Warning: spoilers to follow
The fourth season of Game of Thrones was a pivotal one, as numerous power structures crumbled and reformed. The cruel King Joffrey was poisoned; Oberyn Martell lost his chance to avenge his family, ditto his life, to the Mountain; Stannis finally made a move to recover after the disastrous Battle of the Blackwater; and most crucially, Tyrion Lannister killed his own father, Tywin.
As such, “The Wars to Come” takes stock of how the characters affected by these changes are doing now — and there’s a lot of characters to check in on, so many that they don’t all fit into this first episode.
Interestingly, the show begins with something it’s never done — a flashback. We get to see a younger Cersei Lannister (played disturbingly well by Nell Williams) as she visits a woman who can tell her future. In the present day, Cersei is reeling from the death of her father, which is conflicting in a highly volatile fashion with her paranoia regarding the intentions of the Tyrells (especially Margaery).
Cersei and Jaime then meet in front of Tywin’s body, and it shows that the two have a much more strained relationship, especially since Jaime admits in no words that he was behind freeing Tyrion.
Speaking of Tyrion, he comes out looking a lot rougher as he apparently made the sea voyage out of Westeros in a small box, stowed away by Varys. The mysterious eunuch as usual speaks of serving the realm, and that’s the reason he freed Tyrion. He doesn’t think Tyrion will rule Westeros, but he does believe Tyrion will serve a purpose for Daenerys Targaryen, Varys’ clear choice for Westeros’ rightful ruler.
Though Dany is continuing to struggle in her rule of Meereen. A jarring scene set in a brothel introduces a new set of foes — the Sons of the Harpy, who are killing members of her army. And on top of that, Daenerys doesn’t have the help of her dragons — Drogon is flying around Westeros, while Viserion and Rhaegal are chained up in a deep cellar.
At the Wall, Castle Black is getting things back to normal after the wildling attack, but things are far from normal. Stannis Baratheon’s army helped to stop the attack, but he has an ulterior motive — he wants the wildlings to become his new army, and tasks Jon Snow with persuading Mance Rayder to bend the knee. The talk between Jon and Mance is tense, and leads to an especially horrifying scene later on, where Jon makes a clear show of his priorities.
Finally, we begin to the see what Petyr Baelish is planning to do with Sansa, who is now sporting a dark look in both hair and clothing. The two set off from the Vale, and we can also see that Brienne and Podrick are getting close to finding their targets.
As is usually the case with Game of Thrones, the season premiere has a lot of exposition, but this time around it’s indicative of where the season will be heading — and with the show increasingly leaving behind the book material, it will be full of surprises for all.
