Review 459: Game of Thrones: The Winds of Winter

Game of Thrones: The Winds of Winter charts an assured path for its home stretch with fiery results.

Adapting original content from the unpublished The Winds of Winter & A Dream of Spring by George R. R. Martin. Deanerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), accompanied by her Unsullied army and emboldened by her Dothraki/Ironborn armies and her lethal trio of dragons - has finally set sail for Westeros with Tyrion Lanister (Peter Dinklage), her newly appointed Hand.
Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) appears to have consolidated power in the North after his spectacular defeat of Ramsay Bolton and the return of Winterfell to Stark control.
In King's Landing, Cersei Lannister (Lena Heady), bereft of any surviving heirs, has successfully seized the Iron Throne. But as these and other factions drive towards new alliances or (more likely) violent conflicts, the cold specter of another, apocalyptic threat - in the form of an army of undead White Walkers - threatens to undermine the status quo and obliterate the outcome of these smaller, all too human rivalries.

So many of the shows main plotlines and worlds are converging and the pace picks up as a result.
By this point, Game of Thrones is very much three clear conflicts/plotlines, Cersei rules King's Landing with an Iron Fist, Deanerys finally returns to reclaim it from her. Meanwhile, the North has its own problems in the form of the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead.

Directors Jeremy Podeswa, Mark Mylod, Matt Shakman & Alan Taylor’s direction is
Shakman’s work truly shines in Ep. 4: The Spoils of War and the Loot Train Attack is truly a spectacle to behold.
After being absent from the show for the past five years, Alan Taylor returns to direct Ep. 6: Beyond the Wall and once again, he showcases a great deal of cinematic scope in directorial choices.
the score by Ramin Djawadi is spectacular, The battle scenes (ranging from the Euron Greyjoy’s attack on Deanerys’ fleet, the apply named Loot Train Attack and Jon Snow’s raiding party’s battle against the Army of the Dead beyond the Wall) are staggering.

Pitty that the latter is a result of doing things that fly in the face of loigic. To quote The A. V. Club: What we have is a situation where a series of events engineered for action and suspense effectively sells out the characters involved.
The episode in question features some fantastically, gorgeous spectacle as well as a some interesting plot developments yet it all happens a rapid fire pace that it leaves very little breathing space.  

The season finale is simply fantastic, effortlessly showcasing the convergence of the shows various characters and plotlines as they discuss how to deal with the bigger threat thats upon them.
It also beautifully sets up plotlines for the upcoming final season that are sure to lead Game of Thrones to a very dark, very interesting place as well as what is sure to be a great way to drive home the end of the show.

Emilia Clarke & Kit Harrington are at the top of their game playing Deanerys Targaryen & Jon Snow respectively. Their two conflicting ideologies and personalities are very powerful and their interactions together are engaging, tense and riveting to watch unfold.
Dany has been focused on nothing but getting the Iron Throne for the past 6 seasons and by now she has enough forces to take it and reclaim her birthright and then all of a sudden Jon Snow, the King in the North comes along saying that the Army of the Dead is coming and that they need to fight them. She is naturally resistant towards this as well as the fact that Jon doesn't automatically bend the knee.
They both need each other as allies but they’re both so stubborn and so committed to their respective campaigns they initially struggle to find a compromise.
Ultimately, the two of them have to find a middle ground as Dany can't just expect everyone to automatically bend the knee to her and Jon can't just expect her to take his word for it and fight an enemy she's never seen.

Lena Heady, once again, is amazing as Cersei throughout the Season. At the beginning of the Season, we find Cersei in a very dark and interesting place where all she has left is power for the sake of power. She's now on this very driven, focused path to world domination.
All that’s mattered to Cersei is her children and in relatively short order has lost all of her children. What is Cercei without her children? What prevents her from being a monster? And the simple answer to those questions is Nothing.
There's a great amount of need for revenge for her, she needs to put everything that causes her pain to sleep.
By this point, all that matters is survival and the only way to survive is to defeat her enemies.
She’ll do whatever she has to do to win. By this season she’s capable of anything.
As they layers unravel, she just can’t take responsibility for her own action or deal with her own grief, she has to pin the blame on somebody else and if that person is Tyrion then so be it. But it’s also part of her pain as well.
As much as she loves Jamie, there's an element of distrust that wasn't there before.
By the end of the season, their relationship begins to crack and Cersei allows this to happen.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is also excellent throughout this season playing Jamie Lannister, Jamie is very the only sane man in the room regarding Cersei's campaign to defeat her enemies, as much as he loves Cersei and remains loyal to her, he still has some misgiving and discomfort as to the circumstances that led to her coronation. As the season goes on, it starts to dawn on him more and more that they are fighting a war they can't win and this puts a strain on their relationship.

The season also sees the return of Gendry (Joe Dempsie) who we haven't seen since Davos sent him away in a boat in Season 3.