Game of Thrones

The most dynamic and eventful season opener in the HBO drama’s nine-year history. ... Dots were connected at a brisk pace ... but not at the expense of eloquently cut dialogue, ongoing character development, stunning scenery and an often wicked sense of humor.

What makes this premiere work is the way it combines necessary plot milestones with sequences of straightforward indulgence. ... The Game of Thrones premiere gives me hope that this final season will be a return to what made the series work so well at the start.

The premiere pulled everyone and everything together; it was, for the most part, an almost nostalgic hour. ... It is the competing loyalties, the loves and enmities that enmesh the Lannisters, Starks, Targaryens and the rest, after all, and the questions Game of Thrones poses about conscience and corruption and the manifestations of power, that will propel us through to the end.

Game of Thrones may be the biggest show on TV, but for 55 minutes, what I relished was how small it could be.

A terrific start to the series’ final run.

“Thrones” is doing absolutely stellar work within the bounds set around its current era: Highly burnished entertainment that lingers on no story point a beat more than strictly necessary to communicate the idea. Dwelling on the shows it once was and no longer is seems perhaps beyond the point.

[The season premiere] does a lot of work in a short amount of time, but unlike some previous episodes that engaged in significant table setting, it never feels too rushed or like characters are being given short shrift in the effort to hurry to the next beat. It plays as elegant, for the most part.

More of a fan-pleaser than crowd pleaser. ... So yes — absolutely — well worth the wait.

The pacing was too fast at some points and too slow at others, but it sets up the season for success, if writers can squeeze everything into those five remaining episodes without making them seem overstuffed (no big deal).

The episode might be full of laughs and warm reunions, but this atrocity, this eerie undead fate, is what all of these characters are facing. It’s a good reminder of what is at stake, and frankly, the episode could have used more of these weighty moments and heightened tension. ... This is not to say that the sweeter and lighter character moments are unwelcome. But they should also exist alongside the dangerous moments.

[A] blandly decent first episode ... Momentum, the idea that we are hurtling toward some conclusion that will explain it all, has been so encoded into the Game of Thrones experience that in the absence of any forward motion, the show is … kind of dull.