"Game of Thrones,"

The end is drawing nearer for "Game of Thrones," which explains why the seventh season premiere exhibited a sense of urgency and purpose that past openers have sometimes lacked. From the inordinately satisfying pre-credit sequence on, not a scene was wasted, serving notice that while winter is indeed here, for fans, this promises to be one hell of a summer.

With 13 episodes remaining to wrap up the series spread over two seasons, there's not much time to waste. Although the HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin's story has never exactly dawdled, there was a bracing aspect to Sunday's episode that every scene conspicuously advanced the larger story -- or, in the case of Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) exacting vengeance for the Red Wedding, fabulously paid off something that had come before. At the forefront of it all is Jon Snow (Kit Harington), rallying the forces of the North in anticipation of battle against an existential threat from White Walkers and the Army of the Dead. Elsewhere, Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) is still fighting the last war, looking for ways to consolidate power as she sees potential foes on all sides.

While "Game of Thrones" has understandably focused on those jockeying for the mantle of leadership, this episode also deviated to shine a light on ordinary folks caught up in this mystical world's brutal struggle for survival. That included both Arya's encounter with a group of ordinary soldiers, and her former traveling companion, the Hound (Rory McCann, simply terrific in this hour), being forced to revisit the home of a peasant whom he had ruthlessly victimized.

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