Typically when Game of Thrones has a cold open, it means there’s going to be a ton of shit happening in the episode. “Dragonstone” both confirms and defies this assumption, which we’ll get into. Suffice it to say that even when the show is frustrating, as it occasionally is, it is almost never boring. It’s thrilling to have GoT back on the air, and if “Dragonstone” is any indication, this season will keep up the standard of excellence reestablished by the previous season. This is a long preamble to get to my point, which is: hoo boy, that opening was a doosy.
Arya Stark scenes are the closest that Game of Thrones gets to fan service. This is a notoriously unsentimental show, but ever since Arya killed Meryn Trant before returning to Westeros, the show has used her storyline as a way to show the audience that sometimes the good guy wins – she just has to sell her soul in order to do it. It’s a hard needle to thread, but David Benioff and D.B. Weiss – who wrote this episode – do it remarkably well. This is due almost entirely to Maisie Williams’ performance; Arya takes no real glee in killing off twenty Freys at once, but they owe her a death. She hasn’t entirely forgotten the lessons she learned at the House of Black and White. (David Bradley, on the other hand, has a hoot playing Arya disguised as Walder Frey; it’s a short but layered performance from an actor who never shied away from the sneering awfulness of his character.)
GoT indulges in a little more fan service later, with an Ed Sheeran cameo (reportedly a gift from Benioff and Weiss to superfan Williams), which is surprising in how his presence manages not to be distracting. He doesn’t even get the most lines in his scene, although he does get to show off his lovely singing voice. The scene, of Lannister soldiers welcoming Arya into their campsite, puts a human face on the show’s most obvious enemy.
“Dragonstone” is a checking-in episode that most shows would reserve for further along in the season, but with Game of Thrones it’s kind of a necessity to get this out of the way at the top. Normally episodes like this can veer towards tedium, but luckily GoT has the best acting ensemble on TV right now, so it’s a pleasure to spend time with these characters. Director Jeremy Podeswa, a GoT vet, keeps the proceedings moving along at a nice clip, with precious little downtime. For a very talky episode, “Dragonstone” never loses momentum.
The show announces that it has moved into endgame by easily – and, more importantly, believably – moving its characters into place. There are two telling shots of characters staring down at massive maps of Westeros, both of which could be seen as visual metaphors for Benioff and Weiss. (The fact that they can keep all these plates spinning, most of the time at least, is nothing short of miraculous.) For instance, it should seem like a narrative copout to have Meera and Bran show up at Castle Black, but with Jon’s very public position as the new King in the North, it would make sense for them to show up even if Jon wasn’t Bran’s brother. (Isaac Hempstead-Wright plays Bran’s otherwordly knowledge well; when asked to prove his identity, he calmly rattles off a list of Edd’s past deeds and battles, which also serves to show that Edd isn’t a random choice for Lord Commander; he was at Hardhome and the Fist of the First Men, and he knows about the threat of the Night King. Edd is legit.)
There’s a wonderful visual motif throughout “Dragonstone” – everyone is wearing black. Cersei, for instance, has a gown with such a high collar that it looks like armor. Jaime, too, is in black, and the famous gold cloaks of the Kingsguard has been replaced by steely black, now that they’re the Queensguard. Daenerys, Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm are all in black as well; ditto Euron Greyjoy. These are the darkest days of Westeros, the characters seem to be conveying through their attire. Winter has come.
It would be exhausting to give a beat-by-beat recap of the plot of “Dragonstone”; moreover it would be unnecessary, because I assume if you read this you watched the damn episode. Besides that, “Dragonstone” was pretty light on plot. It was a mostly conversational episode; for a show so indulgent of visual spectacle, I feel like Game of Thrones doesn’t get enough credit for the facility and wit of its dialogue. Pilou Asbaek, a new addition as Euron Greyjoy, gets his chance to shine as he attempts to woo Cersei. Euron is an exciting new villain, because he tries so hard to be engaging. Ramsay and Joffrey made no secret of their cruelty, but Euron aims to be more ingratiating, casually admitting to Cersei that he killed his brother (“You should try it sometime,” he adds, and it’s unclear if he means with Tyrion or Jaime).
The strangest directorial choice Podeswa makes is in the montage of Sam at Oldtown – strange, but undeniably effective. Sam’s day gets compressed into shorter and shorter shots of menial and degrading tasks, and Podeswa draws a gross, funny parallel to the food served at the Citadel and the feces Sam is made to clean out of chamber pots. John Bradley’s performance is reminiscent of another famous Sam: Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. He’s a steadfast and loyal friend, who wants nothing more than to help and, although he thinks of himself as a sidekick, people depend on him more than he knows. While he’s reading some ancient tome, Gilly tells him he needs to sleep, to which he responds, “The dead don’t.” He sends a raven to Jon telling him that Dragonstone is built on a mountain of dragonglass, which is an easy setup for Jon’s eventual meeting with Daenerys. Like I said before, “Dragonstone” is economical.
The only complaint I have about the episode is that not a whole lot actually happens. We see the act of planning, but precious little of execution. This goes from subtext to text after a lovely montage showing Daenerys returning to Dragonstone, to Westeros, where she hasn’t set foot since she was a child. She stands at the head of the painted table and gives her only line, the final one of the episode: “Shall we begin?” It’s telling in a number of ways, but as much as I love Emilia Clarke’s delivery of it, it hangs a lantern on the fact that “Dragonstone” is an episode that feels busier than it is. I need to add something, though. If this is what a Game of Thrones prologue looks like, then by all means, let’s begin.
A Few Thoughts
- I won’t drag this review out any further. I just want to say that if this episode is any indication, there is going to be far too much plot to cover every week (unless I want the reviews to run 3,000 words, which I don’t). Some subplots will be glossed over, some won’t even be mentioned (I didn’t get to the Hound’s plot, which I loved). So, uh, deal with it, I guess.
4.25/5
About Author
