The Last of the Starks

The last of the Starks was the fourth episode of the final season of Game of Thrones. Politics and scheming comes to the fore and gives viewers somewhat of a reminder of the show get grew to love all those years ago.

And we really miss that show 

This episode was extremely bright and there seems to be no sign of winter (was the Night King the source of winter? And are we in a state of eternal summer post his disintegration?) and Starbucks has opened it's first ever outlet in Westeros.

The episode kicks off outside the castle of Winterfell where the living set fire to the dead with each major character setting alight the pyre atop which the one which meant the most to them lay on. Arya-Beric, Jon- Daenerys-Jorah, Sansa-Theon, Sam-Edd and that's all there's time for. We don't see who Grey Worm lights fire to. Now the reason for that could be that Grey Worm considered all of the Unsullied as his own (which is what HBO wants us to believe) or the fact that they didn't focus on anything in the Unsullied army apart from Greyworm.

THE MAD QUEEN 

Throughout the episode the camera angles and the expressions on her face as well as her behaviour seem to indicate her descent from wannabe saviour of the people to the power hungry mad queen. It began with her mourning the loss of Jorah Mormont and ended with what she considered the last straw (the murder of her advisor Missandei atop the walls of King's Landing). Daenerys does try to win loyalties at Winterfell, but it isn't easy as legitimizing a Bastard and giving him a title as well as a castle. Despite her best and speedy attempts at politics she realises that she will not be accepted as the people will not switch their allegiance based on a solitary toast to the hero of Winterfell. The people already have their favourite and they won't change that based on a solitary toast. Everyone isn't and cannot be Ser Bronn (who now will relax wait for either Lannister party to win and claim either Riverrun or Highgarden). She also wishes for Jon/Aegon Targaryen to not reveal his true identity to his sisters as she knows his claim (despite him not wanting it) to the throne is much stronger than her own. She has no concern for the condition of her forces and just wishes to conquer as quickly as she can. Daenerys questions the honour of the north when they say that their forces need time to recover. The murder of her child (Rhaegal) in a classic Game of Thrones assault which viewers had long forgotten had the element of surprise and the ensuing battle resulted in the capture of Missandei. One last attempt by Tyrion to talk his way to a solution failed (But was anyone really expecting a meek surrender and transfer of power following a conversation? There was always going to be a war, a rebellion, a revolution.... The Final War) and Missandei was murdered which was the final piece in the puzzle of completing the transformation of Daenerys. The expression on her face just says it all. She has completely lost it and now seeks to fulfil her trusted advisor's final word "DRACARYS."

If anyone has read Daenerys well it is Cersei and Varys. The two of them both have realised that the dragon queen is a scared little girl who has grown up with the desire to get back what was hers (not really it was never hers. She was the third child) and now all the delays and deaths of her advisors will result in her losing the voices of reason.

The "Mad Queen"

She is known as that but she seems to be the shrewdest tactician in Westeros at the moment. Cersei was at her Machiavellian best where she informs Euron about "their" child and permits the civilians of King's Landing to enter the red keep because "the Usurper is comimg." No, she doesn't give a damn about them. They are allowed to enter only because she knows that Daenerys will either refrain from attack or (as is the case now) when she does attack, the civilians will see her for what Cersei has claimed she was all along "just like her father- The Mad King." Her sick and satisfied smirk at the end of the episode was telling as she knows she has succeeded.

Watching her act is a treat to behold and fingers are crossed that she finally gets her long due Emmy Award.

"As your brother once told me, he is not a Stark."

Sansa Stark reveals Jon Snow's true identity to Hand of the Queen Tyrion Lannister just about 5 minutes of screen time after having been sworn to secrecy.
The line here used by Tyrion is "As your brother once told me, he is not a Stark." This is a reply to Sansa's claim that men from her family do not fare well when they travel south. The pronoun of 'he' in Tyrion's line here could refer to Jon which means that Tyrion already knew of Jon's true identity courtesy Bran, yet chose to keep it a secret as he still believed in Daenerys. Or it could have been Tyrion suspecting it all along (because of his love for reading combined with him observing that the Dragons permit Jon to ride them) and tricking Sansa into revealing the secret with the line actually referring to Bran revealing that he isn't a Stark and is the three eyed raven (with respect to the conversation they had at the start of the episode).

The Spider and The Imp

These two are aware of the fact of there being another with a better claim and throughout the episode we see Varys staring at Daenerys whilst deep in thought. When Tyrion reveals the truth about Jon Snow to Varys (as Sansa hoped that he would) he hopes that Varys will not think about committing an act of treason, but he actually provides the spider with information which help the former master of whispers ensure that the realm gets the best. But why did Tyrion not keep this a secret? Has he lost his touch and failed to spot that Varys was showing signs of switching allegiances? The Spider does voice his opinion regarding the same only to get brushed away. He openly claims that he is for the realm and seems extremely keen on doing away with her but watching over her is Tyrion Lannister. The prediction by the Red Woman says that Varys must die on this strange continent of Westeros and we don't think that she means old age many years after the war. Tyrion and Varys trying to outplot each other or better trying to keep Daenerys away from her desired throne would be a beautiful thing. Two of the best minds at work to either thwart each other or work towards a common goal.

The speed with which they travel is remarkable

This has been a criticism of the show ever since the commencement of the penultimate season. The shows pace once again is questioned as events which ideally occur days or weeks apart seem to happen within just 5 minutes. It will no doubt take quite a few days for the Greyjoy/Golden Company fleet to set sail from King's Landing to Dragonstone to ambush the Targaryen fleet and then back to the capital along with their prisoner. Jaime both sleeps with Brienne and then dumps her in the same episode.

The old thrones would have spread out the events of this episode over atleast 3 episodes to let the tensions simmer and make sense.

What next?

Will Euron contemplate the words of Tyrion or was he too busy just smiling?
Tyrions words though should lead Euron Greyjoy to question the authenticity of Cersei's claim that their unborn child is his. As there no chance that Tyrion will know about Euron's conjugal activities with Cersei which happened long after the Dragonpit parlay. In the few seconds after Tyrion talks about her child sees Cersei's unflappable exterior shaken a bit and her body language is akin to one who is a tad nervous. But she knows that Euron is a buffoon.

The death of Aegon Targaryen?

The signs are ominous and point towards this as Rhaegal (the dragon named after Jon Snow's true father) was shot dead in true Game of Thrones fashion as Daenerys and part of her army returned to Dragonstone (was Euron waiting there for a while or did someone tip him off that the Targaryen girl would be making port there soon?) Sansa once more voiced concerns about the men from her family not faring well in the south and this has to be there for a reason. She cannot go on bringing this up as Jon had gone south last season only to return with his head still on his shoulders.

How will the combined forces of the North and the Unsullied be able to penetrate the walls of King's Landing and compete with the Lannister Army+ The Golden Company and the Greyjoy fleet? Dragon's presence will not be telling as the enemy is armed with proven Dragon killing shotguns whose prototypes managed to injure Drogon itself. Will Yara Greyjoy make an appearance to eliminate her uncle? And will we get Cleganebowl in the next episode. And what about Jaime and Arya? Who will reach Cersei first?

The episode has received a low rating and this is mostly due to the fact that many viewers' fan theories are being disproved. This is a major disappointment to see viewers take out their petty frustrations regarding thr direction of a show and give it a poor IMDB score. The Last of the Starks was a solid episode and served the purpose of setting up for whatever finale we have got in store.

08.01 Winterfell

The episode "Winterfell" was a tad underwhelming as audience expectations were high post the mediocre penultimate season which saw the characters travel the continent of Westeros at logic defying speed. Please turn away if you haven't yet watched it. There are spoilers in this article.

It will always be remembered as the one with the reveal, the reunions, the new opening sequence and plenty of throwbacks to the series premiere "Winter is Coming."

"Winterfell" reminded causal viewers of scenes from The pilot episode where a young boy runs to the crowd and Arya is missing from the welcoming party within Winterfell. Where a ruler from the south is making their way north and is welcomed in the courtyard of Winterfell. Unlike season 1 though Arya doesn't show up for the welcome just in time and no one can do a thing about it.


Opening sequence
The new opening sequence features the astrolabe with a white background, the wall, the last hearth, Winterfell, the Godswood and King's Landing. The throne room makes it's first appearance in the opening sequence. The absence of Pyke is telling and based on the events of the first episode we may have possibly seen the last of Yara Greyjoy.

The Reveal
Jon Snow has been informed that he actually is a Targaryen, but that was the last we saw of his character for the episode. He seemed to be overwhelmed but hopefully he knows something and manages to join the pieces and find out how he was successfully able touch the dragons without getting incinerated and even ride Rhaegal in the scene I like to call 'How to Train your Dragon 4: The Secret Targaryen's first flight.'


The Reunions
Right from the opening scene it became abundantly clear that the episode was going to focus on getting those long awaited reunions and first meetings out of the way. So much so that the Night King and his army of the dead were not even on screen save for the one wight at the end.

The lack of close ups in the scene where Arya spots Jon, Sandor Clegane and Gendry among the crowd is telling. Here most people will say that the scene was from Arya's point of view and she managed to spot these characters from among the crowd, but what about the audiences who have just tuned in to the final season due to its hype. Just like how people showed up only to watch the final Harry Potter movie.

A close up on either on the characters would have shown everyone that these characters matter from Arya's perspective as well as show the new audiences who don't see it fit to watch the previous 67 episodes that these characters are different from the rest of the soldiers.
The arrival of Jon and Dany isn't grand on its own and requires the dragons to swoop in and make the save just as they have been doing ever since the tv show went ahead of the books.

Other reunions include Sansa and Tyrion Lannister (who is grossly underused in the episode)

His plans seem to be all over the place and we earnestly hope that the show brings back the man who drinks and knows things.

Just when we though that the reunions were done, Jaime Lannister arrives in Winterfell only to be met by none other than Bran Stark who was "waiting for an old friend." This is similar to the final scene of the series premiere way back in 2011 when Kingsguard Jaime Lannister throws young Brandon Stark from the tower to close out the episode.

Best part of the episode
Bran being Bran
He is still just sitting there always at the right place at the right time and being extremely creepy. His 3 scenes (the one where he tells Daenaerys that they have no time, the one where he tells Sam that he must tell Jon the truth and the one where he meets his "old friend") are the ones that will be remembered for long time.

The episode also saw action in King's Landing and the introduction of the Golden Company. Cersei was drinking wine, something which she had refused to do so in the previous season as she was "pregnant?" We can see that it was Machiavellianism and I feel stupid for letting it surprise me, as after 7 seasons one can come to expect Machiavellian behaviour to be the norm from the Lion Queen.

People who say that the show is galloping ahead with too many reveals and reunions happening in a single episode should refrain from speaking as when else will all these reunions happen.

There are just 5 episodes left and there are so many battles still to come which makes it good that these reunions are out of the way.

We didn't seen our main antagonist in this episode, but we know that he is moving south. With all these reunions and reveals out of the way all the pieces are in place in the giant chessboard of the North and just 5 episodes remaining one can expect the pace to pick up as the battle finally begins.