AS ALWAYS: Spoilers for the previous episode.
Let me start with…
The Citadel: Nothing that happened in this scene, and possibly the episode, matters more than what came out of Gilly’s mouth: “…granted an annulment to Prince Ragger and married him to another…” I’m assuming “Ragger” is her mispronouncing Rhaegar since she’s learning to read. Uh. If Rhaegar was legitimately married to Lyanna, then… long live King Jon Targaryen, first of his name.
WinterHell: These people whining that Jon isn’t there are damn near the dumbest. What do they need him to be doing, aside from hunting up dragonglass? Also, is it just me or did Arya find something Littlefinger wanted her to find? Maybe he’s getting his game back. Which — it’s about time. Bran saw the Night King, though I’m not sure what the advantage of many ravens was there.
Somewhere Outside King’s Landing: Dany was absolutely stupid to set her dragon on the Tarly men. Has no one explained POLITICAL HOSTAGES to her yet?
In a more linear order:
Dragonstone: I enjoyed seeing Jon not back down from that dragon; I think Dany did, too. Their meeting of the minds when Jorah was back that led to the… what are we even going to call this? Hunt for Wight October? Yeah — I’m going with that. Anyway, that idea struck me as kind of weird and dumb, and suddenly very accepting of the fact they all need to work together. Maybe the comfort of winning that battle made her more comfortable. Also, Jorah is not going to like Jon if he realized Jon is keeping him in the friendzone. (Is Jorah still eligible to be the head of House Mormont?)
King’s Landing: Davos is awesome. Davos has great lines. “Then we’re fook’d!” Jaime is kind of a tool in this episode. But the biggest surprise: GENDRY! What the hell is he doing there?! Are there any other living characters we haven’t seen for a long time that I can start joking about? Because after a re-watch I thought it’d be funny if he showed back up. Instead he was just way more awesome.
Cersei is a lunatic, but her plan is not bad. However, she’s pregnant, which — if the prophecy is to be true, she cannot have a living child, right? I have an idea: perhaps the “Little Brother” that kills her is this child.
Dragonstone, 2: Gendry was hilarious with Jon. It was like a kid meeting his favorite sportball player.
Eastwatch: Tor-MUND! And then, the Hound, and the Brotherhood! This episode is like getting the band back together, except, they never were together! How many of those dudes going north are red shirts?
PREDICTIONS:
Okay, the preview didn’t really cover a lot, but it left it looking like we’ll mostly see the great white north. So, here we go:
– Not everyone is coming back from this trip. If I had to bet on the returning members of the Hunt for Wight October, I’d put money on Jon, Tormund, Gendry, the Hound, Jorah, and either Beric or Thoros (but not both). I think Beric might be more interesting around Jon (both being brought back), but that also makes him redundant. Thoros, though, doesn’t have that wicked look about him. And Richard Dormer is awesome. So that’s a toss-up. Man, that flaming sword is cool.
– I think they’ll get a “living” wight, but I am not sure how the hell they can get it back to Dragonstone “alive”.
– Looks like a hair of Tyrion and Dany looking moody — maybe he tells her to calm her tits on burning people alive.
– Arya looks to be menacing Sansa, but I would not be surprised if she was actually menacing someone else and it was just cut to look that way. Maybe Littlefinger is getting his game back too late to help? Or maybe Arya is just too nuts to keep around.
After this next episode, I just don’t know. If Jon doesn’t get back to Winterfell, he’s going to lose the north. If they go to Cersei with the wight, she’s liable to spring a trap on them. Euron is conspicuously absent — “oh he went to the golden company” last episode is meaningless given how much travel is compressed in this show. I’m not positive where Sam is going. Etc. Etc. Etc. I really hope we get more of Bran seeing things. I really hope a bunch of loose ends get wrapped up so that next season is just Winter and the fight. But we’ll see.