Game Of Thrones Season 7 Review: Winter Is Here

As the penultimate season of "Game Of Thrones" begins, here's the status of the major players in the Seven Kingdoms:

House Stark (the North, capital is Winterfell, the Wolf)- Jon Snow (back from the dead) is now the King Of The North. He tries to consolidate all the families to fight their common enemy, the White Walkers (led by the Night King). They are quickly advancing on the Northern Wall. Only dragonglass and valyrian steel can stop them. Jon's sister Sansa and Littlefinger (Lord Baelish) are also now at Winterfell. Meanwhile second sister Arya continues her revenge tour. She wipes out the male Frey bloodline by pretending to be the already dead Walder Frey. Bran (the Three Eyed Raven) and bestie Meera arrive at the Northern Wall. After Bran displays psychic ability, the Night's Watch lets them inside.
House Lannister (the Westerlands, capital is Casterly Rock, the Lion)- Queen Cersei and twin brother/baby daddy Jamie are in King's Landing discussing their next move. They have now lost all three children as well as their father. Euron Greyjoy arrives and proposes marriage to Cersei saying he will use the Iron Fleet to destroy her enemies. She declines. Off he goes to find her a nice wedding present.
House Targaryen (formerly of the Crownlands, the Three Headed Dragon)- Daenerys (the Mother of Dragons), Tyrion Lannister (Dany's hand), Varys, Melisandre (the Red Witch) and the Dorthraki and Unsullied armies advance via ship to Westeros. Dany's three dragons provide areal support. At the end of episode 1, they enter Dragonstone (Dany's homeland) as she says "Shall we begin?". Just as a refresher, Dany's father Aegon Targaryen (the Mad King) previously ruled the Seven Kingdoms before Robert Baratheon. Dany is now using Stannis Baratheon's castle as her temporary HQ. Dany is the last Targaryen. Thus their blood line will be extinct unless something drastic happens. STAY TUNED!
House Greyjoy- (the Iron Islands, capital is Pyke, the Kraken). Euron Greyjoy (the commander of the Iron Fleet) tries to snuggle up to Cersei but it doesnt go as planned. Meanwhile niece Yara and brother Theon (Reek) are still in the game.
House Martell (the Dorne, capital is Sun Spear, the SunSpear)- House Martell is pretty much wiped out at this point but Oberyn Martell (the Red Viper) had at least eight bastard children (the Sand Snakes)
House Tyrell (the Reach, capital is Highgarden, the Golden Rose)- Olenna joins Dany in Dragonstone in order to provide counsel. It is later revealed that Queen Of Thorns Olenna Tyrell poisoned Cersei's son King Joffrey (in order to protect her granddaughter Margaery from him). Remember we saw Margaery wiped out by Cersei at the end of last season. Jamie in term poisons Olenna. The Queen Of Thorns always had the best lines including to Dany You're a dragon. BE A DRAGON".
House Arryn (the Vale, the Moon and the Bird)- House Arryn is pretty much wiped out at this point.
House Frey (the Riverlands, the Castle)- Former vessels of the house of Tully. At the end of season 7, Walder Frey was dead. Arya Stark wipes out the rest of his clan as revenge for the Red Wedding.
House Baratheon (the Stormlands, capital is Storm's End, the Elk)- Previously the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms, their bloodline is now EXTINCT. Stannis sacrificed his daughter Shireen to the gods early (at the uring of Melisandre). And even if Tommen had survived, he was in fact Cersei and Jamie's son (and thus not a real Baratheon).
House Tully (formerly of the Riverlands, the capital is Riverrun, the Fish)- The Tullys are almost wiped out at this point.

Throughout the season, Dany consolidates her rule over Westeros. Jon continues to plead with her to join the fight against the White Walkers instead. Sam spends most of his time at the Citadel and grows in a number of ways. He also heals Jorah Mormont of greyscale. Mormount returns to Dany. Milesandre gets Jon and Dany together. She then exits for parts unknown. She'll be back though since she tells Varys "I have to die in this strange country just like you".

Ellaria Sands (and Tara Greyjoy's) boat is captured by Euron. He returns Ellaria to Cersei. Remember Ellaria killed Cersei's daughter Myrcella by kissing her with poison on her lips. Cersei does the exact same thing to Ellaria's daughter and then leaves them both in the dungeon to die. Very effective scene.

In the season 7 finale, the heads of the kingdoms meet at King's Landing. We have Dany, Jon Snow and Tyrion on one side. We have Cersei, Jamie and Euron on the other. They show Cerei one of the White Walkers. He continues to attack even after being cut in half and having his arms chopped off. The groups must work together if they plan to survive. Cersei eventually agrees (but we know it's a lie). Oh and Cersei is SUPPOSEDLY preggo. Not sure I'm buying it.

Arya, Bran and Sansa Stark are finally back together in Winterfell. Arya's not taking crap off of anyone (as is evidenced by her bag of faces). Littlefinger tries to turn Sansa against Arya. We think Arya is on trial. Psych it's Lord Baelish instead. Sana declares him guilty. Arya slits his throat.

And to not many people's surprise at this point, it is confirmed that Jon is indeed a Targaryen and thus is getting incesty with his aunt. Just another day in the Seven Kingdoms folks.

In the final scene, the White Walkers breach the North Wall thanks to the help of a dead dragon. Thousands of dead head for Winterfell (I assume). Not good, not good at all.

Grade: 5 Monsters (out of 5). With a shorter seven episode season, "Game Of Thrones" knocks it out of the park. i continue to applaud the show for its depiction of strong female characters including: Cersei, Dany, Arya, Sansa, and Olenna just to name a few.

How will it all end? I can't wait to find out. The last search of "Game Of Thrones" will not return until 2019 and will only have six episodes so things are going to move F-A-S-T.