Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 1 “Winterfell” Recap

Winter is finally here. The Game of Thrones Season 8 finally premiered this Monday. There were a lot of moments that made us smile, cry, and laugh and gave us a bit of confusion. Overall, it got us excited for the end!

Everyone’s eagerly waiting to see how the creators will give us a conclusive end to this behemoth of a show with hundreds of characters. Last season, the Wall that kept the vicious army of the White Walkers at bay fell. It’s safe to say that all of Westeros is under a significant threat. A threat that Jon Snow and Khaleesi and their trusted advisors Tyrion Lannister and Davos Seaworth are especially concerned about. But will the rest also put their differences aside and fight the common enemy of the undead?

Here’s everything in the Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 1 “Winterfell.”  It has done a lot to set the base for the rest of the season to unfold, where our favorite heroes and villains will have to combat a myriad of battles to gain their own peace finally. Who will win, and who will die? That’s only a matter of time.

Khaleesi and Jon Snow Come to Winterfell

Paralleling the first episode of Game of Thrones, we see Khaleesi and the former King of the North, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), come to Winterfell. As this procession makes its way to Winterfell, it’s met with a bittersweet tension. Instead of Robert Baratheon and his Missus Cersei, it’s North’s new queen Daenarys Targaryan (Emilia Clarke). A queen that Winterfell is not readily accepting now, especially the new Lady Stark of Winterfell: Sansa (Sophie Turner). Plus, everyone in Winterfell is amazed as well as scared of the two dragons casually flying along with the procession.

The North collectively feels betrayed by their King of the North, Jon Snow, as he has bent the knee to the new queen Khaleesi and her army of Dothraki and the Unsullied. Even though Snow tries to defend himself, he keeps on reiterating that he did not ask to be the king. Though, this does not stop him from making preparations to fortify the Winterfell castle against the army of undead that’s approaching their way.

Heartfelt Reunions

Amidst the tension between the North and the new Queen that wants to rule the Seven Kingdoms, we see some memorable reunions between our favorite characters on the show. Snow reunites with sister Arya Stark (Maise Williams) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright).  After so much the Stark family has suffered, it was beautiful to witness these characters finally reunited.

Arya has two more memorable reunions: one with the Hound (Rory McCann), who was her traveling partner for a while. Their relationship doesn’t make the most sense, but they care for each other in their own way. The bastard of Robert Baratheon, Gendry (Joe Dempsie), reunites with Arya, and some fans could even sense a bit of flirtation between the two.

Then we see Sansa (Sophie Turner) reunite with Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), with whom she was forcibly married. Though Sansa bears no ill will to Tyrion, the two have a lot of respect for each other. Tyrion even gives her a token of admiration:

“Many underestimated you. Most of them are dead now.”

This predicts that Sansa Stark has a considerable role in the remaining Game of Thrones episodes.

Some, like Theon Atone For Their Sins

Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), who betrayed the Stark family and was the prime reason for the murder of Ned Stark, finally learns to atone for his sins in Game of Thrones Season 8. He didn’t fight his uncle Euron when he captured Theon’s sister Yara. He fled away from the scene, but now he is making up for it by rescuing her. Yara makes her way to the Iron Islands and lets Theon go back to the Starks to help them fight the biggest battle of all.

Samwell Tarly Learns of the Death of His Family By the Executioner Herself

The North may dislike Daenerys Targaryen, but Samwell Tarly may even find a reason to hate her. When Khaleesi comes to Samwell to thank him for saving her friend Ser Jorah Mormant (Ian Glein), she also learns what she did to his family. With a grave face, she admits to executing Samwell’s brother and father as they did not bend their knee.

The reason is that she mercilessly executed his father and brother when they didn’t bend their knee. This simple fact probably leads to Tarly disclosing the truth about Jon Snow’s heritage to him.

Jon Snow Learns He’s a Targaryan

Bran keeps urging Samwell to tell Jon the truth about himself, that he’s actually Aegon, an heir of the Targaryen. He’s not the son of Ned Stark but actually Rhaegar Targaryan and Lyanna Stark, making him the true heir to the thrones. This might complicate his relationship with Khaleesi since she’s always believed herself to be the true heir. Plus, because he’s technically her nephew, we can’t expect the incestuous relationship to last a long while. After all, they are no Lannisters.

Cersei Lannister’s Shaky Alliance with Euron Greyjoy

While all the reunions are happening in Winterfell, Cersei (Lena Heady) is left with Jamie leaving her. She’s still left negotiating her terms of an alliance with the egotistical Euron Greyjoy ( Pilou Asbæk), who got her a whole army in exchange for some, well, a night of pleasure.

Initially, she shuts the constant advances but ends up giving in by the end. It’s not sure why she did it. Perhaps, it was loneliness due to her lover and brother Jamie leaving. Or it might be her obsession with the elephants that weren’t in the mercenary army she bought through the Iron Bank. Moreover, her pregnancy revealed in the last season may make her a bit more emotional than rational.

She’s also so tired of being betrayed by her brothers that she has asked her hand to pay the sellsword Bronn (Jerome Flynn) to kill Tyrion and Jaime. It’s not the wisest of choices, as these men have their unique bond with Bronn. As for Jamie, he finally meets Bran after all those years of thinking he is dead.

We didn’t get that many unexpected surprises except the grisly and ruthless murder of Lord Ned Umber by the White Walkers.  But we can undoubtedly expect the show to give us something great for the remaining episodes of Game of Thrones Season 8.