Hello again, Walder Frey? Looks like Arya’s got more tricks up her sleeves. The head of House Frey, who we saw die in the season 6 finale, gathers all of House Frey for dinner. He serves them all wine and prepares to give a toast. He starts to go on and on about the Starks and says, “You didn’t slaughter every one of the Starks. That was your mistake.” That’s when Arya rips off Walder Frey’s face as the men of House Frey fall to their deaths after drinking poisoned wine. She is a SAVAGE! She turns to Walder’s young wife and says, “Tell them the North remembers. Tell them winter came for House Frey.” That’s one heck of a way to open up season 7!
Arya continues on her way to King’s Landing and comes across a group of Lannister soldiers. One of the soldiers is played by Ed Sheeran! He sings a beautiful song and draws Arya in. When the group asks Arya where she’s headed, she says, “I’m going to kill the queen.” They laugh it off, but Arya’s not joking.
Winter has arrived, and so have the White Walkers. A massive army of White Walkers walks in the middle of a blistering snowstorm. Bran wakes up from his vision to find that Meera has brought them to Castle Black. “He’s coming for us. For all of us,” Bran says to Edd, who’s been left in charge of the Night’s Watch, about the Night King. Edd knows Bran’s words ring true.
Meanwhile at Winterfell, Jon Snow is telling all of his gathered allies that the real threat are the White Walkers. Brienne, Lyanna Mormont, and Sansa are all present at the meeting. Jon explains that dragonglass kills White Walkers, and they need to find it, mine it, and make weapons with it. When one man tries to undermine Lyanna, she claps back in the most epic way possible, “I don’t need your permission to defend the North.” Gosh, can this girl get her own spinoff, please?!
There’s debate on what to do about the Umbers and the Karstarks, the families who deserted the Starks and supported Ramsay Bolton in the past. Jon Snow doesn’t want to punish the families because of the mistakes of dead sons. “So there’s no punishment for treason and no reward for loyalty?” Sansa asks him in front of everyone. The tension between Sansa and Jon Snow is super awkward. Jon Snow’s final decision is to keep House Umber and House Karstark alive. He asks young teenagers, Ned Umber and Alice Karstark, to pledge their loyalty, and they do. Sansa is peeved to the max.
Later, Jon Snow confronts his sister about her defiance. “You are my sister, but I am king now,” he says. He wants her to stop undermining him. She begs him to be smarter than Ned and Robb. At the end of the day, they made “stupid mistakes” and “lost their heads for it.” She wants him to listen to what she’s saying. She’s played the game and survived.
A note from Cersei arrives. Cersei asks Jon Snow to bend the knee or suffer the consequences. Sansa tells him his focus needs to be on Cersei, while Jon Snow wants to focus on the Night King. When it comes to Cersei and the Night King, I’m not sure who’s worse.
Over in King’s Landing, Cersei has had a huge map of Westeros painted on the floor. Cersei says Jaime has been quiet since getting back from Riverrun and wonders if he’s mad at her. He swears he’s not, but you can tell he’s starting to see characteristics of the Mad King in his beloved sister. They may not be related, but the thirst for blood is the same. Cersei has learned that Tyrion has become Daenerys’ right-hand man and gives Jaime a guilt trip about their little brother. Jaime knows that Daenerys is headed to Dragonstone. They’ve got enemies from all sides, and Cersei wants to know what Jaime’s next move is for the army.
Cersei wants to push on attacking Jon Snow in the North, but Jaime warns that they are looking like the losing side right now. They’ve barely got any allies, especially after House Frey has been wiped out. They can’t win the war alone. Cersei assures Jaime that she has a plan. She’s got the backing of Euron Greyjoy! Theon and Yara’s uncle arrives in King’s Landing with 1,000 ships and a makeover. He’s really got the sexy pirate look down. Euron is well aware that Cersei doesn’t care about the Iron Islands, but she does care about the Iron Fleet. He’s willing to give her his 1,000 ships in exchange for marriage. She turns down his proposal because he’s not trustworthy enough at this point. He vows prove his loyalty and return to King’s Landing with the greatest gift of all. Is he talking about Daenerys’ head on a spike?
Meanwhile, Sam is slaving away at the Citadel. He’s running errands, serving food, and picking up other people’s sh*t. Literally. He’s not exactly living the dream. Sam has his eye on some books behind a locked gate, but the Archmaester says he can’t get his hands on those books until he’s a maester himself. Sam stresses to the Archmaester that he was sent here to find a way to defeat the White Walkers. The Archmaester believes Sam, but he’s not that concerned about the White Walkers. “The Wall has stood through it all,” the Archmaester says. “And every winter that ever came has ended.” But Sam’s not taking no for an answer. He steal a pair of keys and grabs some of those books. Later, while reading Legends of the Long Night, he learns that there is a mountain of dragonglass beneath the ground at Dragonstone. Sam knows he has to inform Jon Snow ASAP. Oh, and Sam comes across JORAH at the Citadel. Jorah’s poor arm is covered in greyscale. “Has she come yet?” he asks Sam. “Who?” Sam asks. “The Dragon Queen. Daenerys Stormborn.”
Littlefinger is still in Winterfell and annoying the hell out of Sansa. She’s got no time for these men who won’t listen to her. Brienne, who’s been training Podrick and avoiding Tormund, asks Sansa why she still keeps Mr. Baelish around. No matter which way you look at it, Littlefinger saved the Stark army in the Battle of the Bastards. Now he wants to be repaid. “I know exactly what he wants,” Sansa says to Brienne. Cough, cough, MARRIAGE!
Elsewhere in Westeros, The Hound, Thoros, and Beric find an abandoned house to take cover in during a snowstorm. The Hound soon realizes that it’s the home of the father and daughter that fed him and Arya a long time ago. Remember? He betrayed them and took all their money. The Hound finds the dad and daughter’s skeletons in the house. It appears the father killed the girl and then himself instead of having them both starve to death. Later, Beric and The Hound build a fire. Beric asks The Hound to tell him what he sees in the fire. The Hound says that he sees the Wall and a castle close to the sea where “the dead are marching past.” YIKES.
The episode ends with Daenerys arriving at Dragonstone. She’s finally home. She steps off the boat and heads up to the castle. When she gets inside, she sees a Baratheon banner still hanging and rips it down. She walks into the map room at Dragonstone and says to Tyrion, “Shall we begin?”
HollywoodLifers, what did you think of the Game of Thrones premiere? Let us know!
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