GAME OF THRONES 8.01 - "WINTERFELL"

There’s a thing that comes up in the final season or episode of a long-running series, where they start packing in a bunch of references to or recreations of scenes from the series premiere.  Writers love to bring things full circle in this way, and it can be rewarding for faithful viewers to recognize such self-allusions, at least to a point.  This type of mirroring is undeniably artful in its structure, but in a way that makes the artist’s hand more visible, which is generally not something I find appealing.  It feels a bit solipsistic; like the story is buying into its own hype and indulging itself by elevating random scenes or lines to mythic importance.  But I tend to agree with Tony Soprano that “Remember When? is the lowest form of conversation.”  And I find I am especially sensitive to it in GOT, where a huge part of the draw was how the visceral nature of the storytelling created a tantalizing illusion that events were being carried along with their own unpredictable momentum, rather than molded to the contours of a traditional plot structure.

There was always a design, of course, and if anything, it probably had to be crafted more carefully than a more traditional, linear narrative.  In any case, this final season premiere is awash in callbacks to the first episode of the series.  It opens with a boy climbing around trying to get a better look at the royal procession, as Arya did when Robert Baratheon’s train came to Winterfell all those years ago.  The music that plays is even the same as the more rigid royal theme that played in the pilot, which stood out on my last rewatch as sounding like it could have been a holdover from the mostly-scrapped original cut, before Ramin Djawadi took the scoring in a moodier, more somber direction.  There is an interrupted brothel visit.  The Starks line up to greet the visiting monarch in the courtyard, chat with each other in the godswood and their old friends in the crypts.  And of course, the episode ends with Jaime being surprised to see Bran. 

(insert fart joke here)

The parallels are not as heavy-handed as they might have been, and to non-obsessives they probably don’t even register as deliberate nods.  But I do hope the show got it out of its system with this episode.  Partly because I think it's done a good enough job establishing something like Ned Stark’s legacy that it can get the point across just by dressing Jon like him, without going to the lengths of having him recreate the exact blocking of a famous scene or quote entire lines of his dialogue (the most strained callback of the episode involves Dany quoting Ygritte directly on a romantic rendezvous with Jon, which felt like a non-sequitur for moment).  But mostly it’s that, while some narratives that have thematic reasons for highlighting a “the more things change…” motif,  I tend to prefer endings that emphasis how much has changed rather than how much has stayed the same.  Circular plotting may be neat, but I prefer the sense that the events of the story had actual weight and consequence for the world in which it takes place.  Throughout its life, GOT has distinguished itself by committing to that type of consequence in a way that is exceedingly rare in genre fiction.  It took dark and bracing turns that most fantasy would only tease at, and that’s what I loved about it.

But I picked a bad episode in which to wax on about what big moves the series is willing to make, since “Winterfell” is oddly the most relaxed episode since the early days of the first season.  Despite Bran’s brief insistence that some heavy shit was about to go down, the only people who seem to be acting with any real urgency are the refugees from the Wall that have found themselves behind the enemy’s lines.  The most significant plot development, Theon’s infiltration of Euron’s armada, goes off without a hitch, or any real effort to wring suspense from the scenario or even put much of the rescue mission on screen.  Dany has a weird non-reaction to the news that her dragon is a zombie now and coming to kill them all.  People crack a lot of jokes, gossip about marriage prospects, and make time for extended dragonback joyride dates.

The joyride was a bit much, technically very impressive but calling on a goofier side of Jon Snow that is definitely not Kit Harrington’s wheelhouse.  And while it may be his first taste of dragonflight, it is our ninth or tenth, so his excitement isn't really there for us. In a perfect world. I’d have traded it for an actual action sequence with the Greyjoys, but I don’t want to be an ingrate.  For the most part, the episode had its head in the right space, as no matter how eager I am to get on with the zombie apocalypse action spectacular, taking this last chance to slow things down and focus on the justified sources of tension within the Targaryen-Stark alliance is the right move. As last season pared the complex, multifaceted plot of the earlier seasons down to two main threads, there was also a creeping sense that the complex and multifacted conflicts that arose from that plotting were also going to be sanded down or disregarded in favor of adventures in zombie-fighting with our motley crew of Good Guys arrayed against the clear-cut Bads.  While it’s still clear that we are rooting emphatically against the Night King, Cersei, and Euron, there is still a lot of room for friction and animosity among our heroes, which is something “Winterfell” steers directly into, to its credit.

With the climactic momentum having clustered all the survivors in about 2.5 locations, the premiere decides to bide its time before the zombie apocalypse action spectacular by staging a string of reunions.  Theon reunites with Yara, and gets her blessing to go fight at Winterfell.  Sansa and Tyrion speak for the first time since Joffrey’s wedding, and she impresses him with how cool she has become. Sam meets Jorah again, and gets some bad news in the process.  Edd meets Tormund at Last Hearth, and in adorable fashion, the two practically fall into each other’s arms.  Arya reunites with Gendry, finding that a surprising note of sexual tension has crept into their dynamic, while also running into the Hound and finding out that he’s only gotten gruffer to cover up for how mushy he’s gone inside.  She also reunites with Jon, who reunites with Bran, who also, in the thrilling closing shot, reunites with the man who crippled him all the way back in the pilot episode.

If the episodes is not the most exciting in terms of structure, where the writing excels is in finding single, pithy lines that sum up the complex conflicts and dynamics at play, and punctuate the scenes without sounding too neat and scripted.  Dany and Sansa side-eyeing each other after the former notes that dragons eat “whatever they want” is one, and Sansa dismissing Tyrion by telling him “I used to think you were the cleverest man alive” another.  Yara adding “but kill the bastards anyway” after exchanging the Greyjoy’s religious motto about the dead not dying.  Varys noting that “Nothing lasts” while looking at the incestuous hope for the future of the kingdoms.   “First I robbed you.” 

But the best came from Sam, who became the unlikely emotional crux of the episode after Dany’s visit to thank him for curing Jorah turns to the awkward subject of how she kinda-sorta-a-little-bit burned his father and brother alive.  It drives Sam to tell Jon about his secret heritage and superior claim to the throne, and ask whether Dany could, as Jon did, give up a crown to keep her would-be subjects safe.  I had liked how the show had been playing up the resentment of the Northerners to their brand new king immediately kneeling to a foreigner, but it wasn’t until Sam puts that fine point on it that the full narrative value for Jon’s secret birthright snapped into place.  Until now, I had thought of it as almost a twist for a twist’s sake, a secret that had been seeded into the books so early that Martin was obligated to go through with it even though the internet had spoiled the surprise a decade or two in advance and ultimately it would be rendered moot by Jon heroically sacrificing himself before he could sit on the Iron Throne.  The incestuous complications the reveal introduced seemed like a play for some cheap shock value, and rather than make the romantic connection between Dany and Jon more difficult, actually serve to makes us feel a little better about his dying allowing us to sidestep the whole mess.    

Previously, that familial revelation seemed like it would make Dany and Jon sad, but not be cause to rupture the vital alliance on which the future of the human race rests.  But since it has come to light now, after Jon has proven willing to abdicate for her, it sets her up to have to make the same decision. Which is a twist with some actual dramatic juice to it, and given her characterization, I don’t see how she can do it.  Jon is telling the truth when he insists he never wanted a crown. But the idea of one was all that kept Dany alive throughout a childhood on the run, and moving forward through years of hardship, bloodshed and degradation.

"Yeah, yeah, knife to the heart, Red Wedding, whatever.  Talk to me about earning it
when you've  spent 3 years cooling your heels in MEEREEN, bro."

That is a real conflict, a genuinely difficult situation without a pure villain to blame it all on.  It makes things messy and complicated, at an exact time when the heroes can’t afford to deal with complications, in that quintessential GOT way.  And that is all before Jaime Lannister shows up.  The stricken look on Nicolaj Coster-Waldau’s face when he sees Bran is as eloquent as any of the other lines I highlighted in communicating the complex state of affairs between two characters.  In any other season, a trial of Jaime Lannister would be a fine centerpiece for an episode, but there is little time for that with the dead on the move.  

In any case, is it next week yet?

       

RANDOM NOTES

•  Cersei wanted elephants in her army.  I did too, girl.
• Captain Strickland of the Golden Company doesn’t make a very unique impression, but should provide for a handy subboss for, oh let’s say Brienne, to kill when shit goes down.
• One thing I didn’t need was another scene of Tyrion making eunuch jokes at Varys, who huffily underlines the irony that he takes offense at dwarf jokes.  I actually like how petty it makes Tyrion look, but I don't like that it tends to make him look as un-clever as everyone who ever cracked the same joke about his height.  
• I like the warped bit of symmetry that both Cersei and Dany are dealing with what earning loyalty means to a queen.  Euron argues that he has delivered an army, a navy and her daughter’s killers to Cersei and has seen nothing in return, whereas in the North Dany also feels that bringing an army and dragons proves her bona fides to the point where further shows of respect to the natives are irrelevant.
• The new credits sequence is pretty sweet, reflecting the narrowed geographic scope by taking us inside the only two locations that really matter anymore, Winterfell and King’s Landing.  Also a very nice touch that they updated the carvings on the revolving bands, to represent the current war against the dead rather than Robert’s rebellion.
• The first thing Jon says upon learning his Targaryen heritage is to defend Ned Stark’s honor.  That’s a direct hit in the feels right there.
•  Bronn being hired to kill Jaime and Tyrion is a good twist, less because it puts the brothers in real danger than because it puts Bronn at a slight risk of getting himself killed trying to pull it off. 

Season Morghulis:  Ned Umber.

Prophesies: I’m going to throw out my predictions for how things will go from here for each character and strike them out each week as they are proved wrong. 

Jon – Becomes king, dies defeating Night King, leaving Dany pregnant

Dany – Refuses to step down for Jon, thinks better of it after losing more dragons and advisors in the battle at Winterfell, but winds up back on the throne after he dies heroically, with a proper incestuous Targaryen heir on the way.

Cersei – Gets to little Robin Arryn and lays a trap at the Eyrie before the survivors of Winterfell can reach it, which is mostly foiled by wariness of Sansa/Arya/Tyrion.  King Jon still feels compelled to offer her a pardon to fight with them for realsies this time.  She can’t help but try to backstab them one last time and Jaime mercy-kills her before Queen Dany can burn her alive.

Bran – Dies/leaves human body warging into Drogon as a sacrifice play allowing the living to escape Winterfell.

Sansa/Tyrion – Renew their marriage to rule the North and Westerlands.

Arya – Provides assist to take out Mountain in Cleganebowl.  Hooks up with Gendry but refuses to be tied down as his wife, last seen hitting the road for more merry adventures, but with an ominous note that a Faceless man is trailing her.

Gendry – High Lord of the Stormlands.

Sam – High Lord of The Reach.

Gilly – Lady Of the Reach.

Jaime – Appointed/Sentenced to reconstitute the Night’s Watch as new Lord Commander.

Brienne – Commander of the Queensguard.

Davos – Small Council, Master Of Ships.

Missandei – Small Council.

Jorah – killed by Walkers.

Tormund – Ruler of new Wildling nation in the Gift.

Yara – Ruler Of Iron Islands.

Theon – dies heroically.

Euron – dismembered by Mountain.

The Hound/Mountain – killed together in Cleganebowl.

Drogon/Rhaegal – die in battles with Night King.

Grey Worm – killed by Walkers.

Varys – killed in Cersei’s trap.

Melisandre – killed by Varys.

Robin Arryn – killed in Cersei’s trap.

Yohn Royce – Lord of the Vale.

Berric Dondarrion – killed by Walkers.

Edd – killed by Walkers.

Qyburn – killed by Mountain.

Bronn – refuses to kill Jaime/Tyrion, gets a castle.

Lyanna Mormont – Rules Bear Island.

Podrick – killed by Walkers.

Ghost – killed by Walkers.