Since my past reviews would take a few hours to write up as a result of carefully going through each critical moment in an episode, I decided to use a looser format for this review. I still have yet to write something for Episode 7 and most likely with my schedule won’t be able to get to it anytime soon (or might just postpone it indefinitely). Yet since this episode is the last in the season, I wanted to give my thoughts on the overall picture while first going through the major plot points.
The first half of this episode was the meeting between the major houses. It’s pretty much the last end game players (minus the Night King) all on stage. The direction was to get Cersei’s buy in through demonstrating that the army of the dead exist. Initially, Cersei is stung by Jon Snow’s refusal to accept any orders from her on top of the fact that he publicly accepts Daenerys as his one true queen.
Through this complication, Tyrion volunteers to be the one to negotiate with Cersei. Instead, he finds himself being verbally cut down by Cersei but at the same time discovering that she’s pregnant. One key point here is that he refutes Cersei’s belief that his purpose is to bring down their household.
Somehow he manages to gain Cersei’s word to fight alongside the living. Of course, this is all a ploy as she tells Jamie in private that Euron’s sudden leave of absence is to obtain the services of the Golden Company. Cersei’s conspiring behind Jamie and her refusal to partake in the upcoming war make it the last straw for him in staying by her side.
Up North, Sansa accuses Littlefinger of his own plotting to overthrow the Starks and grab power. He tries to implore for his life yet is sentenced to die. Arya obliges on Sansa’s behalf and later both reaffirm their kinship as part of house Stark.
We also see the full revelation of Jon Snow’s identity through Samwell and Bran discussing their own separate findings. Jon Snow is Aegon Targaryen and is the true heir to the throne. A flash back shows the actual wedding of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen where Bran mentions that the whole Robert’s Rebellion was built upon a lie. While that goes on, a montage is intertwined with Jon and Daenerys having #EPICBOATSEX as Bran narrates.
Lastly, the Night King comes to Eastwatch and blasts down the Wall with his new toy, an Ice Dragon. The entire army of the dead then are able to proceed to march down south, which will lead to the assumed climax for the last season.
Overall, what we’re seeing is the final players gearing up for the finale. In the scheme of things, there’s only three major houses left in real power. With Cersei we do see her supposedly plotting to deal with the remnants of the upcoming battle in the north through hiring the Golden Company.
In the meantime, we see a new major issue arise where Jon and Daenerys have inadvertently and awkwardly fallen in love. This complicates things in that he essentially is fucking his aunt while unknowingly has pledged himself to the person who is incorrectly in the line of succession. I suppose if they discover his true identity, Daenerys will have to figure out how she feels. But my gut instinct is that she’s portrayed as someone who is obsessed with rulership only because she believes in this manifest destiny.
But how will Jon feel in all of this? Thus far, his leadership has come through an elective manner because of his understanding of his identity. However, will he change as a result of learning of his true heritage? On the surface, it’s easy to believe that he would hand over the crown to Daenerys. But he’s still a stickler for the truth like Ned Stark and might favor literal interpretations.
In between the two lies what seems like a very unhappy Tyrion Lannister. Although he said nothing during the #EPICBOATSEX scene, you could sense that he was uncomfortable about the situation, perhaps feeling jealous. There has been hints that he has slowly falling in love with Daenerys. Even Cersei detects it to a certain level (though she calls Daenerys a foreign whore) and she has pretty good acumen when it comes to Tyrion’s personality at times.
One of the interesting things mentioned in the episode was arrows and crossbow bolts. A few camera shots fell on Tyrion which makes me believe that he might eventually fight Jon Snow down the line for Daenerys’ love. It might be his downfall though. You could also sense a small amount of tension between Jon Snow and Tyrion, especially when it came to telling the truth.
Something that struck me was how Cersei constantly would remind Tyrion that his whole intention was to bring down the Lannister name. When Tyrion discovers that Cersei is pregnant, his demeanor changes immensely. In fact, he doesn’t even mention that aspect to the others. So I wonder if he might try to protect Cersei (unlike Jamie).
Also, in that speech where Tyrion talks about how Cersei could not capture, threaten, etc. Daenerys, I wonder if that will become pure irony. Tyrion has been wrong and places too much faith in his intelligence while looking down upon Cersei’s. The thing that I have been musing for a while is how certain people have described Daenerys as a Joan of Arc (as opposed to the King Henry VII character that supposedly is a better representation up until this point of her).
The reason I’m interested in the Joan of Arc parallel/comparison is that Joan of Arc was a martyr who eventually was burned at the stake. I have a feeling that in the last season, the northern forces with Daenerys will get crushed for the most part until Cersei, using the Golden Company, makes a last minute save, a la Tywin Lannister. By doing that Cersei gains all the credit and achieves the loyalty and love of the people that she has always wanted.
However, she’ll call Daenerys a usurper and probably take her hostage. Daenerys might honor that and be taken a prisoner by Cersei. Later, Cersei might try to burn Daenerys at the stake but using Wildfire since it’s known that Daenerys has an immunity to normal fire. I have a feeling that Daenerys may not survive that, although perhaps in the ashes of her death a new baby dragon will be born.
One thing I forgot to mention in all of this is Theon Greyjoy. The part where he wants to go and save his sister was a great scene. It feels that he finally understood and proved that he paid the Iron Price in front of his men. It’ll be interesting to see where his character arc takes him in the last season. Obviously, he’ll confront Euron but I don’t know what Theon’s actual role may be.
I read a false spoiler a while back saying that Euron gets Yara pregnant. But we never see that in this episode. It does raise the stakes for Yara’s rescue if that happens. I feel it would make for an interesting situation for Theon to handle but I think the pregnancy card seems more on Cersei at the moment.
At any rate, I didn’t want to take too much time writing this blog out. I wanted to address the season in a separate one in terms of the overall path and my own journey for this year. Hopefully, I can belt that one out sometime this week.
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