Game of Thrones

As Game of Thrones rockets to a conclusion for season seven (seriously has this flown by or what?) we venture forth once more beyond the Wall, in search of the army of the dead. The magnificent seven, as many are calling them, only really need one dead wight though, so they can prove to Cersei that the threat exists. As asinine as that plan is, it forms the heart of this episode, the last one before the finale. And with the previous two episodes  advancing the plot in a huge way, it's a safe bet we're going to get some fireworks in this one as well. And it didn't disappoint.

Spoilers for this episode of Game of Thrones, and for the books as well.

The magnificent seven are north of the Wall and having a good time, judging from their banter. Okay maybe not fun per se, but judging from the dialogue the writers seemed to be having a good time. We hit some character beats we needed to hit- Jon and Jorah bonding a bit, including a very nice exchange about Longclaw and who should have it, along with some banter between Tormund and the Hound. Seriously those two? And Gendry let Beric know what he thought of being sold to Melisandre, but didn't exactly get an apology from him or Thoros. Speaking of the former red priest, it's amazing he can walk with all the wine he must be swilling. 

Oh and they have some Night's Watch guys with them as well- can we call them redshirts? They certainly played that role. How would you like to be one of those guys? Might just as well have a "kill me" sign on your back! Anyway we don't really know how far north they go, but they eventually find a band of zombies to ambush and the action gets started. Jon takes out a white walker and they soon have their zombie proof. But... trouble's a brewing as here comes a zombie ARMY. Jon sends Gendry back to Eastwatch to warn Dany and then he and the rest of the group go... in a different direction. Why? You got me. 

Oh I almost forgot the bear. Their first encounter with an undead bear was a tough one, with a redshirt getting offed and Thoros almost dying. I thought he was a goner, especially when the Hound froze up (see what I did there) due to the fire. Thoros ends up dying anyway, which was not really unexpected, but still tough to see. 

While all this is going on we cut back and forth to Winterfell, where Arya and Sansa are having a serious disagreement. Arya shows her the letter she found and I thought they had a pretty good exchange- they both have good points, it's too bad they couldn't just communicate a little more and work it out. Sansa mention to Littlefinger that she hasn't heard from Jon for weeks- can't he send a raven?- and Littlefinger slyly denies knowing anything about how Arya found the note. She makes a good point about how Jon's lords are pretty quick to waver in their loyalty. I couldn't agree more. 

Also Tyrion and Dany discuss the coming meeting with Cersei, and they don't agree on much. This is where the folly of this whole mission to the north is so evident- instead of working on their plans for conquest or defense of the north, they're waiting on Jon's suicide mission. And speaking of, Gendry is running back to Eastwatch and gets there in what I'm going to assume is record time? I mean really. We've discussed the ridiculous passage of time on this show at length, but this is really pushing it. Gendry makes it back in less than a day apparently, and while we don't know for sure I certainly got the impression they went a goodly ways north. At this point you just have to ignore time and travel distances and just go with it. 

Jon and the rest are surrounded by zombies but they don't move in after the first wave of them falls through ice. The whole set-up of this put me in mind of the forthcoming Battle of Ice in the next book- there has been a lot of speculation about Stannis' tactics in that battle, with him taking up position in an abandoned village near a frozen lake. Some think he is setting up the Bolton forces to fall through the ice when they attack, and this may be a nod to that from the showrunners. Anyway for some reason the Hound decides to provoke the zombies- why would you do that?- and pretty soon they all come (but don't fall through the ice-hmm). Battle ensues and it looks bad until the air force arrives- Dany got the message and has come to the rescue with all three dragons!   

Sansa meanwhile sends Brienne to King's Landing in her stead, as Cersei has invited her to come. What is THAT all about? Looks like the showrunners want Brienne there when the undead corpse is brought to Cersei. And Arya and Sansa face off once again when Sansa searches Arya's chambers and finds her faces. Nice! Meanwhile Dany's dragons are lighting the place up and it's glorious. However, then something really bad happens. 

The Night King kills Viserion with his spear or whatever it is, and Dany and company barely make it out- minus Jon who falls through the ice. That was tough watching Dany have to leave. Should she and her two remaining dragons take on the Night King? Well we have to save something for season eight, but it still rankled to see her leave when I wanted her to exact some payback! I'm surprised Rhaegal didn't at least make one pass over the Night King and his lieutenants, give 'em a taste of dragonfire. Oh, well. 

Everything up to this point was great, but then things fell apart a little for me. Jon is still alive, of course, but who comes to his rescue? Benjen Stark. Jon's uncle gives him a way out and fights off the wights long enough for Jon to escape, but it looks like Benjen is done at this point. What I want to know is, how do you keep a horse alive in that environment? Jon makes it back and while they're tending him, Dany sees his scars. She knows there is something to Mel's story. Jon tells her he would bend the knee if he could, and she is amazed that he would do that given his situation. He tells her he believes in her, and they stare at each other for a very long moment- I'm glad they didn't kiss quite yet, it would be too soon, but I thought they were going there for a second.   

It should be interesting to see how they feel about things when Jon's heritage becomes known. 

Random Thoughts

"I suppose you favor your mother," says Beric to Jon. Little does he know! Nice line though- another hint to Lyanna.

I thought the battle scenes were a little unclear at times as to who was dying! I had to go back and confirm that it was a redshirt who went down initially when the bear attacked, and again when someone fell off the cliff into the zombies. For a minute I thought that was Jorah biting the dust!

Tormund took Gendry's hammer when Gendry left which seemed like a bad idea in case, you know, Gendry ran into any wights. Luckily that didn't happen. I hope Tormund brought his hammer back? 

I'm assuming it's pretty cold north of the Wall and when they spent the night on the island with no fire, I'm not sure how they survived? I mean obviously Thoros didn't, but still. 

The flaming sword is pretty fricking awesome. 

An undead dragon? That's... not good. Discounting for a moment where they got those massive chains, it was pretty terrifying for the undead to gain Viserion's services. They paid a big price just to take a zombie to Cersei. 

"I wish we'd never gone," Jon tells Dany. Me too pal! It was pretty dumb and now you're down a dragon. I knew from the script leaks and spoilers that this was coming, and next episode should be... quite. Is the Wall coming down?