But the true king of the Iron Throne of Vagueness is still Matthew Weiner.
Every year HBO likes to troll us just a little bit with its episode titles and synopses for Game of Thrones, which are comically vague. But they will never come close to the masterful obfuscations of AMC and Matthew Weiner back in the Mad Men days, where there was no point in having synopses or even a "next week on." At least with Game of Thrones we can glean a little bit about what might be coming next, even though we're all in the dark now since the show has gone past the books. Let's consider the details below:
Episode #61: “Dragonstone”
Jon (Kit Harington) organizes the defense of the North. Cersei (Lena Headey) tries to even the odds. Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) comes home.
Written for television by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss; directed by Jeremy Podeswa.
Image via HBO
Episode #62: “Stormborn”
Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) receives an unexpected visitor. Jon (Kit Harington) faces a revolt. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) plans the conquest of Westeros.
Written for television by Bryan Cogman; directed by Mark Mylod.
Episode #63: “The Queen’s Justice”
Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) holds court. Cersei (Lena Headey) returns a gift. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) learns from his mistakes.
Written for television by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss; directed by Mark Mylod.
Ok, so it looks like Dany is going to hit the shores of Westeros in the premiere, which makes sense since we last left her crossing the Narrow Sea with the Greyjoy fleet. Cersei will likely be on the warpath to secure her power, while Jon convinces everyone of the importance of stopping the Night's King. From there, everything gets increasingly vague. "Jaime learns from his mistakes"? Come on! Sigh.
It's good to see that director Mark Mylod will be back at the helm for a few of the first episodes of the season -- he has directed quite a few hours of Game of Thrones, including arguably one of its best episodes, "Battle of the Bastards."
Lots to speculate on, so let us know your theories on the plot and what these titles and synopses may reveal in the comments!
Game of Thrones returns to HBO Sunday, July 16th, and we will have full coverage of it before, during, and after.
