The war moves forward, Winterfell is becoming as full of intrigue as Kings Landing has ever been, and Daenerys decides a different approach may be needed…

Caveat: It’s difficult to say much at all about this episode without venturing into spoilers, and this is one you need to see unspoiled.

It’s been a strong season of Game of Thrones so far – the opening three episodes have seemed to get the perfect mix of the drama and intrigue the show does so well, spiced with just the right amount of the violence and ‘adult’ themes it has always been so infamous for, without going over the top. I’m happy to report that this episode shifts the show into an entirely other gear, and by the end of it, you may find yourself – as I did – shaking slightly with the release of the tension of the last hour of viewing.

It has been my observation that each episode we tend to get one or two main ‘themes’ which run throughout – this week that theme seems to be family reunions. Some are much happier than others, but all threaded with palpable expectation and weight. Some of these characters haven’t seen each other in a very long time indeed, and it’s not clear how these meetings might go. Others have been absent far less time, and you have a pretty fixed idea. None of them disappoints. We’ve been on a journey with these characters now from the outset of the show, and there is a level of investment the audience therefore has which the writers play on to perfection. There are scenes here which I expect to see repeated as clips and memes for months, if not years to come.

The other – tied in – theme is payoffs. Events/scenes/moments we have been waiting an awful long time to see, and at least one other that this reviewer hadn’t really known he needed to see until he did, are handled with a deftness that seems almost effortless in the execution, but which must be the result of some serious work on the part of the writers and actors. Every dramatic note hits home, and does so hard. There’s humour laced throughout, but there’s real heft and emotion too. It’s a potent mix, and leads to that shaking I mentioned earlier as the credits roll and the adrenaline starts to abate.

Certain performances are well deserving of mention. Emilia Clarke gets an awful lot out of her role here – for all that some viewers have been vocal in addressing Daenerys’s apparent weaknesses and entitlement in the season to date, I think they may take a different view by the end of this hour. Together with Kit Harrington, Peter Dinklage and Nathalie Emmanuel, she works hard to show us a different side to the Mother of Dragons, and it lands well. Isaac Hempstead Wright also deserves mention for his turn as Bran – it can’t be easy, surrounded by all that talent, to have to portray a character who could come off simply as wooden. Thankfully, Wright manages to tread the tightrope perfectly, as we see the marked change in the boy who has become the Three-Eyed Raven.

As has become par for this season, the real action begins towards the end of the episode, having consumed the main appetiser of drama, intrigue and speeches, and what action it is – right up there with the best the series has to offer in terms of execution, and certainly surpassing all bar one in terms of the emotional stakes it packs, this is a scene that will literally leave you breathless, as much because of the dissonance of feelings towards the various protagonists as to the scope and impact of the action itself. This is, I suspect the benchmark by which all big budget TV will be measured for some time to come.

Verdict: Phenomenon is a word used all too often in TV and film critique, but it’s one that absolutely applies here. In a season that’s already been incredibly strong so far, this is head and shoulders the most faultless instalment to date. Sublime and hugely effective to watch, honestly possibly the best hour of TV I’ve seen this year, if not this decade. 10/10

Greg D. Smith