The time has come for my analysis of Episode 1 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Note: there will be SPOILERS below. Repeat:
SPOILERS!!!!
BTW, it's worth noting that I differ on several points with the Vox analysis linked above, most notably in their interpretation of the portrayal of Jon Snow and the various political issues.
Most of this episode was devoted to table-setting and exposition. Given how much they had to do in just one hour, it mostly worked pretty well. Several of the dialogues between characters who met for the first time or had not seen each other in years were compelling (e.g. - Sam Tarly learning that Daenerys had executed his father and brother).
The tensions between Daenerys' forces and the northerners were very plausible, and mostly well done. But why did no one think of the obvious plan of easing tensions at least somewhat by having Daenerys confirm Jon Snow in his position as King in the North, and promising the North the maximum possible autonomy compatible with remaining in the Seven Kingdoms? Even if John and Daenerys are too stupid and/or inexperienced to think of this themselves, advisers such as Tyrion, Varys, etc., should have recommended something like this.
Once again, Jon Snow proves himself to be a truly terrible political leader. Among other errors, he does nothing to address the very obvious problem noted in point 2 above. Instead, pretty much everything he says and does (e.g. - saying publicly it doesn't matter who the king is) merely serves to increase northerners' suspicions that he has sold them out (perhaps just because he is infatuated with Dany). While the showrunners presumably mean for us to think that this episode underscores how Jon is more worthy of being King than Dany, his obvious political incompetence undermines the message. But I may be selling the producers short. They have pretty consistently portrayed him as a political incompetent (even if a great fighter, and a brave and honorable man) for several seasons now. Jon is the most personally admirable contender for the Iron Throne. But GOT has consistently shown that good intentions are not enough, if not matched by competence and realism.
Here, as in Seasons 6 and 7, Sansa seems a lot more competent ruler than Jon. Perhaps the producers are setting us up for a future where she plays a bigger role.
Daenerys shares some of the blame for the rift between herself and the northerners. But her errors are a bit more excusable than Jon's because she doesn't have his familiarity with the North, and may reasonably expect to rely on him to smooth things over. The interesting question is whether she manages to move up the learning curve fast enough to repair the rift with the northerners. Her history in Essos shows that she DOES, over time get better at figuring out the lay of the political land. But she can be a slow learner (though still better than Jon, who seems never to improve his political skills at all).
Sansa pointedly tells Tyrion he's not as smart as she used to think he was. She's absolutely right! Not only did Tyrion get snookered by his sister (as Sansa points out), but he also does nothing to address the big issue raised in point 2, even though he surely knows enough about the relevant history to be able to foresee it. And then there was Tyrion's utterly awful strategy in Season 7, which frittered away most of Daenerys' initial superiority over the Lannisters.
Speaking of incompetence, security on Euron's flagship seems inexcusably lax. Theon should not have been able to rescue Yara so easily (if at all).
As Sansa points out, Jon, Dany and their advisers should have considered the issue of how to feed such a large army in the North (which has barely enough food for its own population in winter). This is another issue that experienced officials like Varys, Tyrion, and others should have thought of, even if Jon and Dany did not.
The events of this episode further underscore, to my mind, that Daenerys and her advisers would have done better to crush Cersei's forces utterly early in Season 7, rather than waste time on diversionary maneuvers. An immediate attack on King's Landing fully utlizing all of her forces, would have won the war much faster, and with far less loss of life (even if, in the worst case scenario), much of the city was destroyed in the process.
Despite my critiques of some plot points above, this was ultimately a pretty compelling episode. It highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of several key characters, and emphasized the key point that the real threat to Westeros is not so much the Army of the Dead, but a poorly structured political system combined with rulers who are mostly venal (Cersei) incompetent (Jon, among others) or both (many examples).
I hope and expect that things will go better for the "good guys" later in the season than now seems likely. But i will be annoyed if that happens simply because Jon takes control and his good intentions/sterling character are enough to overcome the odds, without dealing with any of the underlying political and military problems. Hopefully, George R.R. Martin and the showrunners will give us a better resolution than that.