Game Of Thrones Season 7 Premiere: 9 Ups And 3 Downs From 'Dragonstone'

2. The Hound Sees Into The Flames

It's a very close race for the MVP of this episode, because Arya's cold open is so good, but in the end there's one winner: Sandor 'the Hound' Clegane.

Still travelling with the Brotherhood Without Banners, this is the Hound very much back to his best after returning in Season 6. Because of the cold weather he's even more pissed off than usual, which manifests itself in the form of some of the most brilliant Hound lines since declaring he was going to eat every chicken in the room.

And yet it goes so much deeper than calling out that "bald c**t" Thoros on his top-knot and bemoaning fire-watchers, as the Hound himself sees into the flames. This is a big moment for the character, given his phobia of fire, and for the show too, due to the nature of what he sees (even if it's largely just a spoken version of Bran's vision, and setup for the Brotherhood to meet Tormund at Eastwatch - bring that character meeting on!).

Although introduced as more of an antagonist, Sandor Clegane has developed into one of Thrones' most complex characters, and him staring down his fear and seeing the real threat is another layer to him, giving us exposition wrapped in a great character moment.