I was somewhat disappointed with this episode. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I think it could have been great. I think this whole season needed a rewrite. Anyway, let’s dive right into this.

We start off with a pan of the map table at Dragonstone and then cut to Beyond the Wall. I love the banter between everyone in this scene. The dialogue is always pretty spot on. There was talk of dick sucking, resurrection, and killing, good times. Then they fought a white walker bear, on fire and it sorta killed Thoros.

Arya confronted Sansa about her letter. Arya gave Sansa Littlefinger’s dagger. We theorized on The Nerd Files that the way the scene between Sansa and Arya ended means that Arya is saying, “Why don’t you kill Littlefinger and I steal his face and we can keep his army.” Anyway, I’m really tired on this plot. I’m hoping they resolve it in a good way but it honestly doesn’t feel high stakes enough to be Littlefinger’s final gambit. So maybe one of the two of them will die. That would be annoying but would also be ballsy and although we’ve seen some balls on display this season I want to see them grow some balls in the last episode and kill some unexpected people. The biggest death this year so far was Grandma Tyrell. I love her, but really? Her death hardly changes the plot on an episode by episode basis the way say Ned Stark’s death did. Also Sansa sent Brienne of Tarth to King’s Landing so she’s in danger now, but also she hasn’t done anything since season 4. Why do we focus on Sansa again?

Dany and Tyrion argued about succession then she flew away into the night and left him for another man. Tyrion could go in the next episode, but I kinda hope not because he hasn’t done anything since season 4.

The group Beyond the Wall took on some wights and a White Walker and killed the Walker leading to a Phantom Menace explosion of troops. This confirms that the White Walkers work as a hive mind with their wights. I think the reason one wight didn’t explode, other than plot convenience, is for this exact scenario where a Walker is killed the others will know immediately.

Jon sent Gendry for a jog and then they found themselves trapped on a frozen lake. Then they proceeded to sit there a week while Dany flew in to rescue them. Props for the reverse damsel in distress cliche but how about you sent the raven before you left the Wall? Or how about Dany came with and was at Eastwatch by the Sea before you left and you brought a raven and sent it from there? I just feel like five more minutes of set up would have made this whole thing work so much better and that keeps it from being a great episode. The cracks have been showing on the show since season 4 but they have never been this noticeable and easy to fix before. I’m really glad they’re taking a year off before the final season because their scope is ambitious and amazing but they need to keep some of these details in line or it’s gonna be a shit ending to a truly excellent series. Nobody even looks all that cold. That’s a problem.

Now the end…

We got White Walkers versus Dragons. That’s huge, and it’s awesome but the plotholes before it take me out of it. This should have been so much better than it was. Sure, a dragon dies and comes back as a White Walker, but we were kind of expecting that. And the second deus ex machina Uncle Benjen zombie save is just annoying. I’m so glad that character is out of play so that they can’t do some dumb shit like that again. Because that was super dumb. I would rather Jon be a White Walker right now than to have been saved in such a stupid fashion.

Still this scene is better than anything The Walking Dead has put out since season 3 (or dare I say season 1) but this show was built on anyone can die at any moment and I don’t want to see it become The Walking Dead which goes by the logic of ‘any supporting character who wasn’t on since the first three seasons can die at any moment but it has to be a season premiere, finale, or midseason episode to kill someone important so you might as well just watch those episodes.’ This season as a whole has felt pretty Game of Thrones lit *now with fewer calories, I mean characters and I’m hoping we can get back to the level it was at at the end of last year with this finale.

Okay, fingers crossed Bran dies next episode but there’s like 0% chance that happens. But I fucking hate you, Bran.

Review of the season finale 7.7 “The Dragon and the Wolf,” next week…