As Game of Thrones continues its penultimate season, things are heating up! Danny has finally made it to Westeros and will finally make a play for the Iron Throne. Cersei doesn’t look like she will willingly let her take it, so it’s now a matter of both sides trying to rally people to their sides. Danny has the Tullys, Dorne, and the Greyjoy siblings. However, Cersei has her army, and Euron Greyjoy wants to marry her. What better proposal could there be than to wipe out her enemies? Jon Snow is adjusting to being the King of the North, with his sister Sansa second-guessing his every move as she’s starting to think and act like a combination of Ramsey, Cersei, and Littlefinger: all her enemies. Arya continues her vengeance quest wiping out the names on her enemies list, starting off by killing the entire house of Frey. Like I said, things are heating up quick!
So how did this week go? Here are a few highlights:
Dragonstone:
Danny is starting her plans of conquest. She already has a considerable army. Before she can even get to the business of taking over, she has to do a roll call to see who is really there for her.
The first person in the hot seat is Varys. The Spider right now has a seat at the table as one of her advisors. However, she points out that he has also been an advisor to her father, who he sold out for Robert Baratheon, and then he sold out him as well. In Danny’s eyes, he’s an opportunist who will conspire and betray her when it suits him. Varys has been around longer than her, so he knows the game better than she does. He owns up to what he’s done with no remorse. He tells her that Robert was better than her father The Mad King was, and Robert really didn’t want to be king, he just wanted the benefits of being king. He tells her his real loyalties lie with the people, not with Kings or Queens. Danny is fine with the answer, but will still burn him alive if he crosses her. Looks like she has a little bit of her father after all.
Speaking of burning, Melisandre makes her return and seeks an audience with Danny stating that she has a part to play in the prophecy of the “prince who was promised.” However, Missandei the expert linguist states that there is no gender in the translation, and it might not be Jon Snow, but Danny who is the one promised, the “princess (or queen) who was promised.”
To take over the Kingdom, Tyrion plans for the people of Dorne and the Tully’s will go to Kings Landing and surround the city, essentially starving them of supplies until Cersei surrenders. Meanwhile, the Unsullied and Dothraki will attack Casterly Rock and take out the rest of his family. He’s fully on Team Danny if he wasn’t before.
Oh yeah, Grey Worm and Missandei finally hook up, despite him not having the tools to do so. Needless to say, he has the linguistics for pleasure.
Winterfell:
Jon Snow seems to be a better warrior than politician/leader. Although he’s skilled in battle, he seems to have the same Stark naivety that Ned and Rob had. He receives Ravens telling him about dragon glass at Danny’s castle in Dragonstone and decides that he will go to meet Danny (who has also summoned him). All everyone knows about Danny is what they know about her father. If she’s the Mad King’s daughter, she’s just as crazy as he is. However, if they are to face the long night and defeat the White Walkers, they need dragon glass, and some fire-breathing dragons couldn’t hurt since fire is the only thing that can kill them besides dragon glass. Almost all the northern lord thinks this is a dumb idea, especially Sansa, who once again speaks out against her brother. Jon knows what’s at stake and realizes he has to take a chance. After being told by Sansa that he’s abandoning the North, he tells her he’s leaving it in capable hands: hers. Littlefinger just grins from the side.
Later on, Jon goes into the crypt to see Ned Starks grave for a moment of reflection. Of course, Littlefinger finds his way down there. Why no one hasn’t killed him yet is a mystery. Jon does his best to ignore him, until he mentions his love for Sansa. Even though he’s not seeing eye to eye with his sister, he knows Littlefinger is bad business and warns him while choking him to not speak to his sister. Of course, he’s not going to listen. I suspect that Winterfell will be in disarray by the time he comes back as a result of Sansa and Littlefinger.
The Citadel:
Sam is continuing his crap job of being an assistant to the maesters. Sam has killed a freaking White Walker, yet he’s cleaning up crap and fetching books. As he is shadowing one maester, he officially meets Jorah, whose gray scale has gone for the worse. It won’t be a matter of time before his mind snaps and he becomes one of the zombie-like people who infected him with the disease. Sam, eager to help someone mentions Stannis’ daughter, but Jorah’s too far gone for that to work. The maester believes that the only solutions are to either take him to the island where all the infected remain, or for Jorah to kill himself. Before he does that, Sam sneaks into his quarters and performs the most rudimentary surgery possible. Same literally scrapes each piece of scale off of Jorah’s skin in a very puss-fill disgusting manner.
Arya’s Travels:
Arya is continuing her quest for vengeance. After hanging out with Ed Sheeran, she stops for some pie where she reunites with Hot Pie, who she hasn’t seen since season 3. As the two reunite, he shares with her current events. Arya still thinks Ramsey is ruling Winterfell, and doesn’t know that both Sansa and Jon Snow are now running things. She’s left with a choice, continue her mission to kill Cersei, or reunite with her family who she hasn’t seen since season one. She decides to head north to catch up with them. Of course, Jon has already left. When will the Starks finally be whole????
As she’s out in the woods, she gets surrounded by a pack of wolves. Arya, being the G she is, is ready to take them on. Then she sees the pack leader. It’s none other than her own direwolf Nymeria, who she hasn’t seen since she had to free him in season one (a lot of season one callbacks tonight). Although the direwolf recognizes her, he doesn’t go with her and remains with his pack. This is the first time we’ve seen sadness in Arya’s eyes for quite some time.
Kings Landing:
Just as Danny is trying to rally people to her side, so is Cersei. She summons many lords to her court where she warns about the danger of Daenerys coming to Kings Landing. She smears her as the daughter of the Mad King as well as her “savage” Unsullied and Dothraki armies. She basically gives the best attack ad we’ve seen outside the 2016 election. In doing so, she’s also doing a lot of projection as she’s the only one who has burned people alive, yet she’s warning that’s exactly what Danny will do. Of course, the lords are afraid of her dragons.
Cersei has a plan for that. Deep in the shallows of Kings landing where all the previous dragon skulls are, there are some weapons to fight her dragons. Her right-hand man Qyburn reveals a giant crossbow that is capable of piercing a dragon skull. Cersei knows that if you can hurt a dragon, you can most certainly kill it.
At Sea:
One thing Tyrion did not factor in his plan was Euron’s crazy self. While Yara and her fleet were traveling at sea with Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, they were attacked by Euron’s fleet. He’s slowly building up to be the Joffrey/Ramsey of this season: the guy you most certainly want to die a horrible death. As his fleet attacks, Yara and Theon’s crews are overrun quickly. They do their best to hold down the fort, but it’s pointless after a while. Ellaria and her daughter Tyene are captured while her other daughters Obara and Nymeria fight Euron. They managed to get a few licks in, but he ends up killing them with their own weapons. Yara fights Euron one on one, but ends up on the losing side. The only person who could possibly save the day is Theon who Euron taunts while holding an axe to his sister’s neck. Theon instead has a meltdown and flees, once again disappointing his sister. I hope he managers to gain the courage to strike back later on, but for now, he’s a coward once again.
