Game of Thrones -- "Winterfell" (Episode Review)

Game of Thrones
HBO
Season 8: Episode 1
"Winterfell"
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Game of Thrones returns after a nearly two-year hiatus to present its final six episodes. While I enjoyed them, the show's sixth and seventh seasons were derided for moving a bit too quickly. I can't completely disagree with that complaint. How fitting then that "Winterfell," the first episode of the eighth season, slows down to not only take stock, but explore the reunions of seemingly dozens of characters who haven't seen each other in years.
Quasi-protagonist/show moral-center John Snow comes back to the homeland he left as king, now a servant of the Queen of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen. He's got to not only convince his people to follow the dragon-riding, massive-army bearing queen, but he's got to turn his siblings around to the idea, as well. Oh, yeah, and as the show revealed to the viewer last season, and as is revealed to John in this episode...those aren't actually his siblings...his long dead, noble father was not his father...he's actually the rightful king of the entire land...and the Dragon Queen he's been making sweet, sweet love to is actually...his aunt.
The show handles this reveal to John well (it comes from the mouth of his grieving friend, Samwell Tarly), and if "Winterfell" has a cliffhanger, it's what John is going to do with that information. That's of course, in addition to the fact that the icy undead army that broke through the wall separating them from the mortals at the end of last season is now bearing down on Winterfell. Meanwhile, the wicked Queen Cersei continues to plot and make dastardly faces, spending her few scenes drinking, plotting, and sleeping with the arrogant Euron, leader of her new fleet of ships. While the show continues to do well in showing that John is passionate that all humans should be united together against their common undead foe, and that titles and lands no longer matter, Cersei revels in the fact that the undead army will reach her Northern, Winterfell-based foes long before they do her.
"Winterfell" as an episode contains most of Game of Thrones' strengths and weaknesses as a whole. The character work is solid, and when time is given to character interaction, in this case the many reunions, the episode feels heartfelt AND thought out. The spectacle is as huge as ever, as well, with John riding a dragon for the first time (ironically right before he discovers the reason they've taken a shine to him rather than eating him) over snowy forests, hills, and valleys. However, the same flaws are there, too.
Essentially everything to do with the sea-going, island-dwelling peoples in the show continues to be bungled, as Theon Greyjoy and Yara are reunited in a daring rescue, and then assumedly part ways again in less than the amount of time it takes to brew a cup of coffee. Meanwhile, as Euron seemingly enjoys bragging and boasting to Cersei more than actually making love to her, it's puzzling why the show continues to keep the dope around. Game of Thrones also reintroduces a friend it seemingly abandoned several season ago, gratuitous nudity, which involves, who would have guessed, the loyal but rakish Bronn. It also does one of its classic, useless, "will this character," in this case Bronn, "betray the people he cares about," in this case Tyrion and Jaime, through-lines, where you absolutely know, "No, he won't." I hate when they waste time on stuff like that. If Bronn does betray them, which he won't, then the show has completely failed at ever showing in any way how the character would ever kill his buddies for someone he cares absolutely nothing about.
With those complaints out of the way, "Winterfell" is, as I've said, a solid episode, and with some powerful callbacks to the show's now eight-year old first episode, particularly in its final moment. All those years before, Jaime Lannister pushed a young Bronn Stark out a tall Winterfell window, closing the first episode with a shocking moment. "Winterfell" closes with a now mostly reformed Jaime seeking not only the shelter of Wintefell, but for a way to help the mortal vs. undead cause. Who does he see as he enters the gates, but a crippled, wizened Bran, gazing knowingly into his eyes.