It look more like a decade past and the Lannisters are still wielding the power on the Iron throne, winter is here as predicted by the house Stark. so many ongoing plots as each house begins to choose who to fight with.
You have to respect the writers for not just throwing spectacle at the screen, and continuing instead to explore the humanity of this saga and its characters.
While not a lot actually happened, this episode asked us to visualise the key alliances and enmities of the coming season. It cemented the idea suggested in trailers that Daenerys, Cersei and Jon are the three rulers to watch.
Game of Thrones, as always, leaves us conflicted and confused. It remains a show that hates the weak, but loves its small victories. It is the most delicious of cheeseburgers, but also hard to evaluate without seeing more.
For me, the long-awaited season opener did what it needed to do. With one glaring exception. I refer, of course, to the great Ed Sheeran cameo disaster.
We ladle so many highbrow metaphors onto it, mention God knows how many Plantagenets, but essentially this is just a fantastically, lavishly self-assured show that reaches and even extends the limits of its medium.
