As always: SPOILERS for the previous episode, speculation about the future.
From top to bottom (ish):
The North: Not has been shown north of the wall yet. Instead, we got the expected Arya reunion. She’s less weird than I expected, and the talk about her “list” was amusing. The scene between Meera and Bran was somewhat heart-breaking. I hope her character is back at some point; there’s a lot they could do with her. Littlefinger can’t go an episode without brushing against a hornets nest, it seems, though he is a bit back in Sansa’s favor in this episode. Or, appears to be anyway. Brienne and Arya was the most ridiculous part of the episode and that includes the dragon.
Dragonstone: They started off with Dany being really bitchy toward Jon, which they’re now having to soften quickly. Dany, as always, takes bad news quite poorly. Missandei had some of her best work to date in the scene with Davos and Jon, though once again Davos shines above everyone else.
King’s Landing: That bank guy is a goober.
Outside King’s Landing: Jaime and Bronn’s broship is amusing; and the “Dickon” laugh was a shining example of Bronn being one of the funniest guys on the show. His advice to Jaime during the subsequent attack was spot-on, too. Jaime had no business being out there, especially when a dragon showed up. The Tarly guy implied the gold was already across and into King’s Landing, so I assume all those exploding wagons were full of food or other loot: Dany just caused several hundred people to starve to death during the long night. I’m not sure why she targeted the supplies to start with:
The Dothraki could certainly lead horse-driven wagons to a defensible position for her future use/re-distribution, and those wagons (apart from the ballista one) weren’t attacking her troops. It was show for the sake of show and a stupid outburst.
Tyrion watching was one of the better parts of the episode, especially when he realized what his brother wanted to attempt. I was honestly rooting for Jaime in that moment just because I’m about over Dany’s entitled bullshit and poor leadership. It’s not her that’s doing all the work: it’s her supporters and dragons. She’s turning into Cat Stark, bumbling from one poor moment to another. In my opinion.
Also, no way is that how Jaime goes out. What a wasted cliffhanger.
And now, the previews/predictions:
– The trailer for next week shows Dany addressing some folk, apparently prisoners after the battle. Probably mostly their leaders. She’ll probably do something stupid to anyone who refuses to bend the knee.
– Next, we see Varys and Tyrion talk: “You must find a way to make her listen.” Either he’s talking about Dany, because of her dragon-happy attack/burning people, or they’re talking about Cersei, in which case, Varys is nuts. She won’t listen to Tyrion.
– Dany lands in front of Jon, who doesn’t even budge when her dragon screams in his face.
– Cersei talking to either Qyburn or the bank guy about defeating their enemies. Or maybe she’s talking to Jaime, but the voice over occurs near a scene with a skinny tall brunette dude.
– Bran sees some bad shit; I’m assuming we get a good dose of him warging into stuff. It looked like ravens, but that may be imagery related to his role and he might just look through the trees. Davos says “Bad things are coming.” Maybe Jon will talk Dany into flying her ass up to see.
Okay, now for some general stuff:
– We didn’t see Sam, Jorah, Tormund, or the Brothers without Banners guys this episode. Jorah was traveling; I don’t know the distance from the citadel to Dragonstone. Maybe he’ll get a ride from Gendry, who is still rowing last we heard. Tormund went to Eastwatch, which is where Jon said Bran saw the Night King heading. The Brothers were north and heading further north: maybe they’ll run into the Wall at some point. Maybe a return of Edd and the Night’s Watch?
Expected Next Episode:
King’s Landing: We obviously see Cersei based on the preview. We probably get Jaime and Bronn swimming out of the water on the safe side of the river. I doubt we get much more than angry Cersei and annoyed Jaime from King’s Landing this episode.
Dragonstone: Dany is going to be haughty and annoying, and I think Jon departs for Eastwatch.
The North: Jon and Tormund get the band back together. Not sure how much of a fight they put out this episode, but… Maybe we see Edd, maybe the Brotherhood. Arya and/or Bran are going to continue to work Littlefinger into knots, though he’s going to scheme hard. He might be able to wedge the Starks apart momentarily, but I doubt it. Time is short: Littlefinger, Arya, Bran, and Sansa are in Winterfell for a reason. Maybe Brienne bashes his head in.
The Citadel: Sam hates his job; Gilly hates Sam not paying her attention all day. Sam finds out he’s secretly robocop or some other super power that moves the story along. He pens more sonnets for Jon.
I wonder what Jaqen is up to.