How season 8’s premiere mirrors Game Of Thrones’ very first episode
TV Features Winter Is Here With The A.V. Club
There were a lot of parallels between season eight’s premiere and the very first episode of Game Of Thrones. Royalty arrives in Winterfell. Someone asks where Arya is. Jaime and Bran meet. The White Walkers arrange body parts into designs. We even get a throwback sexposition scene (sex + exposition, a hallmark of early Game Of Thrones seasons). Managing Editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog and Senior Writer Katie Rife break down the many ways season eight starts by harkening back to the origins of this story and its characters.
You can watch the video podcast above, and listen to the audio below. Please subscribe on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, so you won’t miss out on future episodes. And for more discussion, visit our Game Of Thrones experts and newbies recaps, and join us in revisiting pivotal moments in our series, Month Of Thrones.
22 Comments
Nice job. Both insightful (quite so), and you kept it under 20 minutes! Brevity in podcasts is underrated!
Didn’t Todd from VOX do this?
Loved this! And I very much appreciate how much you guys love Sansa. I always feel like she is the overlooked badass character, just because she isn’t a murderous sword fighter like her sister. She really has the most interesting arc of all of them. Sansa, as you said, begins as a complete star-struck mooncalf, and ends as a hardened, practical leader. Arya’s arc is much less radical, since she was always on the outside of her role as one of the children of a noble house.
Sansa seems to be the only one to immediately (and correctly) assume that Cersei is lying about sending an army north to help. While Tyrion may have the bond of family/wanting to see the best in his sister clouding his judgement, Sansa’s got no such illusions, and has seen Cersei for who she really is for quite a while now.
“Sansa’s got no such illusions, and has seen Cersei for who she really is for quite a while now.”But…so has Tyrion? The fact that Tyrion believed Cersei I found very odd and out of character.
Definitely. Taking Cersei at her word was very un-Tyrionlike.
I think it’s particularly interesting to see the Sansa-Daenerys dynamic set up, since to a degree they’ve had somewhat opposite arcs. Sansa started as a slightly spoiled, star-struck noble who goes through incredibly scarring experiences and comes out the other side (as you note) a hardened, practical leader, a realist who sees the dirty side of the world. Daenerys started out as someone familiar with the dirty side of the world (homeless, abusive brother, sold to Dothraki), went through her own scarring experiences, and now needs to learn to become a noble who can interact with the other players in the game without just burning everything down (literally).
I find myself annoyed that Jon is acting as this mouthpiece go-between between Sansa and Dany. Why aren’t they talking???
Both are hard to take seriously, especially Arya.
People give Sophie Turner a lot of crap, but I thought she did a terrific job with the role. I also think she will be one of the few to survive the series.
This was super fun! For next week’s episode, I DARE you to recap it at a brunch place in NYC, while my boyfriend and I sit quietly across the table, hanging on your every word. We’ll cut little pieces of french toast for you to eat while the other person is talking. People are gonna love it, trust me. THANKS IN ADVANCE!
Great discussion, I had picked up on a few of the repeated scenes (recently reached the entire series), but missed some of the details. Terrific use of video too (vs. some video podcasts, which are just the audio version with two people sitting front of mics).Kind of off topic: I was watching it with the wife, and said, “Holy smokes, Caitlin looks like our daughter”, she recently got new glasses same style as yours, hahaha, it’s uncanny, same hair, everything – seems appropriate in the context of a show about possible circular timelines, people meeting their own future selves 😀 (She’s 11, totally into fantasy/anime, just not quite ready for GOT) Oh yeah, bonus points for the Tyrion Funko Pop 🙂
The Chubby one just laughs for no reason lol
over representation of women, wheres the man’s opinion/ side of discussion? 2 smug fat chicks no thankscreepy fake hair and dolled up too
I don’t think Bran is going to say much about what happened with Jaime Lannister in episode 1. Bran has said many times that he is the three eyed raven, and basically says he is no longer Bran Stark. I think, like always, Bran is going to say some mystical shit you weren’t thinking about.
I think Bronn’s sex scene was actually a counterpoint – the women were talking about the dragon attack while barely acknowledging Bronn. Less Littlefinger’s brothel and more DMV.
That symbol displayed at house Umber has been seen many times on Game of Thrones- Besides the cave paintings, it was the rock formation around the tree where the Night King was created. Later in a vision Bran returns to that same rock formation when he’s touched by the Night King… and even further back, the symbol is seen at the fist of the first men after the Night’s Watch is attacked at the beginning of season 3, made out of horse parts.
There was a parallel between Jon having Needle made for Arya and Gendry making the weapon Arya asks for. Also, I believe the kid in the beginning was more in line with Arya watching the procession as opposed to Bran. Arya climbs up in the wagon and watches as everyone walks by. She is even the one that let’s the boy past when he’s making his way through the crowd.
you guys are both named catee but spelleed differently, both around the same age, both blonde, wear glasses, similar heights, and you both work for AV club? what the hell? does this fall under sociology or anthropology?
Just wanted to say that when you two introduced yourselves, I couldn’t help but think of Kathy and Cathy from Kids in the Hall.Great video and analysis thanks!
I thought I had read that there’s going to be a lot of call backs to the first season for the final season. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
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