Are you glad it’s back? And by ‘it’ I mean the TV phenomenon that’s as big as Star Wars, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings?

I’m not an admirer of the Game of Thrones juggernaut, which sees characters arranged into starting positions for epic showdowns, then rinse and repeat. It feels like the show has been floundering since it passed the book material. This shortened season has just seven episodes, and “Dragonstone” probably won’t be the only hour devoted to groundwork and prepping the set pieces.

We had Sam in the library, and Sam emptying bedpans. We had Emilia “I Can. And I Will” Clarke strutting around her ancestral home, while the writers somehow find the time to explore the attraction dangling between her eunuch warrior and her handmaiden.

Like Dany, Sansa is er, coming into her own, as the Lady of Winterfell. Soft-hearted Sansa now feeds her husbands to hungry hounds, and while I’m all for character development, not every female character has to be a Strong Woman, and Strong Women don’t have to commit grisly murders to be powerful.

The rushed, overripe Ramsay plot was not Sansa’s book story, and Sophie Turner isn’t a believable enough actress to play a ruthless killer, AKA Cersei Junior. Thanks to her dreary line readings and whiny nasal voice, I use Sansa scenes for any unpleasant chores, like putting the recycling out.

But Sansa and Arya Stark (they look nothing like sisters) are fan favourites, and may or may not be part of George R.R. Martin’s endgame, so can’t be bumped off.

Maisie is an alright actress, but she seems super-aware that there’s a huge audience who love Arya and think a bloodthirsty girl assassin is cool. She’s on her way to King’s Landing, where Bad Uncle Euron Greyjoy is trying to woo Evil Queen Cersei and come between her and Jaime, who have reached that stage where they’re more brother/sister, than red hot lovebirds…oh yeah.

Hopefully I’m not as grumpy or disillusioned as as Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane, who is still with the Brotherhood Without Banners and in delightfully surly form, shaming Thoros’ topknot hairdo. (He’ll be coming for Jon’s man bun next.) The Hound is seeing visions in the flame, and it sounds like those screeching ice men are going to overcome the Wall by just….walking around it?

Really? Give fans their answers already!

OK, I admit I am as grumpy as the Hound.