Winterfell (Game of Thrones)

In Royal Harbor

Quiburn ( Anton Lesser ) reports Cersei ( Lena Khidi ) that the White Walkers broke through the Wall, however, this news leads Cersei to delight. In the meantime, Euron Greyjoy ( Saw Asbek ), along with Yara Greyjoy ( Gemma Whelan ) as a prisoner and Harry Strickland ( Mark Rissmann ), commander of the Golden Swords, arrives at King's Harbor. After Euron convinces Cersei to start a relationship with him, as he did a lot for her, and they have sex. Then Euron speaks of his desire to conceive a child with her, after which he leaves the room. Cersei is visibly upset.

In one of the metropolitan brothels, Qibern finds Bronn ( Jerome Flynn ) and gives him Joffrey's crossbow. If Jaime and Tyrion survive the war against the undead, then by order of Cersei, Bronn will have to kill them.

In the narrow sea

Theon Greyjoy ( Alfie Allen ) at night secretly sneaks aboard the flagship of Euron, kills a group of people of his uncle and frees his sister Yara. Yara decides to return to the Iron Islands, while Euron is busy at Royal Harbor. Theon decides to go to Winterfell to fight against the undead along with Daenerys and Starks.

In the Last Outbreak

Having survived the fall of the Eastern Watch , Tormund ( Christopher Hiview ) and Berik Dondarrion ( Richard Dormer ) lead their squad to the castle of the Last Hearth, which is already devastated by the dead. They run into Edd Tollett ( Ben Crompton ), who evacuated the Night Watch from the Black Castle. They find the young lord Ned Amber dead who evacuated the inhabitants of the Last Hearth, nailed to a wall and surrounded by a spiral with severed limbs. Tormund says that they must get to Winterfell before the King of the Night. At this point, Ned comes to life as a ghoul, and Berik burns it, sticking his flaming sword into it.

In Winterfell

Daenerys Targaryen ( Emilia Clark ) arrives in Winterfell with John Snow ( Keith Harington ), his advisers Tirion Lannister ( Peter Dinklage ), Sir Jorah Mormont ( Iain Glen ), Lord Varys ( Conlet Hill ) and Missandea ( Natali ( Nathley ) and Missandy ( Nathali )). Gray Worm ( Jacob Anderson ) leads her army of Flawless and Dothraki. John is delighted to embrace Brana again ( Isaac Hampstead-Wright ), and Daenerys hail Sanz ( Sophie Turner ), the townspeople and the Northern Lords. But all courtesies have to stop when Bran announces that the King of Night revived Viserion and destroyed the Wall. Sanz orders all North Lords to retreat to Winterfell to resist the undead. At the council, Lianna Mormont ( Bella Ramsay ) and other lords express their dissatisfaction with John over the fact that he refused the title of King of the North and swore allegiance to Targaryen, and Lord Glover even decided to stay with his people and not join Winterfell. The situation is heating up when Tyrion announces that the Lannister army will soon come to the North; Sansa expresses her fear that the combined forces may not have enough supplies, but in private with Tirion she hints to him that she does not believe that Cersei will send his army.

Arya ( Macy Williams ) meets with John and finds in the forge of the castle Gendry ( Joe Dempsey ) and Dog ( Rory McCann ). Davos ( Liam Cunningham ) tells Tyrion and Varis of his assumption that it will be possible to gain the confidence of the Northerners if John and Daenerys are engaged to betroth. John and Daenerys fly dragons and strengthen their relationship. Sansa later blames John for kneeling in love with Daenerys.

Daenerys comes to thank Samwell Tarley ( John Bradley ) for curing Sir Jorah of his gray sickness, but in conversation he admits that she executed his father Rendill and brother Deacon. Bran convinces heartbroken Samwell to tell John about his true origins. When he arrives at the crypt, Samwell tells John that his real mother was Lianna Stark, and her father Reigar Targaryen. This news shocks John.

Jaime Lannister ( Nikolai Coster-Waldau ) arrives at Winterfell and meets Bran in the courtyard of the castle, who is waiting for him.

Scenario

The Winterfell Scenario was written by Dave Hill , ^[2] and he adapts material from unpublished books Winds of Winter and Dreams of Spring , among which is the released chapter Abandoned, where Euron talks to a captive family member aboard his the ship.

Casting

In the episode, Mark Rissmann appears for the first time in the role of Harry Strickland, commander of Golden Swords. While preparing for his role in the season, Riessmann said: “I did a little research on who the person he was from and the books were pretty accurate. And then you see what is in the scenarios, what are the similarities, what are the differences. Therefore, I did a little research, especially since this world was so well thought out. It is a functioning world, which is why it is so attractive. ” ^[3]

Jacob Anderson ( Gray Worm ) was first listed as an actor of the main cast in the opening credits in this episode; he previously appeared as a secondary / invited actor. Actors Rob McElhenny and Martin Starr , as well as screenwriter Dave Hill, performed the minor roles of the Ironborn, who were killed when Theon rescued Yar. ^{[4] [5]}

Filming

The episode was directed by David Nutter , who had previously shot two episodes in the second , third and fifth seasons . ^{[6] [7]}

Ratings

Winterfell was watched by 11.76 million viewers during the original show on HBO, and an additional 5.6 million viewers on streaming platforms, which is 17.4 million viewers in general. ^[eight]

Critics reaction

The episode basically received positive reviews from critics. The episode received a 92% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website based on 106 reviews, with an average rating of 7.72 out of 10. Site consensus reads: “Although it is surprisingly and without blood, difficult reunions, chilling surprises and a long-awaited dose of humor helps Winterfell” prepare the ground for what should be the epic final season. " ^[9]

Sarah Hughes from The Guardian wrote: “It was an exciting episode in which new alliances are concluded, the old ones are put to the test, and where the long-awaited reunions took place (hurray for the gently written meeting of John and Arya)”. ^[10] Todd Vanderverff from Vox praised the visual quality of the episode, saying: “No matter how much I grumbled about 'Game of Thrones', it often stuns in such a way that not a single TV show can even do something similar.” ^[11] Ron Hogan from “Den of Geek” similarly highlighted the pace of the episode, and also praised John Bradley, who “runs through the whole gamut of emotions in a very short screen time.” ^[12]

Among the negative reviews, Will Paskin from Slate criticized the pace of the show, saying: “The dynamics, the idea that we are rushing towards some kind of completion that explains everything, is so coded in the Game of Thrones that, in the absence of any moving forward, the show is getting [...] pretty boring. ” ^[13]

• Winterfell on HBO.com
• " Winterfell (English) on the Internet Movie Database
• Winterfell (English) on TV.com