Game of Thrones ‘Winterfell’ review – A slow but strong start

It’s back. Over 600 days since Season 7 ended, the final Season of Game of Thrones returns to our screens. The final season promises to be the most explosive yet, as Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow face off against the Night King and his army of undead, while far to the south Cersei Lannister plots their downfall. It has new opening credits as well. Since the action this season seems like it will be mainly concentrated on the castle at Winterfell and the city of Kings Landing, we are treated to a room by room construction of the castle, rather than the brief flypast of previous seasons.

While there is a great deal of excitement about what is to come, the season gets off to a relatively slow start. Much of the episode it taken up with establishing scenes for various characters, making sure that we all remember who, and importantly, where they are. With such a long time since the previous season, this is quite helpful in reminding us what various characters were up to when we last saw them. Most of these scenes take place in the north, as the war against the Night King has led to most of the cast congregating at Winterfell. We are given brief snippets of the south, but as the only major characters there are Cersei and Euron Greyjoy, most of the scenes take place in the frozen north.

The final season promises to be the most explosive yet

With so many characters converging on Winterfell, it is only natural that many of the establishing scenes are reunions, sometimes between characters who were separated a long time ago. Arya, whose travels have taken her across much of Westeros, has a number of surprising reunions after several seasons apart, although the prize goes to one pair of characters who have not seen one another since the start of Season 1. With so many characters, and so much going on, the episode does feel a bit slow, as most of the scenes involve groups or pairs of people talking to each other, with the occasional interlude for a shot of ships sailing or dragon riding.

For a Game of Thrones episode, there’s also a surprisingly little amount of violence or sex. There is one scene part way through the episode involving Bronn and a number of prostitutes, but it feels a little gratuitous. The only real violence comes near to the end, in a scene which ramps up the tension for next week. The rest of the episode is mostly people talking against a backdrop of castle or snowy tundra, which starts to grate a little towards the end.

For a Game of Thrones episode, there’s also a surprisingly little amount of violence or sex

However, the episode is a strong start, with natural feeling dialogue and strong performances, even from actors who sometimes come across as a little wooden. With the penultimate scene packing a strong emotional punch, and containing a big reveal, the next episode is sure to be exciting.