NOTE: This review contains spoilers for the episode and light references to the books.
A new season of Game of Thrones is usually slow to start, and season 5 is no exception. With so many characters to check in on and situations to establish, it’s impossible to not exclude some people. In this episode’s case, Arya (and it looks like Bran and The Boltons will be taking a back seat this season as well).
The episode started with the first flashback we’ve seen on the show, a young Cersei and companion visiting the witch that gave Cersei the oh-so-famous prophecy of her downfall as queen. It was a weird way to begin the episode, but hopefully they continue to play with flashbacks in the future; it’s a great way to continually differentiate from the books. And speaking of the books, this opening not only set Cersei’s mind for the following scene, but I think it’s setting the stage for her character arc this season, assuming they stick to her book storyline.
Tyrion went through some changes over the break as well. After murdering his father on the toilet with a crossbow (that sounds like a fun game of “Clue”), Varys helped Tyrion escape to Pentos in a box, and Tyrion was none too happy upon exiting. I’m greatly looking forward to their banter over the next several episodes, I just hope Tyrion doesn’t stay mopey for the whole season. I understand that he just murdered his father and the woman he loved, but low energy is not a good look on that character.
Jon and Stannis are now together at The Wall, arguing over what to do with Mance Rayder and the wildlings. Stannis is an interesting character in that he is the rightful king of Westeros, but no one seems to want him. He’s a just man, but he’s being pulled into the darkness by Melisandre, so he may end up being screwed just like everyone else. Stannis enlists Jon to convince Mance to bend the knee and save the wildlings, which Jon knows to be a fool’s errand. The scene between Jon and Mance was probably the best of the episode, and culminated in Mance meeting his fiery end after a pity arrow from Jon.
And guess what, Dany is still sitting on her throne in Mereen. It’s becoming increasingly hard to root for her character when she spent all last season doing nothing, and now continues to make bone-headed decisions. Now she has the Sons of the Harpy to deal with, so I’m sure we’ll see the many ways that she can mess that crisis up.
The premiere started off slowly with Cersei and Jaime arguing over Tywin’s dead body, and it never really picked up steam from there. With so many characters, it’s important to focus on the most important and interesting stories to start the season. With that in mind, I would have dropped some time from Dany and Jon in order to establish Arya’s current circumstances, but hopefully she gets some significant time in episode 2. All in all, not a terrible episode, but not the season opener I was hoping for.