got too much stuff given the way Westeros has ground itself down over the last several seasons. Either Urine kills her fleet, or she does something stupid as hell that costs her part of her forces (ie, the Stannis way).
– Some folk riding out of a northern castle; I am guessing they’re heading to Dragonstone. Which is stupid far away from Winterfell on the map. But, why not? Jon and Dany are natural allies (again, he wants to eliminate white walkers, and she has an island filled with dragonglass AND THREE DRAGONS to boot… and she wants loyalty and allies against Cersei; Jon is stupid loyal. It’s a Stark trait.)
– Is there a frame of Ellaria Sand kissing Yara Greyjoy in that preview? How does that even make a bit of fucking sense? (Why would Ellaria kill someone opposed to Cersei — I’m assuming here her kiss is as deadly as it was to Myrcella.)
– It’s brief, but somebody is choking Littlefinger near the end of it. Maybe Sansa sends Brienne to fuck up his day, or maybe Brienne mentions to Tormund how annoying she finds Littlefinger, and Tormund does it. (I don’t think Tormund would tolerate even one smarmy look from Littlefinger). Or, y’know, Jon if he finds out the extent of Littlefinger’s treachery.
The trailer is… brief. Either a whole lot of nothing happens next week (ugh), or it goes freaking bananas the other way.
Oh — Arya is somewhere that looks colder than where she was last episode. Either Winter moves in really fast, or she is not actually going south. (Maybe she was lying to the Lannister guys — but why?)