Game of Thrones Season 8:
Our long walk from the fallen wall to Winterfell finally got over, and we can say that the timing was spot on! We got to welcome Jon and Dany into Winterfell. The premiere episode was just spot on as it wasted no time at all. A lot happened in the first episode itself, and that itself was a reminder that the show has to cover a lot in just 6 episodes, so every episode where exposition is required is going to be quick paced just like this one.
Spoilers obviously follow.
This particular episode had so many epic fan-pleasing moments! From the reunion of Jon and Arya, to Rhaegal taking Jon for a spin. From Cersei sending Bronn to kill off her brothers, to Jaime making a quite yet most awaited entrance in Winterfell. There was just a whole lot to take in but the biggest moment of all has to be the shocking revelation of Jon’s life.
The show doesn’t waste time in beating around the bush as Sam tells Jon the truth about his lineage. His reaction was obviously priceless as not only did he find out that he is the trueborn son of a legally wedded couple, Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, whose name is – Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of his Name, Protector of the Realm, but he also found out that he did it with his aunt!
Well, talking to EW, Kit Harrington explained this scene and drove us into Jon’s internal emotions of the truth that he just found out about himself. He said:
“If Jon could go back in time and say: ‘Whatever you’re about to say, don’t tell me,’ he would. He’d happily be in ignorance. He’s not hard to predict, Jon, he doesn’t do many unexpected things. You mark the particularly tricky scenes that you’re going have to concentrate on and this was one. He finds out such a massive piece of information. Not only does he find out who his mother is but also that he’s related to the person he’s in love with. It’s hard for any actor to play. It’s not a two-hour movie but eight seasons of playing a character who’s finding out.”
Harrington continues to talk about the fact that this scene works absolutely perfectly because the audience already knows. It isn’t just a random exposition planted as a shock for the audience, as it is for the true heir to the Iron Throne, aka the King in the North, Jon Snow:
“The key to it is the audience already knows. So it’s not a shock to them. With Jon, it’s about what he says, ‘You’re telling me my father lied to me? My father, the most honorable man I’ve known my entire life, you’re saying that?’ For that moment, Samwell is nothing to him. Jon would disown this friend and beat him up if he was trying to lie to him about this. He’s quite threatening: You’re telling me this, you better be f—king right, and if you’re trying to play me — that was the way to play that scene I think. I hope it was.”
We also got a tease of the inner conflict that Jon is going to face, and the upcoming banter that he might develop with Dany, who’s yet to find out that not only was her long build up to claim the Iron Throne was a complete waste of time, but she also a part of a grand Incest fest! The reaction you see above sums things up perfectly! Harrington says:
“He doesn’t f—king want it. He doesn’t want that f—king information. He doesn’t want to know. He has no ambition for the throne,” Harington explained. “He’s never wanted that. The end of the world might be coming soon but at least he’s in love with somebody and knows who he is, and then comes this sledgehammer.”
It was hard for Jon to take it all in, but it was also hard for Sam to be forced to tell the truth to his best friend. Samwell Tarly actor John Bradley also spoke to EW:
“Jon feels Sam is muddying the name of one to the most noble people he’s ever known and that his entire life is built on a lie. You know The Beatles White Album? Just toward the end is ‘Revolution 9,’ which is a very sinister soundscape. The inclusion of that on the album makes you doubt what you’ve heard before it, makes the rest sound darker and more dire. You thought you had an angle on the album but that track means nothing you’ve heard before can be trusted. With Jon, he can review his entire life backwards and see everything completely different and in sinister terms even if [withholding his parentage] was done for the right reasons. Everything he’s done seems to have been compromised. [Jon] didn’t take it well, but coming from anybody other than Sam, he would have taken it worse.”
Well, the next week is gonna give us some more epic moments. So stay tuned!
