Summary: Dany's army arrives at King's Landing. She has the meeting with Cersei and frightens her with the wight. Euron decides to go to the Iron Islands and stay there. Cersei is on the verge of accepting the treaty but refuses when Jon reveals his alliance with Dany. Tyrion speaks with Cersei and convinces her to help out. Danya nd Jon take their armies to Winterfell. Cersei reveals she doesn't plan to cooperate and has sent Euron to get the Golden Company. This causes Jaime to abandon her cause. Theon decides to go save Yara. Sansa frames Littlefinger for his crimes with evidence from Bran. Arya kills him. Sam arrives in Winterfell and talks with Bran. They discover that Jon is Rhaegar and Lyanna's son and that he is actually legitimate and not a bastard. The Night King arrives at Eastwatch with his army and his ice dragon. He uses the dragon to burn a hole in the Wall and the army advances.
The Good: I appreciated the amount of focus this episode put on the meeting with Cersei. It was treated like a big moment and so when it happened, it felt like a significant scene with a lot of stakes. That's a good achievement when you consider how poor the set-up for this has been. The scenes in King's Landing were strong with a number of great scenes between characters. I liked Tyrion and Pod reuniting, The Hound and Brienne talking about Arya, Tyrion and Bronn being hilarious once again and the tease of Cleganebowl. I liked the actual meeting too. Euron was a standout again and I like that he was the first to speak before the meeting officially started, addressing Theon directly and taunting him to get him away from Dany. His character has been pretty enjoyable thus far. I also loved his reaction to the wight demonstration. I loved the idea of him just leaving after seeing a terrifying threat even though it was revealed to be a fake move. The demonstration itself was good and I was pleased to see the wights return to being scary and frighteningly fierce creatures. Last episode severely dampened their threat value but it was re-established here. Cersei had a couple of great scenes with her family where emotions came bubbling out. The scene with Tyrion was electric as it was the first time they had interacted since season 4. The two of them got to let out their frustrations at each other which was fascinatingly undercut by Tyrion's other motive to bring Cersei to a peace offer. Cersei's scene with Jaime was great too. They were building up to a breaking point for a long time and we finally got it in a memorable scene. Having Jaime finally stand up to Cersei and tell her what he should have told her 2 seasons ago was satisfying. Theon's story in this episode was good too. I liked his scene with Jon due to the performances from both actors which made it feel meaningful even though Theon hasn't really done anything to gain Jon's approval at this point. It was a good set-up for Theon finally embracing himself and finally making the right decision in the next scene as he goes to save Yara. The wedding reveal was pretty good and shakes up the story in a nice way regarding Jon and Dany's future. This could lead to them coming into conflict which I would like, but I am worried that it will just serve to have a "perfect Targaryen marriage" to end the series. I hope that doesn't happen and I'll optimistically assume that this reveal will take us somewhere good. More than the reveal, I enjoyed Bran and Sam's interactions since it's rare for both of these characters to interact with people outside of their specific storyline. They had a fun conversation with well-written dialogue. Littlefinger's death was a satisfying moment. While I don't like how we got there (see: The Bad), the moment itself was glorious. It was certainly cathartic to see the instigator of this entire war on his knees begging for life as Arya walks up to him to stab him in the throat. The Bad: While this did a lot more things right than the last two episodes, it felt a little disappointing as a finale. This was purely set-up for next season and closed very few storylines. Plus, the storylines it did resolve were done very poorly. Littlefinger's death is the biggest offender for this. His death went exactly as I expected it to go which was extremely disappointing. There was nothing enthralling in the build-up to his death and I absolutely hate that the scene in the great hall was played entirely for surprise instead of any meaningful storytelling. All of the crap at Winterfell we had to sit through in the past few episodes was all so we could have the surprise "Lord Baelish" moment. The worst part is that we never actually learned what Sansa and Arya's plan was and how they set Littlefinger up. There was no explanation or anything, so when rewatching we have to sit through Arya threatening Sansa and wonder why it is even happening. Couldn't Sansa just claim that it happened when it actually didn't? It's not like Littlefinger is Varys who learns anything and everything. Unfortunately Littlefinger's death scene was hampered by poor writing too. Bran's sudden presence comes out of nowhere with all of his accusations against Littlefinger which he apparently went through in detail with Sansa offscreen (ugh). It was an attempt at another surprise which was completely unwarranted. Littlefinger's reaction to being called out is unbelievable. He immediately admits guilt to killing Lysa even though there is no proof. Surely Littlefinger can easily turn the tables on Sansa by mentioning how she lied to the lords of the Vale and is likely making this up because she doesn't like Littlefinger anymore. If I was a lord of the Vale, I would logically believe Littlefinger's story. Furthermore, can't he just claim how awfully convenient Bran's "powers" are and throw some suspicion on him? Spreading suspicions is what Littlefinger has done for the entire series. But instead of cooking up a story, Littlefinger goes from master manipulator to bumbling buffoon in an instant just so we can have his satisfying death. And that death loses the impact it might have had because the story of his downfall is badly written and tedious to sit through. The Cersei story sadly lacked tension because it was obvious that she would never ally with Dany. And in the end... she doesn't and is planning her own scheme. And somehow Tyrion does not see this coming. This really goes to show how awful of a plan it was to capture the wight as it failed to change Cersei's mind which I predicted the moment Tyrion brought it up. There was one other major issue with the Cersei meeting and that is Jon's reveal that he is allied with Dany now. This isn't because he didn't lie (that makes sense due to him being Ned's son), but because of his decision to join Dany in the first place. I mentioned how forced it felt in the last episode, and this episode makes it even worse. It's painfully clear here that the only reason he bent the knee was to stir conflict with Cersei making the decision blatantly something that had to be done for plot, opposed to actual character development. Things like this are why I find it hard to believe that this is the same "Game of Thrones" that I fell in love with back in season 1. I wasn't happy with the Night King bringing down the Wall. First of all, the destruction of the Wall should have felt more frightening and scary yet it didn't capture those emotions for me. The Wall never felt like an obstacle and was only treated as a minor roadblock for the White Walkers which is stupid because it is a 500 foot Wall with only 3 tunnels to get through. Surely the Wall should have been considered in Jon's plans a little more as it's certainly the easiest place to form a defense against the White Walkers. Instead it seems like the characters just say that "oh yeah the Wall is going to come down somehow so we will wait at Winterfell instead". It's very badly done. My point is proven further by the method at which the Wall comes down. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool moment but it raises one very important question: what the hell were the White Walkers going to do if the implausible wight capture plan never happened? They wouldn't have had an ice dragon to bring down the Wall. Were they just going to stand next to the Wall and look intimidating? If that's the case, then just leave them alone and everyone survives. The White Walkers aren't even a problem. There were some other little things that bothered me. Theon getting kneed in the groin would still hurt even if he is a eunuch. To pretend that it won't is just silly. The boatsex scene was hurt by the fact that it was interwoven with the Rhaegar/Lyanna wedding reveal. It's almost like the writers just wanted to gross us out with incest. Also, Bran says Jon's real last name should be Sand when talking to Sam. Except that's wrong and his last name should be Targaryen because he's legitimate! What a silly failure of an error that makes Bran look like an idiot. Lastly, I don't like what has been done with The Hound. He is being used as "funny guy that says offensive stuff" instead of a character which is a shame. It's funny and entertaining, but I will take the complex man from seasons 1-4 over this caricature. The Unknown: How will the Golden Company come into the story? What does Cersei plan to do with them? What will come of Cersei's pregnancy? I thought she couldn't have another child due to the prophecy. Apparently the show has forgotten and Cersei too. Are Tormund and Beric dead? I hope not. Best Moment: Cersei and Tyrion's conversation was really good. Character of the Episode: Cersei. Conclusion: This episode had some strong moments, but it was still brought down by the usual lazy writing that has plagued this season. In the end, season 7 was disappointing. It started fairly strong, but the rushed nature of the season and distracted focus of the showrunners made the final three episodes poorly written and disappointing, failing to give me hope that the show will end in strong fashion. This season did provide one great thing with the episode "The Spoils of War" and I'm thankful for that. Unfortunately it also gave us "Beyond the Wall", the show's worst hour thus far in exchange. It's remarkable how different this season felt from the rest of the show and I can sense a clear disconnect with the showrunners and the story they are trying to tell. I guess we may as well wait for GRRM's final two novels to get a satisfying end to this epic saga since this season gave me no hope for the future. Score: 60
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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