Small Council: What did we think of “Dragonstone?”

“Dragonstone,” the first episode of Game of Thrones season 7, has come and gone. What did we think of it? Did it get the season off to a good start? Did it effectively set the stage for the endgame? Read our thoughts below, and tell us yours in the comments!

COREY: I thought “Dragonstone” was an excellent episode, quite possibly the best season premiere episode of the series. There was certainly a “checking in” aspect with some of the characters, but I also felt like the plot moved forward, most obviously with Arya murdering all the male members of House Frey.

Even the segments that did little to advance the plot were so well-acted I hardly minded. I particularly enjoyed the segment with the Hound. Rory McCann kills it every time he’s on screen, and no more so than in this episode. The Hound’s desire for understanding and faith is genuine, and all the more moving given his natural skepticism. The contrast between the journeys taken by the Hound and Arya was effective — she murdered a gaggle of people, and he buries two people he wronged in the past.

I also liked the contrasting forms of sibling rivalry. Jon and Sansa are squabbling in the North, but eventually get back on the same page. Jon values Sansa’s input, and is open to suggestions regarding his rule of the North. On the flip side, Cersei does not take a single suggestion from Jaime, despite her brother bringing up multiple valid points.

Overall, this was a great opening episode, and made good on the promise of a fast pace.

SARAH: In the last Small Council, I expressed a wish that Game of Thrones would dial us back to a more emotionally-driven point, with dialogue-heavy scenes and a strong focus on character. This opener absolutely delivered on that front. Color me delighted. I think this is the first time I’ve ever watched an episode and gone to bed with warm and fuzzy feelings.

To the surprise of nobody, I really enjoyed Arya’s scenes this week, though it may surprise some to learn that I much preferred her impromptu lunch with Ed Sheeran and his band of Lannister soldiers to her massacre of the Freys.

Arya ended the sixth season having resumed her quest for vengeance, and she began the seventh with that goal very much intact. Being a huge fan of the Stark daughters, this isn’t where I want her arc to take her. Revenge is nothing more than a band-aid for a bullet wound. It’s a grimy, dangerous swamp from which one can’t escape once they’ve sunk to a certain depth, and Arya has been wading in waist-deep, cheerfully scrubbing the blood from beneath her fingernails before moving on to the next kill. It’s not a permanent source of happiness, and it won’t bring her peace. Yes, it’s undoubtedly awesome as a viewer to watch the dastardly Frey brood get what they deserve, but as a person who cares deeply for her character, I find her self-destructive behavior as hard to swallow as the poison that killed them. So imagine my delight when the milk of human kindness brought her back to humanity.

Ed Sheeran’s appearance took some fans out of what is normally a fully immersive experience, and while it didn’t personally bother me, I get that it was a problem for a number of people. But look beyond Sheeran and you’ll see that this scene had two functions. The first was to remind Arya that not every man in an enemy’s colors is an enemy. The second was to bring to the forefront the thing she loves most: her family. Beneath her hard, angry exterior is a loyal, affectionate heart. Arya craves companions, friendship and love, and she found more happiness in sharing food with a bunch of homesick soldiers than she has ever found in one of her kills.

In terms of her character development, I found this scene absolutely vital, and it sets the scene nicely for an about-face. “I’m going to kill the queen” evoked laughter from the Lannister soldiers, and it is laughable to think that she would continue south once word of the Stark victory at Winterfell reaches her ears. With the preview for next week’s episode featuring a wolf — though I don’t think it was a direwolf — I’m hoping that Nymeria and her pack will show up to give my best girl another visceral reminder of who she is and where she needs to go: home.

Special mention goes to the Hound — his soft underbelly was just as exposed as Arya’s in this episode — and to Dany’s arrival at the breathtakingly beautiful Dragonstone which, as salty as I can be about Daenerys, I found pretty moving. After all, she was born there before being spirited away to Essos, so it will mean the world to her to find oneness with such an important monument to her family’s history.

RICHARD: I really enjoyed “Dragonstone,” and I was pleasantly surprised that Benioff and Weiss elected to come out of the season 7 gate with such a easy and thoughtful gait. With such huge expectations from viewers and so few episodes left to go, there must have been some early inclinations to awe everyone with some big action sequences in the first installment. I’m glad they chose to ease us back into Westeros and the lives of our characters in the way they did.

This episode had to be something of a balancing act in terms of time, because while season 6 left off with many characters embarking on new storylines, the onus was placed on “Dragonstone” to get them rolling (along with some expository dialog to remind us of important events established previously). Some new relationship dynamics include:

• The new Jaime/Cersei dynamic with her as dark queen
• The new Euron/Cersei/Jaime relationship and alliance
• The Jon/Sansa relationship struggles now that he is King in the North
• Sam’s new apprenticeship at The Citadel
• The Hound’s new character arc among The Brotherhood Without Banners

The episode really allowed some time for important emotional sequences to play out. Daenerys’ return to her ancestral home on Dragonstone was a royal procession, slow and grand, allowing us to see a lot of the stronghold. And where Daenerys’ event was wordless until the end, the Hound’s long sequence where he buried the dead in a haunting storm and saw into the fire was surprisingly talkative and soul-baring for him. Both sequences were slow and heavy on the atmospherics, and both a had powerful dramatic impact.

I thought the episode stumbled a little bit in a few places, with the Ed Sheeran cameo scene bordering on extraneous (a little lame, but nothing deserving the tidal wave of social media abuse he apparently received), and Sam’s poop-montage at The Citadel extended a bit too long—but none of these little glitches are enough to knock the gleam off a beautifully crafted season premiere.

DAN: I agree with everyone above about the premiere’s slower, more thoughtful tone. We’ve heard a lot about how quickly this season moves, but “Dragonstone” proved that Game of Thrones can have quieter moments without sacrificing narrative momentum or entertainment value.

From a bird’s eye view, I love the taste of interconnectedness we’re already getting. No, we didn’t get any huge reunions or first-time meetings, but when was the last time the plot in the North intersected in any meaningful way with the plot in King’s Landing? Thanks to Cersei’s letter to Jon, these stories are being yoked together. And it was borderline surreal to watch Cersei and Jaime have a conversation about Daenerys — King’s Landing spent the last two seasons insulated inside the Sparrow plotline, so to see it expand and bring in characters like Jon and Dany and Euron was a heaping gulp of fresh air.

You guys already addressed some of the great scenes involving Arya, Daenerys, and the Hound. So let me take a stab at a scene that didn’t sit well with me: Sam’s already-infamous chore montage. What annoyed me wasn’t that it was gross (although it was definitely gross), but that the style was so far afield of what Game of Thrones usually does. This show is generally very straight-forward, stylistically speaking — here’re the actors, here’s the dialogue, here are the sets and props and costumes…Action! But the stylized, rhythmic cutting of this sequence took me out of the experience way more than anything Ed Sheeran did. I felt like I was watching an Edgar Wright movie rather than an episode of Game of Thrones.

Sam’s scene with Archmaester Ebrose (for that is officially his name) was much better. Frankly, I thought Ebrose had a really good point about the durability of the world. We’re expecting an apocalypse because so many of the characters expect one, but why? What indication does anyone have that the White Walkers will actually be able to breach the Wall? They couldn’t do it in the last thousand years, so what makes this time special? Is Jon Snow working himself into a frenzy for nothing?

Of course not, because this is TV and there’s no way the White Walkers aren’t invading, but I like that the show is offering a different perspective. Even this late in the game, it’s still taking us to new places and showing us new angles on old problems. Don’t get me wrong — I like that the world is contracting, but I’m sure I’ll miss the sprawl when it’s gone.

KATIE: What I especially enjoyed about the season premiere is how it encapsulated Game of Thrones’ bittersweet tone. Like Sarah, I ended the hour feeling more warm and fuzzy than the show usually allows, but that’s not to say that it’s turned a new, happy-go-lucky leaf. Instead, “Dragonstone” strikes a fine balance between hopefulness and the lack thereof. Simply put, not even Game of Thrones can be all misery, all the time. Otherwise, what are we rooting for?

In my case, the Starks featured in my favorite scenes from an all-around smashing episode:

• Bran is so close to home that I really thought we might see him arrive by episode’s end. After all, the actors have teased the audience about season 7’s accelerated pace. But, hey, he’s at the Wall and I’ll take what I can get.
• Jon and Sansa may butt heads over their political strategies, but it’s made abundantly clear that their relationship can withstand that. They want to believe in the best of themselves and each other—which is why Jon is legitimately, obviously hurt by the implication that he could be likened to Joffrey. Sansa is willing to point out his shortcomings, but she supports and encourages him all the same. Who knew Starkbowl was really about Jon’s inability to accept Sansa’s compliments? What a plot twist! For this I thank the showrunners.
• There’s this great juxtaposition between Arya and Sansa’s mentalities, as they continue to avenge the Red Wedding. Arya kills the Frey men for their family’s crimes against her family, and Sansa wants the Northern traitors stripped of their pomp and circumstance for doing the same. The sisters’ techniques are different, as are the circumstances of their decisions, but I like that we see this parallel between the two. It’s subtle, but still goes to show—as we so often hear—that the Starks thrive in their togetherness.
• “No need to seize the last word, Lord Baelish. I’ll assume it was something clever.” I can’t believe this is how Sansa murdered Littlefinger. Truly amazing. Winter may be here, but it’ll never be cold enough to soothe that burn.

Cersei and Jaime’s scene really highlights how the characters and storylines are converging, but the Stark moments demonstrate how we’re coming full circle, too. There’s a blend of new possibilities and old alliances at work, so it feels like the story is at once progressing and coming to a close. There’s definite forward momentum, and “Dragonstone” eases us in with more dialogue than action, while still keeping the pace alive and well. It sets a high standard for the rest of the season. With any luck, this is a rollercoaster that’ll keep going up.

RAZOR: What struck me most about the season 7 premiere was that everyone seemed to know the situation was dire. Winter really is here, and maybe they should have listened to the Starks, all those years ago.

In fact, besides #Starkbowl2017, the only place that seems to be capable of being prepared when the Night King and the army of the dead march on Westeros, is the North, led by Jon Snow and Winterfell. While Cersei is busy plotting revenge against literally everyone in Westeros, and the Maesters at the Citadel are busy pooping themselves silly (because that montage of sh*t made it seem so) and generally being arrogant about everything topic known to man, the North is busy training little girls to shoot a bow and arrow, and swing a sword.

I also feel like the shot of the Night King’s army marching slowly somewhere, was meant to remind us all — as if we needed it — that no one is safe, especially since he’s got giants, in tow. Yes, Arya’s extinction event at House Frey was satisfying, but there is something much more terrifying than one assassin bent on revenge.

I did, however, like Arya’s line after she killed House Frey: “The North Remembers,” finally, a Stark actually delivers this phrase in the coolest manner possible. I honestly could have watched Arya prepare the assassination feast for a solid hour, and as long as that episode would have ended with her badass lines, then I would have been completely satisfied.

What did you think of the season 7 premiere? Vote in the poll and let us know in the comments!

What did you think of the “Dragonstone”?

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