Game of Thrones S07E07 Review: Night of the Dragon

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 7: The Dragon and the Wolf

Woo that season finale.

And, yeah, the final scene of the Wall coming down was awesome and all, but clearly the standout scene has to be the many, many conversations that took place in King's Landing as the characters negotiate -- special kudos go to Lena Heady and Peter Dinklage, the former being criminally underused in this season. This episode's confrontations between all the various characters in Westeros -- all the main characters in Westeros -- is amazingly written. Yeah, only one major character dies, which is slightly surprising considering it's a Game of Thrones season finale, but I'll buy it.

I've been complaining throughout this season that despite my obvious enjoyment of the episodes, the pacing has been thrown out of whack and many plotlines move rapidly while some just move on slower than the army of the dead (who, finally, after seven seasons, reached the Wall). The Winterfell plot, for one. Jaime's heel-face-turn. And the Theon stuff, for another. Those are things that I really feel should've happened a couple of episodes ago. Or, in Jaime's case, really feels like it should've happened entire seasons ago. Still, it's honestly a minor complaint considering the amount of ground this episode covers.

And honestly? A good chunk of the big, show-shattering scenes happens in the meeting that takes up so much of the episode's mammoth 80-minute runtime. So we'll dissect all the tangential scenes and go back to it last. Let's start, instead, with the final shots of the episode. We get to see Tormund Giantsbane and Beric Dondarrion, the two members of the Westerosi Suicide Squad that's left on Eastwatch-by-the-Sea... and the monotony of standing watch on that castle gets broken when suddenly there's movement. A figure walking out of the forest, a White Walker on an undead horse. Then followed by a huge army that march silently out. And they have giants! It's scary, the music is nothing short of breath-taking... and then you hear the dragon. It's just amazing as Frost Wyrm Viserion just swoops around out of the mist, with Tormund and Beric's head whipping around as the zombie dragon zips in and out... and then he comes out again, in full clarity, with the Night King riding Zombie Viserion's back. Hoo yeah. And as Viserion unleashes blue fire (ice?) the Night King single-handedly breaks down the Wall. I've always thought that this season would end with the White Walkers reaching the Wall, and the Wall shattering and/or being breached, but god damn.

We don't actually see Tormund and Beric die, which I feel is a probably good indication that they're alive (maybe alive long enough to die in the next season premiere?) but holy shit, how amazingly badass was it for the wall to absolutely shatter apart as Viserion's dragonfire punched through? There's just something chilling to see the Wall get absolutely decimated. It's been standing tall since the very first season, there's always a subplot happening there that revolves around the Night's Watch and the wildlings, but it's been destroyed in one fall swoop, and the final shot of the gigantic horde of the undead (including giants!) just marching through the shattered wall, with Viserion the undead dragon flying above them? God damn, that was badass as all hell.

Like, for a Big Bad Villain whose motivations we don't really know (I mean, we know the Night King was created by the Children of the Forest for some reason or other, but we know so scant little beyond that) the White Walkers are pretty damn awesome.

Speaking of the mystical portions of the show, Bran Stark and Samwell Tarly finally have that conversation about Jon's parentage, and it's pretty well done. Apparently, the reason why Bran hasn't told anyone about the whole R+L=J theory is not because he's too busy being mysterious and shit (although, fuck, Bran, where were you for the past three episodes?) but because he just thinks that it makes Jon another bastard. I can't lie, I laughed out loud at the sudden change in topic with Bran incredulously telling Sam "no, that makes him Jon Sand." Sam, of course, tells Bran about the marriage change, which Bran takes the opportunity to go into his time-travel memory-vision thing and witness Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark's marriage. Sam and Bran realize that it means that Jon's the rightful Targaryen heir (with the birth name Aegon Targaryen, to boot!)... which, of course, was juxtaposed against Jon and Dany making love in the ship. Yeah. Surprise incest! I'm... I'm actually okay with that, I think, in so much that the show at least acknowledges it.

(Also one of the funniest moment in the show is Sam going "Oh!" at the mention that Bran is the Three-Eyed Raven, and then quickly mumbles "I don't know what that means." Also even more hilarious is Sam asking Bran if he knew that Jon's returning to Winterfell from his visions... and Bran cheekily pulls out a little letter.)

It does make Rhaegar Targaryen look like a complete fuckhead, though. We're supposed to see the saccharine wedding where two beautiful people get together and would later make Jon Snow, but as Bran points out, that means Robert's whole rebellion -- itself started when Ned's father and brother were burnt at the stake trying to get Lyanna (who they thought were abducted) back -- was based on a lie. Not to mention that Rhaegar left behind his first wife, Elia Tyrell, and the two children he had with her, behind for... for 'love', I guess? Yeah, explain that awkward conversation to Elia, who, not protected by the Kingsguard during the sacking of King's Landing, got raped to death and her babies' head smooshed into paste by the Mountain. So yeah, Rhaegar and Lyanna's marriage are shot similarly to Robb and Talisa's, and I think it's meant to be that way, a marriage out of love that defies what logic states should happen in their position, but whereas Robb and Talisa merely got their families killed, Rhaegar and Lyanna plunged the seven kingdoms into a bloody war that essentially killed off nearly all the Targaryens. Good job, you damn lovebirds.

Anyway, at least Bran and Sam knew it, so they're in a position to tell Jon (and Dany!) that next season. Cool and good. The other Winterfell stuff is the culmination of the painful Sansa-vs-Arya subplot, and thankfully, it's retooled into a Sansa-and-Arya-vs-Littlefinger plot. Which is irritating because the show overplayed their hand in trying to make the Sansa/Arya conflict seem so much like they're tearing into each other's necks (especially since it happened almost exclusively behind closed doors). The episode isn't clear if Sansa and Arya's conflict in the past two or three episodes are all an act the moment Arya finds the letter (which is more likely, but on the other hand who are they acting the angry scenes out for?) or that Sansa's pouring her heart out to Littlefinger and him going through the whole "sometimes I play a little game" shtick was what got her gears thinking, which isn't good either because it short-charges Sansa's character and it still means Arya acts all psychotic and nasty to Sansa for no real reason.

But god damn if the trial scene wasn't deliciously well-done. Seeing the Stark children (Bran helped!) united once more is amazing to behold, despite the rocky setup they needed to reach this point. Sansa and Arya chewed the scenery so much, but it's amazing scenery-chewing as Sansa turned the tables to show that it's Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, that was on trial instead of Arya. Sansa's constant "how do you plead?" and refusal to play Littlefinger's little game is amazingly cathartic, and she just lists the long, long list of crimes that Baelish has done over the long seven-season-long run of the series. Selling Sansa to the Boltons. Pushing Lysa Arryn off of the Eyrie. Manipulating Lysa and getting her to murder Jon Arryn. Betraying Ned Stark to the Lannisters. And, as we discover in this episode, hiring the assassin with the valyrian steel dagger to kill Bran, and rile up Catelyn and Robb to go to war against the Lannisters.

God, it's so satisfying to see him realize how utterly fucked he is, how with each crime he has less defense, and when he demands to be escorted to the Eyrie, of course the only representative of the Eyrie is Yohn Royce, who most people probably don't remember, but I do. Littlefinger was a dick to him, and I swear the dude's just resisting to break into a smug smile when he denies Littlefinger any protection from him. Littlefinger's breaking down and his transition to smug maneuvering into getting on his knees and crying, begging for mercy and love, absolutely humiliated and exposed after a lifetime of being the one in control, is some fantastic acting from Aiden Gillen, and he gets murdered by Arya by slitting his throat. Littlefinger falls, and while I won't miss the character too much (I liked him, but by the time it's season four or five the show's run out of interesting things to do with him) I will definitely miss Aiden Gillen's acting skills.

Oh, and there's Theon Greyjoy's little subplot! Which I really liked, but I also feel like a bit of a weird detour considering how central the rest of the storylines are. Still, from his refusal to bend down right then and there in the meeting when taunted by Euron, to him rising at the chance to mock Euron's joke-making skills with Tyrion and finally to that conversation in the Dragonstone throne room with Jon... these are honestly plot points that I expected to happen, but Theon just kind of disappears all season because the conversation needed to happen in the finale. It was a good conversation between Theon and Jon, though, with Jon telling Theon that, no, Jon isn't the perfect boy (though a certain silver-haired Khaleesi would disagree). Also I did love that Jon doesn't just wave off Theon's sins and when he goes "I've done so much worse!" Jon nods and says, something to the effect of yeah, son, you fucked up real bad. But Jon's a nice dude, and he forgives Theon whatever he has the right to forgive, and tells him to do what he needs to do. He's both Greyjoy and Stark, and he needs to embrace it. Which means trying to recruit the other Greyjoy mooks to go and save Yara, but because these are Ironborn, Theon needs to fight the previous leader nearly to the death, and I did love how the show portrayed Theon as winning the battle due to outlasting the other Ironborn. That's something that the poor, tortured Theon can definitely do -- withstand pain.


Hoo. Those were just the B-plots and I've spoken way too many words about them. Let's go to the meeting! The episode's main meat lies there, and I'll try to explore it to the best of my ability. From the awesome panning shot of the Unsullied army parked in front of King's Landing, to the ululating Dothraki horde charging and running around the Unsullied as a show of intimidation, the threat of war coming right then and there is very much real.

The walk down to the Dragon Pit, a very appropriate location for the truce that is easily the symbol of the Targaryen dynasty's downfall when they locked up their dragons and 'they got small' (a neat callback to Daenerys's own downfall when she locked up Viserion and Rhaegal two seasons ago). We get some great conversations from the various players finally meeting each other. Tyrion and Bronn's conversation is so earnestly full of jackassery that you just can't help but smile. Bronn claims he doesn't give a shit and Tyrion just finds it refreshing nonetheless. Pod meets both Tyrion and Bronn again, and god it's pretty heartwarming and funny, especially when they finally do reach the Dragon Pit and Bronn just basically drags Pod away for some drinks and shit while all the serious stuff goes down. Brienne and the Hound also get a conversation that I didn't actually think would happen without some violence, but the two are basically pretty cordial, with the Hound making it clear that no, he's not going to get Arya Stark back for what she did.

When the meeting starts we also get Euron taunting Theon, and Euron taunting Tyrion, and Euron just being a gigantic dick until Jaime and Cersei tells him to shut the fuck up because, shit, there are more important things going on here. We also get the Hound walking up to Zombie Mountain, and promising that they will be at each other's throats at one point. His "you're even more fucking uglier than I am now!" is perfect.

And then, of course, Daenerys arrives late, on dragonback no less, and the score that builds up is amazing, as is the huge AAAA WTF face on every single person that has never seen Drogon before... and even those who have! Jaime really looks like he's about to lapse into PTSD, and the look on shock on Brienne, Qyburn and Euron's face really is amazing. And, of course, after your courtesies are exchanged, Tyrion calls out the fact that, no, everyone on one side wants to murder the other side, for easily justified reasons, but then he tells the Hound to come up with the box, and after a comically long sequence of the Hound opening the box, he kicks it over and the wight comes tumbling out... and hoo boy, that was some well-done zombie makeup.

The wight's screeching and running around was well done, as is Cersei and Euron's terrified reactions. It took as long as it needed, but they didn't overplay it. The Hound gets extra credit for making the demonstration extra effective by slicing the wight in half at the waist, then slicing its hand off, and the wight's still twitching. Jon then walks up, with a hilarious PSA-style voice and goes "there are several ways you can dispatch a wight! First..." Also, bless Qyburn for not being freaked out at all and just picking up the wight's dismembered arm and inspecting it. He just looks so damn fascinated!

Also hilarious is Euron walking up to the wight, asking Jon "can they swim?" to which Jon says "no" (I dunno, Jon, they did get those chains down to drag up the dragon corpse) and Euron's next line is something to the effect of just going home with the Iron Fleet, because, shit, he didn't sign up for zombies. That was hilarious. And even moreso than before, really shows Cersei's increasingly-weak position. Can you blame her for wanting the truce right then and there? But Cersei extends her truce not to Daenerys, because she knows the two of them will never back down, but Cersei wants Jon to extend a show of neutrality and not support either queen...

And, of course, Jon Snow decides that, no. He's a northerner, and while this same silly display of honour was what got Ned Stark killed, he's not going to make a promise he doesn't intend to keep. Jon tells Cersei that he has picked a side, and he has bent the knee... to which Cersei just leaves the negotiating table. Tyrion and Jon's conversation afterwards is definitely well-done, with Tyrion tearing in Jon being well-deserved, and Jon's answer sounding earnest but not stupid. Thank god Tyrion is there to clean up Jon's mess. Meanwhile, Jon and Dany take the opportunity to flirt, with Jon asking Dany about how trustworthy is the witch that says Dany can't make babies. Which, of course, a couple of scenes later leads to them consummating their relationship. [Insert obligatory Ser Friendzone Jorah joke]

Which, of course, leads to one of the strongest scenes in the season, when Tyrion enters the room with Cersei. The two siblings have had a very complex relationship filled with nothing but hate for each other, and god, they play off each other so well. Tyrion's difficulty in attempting to enter the room was well-displayed, and as he rattled off all the logical reasons that Cersei have for hating him (Tyrion killed Tywin, Tyrion killed their mother at childbirth) and less-logical reasons (Cersei blames Tyrion for all their children's death, putting the Sparrow nonsense as a result of Tywin's death) Tyrion just dares Cersei to kill him. Right then and there. Kill him if that's what she wants. There's so much raw emotion in Tyrion's voice, and Cersei's conflicted expression there just speaks volumes. The fact that Cersei's still being portrayed as a villain (and at the end of the episode the lines between 'good human' and 'bad human' are clearly drawn) but doesn't have the heart to kill Tyrion speaks volumes, I think. Tyrion asks Cersei what she truly wants, and that whole conversation, especially when Tyrion realizes that Cersei's pregnant again, is all simply just well done. I wish I had more words to describe this scene, but considering the amount of shit that Tyrion and Cersei had thrown towards each other, it's just... good. It's just good.

Tyrion's brief talk with Cersei was apparently enough for Cersei to return to the negotiating table. Not only that, though, she pledges to march the armies of King's Landing and Casterly Rock north, even if she doesn't particularly believe that Dany or Jon would care all that much once things are said and done. Cersei gets all the badass lines here!

Of course, as Team Dany returns back to Dragonstone and discusses how they are to reach Winterfell (a united approach is the best, Jon says, but I think he just wanna bang), it turns out that poor Tyrion is outplayed once more, because Cersei has no intentions of honouring her word. But before we go into that particular conversation, let's acknowledge Jaime Lannister's plot reorientation, yeah? I've always felt it strange that despite going through so much shit while with Brienne and later with Bronn, Jaime ends up settling back in as the big Lannister enforcer thug, even after Tommen's death and after the Sept being blown up by Cersei. There was a bit of ambiguity... is Jaime's character development simply thrown out of the window in favour of the fact that the man's simply too madly in love?

Well, Brienne of Tarth shows up, drags Jaime when the Lannister team walks away during the negotiation, and tells Jaime to talk to Cersei. "FUCK LOYALTY!" Brienne shouts loudly, and this really hammers things home to Jaime. Both Jaime and Brienne are knights, and Brienne is easily one of the most honourable people Jaime's met in his life. But no, this isn't the time for oaths and old loyalties and the petty bickering. Brienne saw the wight, Brienne saw the dragon... and she's pretty terrified herself, and Jaime's the only person that can get through to Cersei.

That particular conversation we don't actually get to see, as it's Tyrion that seemingly convinces Cersei, but Jaime's happy with the results. The next time we see him, Jaime's planning the expedition north until he's interrupted by Cersei, who tells him that, no, they're not going to work with the Mother of Dragons and the King in the North, and she's just saying that so that they'll leave. She just wants all her enemies to duke it out and kill each other... to which a very frustrated Jaime points out that if the army of the dead wins, they're fucked because the army would be far, far larger than before. And if the Dany/Jon team wins, then they're fucked because they would come back to murder Cersei and Jaime due to their treachery. Thankfully, Cersei's not just being stupid, but she actually has a plan. The big show that Euron Greyjoy makes where he's all out of the game was apparently a plan by Cersei so Euron would be able to move his sheep to the Iron Bank and get their big big army.

It's still an incredibly risky and stupid plan, though, and Jaime knows it. Such a huge part of Jaime Lannister's characterization has been his love for his sister, and he is caught between what he knows is right -- joining up with Tyrion, Brienne and the others -- and what he knows is wrong (and also stupid). And to his credit, he tried so hard to get Cersei to listen. But Cersei is beyond words, and at one point she even threatens to have the Mountain prevent anyone from 'walking away' from her. And, I can't lie, I was genuinely afraid that Cersei has lost so much of her soul that she would be willing to let the Mountain murder one of the few people that she still loves. It would clearly push Cersei over the edge into irredeemable territory... yet that distraught look on her face when she realizes that she has truly lost Jaime, is amazing to behold. Cersei Lannister might still be playing the Game of Thrones, backstabbing everyone and planning to fuck up even the basic living-vs-the-dead lines in the sand, but now more than ever she's truly alone.

Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister is finally on his way to regain some of his lost honour as he's apparently the only Lannister soldier going north. So yeah. I just really like Jaime's arc in this episode, as he tries to desperately to work with his sister-lover, to have her see some logic, but failing that, he chooses duty and logic over love, a decision that probably didn't come easily for Jaime. Good show, man.

With Jaime on the side of the good guys, the line between good and bad has been clearly drawn, with only Bronn of the Blackwater still being stuck on the other side of the board (though he's easily far more flexible than Jaime, so him jumping ship might not be too out of the question). Littlefinger's dead, Jaime's changing sides, Team Dany and Team Jon are united (in more ways than one), the Wall has fallen, winter is here... in two years. We'll be back in 2019 or whenever season eight airs to finally see the conclusion to the gigantic saga of Game of Thrones.