After being impressed by how impressive the sixth season of Game of Thrones was when it continued the character arcs for the surviving Stark and Lannister family members and the writing was as strong as the previous five seasons (despite one episode in season 5 that I considered to be my least favorite, Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken even though it was decent). Anyway, when I saw the first episode of the seventh season last summer in order to catch up with the series finale coming in 2019, it lived up to my expectations and it became a great start. The reason why I'm giving this a 9/10 is because the only quibble that I have with Dragonstone is that while it was great to see Ed Sheeran and the other song artists Will Champion, the drummer from Coldplay and Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol playing Lannister soldiers and sharing a scene with Maisie Williams, they only appeared for four minutes. I mean, after they sang that song together, I was expecting them to have more screen time in the seventh season, but sadly, they didn't. What a shame.
Anyway, the rest of the episode is solid. The storyline continues to be exquisite much like the previous six seasons and continues to up the ante with the relationships. Not only that, there are some great scenes that made it worthwhile to other viewers. Arya disguising herself as Walder Frey and having her revenge on the House of Frey for killing her mother Catelyn Stark and her brother Robb Stark by killing them, Sandor Clegane, who survived his wounds after the fourth and sixth seasons and having to atone for his old life of working with the House of Lannister, and Daenerys's dramatic homecoming to Dragonstone. Those sequences are amazing and another perfect example of well-paced and atmospheric filming which makes them on par with The Red Wedding, the Execution of Eddard Stark, the destruction of the Great Sept, and more. Ramin Djawadi continues to create more excellent music for his score for this season. It fitted the scenes really well as well as retaining the scale and scope of the production designs, which are still as gorgeous and before. The editing is sharp, the pacing didn't drag, and the acting continues to be strong with the best coming from Maisie Williams, Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, and Emilia Clarke.
Overall, Dragonstone delivered what it promised. It showed the characters trying to make an army to they can begin the war against the White Walkers while continuing the depth and development. This deserves a thumbs up from me. :)
Anyway, the rest of the episode is solid. The storyline continues to be exquisite much like the previous six seasons and continues to up the ante with the relationships. Not only that, there are some great scenes that made it worthwhile to other viewers. Arya disguising herself as Walder Frey and having her revenge on the House of Frey for killing her mother Catelyn Stark and her brother Robb Stark by killing them, Sandor Clegane, who survived his wounds after the fourth and sixth seasons and having to atone for his old life of working with the House of Lannister, and Daenerys's dramatic homecoming to Dragonstone. Those sequences are amazing and another perfect example of well-paced and atmospheric filming which makes them on par with The Red Wedding, the Execution of Eddard Stark, the destruction of the Great Sept, and more. Ramin Djawadi continues to create more excellent music for his score for this season. It fitted the scenes really well as well as retaining the scale and scope of the production designs, which are still as gorgeous and before. The editing is sharp, the pacing didn't drag, and the acting continues to be strong with the best coming from Maisie Williams, Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, and Emilia Clarke.
Overall, Dragonstone delivered what it promised. It showed the characters trying to make an army to they can begin the war against the White Walkers while continuing the depth and development. This deserves a thumbs up from me. :)