After last week’s episode, I really wanted just to talk about everything that happened. It was immense. The battle – or should that be massacre – was one of the best scenes the show has done, and the fact that Drogon was so influential in it, not to mention the fact that he took that scorpion arrow, just made me want to talk ideas and what I thought and feared might happen. My biggest fear was that the arrow would be poisoned. My biggest hope was that Jaime Lannister would be taken captive by Daenerys and thus become the prisoner of Tyrion, which I thought would make for some great scenes and an interesting turnabout from when Tyrion was the prisoner before at Kings Landing, and Jaime played such an influential role in that.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, neither of my theories for this week’s episode came to pass. It seems like Drogon is doing just fine, which is fantastic news – Cersei has taken enough from us, and the death of the Queen of Thorns was one of the saddest in the show, not because of how it happened (how it happened was amazing considering her last moment revelation to Jaime) but rather just how incredible a character Olenna Tyrell was. She was by far one of the best the show had, and it’s genuinely sad to know that we won’t see any more of her in the future – but unfortunately my hope to see Jaime as the captive of Tyrion didn’t work out. However, we did still get some goodness with the brothers Lannister. I’ll get to that in a few moments, however. In fact, I’ll get to all the best bits from this week’s episode, which was epic in an entirely different way to last week.
These are the Talking Points.
Burned Alive
I’ll skip over the opening of the episode, which revealed Jaime and Bronn’s fate, and come back to it in a moment. Instead I want to talk about what else happened on the Roseroad, and that was Daenerys’ threat to the surviving Lannister/Tarly soldiers: bend the knee, or die!
At first I didn’t think she’d genuinely have it in her to carry out that threat. It seemed like something you’d say but not actually go through with. The presence of Drogon behind her, towering over everyone in that AMAZING visual, was intimidating as all hell though, and can you blame any of the soldiers who immediately bent the knee and pledged their loyalty to their new queen? I was impressed that neither Randyll Tarly nor Dickon did. Even with Tyrion’s urging to both them and to Dany to spare their lives – or at least Dickon’s – I was impressed by their commitment. Did Randyll truly see Dany as a foreign invader? She was born on Dragonstone, so while she may not have been born on the continent proper she is still a child of Westeros, and all those who follow her do so not because she’s the “rightful” queen to a throne they know nothing about but because she’s the Mother of Dragons, the Unburnt and the Breaker of Chains. You’ve got to think, given time, that the Tarly’s would have found a reason to follow her. They were willing to call her bluff in killing them, however, only it turned out it weren’t no bluff! The shot of Dany commanding it and Drogon torching them alive was one that’ll stay with us all for a while, I think.
The aftermath of this scene was equally interesting, however. Once Tyrion is back on Dragonstone the conversation between him and Varys was very moving, and showed what we’re missing this season with the reduced screen time for both these characters. As much as I like the faster pace of this season, and I feel like every scene we see is so much more important with the pace moving so fast, I do miss the screen time we had dedicated to both Tyrion and Varys. That said, this scene made up for that loss in spades. Varys compelling Tyrion to find a way to make Dany listen, to ensure that she doesn’t end up viewed the same way as her father, and the guilt that Varys felt standing by and watching as the Mad King burned people alive, made for a fantastic scene in follow up to what was already a stellar opening scene. This could have been it for Dany and the group on Dragonstone and I would have gotten my fill, but there was still so much more to come.
Jon Snow Meets Drogon
When we cut back to Dragonstone and we saw Jon Snow watching as Dany returned home, riding Drogon, it was a fantastic visual once again. Every time you get to see the scope of just how huge the dragons have gotten now it just looks amazing, and the detail they put into this particular scene was truly something to beyond. Drogon landing in front of Jon Snow made for a fantastic visual as well, and if Jon Snow had been shown with a yellow puddle at his feet would anyone have blamed him? But he didn’t run in fear or wet himself, instead he stood there and even took off his glove, reached out and touched Drogon. The look on Dany’s face when she saw that – she saw SOMEONE ELSE petting the dragon – was awesome. And… does this mean that Drogon knows something about Jon Snow that nobody else does yet? Of course, there was a similar scene before with Tyrion (and yes, I know the theories surrounding Tyrion, but just choose not to acknowledge them at this point), so we can’t say for certain that this is proof of the dragons “responding” to Jon due to his bloodline… but it made a hell of a scene anyway.
Once again if it had ended there with Dragonstone I would have more than had my fill, but then there was Jorah’s return, and Dany welcoming him back with a hug, and then Jon Snow receiving the warning and deciding to do something about it. Dany seemingly softened her stance toward Jon in the meeting, and I’m not sure as she looked out at them leaving Dragonstone at the end if she was sad to see Jorah leaving so soon after they’d been reunited, or if she was a little sad to see Jon Snow go. I’m glad he didn’t bend the knee to her. I’m glad he stood his ground. And I’m confident that this won’t be the end of the story arc between them this season or in the story still to come… yet I’m dying to know where the story with them IS going to go. Let’s assume that Drogon knows that there is Targaryen blood in Jon. Let’s assume that everyone learns of this sooner or later. Jon Snow is the living embodiment of the unification between the North and the Targaryens… but is the fact that he has a more direct line to the throne enough to make Dany stand aside?
The Mother <Expletive> Army of The Dead
Since I’m not going chronologically, but just hitting the major talking points in this, I’ve already alluded to this point in the previous section when I spoke of Jon receiving the warning, but the warning was of the MOTHER <Expletive> ARMY OF THE DEAD! And if the visual of Drogon on the hill with Dany standing in front of him and the remains of the Lannister army spread out toward the camera was my favourite one in this week’s episode (and there were some great visuals to choose from), then the visual of the Army of the Dead marching slowly toward the wall, and just how vast that army has become, was a damn close second. When that army comes is there ANY chance that they can hold the wall? I don’t think so! Plus, I absolutely loved the shot of the Night King looking up toward the flock of ravens and them all dispersing, even though Bran was warged into one of their minds at the time. Why wouldn’t they disperse? That is one scary dude!
The march of the dead is becoming more and more suspenseful each week, and you’ve got to think that the final episode of this season is going to feature the dead in a big way, right? Maybe we’ll even get it next week? I’m hoping they save that for the finale though. I’m also hoping that we get somewhat of a resolution to that story this season. I want to see the fight at the wall, but I also want to see that have some kind of conclusion sooner rather than later. It’s been building for so very long, if the dead swarm the wall and break through and then we have to go into next season to see if the living can mount an actual offensive against them then I won’t object too loudly, but at the same time the other major story that’s building is what’ll happen when the various groups that may well have to unite against the dead ultimately no longer have the common enemy to unite them? Next season needs to be about who’s going to end up on the Iron Throne, and about Jon’s parentage and the potential game-changing stories that can come of that. If they’re going to save that for next season, what will we get this season? I’m hoping it’ll be the battle with the army of the dead. Either way I know I’m hooked right now!
Jaime and Tyrion Face-To-Face
I started this off talking about what I hoped we’d see. I hoped to see Jaime in chains, and get some scenes with the brothers Lannister talking about how much their paths have diverged, Jaime confronting Tyrion over killing their father, Jaime now 100% knowing that Tyrion was innocent of the charge of murdering his son, and I wanted to see if Tyrion would ultimately set his brother free as Jaime did for him, with the hope that spending time with Tyrion would have Jaime open his eyes toward just how messed up Cersei truly is, and how little I think she truly loves him. We didn’t get that. What we did get, however, was the meeting between the two of them in an unexpected way. We got to see Bronn tricking Jaime into meeting with Tyrion – how did Bronn get that invite, I wonder? – and after their talk about Dany being just too damn powerful with the dragons at the beginning I wondered immediately how Jaime would react. His reaction didn’t disappoint.
I loved him stating that he’d vowed to cut Tyrion in half, Tyrion looking at his choice of weapon and his humour disarming the situation. That moment may have been my favourite in terms of humour, but Tyrion managed to top himself with another one. I’ll get to that. What I’ll say about this meeting is that in terms of the feel of the encounter it certainly didn’t disappoint me. The length of it did. I’d have loved to see more of what they had to say to each other. I’d have loved to see the two of them interacting longer. I already loved that Tyrion tipped his hat to his brother when it came to strategy and his willingness to abandon the family home, and making a reference to their father in doing so, something that Jaime didn’t like to hear. And I loved that Tyrion talked so honestly about their father and the fact that he did want Tyrion dead. Nobody can blame him for what he did, not even Jaime I don’t think.
There was no time for this scene to be longer. I would have loved to see more, and wondered afterwards if they maybe filmed more and then just had to cut it for time, but it’s more likely that they knew exactly how much they needed to film and that’s what they shot. There would be no point in actually seeing the conversation between them when we saw the build up to it on both sides and we saw the outcome of it on both sides. Seeing the conversation itself, when we can imply what was said and how it went down, was the smarter move. It left it to our imaginations. The only problem is my imagination that conversation between them is amazing, and I’d still have liked to see it with my own eyes. Still, this delivered on part of what I wanted for the Jaime/Tyrion reunion, and it lived up to all I wanted.
Never Betray Me Again
While one interaction between Lannister siblings was immense however, the next one was perhaps even more so. Seeing scenes between Jaime and Cersei are nothing new. They’ve been great this season, but they’re hardly new. This one however stood out from everything else we’ve seen for three reasons. The first is that Cersei clearly has her schemes going again and isn’t even letting Jaime in on them. He must know that, surely? She was clearly having a conversation about something (the excuse that he’s the Hand of the Queen wasn’t anywhere near enough… what were they talking about?) before Jaime’s return interrupted them. Were they only talking about Jaime’s meeting, or did she learn of that earlier?
The next bit that makes this one jump out is the fact that she put her hand on her belly and clearly indicated that she’s pregnant, and when Jaime asked who they’ll claim is the father she outright said that this time they’ll tell the truth. Why? Because the lions don’t bother themselves with the opinions of the sheep. Man, does that not show the difference between Cersei and Dany right there? Yes, Dany did something questionable earlier in the show in having Drogon roast two of her enemies, but ultimately Dany cares for the people, she cares for their lives and she wants to improve them. She proved that by freeing the slaves. She’s the Breaker of Chains, goddamn it. Cersei, however, in one line summed up how little she cares for her own subjects. She’s above them. She doesn’t care what they think. And now she’s planning to bring another incest-child into the world… and scheming to bring down Dany while doing it.
The third and most incredible moment of this scene though – the thing I want to talk about the most – was the hug between them and that one line that gave me chills. “Never betray me again”, Cersei warned Jaime, in one of the coldest moments of her character. She’s had some incredible scenes this season so far. Lena Headey has been on top, top form this season so far. She’s become the show’s most epic villain(ess) to date, topping the evil of her son in an entirely different way, and managing to become something genuinely terrifying while doing so. That line, and the cold way it was delivered, made me fear for poor Jaime’s life. He loves her so much… but by god do I want to see him attain just a little bit of redemption by becoming the Queenslayer before the game is done.
Meeting of The Bastards
All of that talk about King’s Landing (Queen’s Landing now?) and that hasn’t even touched on Davos parting ways with Tyrion after sneaking him into the city to go on his own little mission… to find GENDRY!! Oh man, when the camera first focused on him and he had his back to it I was so hoping it was who I thought it was, and boom, there he is, hiding right under their noses in the last place they’d ever think to look. His return was damn exciting, and his interaction with Davos certainly added a new element – and new ally – into the mix. I’m excited to see where this goes, especially with how damn bad-ass he was on the beach. Yeah, he doesn’t like swords? Why should he when he has that hammer!
The return of one bastard, however, wasn’t the best bit of Gendry’s story here, but his meeting with Jon Snow put a huge smile on my face. Davos insisting that he claim to be just a blacksmith who’s looking to pay his respects, and him immediately telling Jon Snow who he really is and them talking about their fathers and the friendship they shared, was probably the most heartwarming moment we’ve had in a while. It’s nice to see the two families that started out the show reunited, even if their fathers have long since left us. Makes me wonder where this is going as well. What role does Gendry have to play? He’s another with a legitimate claim to the throne, so how will that come into play? Will it even come into play, or will his loyalty to Jon Snow give Jon even more of a claim to the throne, even if Jon doesn’t even want it? Seeing how this plays out should be a lot of fun. Whatever happens from here on out, I’m happy to have Gendry back for sure.
Nobody Glowers Quite Like You
And speaking of Gendry’s return, and the aforementioned boat ride I spoke about earlier, this brings me to my “line of the episode” award, and of course it goes to one of Tyrion’s. Doesn’t he always get the best lines? It was his conversation with Jorah, in which he claimed he was happy to see Jorah back because – amongst other reasons – “nobody glowers quite like you” just had to win the award for me. What this ultimately led to, with the boarding of the boat, Jorah, Jon, Davos and Gendry uniting to head off to get proof of the existence of the dead and go back beyond the wall, again gave me goosebumps though. We’ll get to how the episode ended in a moment, but this team up of characters is really something, isn’t it? You just know this is going to lead to some amazing scenes in the future, and the comradery between them all is already there. The questions are abound however in terms of where it’ll go, what’s going to happen to them, and more importantly how many of them are going to come back? Tyrion giving Jorah the coin they received when they tried to get their freedom from the fighting pits was a great moment too.
In fact, if I’m honest, everything with Jorah here and throughout the episode was great. He’s such a strong character, his separation from his queen so that he could find a cure was almost heart-breaking last year, and now that he’s back and he’s cheated death and he’s cured one has to wonder just how many more times he CAN cheat death? This whole group have cheated death as well. Gendry should have been killed long ago but has managed to hide out right under the noses of those who want him dead. Jon Snow has died and come back again in the most epic way possible, only to end up as the King of the North. And now we’re adding Jorah and his death-defying to the group… how long until the clock ticks it’s last on one of them, and will that be Jorah or Gendry? I’m worried it’s going to be Jorah. How will he die? I have no idea… but I’m worried that his end is near…
Annulment & Secret Marriage
Then we have another series of scenes throughout the episode that I’ve not touched on at all so far, which showed Sam at the Citadel with the maesters and it seems his standing hasn’t improved any from the last time we saw him. When they received the raven with the warning and pretty much just shrugged it off as a possible con, again refusing to listen to someone who’s been there and seen the dead with his own two eyes, I can’t blame Sam for finally having enough. That said, did the Archmaester seem swayed by him? He certainly seemed like he was willing to give it more investigation, although one has to ask how much more, and what stock they’ll put in that in the future.
This was all building to what was the greatest “almost” moment in the history of the show, however, and one that could easily have been missed. I referred to Jon meeting Gendry as a meeting of the bastards after last season’s Battle of the Bastards, and of course even armed with the knowledge that Jon Snow is not Ned Stark’s bastard son but rather the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark that doesn’t change the fact that Jon Snow is still a bastard, does it? No, but THIS moment does. And how amazing WAS this moment? Gilly is there reading facts out of the scrolls that Sam is meant to be copying. We learn how many steps there are. We might have learned how many windows there were at the tower that once stood in King’s Landing if it wasn’t Cersei’d last year. But the best fact she reads out, which she’s interrupted by Sam angrily before either one of them realises there’s ANY significance to it, is that Raegar’s marriage to Elia Martell was annulled and he was married again in secret…
Oh Sam, you should have listened. You should have taken that in. Do you know what that means? That means that Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark were wed before they were separated. That means that while Rhaegar fought and died, and Lyanna died in childbirth, they were man and wife, which also means Jon Snow’s parents were wed. That makes him not Jon Snow but Jon Targaryen, officially. That also means that HE is the rightful heir to the rightful heir to the throne of the Mad King, not just by blood but by marriage as well. HE is the Mad King’s grandson, and thus the next in line BEFORE Daenerys, to the throne. This also throws into question what the order of ascendency should now be, doesn’t it? Should it be Gendry, who was the only remaining true-born son of the former king, instead of any of the incest-children? Should it be Jon Snow Targaryen, the grandson of the Mad King, from whom the throne was taken? Or should it be Daenerys Targaryen, the last remaining daughter of the Mad King? Dany’s claim has gone from the strongest to the third-strongest in just a few moments of air-time. Will she find out about all of this? How will she react? This singular moment means – since Gendry is a bastard and therefore in theory not eligible and therefore there are no descendants of Robert Baratheon to take the throne – Jon Snow is now the most rightful heir to the Iron Throne…
Little Finger’s Secret Dealings
Oh man, I was still reeling from that singular moment, almost shrieking with excitement over how that had turned out, but the episode STILL had more to give. What it had left to give involved Winterfell, it involved Sansa quashing the comments from the lords that they would stand with her instead of Jon, since Jon went south against their wishes and they came to support Sansa and not him, and Arya clearly upset that Sansa listened to them rather than dismissing them more harshly. Well, she claimed she wanted them beheaded but… is she really that bloodthirsty now? Surely not! What we do know about her is that she’s a freaking epic killing ninja, and her ninja powers were on full display as she skulked around Winterfell keeping a close eye on everything that Little Finger was up to. And what were Little Finger’s secret dealings?
Well, at first I was convinced that he was the reason that the lords had even brought up the fact that Sansa should perhaps be ruling them instead of Jon Snow. He met with them, he was talking with them, he’s clearly whispering in their ears and it makes you wonder if he’s truly planning to overthrow Jon’s reign and put Sansa in charge. He’s trying to seize some power for himself, isn’t he? That’s his end goal. Does he believe that she’ll marry him? She won’t, surely… but it does make you wonder. He’s manipulating his way into position though and clearly has a plan. Does he know that Arya is watching his every move? At one stage, I’d have said no… but yes, he’s way ahead of her. Did he set up that whole meeting in the corridor just for her to see? You’ve got to believe he did. And she fell for it completely. Off she went to sneak into his room, finding the scroll impressively I’ve got to admit – if he wanted it found he could have made it easier – but what is his game there? He wants Arya to question her own sister. His game is working. Was that scroll the message that Sansa sent to her brother pleading with him to bend the knee to Joffrey? Oh boy, that can’t be good…
Jon Snow Taking the Hound for A Walk
You’d think with THIS MANY teases for what is to come we’d be done, but NOPE, this was the episode that just kept on giving. It’s final treat? THE RETURN OF THE HOUND! Ok, it was also the return of Tormund and the Brotherhood Without Banners as well, which was crazily exciting by itself, but my biggest takeaway from this is that we finally have The Hound back after he’s been missing for a few episodes. I knew when he return it would be worth the wait and yep, it’s definitely worth the wait.
So, now the dream-team of Jon, Gendry and Jorah, along with Tormund, have the Hound and the Brotherhood Without Banners with them as well as they embark on what may well be the quest from which no amount of Red Priests can resurrect them. Let’s hope not though, shall we? Especially considering they’re off beyond the wall for whatever is going to happen next, all in the hopes of capturing one of the Whitewalkers so they can return said Whitewalker to prove that the threat is real. If nothing else that WILL prove to both Dany and Cersei that the threat is most definitely real, but Cersei already seems willing to believe it if it means a cease-fire with Dany, so that she can play some sneak tactic that her father would have been proud of, and Dany seems willing to believe it presumably because the cave-paintings convinced her and Jon’s commitment, and generally the fact that besides her he’s the only non-evil-asshole character with an actual claim to rule, makes her like/admire him.
So, I won’t talk about what I want to see happen next week, mostly because this is already more than long enough as a blog entry and I can put that to use in a blog all of its own, but also because I want to talk again just quickly about my biggest takeaway from this episode: JON SNOW IS NOT A BASTARD! Oh, how will he react when he finds out? Will he find out? How will Dany react when she founds out he’s her nephew? C’mon, we know she was having naughty thoughts about him at one point. Who can blame her if she was? The union between nephew and aunt may be what’s best for the realm and what puts the two best characters (in terms of the character’s strength and overall ‘goodness’, as opposed to them being the most watchable, although they are also two of the most watchable) on the Iron Throne at the end. Still, is it only me who has a sinking feeling about who’s going to end up winning? This is George R R Martin’s work after all and you just know that he doesn’t give us nice things without preparing to stab us in the feelings in exchange. He’s given us many nice things… so where’s that knife going to go first? Jorah? Gendry? Someone even more significant? I can’t answer those question, but I’ll end with one more: how freaking awesome was the MOTHER <Expletive> ARMY OF THE DEAD? I have chills. Genuine chills. Can’t wait for next week.
I’ve been the Girl in the Pink Dress, and this has been my Game of Thrones Talking Points!