The long wait is finally over, after months of teasers, filming, premieres and general fan fare Game of Thrones returned on Monday night with a fitting opening to what promises to be an exciting and decisive series.
The episode opened with a flashback to Cerci's childhood where she visits someone who I believe was called the Frog Lady or something similar. In there she promised Cerci 3 answers to questions regarding her future. She answers on about Robert which we can all just about recall from the early seasons and then adds a chill to the air telling her that she will be Queen but then there will be another younger, prettier woman who will take it from her. Clearly this is referring to Margery, well we assume it is anyway. She also tells her about her children "Gold will be there crowns and gold will be there shrouds". An eerie opening. We then cut to a scene with Cerci at her father funeral where we have an introduction to her now religion nut cousin who I think will be hanging around to stay.
Turning to Littlefinger and Sansa, after dumping her cousin on some poor fellow from somewhere in The Vale, they head West. To quite where is anybody's guess so we'll see how that develops. In the background we see Briene and Pod who, now they have lost Arya, are sort of stuck in the wilderness with tensions frayed between them. According to many of the stars of the show Briene has a huge season ahead.
Then of course we have Tyrion. Fresh off of murdering his father and being shipped in a crate to Pentos, is depressed and stuck in a rut where he intends to simply drink himself to death. That is until Varys offers him an alternative, travel to meet Daenerys and side by her in her fight for the Iron Throne. This is a proposition Tyrion of course takes but I have always had suspicions about Varys and how trusted he can be, he is of course known as 'the Spider'. He says it himself though "You'll never sit on the Iron throne" but convinces Tyrion that he can help Daenerys as an advisor, he's wise, a learned man of the world and understands how things work. Personally I get the feeling that although Tyrion will survive this series and some to come, this may be Varys' last.
So of course there are the two main areas of the Seven Kingdoms we haven't covered. In her new Capital Daenerys is starting to feel the pressures of being a ruler. Her subjects are calling for returns to some of the old ways which she is resisting and along with this the murder of an Unsullied in a brothel has left more questions than answers. But as she sees her dragons it becomes clear that locking them away has done her no favours. She's lost any slim control she had over the two locked in the cave and of course the largest of the three is on the loose somewhere across the land. Interesting developments here of course.
And finally we come to the crux of where I think much of the action will take place, or where the characters who have the biggest roles this season currently reside. Castle Black. Currently hosting Stanis, Sir Davos, The Red Lady and of course John Snow (along with other characters like Sam, who sadly I think is for the chop this season). Of course no visit to Castle Black is complete without a death and thats exactly what we get. Mance has been sentenced to death and the only escape is to kneel before Stanis. This is of course a no go. We can see the fear in the mans eyes and they begin to burn him alive and after a speech about how he'll go without dignity screaming and hollering we can all tell its coming. Then right before he begins to rock Castle Black to it's foundations with his screams of pain an arrow nestles in his chest. Of course it's John (Jon? Whatever) Snow taking the incredibly brave decision infront of all of CB's residents to send Mance Raider out with pride and the respect that Jon has for him.
This is part of what I think makes Jon such a likeable and enduring character. The fact that amongst the chaos and violence of the environment he casts a very human figure. One with values and respect for those who earn it. Of course this is a huge season for Jon Snow as well as it is for so any characters and we watch with bated breath ahead of next weeks episode.
