After last week’s disappointing and slow season premiere, Thrones is back in full force offering a bombastic battle, forward momentum and surprising returns in its second episode, “Stormborn.” And, of course, it also served viewers a delightful helping of wit and quips from the Queen of Thorns. But the pace has noticeably picked up, and it's for the better. The first blood has been drawn in the war between Cersei and Daenerys, Jon Snow is sailing south to meet his aunt/potential ally, Sam is doing more than cleaning bedpans, and Arya is journeying home, at last.
And while all that movement shows how much has changed in Westeros over the past seven seasons (as Tyrion helpfully demonstrated on the big chessboard of the continent), so much of “Stormborn” was reminiscent of the events and status quo of earlier seasons, specifically Season 1, when Robert called Ned to King’s Landing and it all went wrong. Rulers in the South are demanding the bended knee from rulers in the North. Lords of great houses are assembling their armies. A Stark and a direwolf meet. Hot Pie is making hot pies.
What’s different now is that there is less time (within the narrative of the show and in the number of episodes remaining) and fewer lives to go around as the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms dance around each other. Dany doesn’t want to be Queen of the Ashes. Jon doesn’t want the North to be run over by the Night King. And Arya just wants to go back home.
But as her meeting with Nymeria showed, Arya isn’t the same person she was back in Season 1. None of them are. You can never go back home, not really. Trying to recapture the past isn’t going to help win the Great War -- the person with the power to see into the past was noticeably absent from this episode. A chronicle of the wars following the death of King Robert I will not help anyone, not unless people actually learn from all that history.
Olenna Tyrell is an intriguing figure for this show in more ways than one. Ever since Ned’s execution in Season 1, Thrones has been dominated by youthful, and oftentimes naive, figures on both sides. Robb Stark lost his life and his kingdom for love. Joffrey tortured and preened his way into a poisoning. Margaery thought she was winning the game through charm until the moment she lost.
Olenna doesn’t want Dany to suffer the same fate.
As a leader, so far, Dany has been a little uneven. She questioned Varys’ loyalty but let Melisandre in (oh, hi, Meli, we didn’t really miss you). Her tendency to let Tyrion speak for her in this episode, and to actually parrot his words, speaks volumes about how dependent she has become on her Hand. But Olenna is right, Dany needs to stand on her own. Tyrion has his own baggage (see his rekindled drama with Ellaria) and his cleverness will only get her so far. And so far, it couldn’t even get a few ships back south to Dorne. And speaking of...
