Game of Thrones is back! And the season 7 premiere belongs to the women. Cersei’s thinking about forming a new alliance with Euron, Sansa’s fighting with Jon Snow over letting her have a say, and Arya is getting her revenge. But the premiere episode is called “Dragonstone,” after all, and we know what that means: Daenerys is home! And she’s ready for war.
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Arya Gets her Revenge
“Dragonstone” begins with Walder Frey throwing a feast. But, wait, isn’t Walder Frey dead? He gathers his family to tell them his plans now that winter has come, but he gives a toast first. He’s proud of them for killing all those Starks at the Red Wedding, but they made one big mistake: they didn’t kill all the Starks. “Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep are never safe,” he says. All the men quickly die from poisoning as Arya pulls off her mask. That’s right. Arya Stark posed as Walder Frey and “Winter came for House Frey.” Ruthless.
Later, Arya wanders the woods and comes upon Ed Sheeran singing with some other soldiers! They offer her some food. She says she’s heading towards King’s Landing, and they talk about what a terrible place it is. They’ve been sent to keep peace in the Riverlands. They talk about how much they miss their families and homes. When they ask why she’s heading to King’s Landing, she announces that she’s going to kill the Queen, and they all dissolve into laughter. But you should never underestimate Arya Stark.
Bran Makes It to the Wall
Things have been getting worse in the North. A storm’s a-brewin’, and the Night King and his army (including Wun Wun) are marching forward. Bran witnesses it all as he and Meera finally make it to the Wall. They announce themselves to Edd, who doesn’t believe they are who they say they are. But Bran tells Edd a bunch of stuff he shouldn’t know about him and warns them that the Night King is coming for them all, and the Brothers rush them inside.
Can Jon Snow Let Sansa Help him Lead?
Back at Winterfell, Jon Snow tells his people that they need to search for Dragonglass to defeat the White Walkers and that all boys and girls need to train to fight. While one of the men objects to having girls fight, Lyanna Mormont swiftly puts him in his place because she rules. Brienne of Tarth is pretty impressed too. Jon Snow also asks Tormund and the Wildlings to help guard the castles.
Sansa and Jon Snow then argue over who should get the Umbers’ and Karstarks’ castles. Jon Snow thinks the families should keep them and shouldn’t be punished just because some members of their families betrayed them during the Battle of the Bastards, while Sansa says the families who betrayed them should be punished and the loyal families should be rewarded. But Jon Snow’s decision is final. So Sansa is ignored yet again. Jon calls the young Umber and Karstark children forward and ask if they’ll pledge loyalty to House Stark, which they do.
Of course, the issue isn’t over. Jon doesn’t want Sansa questioning his authority, especially in front of other people, and Sansa compares him to Joffrey, but she quickly takes it back. She says he’s a good leader, but he has to be smarter than Ned and Robb. He can start by listening to her. She’s smart. And who knows how long she’ll put up with this?
Before they can finish, Jon gets a message from King’s Landing. Cersei has ordered him to come to King’s Landing and bend the knee. Jon Snow doesn’t want to deal with that. He just wants to concentrate on the Night King, but Sansa says that Cersei will kill him if he crosses her. She admits that she learned a lot from Cersei. That’s a pretty big compliment. We all know she’s not to be messed with. Cersei has done some messed-up, brutal things, but she’s smart and she’s a survivor.
A New Alliance
In King’s Landing, Jaime finds Cersei standing on a brand-new, huge map. Jaime says he’s not angry with her over the whole Wildfire thing, but he won’t answer when she asks if he’s scared of her. Cersei then tells Jaime that Tyrion, the brother he helped, is now standing with Daenerys. They’re heading to Dragonstone, and the Lannisters are surrounded by enemies and traitors.
Jaime brings up that their children are all dead and Tommen killed himself, but Cersei says they’re the last Lannisters who count. They need to protect themselves, so Jaime says they need allies. But who could be their allies? “Think I listened to Father for 40 years and learned nothing?” Cersei scoffs.
Of course, Euron Greyjoy and his ships have just arrived in King’s Landing. He’d make an interesting ally. Jaime’s suspicious, to say the least. But Euron came for a queen, and Cersei invited him.
So Euron meets with them and tells them about how Theon and Yara betrayed him and teamed up with Daenerys. They all have treasonous family members fighting on the same side now, so they could fight them together. Jaime points out that Euron started a rebellion by going to Casterly Rock and burning a Lannister fleet. Euron wound up in exile, and now he’s the greatest captain in the sea, so it worked out for the best. Euron offers to let them use the Iron Fleet if Cersei marries him. Cersei says no, though, because he’s not trustworthy and has betrayed allies before and even murdered his own brother. “You should try it. It feels wonderful,” he says. He promises to gain her trust by returning to King’s Landing with a “precious gift.”
Euron can’t be trusted, but I can’t wait to see more of him and Cersei together. This will definitely be an interesting alliance.
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Will Littlefinger Get to Sansa?
Brienne and Podrick train at Winterfell, and Tormund hilariously watches. Petyr and Sansa also watch, and Petyr says he wants Sansa to be happy and safe. Sansa says she’s safe, but she’s not happy and she doesn’t want to deal with Littlefinger. Brienne asks Sansa why Littlefinger is still there, and Sansa says they need his men. He obviously wants something, though, and Sansa says she knows what he wants. The question is: will Littlefinger get to Sansa or is she too smart to be played by him now? I think she’s too smart to let him get to her now, even if Jon’s not listening to her at the moment.
Why Does Beric Dondarrion Keep Coming Back?
The Hound, Beric Dondarrion and others have been traveling North. They decide to spend the night in some abandoned house, but the Hound’s pretty freaked-out about it. It’s the house with the dad and daughter who fed him and Arya and the Hound stole from. Yeah, there are dead bodies inside. It looks like a father and daughter were starving, and the father ended their misery. “It doesn’t matter now,” say the Hound and Beric.
The Hound says there’s nothing special about Beric. So why does the Lord of Light keep bringing him back? He doesn’t have any answers, but maybe we’ll find out by the end of the season.
Beric has the Hound look into the fire. He sees the Wall, castle, a mountain, an arrowhead and the army of the dead marching in the fire. Later that night, the Hound buries the dead bodies and admits that he knew them.
Samwell Starts Studying
Samwell Tarly, meanwhile, has been busy working at the Citadel. Let’s just say it’s not what he expected. It’s a lot of monotonous, disgusting grunt work. As he’s putting some books away, he tries to read a book through some bars in the restricted section, but another Maester shows up.
While he and the Archmaester do an autopsy, he asks if he can have access to the restricted section. He says that he’s been sent to the Citadel to learn how to deal with the White Walkers. He’s seen them and swears they’re real. The Archmaester reminds Sam that people always think the end is near, but the Wall has stood through it all and every winter has ended. Eventually, Sam steals a key and grabs some books.
Sam tirelessly studies while hanging out with Gilly and Little Sam. Finally, he finds something interesting. There’s a map of Dragonstone that shows there’s a mountain of Dragonglass underneath it. He immediately sends word to Jon Snow. So can we expect Jon Snow to head there and meet Daenerys? It seems likely.
The next day, Jorah reaches his Greyscaley hand out through a cell to Sam and demands to know if the Dragon Queen Daenerys Stormborn has come. Sam hasn’t heard anything. But we know the truth.
Daenerys Arrives
Daenerys has been making her way to Westeros. And, yes, she, Tyrion, Missandei, Varys and the rest of her people have arrived at Dragonstone. Dany is home! “Shall we begin?” she asks Tyrion. Yas Queen!
Do you think Jon Snow will head to Dragonstone? Will Cersei marry Euron to form an alliance? And will Jon Snow listen to Sansa? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
