Game of Thrones
Episode 7.7 “The Dragon and the Wolf” (Season Finale)
Directed by Jeremy Podeswa
Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Starring Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen
HBO
Air date: August 27, 2017

WARNING: Spoilers for HBO’s Game Of Thrones….

Last week’s Game Of Thrones was CRAZY! Winterfell sisters Sansa and Arya were seemingly at each other’s throats and it could turn deadly. Sansa ordered her protector Brienne of Tarth to King’s Landing in her stead to Cersei’s gathering. Tyrion commented to Daenerys that Jon Snow is in love with her, and she played coy at the idea. Beyond the Wall, Jon Snow and his group – Tormund, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, The Hound, Gendry, and Ser Jorah Mormont – were on a mission to abduct a wight to bring back to Cersei to prove that Winter has come and that the Night King is marching on them with his army of the dead. While they were at it, said army found them and surrounded them. It looked like this was the end (again) for Jon Snow, until Daenerys rode in on her dragons to save them! During the rescue, Viserion was killed by the Night King, who them reanimated the dragon to be part of his zombie army. On their way back to Dragonstone, Daenerys and Jon shared a moment that shows us that they are falling in love. Also, Jon swore fealty to her as his Queen, and she vowed to defeat the Night King.

This week’s episode, 7.7 “The Dragon and the Wolf,” was the Season 7 finale and HOLY SHIT, it is EVERYTHING!!! I can’t even believe what I just saw. I mean, there was a list of things I was like, hey, they HAVE to show us this, and then they did, and now I can barely breathe!!!

List of expectations going into the Season 7 finale:

– Cersei will be convinced that the undead are real and they are coming.
– The Hound will face his brother, The Mountain.
– Brienne will see that the Hound is not dead, as presumed.
– Jaime and Brienne will reunite at King’s Landing, which would lead to…
– Jaime becoming conflicted between choosing to be loyal to his sister or to do the right thing.
– Theon should redeem himself somehow.
– Sansa and Arya will reveal they’ve been plotting against Littlefinger all this time.
– Jon Snow and Daenerys will give in to their passions and make sweet love.
– The undead will make it to the Wall.
– Undead dragon Viserion appears, possibly shoots blue fire.

And guess what happened!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

Ok, the first 45 minutes or so of this oversized episode were SO SLOW. It took that long to show us everyone arriving at the Dragon pit, including Daenerys’s dramatic entrance atop the dragon Drogon. Everyone had to say their hellos and have their two cents put in about what’s going to happen. Don’t get me wrong — it was entertaining, and had it been the third or fourth episode of a longer season, this would have been truly amazing. BUT, we all were waiting with bated breath for the bulk of those aforementioned expectations to happen.

Here’s what went down:

– When The Hound sees the now-Frankenstein’d Mountain, he tells his brother, “You know what’s coming for you, brother, you’ve always known.” Is he talking about fire? Is fire, wielded by the Hound, what will finally kill the Mountain? There was no show-down between the brothers, but there’s a good chance it will happen in the next (and last) season. They will not leave this storyline incomplete.

– Brienne does a double take upon seeing The Hound. They have a small chat, which results in the revelation that they BOTH were only trying to protect Arya. The scene ends with a small chuckle from both of them. Nice way to wrap this little bit up… with mutual respect.

– The Hound brings forth the wight to prove to Cersei that the undead are real. She is thoroughly convinced!

– Upon seeing the wight, and confirming that the undead cannot swim, seaman Euron says Peace out, he’s taking his ships to safety till all of this blows over. Cersei is uncharacteristically understanding. Hmm…. we’ll get back to that.

– Cersei agrees to a truce with Daenerys, so that they can fight together against the army of the undead…. if Jon agrees NOT to take sides. Jon, being the honorable man that he is, says he cannot agree to this because he’s already pledged fealty Daenerys. This infuriates Cersei, who says the truce is off and storms off, leaving Daenerys’s posse a tad bit annoyed with Jon’s inability to fudge the truth. But Jon holds his ground — he’s an honorable man who will not pledge an oath he knows he can’t keep. “We’re fucked,” Tyrion says.

– Brienne tries to appeal to Jaime’s rational side, saying that this Great War that’s coming goes beyond Houses and loyalties and oaths — she wants him to talk to his sister. “And tell her what?” he scoffs, and walks off following Cersei. This was not the reunion we were hoping for, but their story is definitely not over yet.

– Tyrion deduces that the only course of action is for him to go talk to his sister. Oh boy. He goes and miraculously, they actually have a real conversation, although she is furious and seething at him. She still blames her little brother for all the adversities their house has suffered, including the death of her children, because when he killed their father, it left their House vulnerable. I guess she kinda has a point with that, but… anyhow, she rubs her stomach, letting Tyrion know that she’s pregnant!

– Outside, Daenerys saunters over to Jon Snow and come on now, like they’re not gonna have sex in this episode… is what I was thinking at this point. They talk about the situation they’re in, and Jon quotes Tyrion, saying “We’re fucked.” By the way, she mentions here again that she’s not able to have children, and Jon asks (and why hasn’t anyone else asked this before?) HOW does she know this? The witch who killed her husband told her, she tells him. “Maybe she wasn’t a reliable source of information,” he responds, and I’m thinking at this point that my theory that he’s totally going to impregnate her is going to happen. She has mentioned that she’s barren so many times this season, so this is totally foreshadowing for their future baby, who will likely be the Prince Who Was Promised of prophecy.

– Out comes Tyrion, with Cersei and he posse close behind. Cersei says she will call her banners and fight with them in the North against the undead. She makes this great little speech about how the darkness is coming for all of them all, but they’ll face it together. “When it’s over, perhaps you’ll remember how I chose to help with no assurances from you,” she says. It’s so regal and heroic. Too bad she’s a lying bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

– Later, we see Jaime making arrangements to take their army to the North, as Cersei had promised. She walks in on this, and asks him, “Are you a traitor or an idiot?” She has no intention of helping in the North. She also reveals that Euron didn’t actually run and hide — he is sailing to Essos to ferry back the Golden Company, an army of mercenaries that will fight for Cersei (since she now has all the Tyrell gold and the backing of the Iron Bank). Jaime is shocked and hurt that she plotted all this with Euron without telling him and says he is taking his army North as he pledged. She accuses him of conspiring with Tyrion behind her back and threatens him with The Mountain. “No one walks away from me,” Cersei tells him, but he walks anyhow. We see him outside looking down at his golden prosthetic hand, as snow starts falling. It’s snowing in the South, people!!! He rides off alone on his horse.

– At Dragonstone, Theon speaks alone with Jon, hoping to get his forgiveness for all of his cowardly transgressions. Jon says that Theon is both a Greyjoy and a Stark, and that it’s not his place to forgive him for everything he’s done, but what he can, he does. Theon says he has to go save his sister Yara. He heads outside to where his men are readying to leave to get away from the Great War, but Theon wants them to face Euron to save Yara. The commander mocks him and spits on him, and this turns into a fist fight where Theon is getting his ass beaten. But then the guy knees him a few times in the groin and since Theon has no balls anymore, he’s able to take this moment of surprise to overcome his attack and win the fight. FOR YARA!, the men shout, as they presumably head off to save their kidnapped captain.

– Winterfell: Sansa consults once more with Lord Baelish, aka Littlefinger. She’s concerned now that Jon has pledged his loyalty to Queen Daenerys and she’s worried about Arya’s intentions. Littlefinger does what he always does — puts thoughts in her head that Arya is out to hurt her and usurp her as Lady of Winterfell. Sansa then sends for her sister. When we see Winterfell again, Sansa and Bran are at the head of the table at the Great Hall with everyone gathered, including Littlefinger, as Arya is brought in. “Are you sure you want to do this?,” Arya asks, and Sansa replies, “It’s not what I wanted, it’s what honor demands.” Sansa then lists several accusations, such as murder and treason, and at the end looks at Littlefinger and says, “Lord Baelish.” HE’S the one being accused!!! It was all a ploy between the sisters all this time to trap Littlefinger, which makes sense because Bran, who is now the all-knowing Three-Eyed Raven, knows that Littlefinger had set events in motion all this time. Sansa then rattles off all the things we’ve known all along that Littlefinger was behind: Getting their Aunt Lysa to poison her husband Jon Arryn, and blame it on the Lannisters; killing Lysa so he could take control of the armies of the Vale; falsely claiming that the dagger that Bran’s would-be assassin used belonged to Tyrion Lannister; betraying their father Ned Stark, which led to his death; selling Sansa off to the Boltons. She really let him have it!! He starts out by denying everything, but Bran knows the truth. Littlefinger whimpers, before trying to command the Vale army to get him home safely (“I think not,” the commander says), and then begs for his life like the pathetic wretch he is. Sansa says she’s a “slow learner,” but that she does learn. In the end, Arya takes the dagger that started it all and slits Littlefinger’s throat with it, silencing him for good. Afterwards, the sisters talk alone about how they miss their father and quote what he used to say about how the wolf dies, but the pack lives on. Arya says that Sansa truly is the Lady of Winterfell, and that she would have never survived what Sansa went through, but her older sister disagrees. “You’re the strongest person I know,” Sansa tells her little sister. House Stark has been reunited and is stronger than ever. What a victory!

– At this point, I’m thinking that the sequence with Littlefinger in Winterfell is so so so glorious and satisfying that nothing can top it. I was so elated that I forgot all about how earlier when Daenerys decided that instead of riding her dragon North, she would sail with Jon to Winterfell to show the Northerners their united front and I was like “Please have sex on the boat!!!” Because next thing I know, they are on the boat and Jon goes to Daenerys’s quarters and he seems pretty nervous, like he’s getting up the courage to knock. And then he knocks and she lets him right in — I mean, there was no small talk, no pretense, nothing… just a look, and then he shuts the door. We see that Tyrion watches this — he seems disapproving, which is kind of strange. Why would he be against such a union? Or is he just jealous? Very strange. Anyhow, the next thing you know they are naked and doing it on the bed by candlelight and OH MY GOD IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING!!!!!?

– While Daenerys and Jon are at it in a scene that I will be watching at least another fifty times, we see Sam and Gilly have arrived at Winterfell. Sam goes to see Bran to tell him he’s there to help Jon. Bran, saying that Sam is a good man, reveals what he knows about Jon’s birth because he says Jon has to know the truth: Jon is not Ned Stark’s son, but the son of Ned’s sister Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryan. Bran says Jon is not Jon Snow, but rather Jon Sand, because he was born a bastard in Dorne. But Sam then reveals that while transcribing one of the High Septon’s private diaries, he discovered that Rhaegar had had his marriage to Elia Martell annulled, so that the Septon could marry him to Lyanna. So when Jon was born, his parents were actually married. He was NOT a bastard! Bran then has a vision of Rhaegar and Lyanna’s secret marriage ceremony before revisiting the vision of Lyanna giving birth to Jon at the Tower of Joy in Dorne, where Ned had found her dying in childbirth. We see her there telling Ned that the baby’s name is Aegon Targaryen — that’s Jon’s real name!!! Brans says that Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne. As this pertinent information is revealed, we are shown Jon and Daenerys making love, looking into each other’s eyes.

How do we recover from this!?!??!?!?!??!?! This is so glorious. This is everything we’ve wanted and have been waiting for. Wouldn’t it be great if the finale ended on such an elating moment????

But no.

No, because there’s still an army of the undead with a zombie dragon out there marching, and now’s the time for Game Of Thrones to kill our buzz by turning our attention North to the Wall, where…

– That asshole Night King has shown up with his fellow White Walkers and their undead wights, and oh, a fucking zombie dragon who shoots blue flames from its mouth. There’s nothing left for Tormund and the Wildlings to do but “RUN!!!!” (as we see Tormund shout) as zombie Viserion, with the Night King astride him, shoots his blue flames of destruction at a portion of the Wall, toppling it so that the undead can march right on through it.

And THAT’S where the Game Of Thrones people chose to leave us. Not on the smooth, beautiful, naked bodies of Daenerys and Jon, who totally totally totally are making a baby. Or even with the reveal of Jon’s true birth right, or even with the Stark personal victory at Winterfell, or EVEN with Jaime riding off North away from King’s Landing and his poisonous sister Cersei. Nope, instead, we’re left to see the Wall crumbled and an unstoppable army of undead soldiers, including reanimated Giants and a blue-fire-breathing dragon, marching on Winterfell and all of Westeros.

Wow, what an amazing Season finale. I mean, the show always gives us great battles in the penultimate season episodes, and a satisfying finale, but this one just beats all of them put together. I mean, I know what I wanted to see, and what I hoped I would see it, but I really thought it all too ambitious to be shown in this season finale. WELL FUCKING DONE, Game of Thrones!!!!!!!!!

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