Game of Thrones - Season 7 Episode 2
After an eventful first episode of the new season of Game of Thrones I was anxious to see the follow up. If fans were worried about the shorter seasons, this episode should put those worries to an end. We are moving at a break-neck speed. So let's jump right in to this week's recap!
Daenerys has made herself at home at Dragonstone and brought her new allies together quickly. Bringing The Greyjoys, Olenna Tyrell, and Ellaria Sand together to plot against Cersei and the crown. A contentious allegiance causes for a great scene between some powerful characters.
Daenerys also gets a surprise visitor in Melisandre. In a bold move, she comes to tell Daenerys about Jon Snow and encourages her to make him an ally. This leads Tyrion to send Jon a raven with an invite to meet with her at Dragonstone.
Cersei, vying for her own allies has called house Tyrell bannermen to Kings Landing to make a pitch to have them join the Lannisters and defend the crown. Samwell Tarly's father is there and given a strong offer by Jamie Lannister. Cersei's creepy Hand of the Queen takes her to the belly of Kings Landing where he shows her the dragon fighting ballista they have been working on secretly. Seems like that didn't need to be kept under wraps considering Daenerys' presence is no secret.
Samwell Tarly continuing his bid to have the grossest character arc of all seven seasons, decides to attempt a forbidden procedure to try to save Jorah Mormont. Samwell and Jorah are two of my favorite characters so to see Sam risking everything to cure Jorah brought me a ton of joy, and disgust.
With some great editing, we now see Arya in the tavern in the north we've seen a few times in the past. She's recognized by Hot Pie, who informs her of the news that Jon and Sansa have taken back Winterfell. This immediately changes Arya's plans and she runs off to go home.
On her way home, we see one of the, if not the most anticipated reunions in the series to date. Arya is in the woods and pack of wolves surround her. Then we see her, Nymeria. Nymeria does enough to know she recognizes Arya, but she's wild now. In a great line Arya says "that's not you" when Nymeria doesn't return to Winterfell with her. A direct callback to when Arya says "that's not me" to Ned in the first season.
Unfortunately, Jon won't be there by the time Arya arrives. He decided to accept Daenerys' invitation to come to Dragonstone and meet with her. He was hesitant at first, but after Sam sent him a raven informing him of a large deposit of dragonglass he decided it must be done. None of Jon's bannermen liked the idea and were very upset, until he made a very wise decision. He left the rule of the North to Sansa until he returns. Jon left with Davos (quick shout out to Davos Seaworth... the man) to Dragonstone.
Grey Worm and Missandei finally have their moment. In a long time coming romantic scene, we are reminded of the humanity of Game of Thrones. It's easy to get caught up in the story and massive scale but it's the characters at the heart of the series.
Euron is an animal
Next we see the Greyjoys taking Ellaria Sand back to Dorne to mobilize her army. In a sort of awkward scene Yara and Ellaria seem super into each other. This is interrupted by a jolt. Euron Greyjoy and his super amazing badass ship rammed their ship and proceeded to board. Euron is clearly a final boss level warrior with an advantage fighting on a ship. He singlehandedly kills two sand snakes and kidnaps Ellaria. Presumably this was the "gift" he wanted to bring Cersei.
Yara tries to fight Euron but is clearly no match. Euron taunts Theon after capturing Yara which leads to Theon's PTSD rearing its ugly head. Theon flees, which if I just watched that battle I can't say I blame him. Hopefully he'll get his redemption.
They are not wasting any time getting us hooked in deep. It's very early but I can't think of a season with a more intriguing start. Maybe we should have had ten, seven episodes seasons all along. Sundays a back!