Game of Thrones Episode 1 – The Beginning of the End
The most anticipated series in the world. The end of an era. The culmination of a universe, awaited by the whole of humanity. Of course, all this had to start with a joke about Varys’s genitals.
Jon Snow is Aegon Targaryen. Oh, what a shock. What was clear from the first episode of the show was finally revealed to us. At the same time, however, the fact that Jon rides a dragon did not impress anyone. Without any explanation, Daenerys simply accepted as natural that person with a name other than hers rides her dragons. Shouldn’t she be aware that only a person of her house could have done it, or at least ask herself why was Jon not eaten immediately? And even after she had repeatedly demonstrated that the dragons are her only quality, she should have been more careful about whom they belong to. But, as always, Daenerys had correct priorities and devoted her time to kissing John.
Naturally, all this remained in the background, as this episode focused on the main plotline – Cersei’s elephants. A complication, an unexpected twist, a culmination, heavy spiritual challenges for the protagonist. This storyline had everything. Still, we cannot miss praising Cersei for the fact that the fall of the Wall and the approaching army of dead people excited her less than the absence of the long-awaited elephants.
As usual, the episode did not miss giving us a solid dose of surrealism:
As the world dies, we had time to reflect on Euron’s ambitions to get Cersei pregnant.
Theon saved his sister within thirty seconds, and on his back there was a plate stating: “Oops! It turns out we do not have time for this plotline.”
Gendy had lines.
Tormund is behind the Night King. They have just missed each other. Why not.
Cersei sent Bronn to kill Jaime and Tyrion. First, she would never send anybody to kill Jaime. Secondly, are we really supposed to overlook the fact that Bronn is the only person in the whole kingdom who is certainly more loyal to Jaime and Tyrion than to her? We should at least pretend that Cersei is not be forced to read the script before taking action.
In the previous season, we established that Jaime does not remember Cersei’s first name. In this season, we understood that Sansa Stark is her closest person. Of everyone in the world, only she had guessed that Cersei was probably lying. And as if this was not absurd enough, Sansa was persistently presented as a thinking person during the entire episode and even called “intelligent” by her own sister. The truth is that she was just the least stupid in the given situation, and I do not see any point in pretending that a character who has been dead for three seasons could be in the process of developing.
The beginning of the end did not lack ominousness. One could assume that a dead child in a spiral of cut human arms would qualify as the most terrifying scene in the episode, but alas, it remains third. The silver medal goes to Jon, who replying to “How did you survive a knife through your heart?”, said: “I did not survive.” And the obvious winner is the creature, which is a far greater threat to mankind than the Night King – Bran. The one who is “almost” human.
