So as was pretty clear, Jamie survived his plunge into the water. Bronn did too, and once they surface, Jamie can’t believe how much damage was done by just one dragon and a Dothraki horde. Knowing there are two others he’s very quickly lost hope the Lannisters could win. Bronn also makes clear he rescued Jamie just because of the debt owed him and that with dragons now involved, he’s done. Not far off, the survivors (all fifty of them it appears) are told by Dany that she wants peace and to build a better world, but if they don’t bend the knee they’ll die. With encouragement from Drogon, most of them do. Randyll Tarly refuses however, as does Dickon, and despite Tyrion’s protests, Dany has them burned alive. In the end, Randyll’s xenophobia was the death of him -though I will say like Alliser Thorne, Randyll died unapologetically. Dickon’s death however I wasn’t expecting, especially given the recasting and his character moment last episode. I’m sure the writers think this some kind of pulling-the-rug-out moment, but what it ultimately does is make the character completely pointless. Tyrion’s misgivings of course arise out of the parallel this has to how the Mad King killed Ned Stark’s father and brother. Also just the fact that he had to reconcile the deaths of so many bearing the sigil of his own family in a really good moody scene across an ashen field. I like how the scene forces you to be unsure of Dany right now, just as Tyrion is, just as Dany herself is. She’s not far from going down a dangerous road. Now she knows how easy it could be to conquer, there’s a greater temptation to do just that. But at the same time, Randyll deserved to die for betraying Olenna, just maybe not so horribly.
In Winterfell, Bran wargs into some ravens north of the wall and discovers that the army of the dead is making their way closer to the nearest point of the wall, Eastwatch. He immediately makes sure ravens are sent out to the rest of the continent. Sansa meanwhile, doesn’t seem bothered by this as she listens to the other Lords complain about Jon’s departure, with some suggesting she’s the better ruler. While she defends Jon’s position, Arya notices she doesn’t argue with them, and in the following scene seems to imply Sansa may be vying for power of her own. Given how long they’ve been separated on the show and the publicized close friendship between Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, it’s easy to forget their characters never really got along. And they still butt heads. Sansa makes the better argument, backed up by political manoeuvring and the strategy of the ‘game of thrones’ she’s picked up over the years. Arya seems to think violence is the better option, suggesting talk against Jon should be responded to with death. The best moment of the scene is the subtle implication on Arya’s part that Sansa can guess what she’s been through to make her so occupied with death. Arya then spends the episode stalking Littlefinger until she finds hidden away in his chambers, a note from Sansa asking her family to swear fealty to Joffrey. As she leaves in shock, it’s revealed the note was planted by Littlefinger himself. Whether it was actually written forcibly by Sansa in season one or is just a forgery, I’m not sure, but it’s Littlefinger scheming to turn the sisters against each other. And can we not have that. There’s not much time left, do we really need to devote a new storyline to Littlefinger playing the Stark sisters off each other? We know his machinations, we know he’s clever, but we’re sick of him. I hope this is resolved quickly.
Sam’s arc as a Maester-in-training sure was. When he overhears the message that the Citadel received from Bran, and the Grand-Maesters dismissing it, he defends Bran, reminding the audience they actually met at one point. But again, no one will take him seriously. It’s also revealed Jim Broadbent has been informed of Randyll and Dickon’s deaths but hasn’t had the heart to tell Sam yet. Not that I think Sam will lose any sleep over it. Fed up with the menial tasks he’s been given when there’s the opportunity to actually do something about the crisis up north, he steals a bunch of records and books and leaves Oldtown with Gilly and little Sam. But not after completely missing the little detail Gilly read in a record among step numbers that Rhaegar Targaryen annulled his first marriage in favour of a secret one in Dorne.
Rhaegar’s sister returns to Dragonstone impressing Jon. After a silent disagreement in her methods to win her last battle, she brings up the little thing Davos let slip about Jon being stabbed in the heart, which Jon passes off as hyperbole. Before anything else can be made of it, Jorah shows up and it’s nice to see Dany genuinely happy to see him. She welcomes him back into her service with open arms, however based on a few glances I don’t like the subtextual love triangle arising between Dany, Jon, and Jorah. Tyrion is counselled by Varys who shares in the trauma of witnessing a Targaryen burn people alive. It is a nice scene of the two relating how to psychologically cope, and ends with Varys imploring Tyrion to get Dany to listen. He also has a note for Jon. Jon’s enthusiasm at both Bran and Arya being alive and in Winterfell is dampened by the details of Bran’s vision. He immediately decides to leave to fight them despite the odds being against him. Dany refuses to lend aid, though specifying the war effort rather than her insistence he bend the knee. Then Tyrion makes an odd proposition: that Jon bring a wight to King’s Landing as proof to Cersei of the threat in the north in the hopes it convinces her to join that fight. It seems like a long shot but everyone apparently agrees to the plan. I don’t quite see the rationale in it, but at least it’s getting the white walkers involved in the story. Jorah decides to go too on behalf of Dany, and both he and Jon share sentimental goodbyes with her when they leave Dragonstone. After the hint last week, now they’re starting to infer Dany has the hots for Jon as well. For better or worse they’re going to get together somehow by the end of the season, I just know it.
Before leaving, Davos smuggles Tyrion into King’s Landing where in the dragon cellars Bronn brokers a meeting between him and Jamie. As you can imagine it’s awkward, but emotional too. Jamie’s goodwill to Tyrion faded after he killed Tywin, and the fact that Tyrion was on the side that just decimated a good chunk of Jamie’s army has him pretty miffed. The mention of Tywin does bring out some emotion in both of them, and both actors play it well. The purpose of the meeting is to suggest to Cersei she agree to an armistice. Cersei doesn’t seem to be open to the idea, and is continuing to lose grip on reality, still confident they can beat any opponent despite Jamie’s earlier confidence they have no chance. He also informed her of Olenna’s confession to Joffrey’s murder, which expectedly made her regret not having her poisoned more painfully. The biggest shock of her scenes is her reveal that she’s pregnant with another child Jamie fathered and she has no intentions to hide that fact from the people. It’s a decently unexpected plot development and I like the progression of Cersei’s madness, but the fact Jamie still doesn’t quite see how horrible she is is irritating. No doubt it’s leading up to the final straw in their relationship, but I feel it’s going too slowly.
Meanwhile Davos goes to Fleabottom to find, who else but Gendry working as a blacksmith. His little joke about Gendry still rowing is a nice acknowledgement of the fact fans have been waiting over four years to hear what’s become of him. In fact, Davos has a number of terrific sarcastic moments this episode. Quite out of nowhere, Gendry agrees to join Davos, and I don’t remember, was he always this proud of his father? Regardless of the rushed nature of his reintroduction, it is cool to see him beating Kevin Eldon’s face in with a war hammer. Yeah to fans of British comedy, it’s just as jarring to see Eldon show up as it was to see Ed Sheeran.
Feeling he owes it to Jon given their fathers were such good pals, Gendry accompanies him to Eastwatch. Jon, Jorah, Davos, and Gendry meet with Tormund there and prepare to go on their raid to capture a wight, but are informed of a few prisoners who want to go past the wall too. Lo and behold, the Hound, Beric Dondarrion, and Thoros of Myr sitting in a cell. There are lines of reunion exchanged between various members of each party, again mostly to remind the audience who’s crossed paths with who and why. Nonetheless, Jon makes the good point that they’re all on the same side because they’re all breathing. Next thing you know, this whole party (minus Davos) are venturing out to into the cold wasteland where the army no doubt awaits. It’s a good place to end it, with the mystery of what they’ll find and who will survive (my money’s not on Thoros or Gendry) keeping suspense until the next episode. Also the fact that Eastwatch is where the wall meets the sea immediately makes it an interesting location.
As for the episode on a whole, I liked it. Littlefinger’s scheming, and Cersei and Jamie’s relationship I could do without, and the plan they’re going with to convince Cersei is definitely flawed. But the set-up for a big event north of the wall has me interested, as well as what’s next for Sam (hell, it’s completely possible he’ll be in Winterfell next week). Cersei’s madness is still proving interesting, and after her grand attack last week, Dany’s in a powerful yet tempting position. But there are only two episodes left in the season, and though a lot happened in this episode with a number of reveals and various characters travelling to different locations and back, I wonder if in two episodes the season can be adequately wrapped up.
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