This is also an episode that was leaked much before the official airtime of the show. Except this time there was far less restraint from the fans. They all spoiled the plot and the deaths much in advance. I don’t really blame though, it was irresistible. And in all of this, if there really was someone to blame it was HBO. They’ve done a lousy job of putting their house in order this year. Hope it doesn’t get this bad next time around. So without much ado, let’s start with the episode.
The first plot point we have is at Winterfell where Littlefinger works his magic to isolate Sansa. The tensions between two sister’s intensifies ever since the younger sister discovers the other had sent a letter to their mother asking her to convince Robb to bend the knee to Joffrey and give up his title of King in the North. The two sisters are going at it hard. Then Sansa sneaks into Arya’s room to find her Bag of Faces. Arya enters the room and gives her the scare of her life. Sansa now for sure realizes her sister is a murderous psycho and she needs to keep her wits about if she expects to live with Arya under the same roof. She enlists Littlefinger’s help with this. Brienne is sent to King’s Landing to respond to call by Cersei Lannister. Not a good move, kid.
Then we go to Dragonstone. Last time we were here the group had decided to capture a wight as proof to present Cersei to enroll her help fighting the Night King. Now however, Tyrion counsels Daenerys about her upcoming negotiations with Cersei. There is a little yap yap about Dany’s little crush on Jon. But all fun is sucked out of the room the moment Tyrion mentions succession. Dany’d said multiple times before in the show how she was prophesized to never bear any children. And Tyrion being the diplomat he is, is mindful of the transfer of power. Dany now rulers a substantial chunk of land in both Westeros and Essos. It would all turn to rot, if there is no one to take charge of her mission, somebody who shares the same moral compass as her.
And then comes the main event of the whole episode. We are taken beyond the Wall, Jon leads a raiding party of people who have clear reasons to hate each other. But their shared hatred/fear of the Night King has brought them together. There is a lot of male bonding between them. The Hound and Tormund’s is the best. I would pay to watch a buddy cop movie with these too. After successfully capturing a wight, the group is besieged by the White Walker army around a small rock surrounded by an ice-capped lake. They also discover that when you kill a Walker, all the wights he’d turned also die. (loophole!) But right now they have bigger worries to take care of. Like how to get off that rock alive, and with that wight they’d captured. Jon sends Gendry to Eastwatch and send a raven to Daenerys to request for help. Thoros freezes to death out there on the rock, this means this is the last life for Beric Dondarrion. There is an amazing battle sequence which has Daenerys arrival and her saving most of the group with the help of her dragons. The Night King, jerk, throws an ice spear at Viserion, one of Daenerys' dragons, and kills it. Daenerys reluctantly flies off, along with the raiding party, but is unable to save Jon who till the very end is still flaying his Longclaw around chopping wights. Out of the blue, Benjen Stark arrives and sacrifices himself to allow Jon to escape on his horse. When Jon and Daenerys are reunited, Jon pledges himself and the North to Daenerys as Queen.
The Night King resurrects Viserion, making the dragon a part of his army. This was the highlight of the whole episode. The Others now have a dragon on their side. And it definitely doesn’t look like a fluke. The Night King clearly knows what he’s doing, he was waiting for and luring in the dragons. Notice the three spears, the iron chains, and the nice spot he got the Suicide Squad cornered? This was all pre-planned. He didn’t get the sweet job like leader of an undead army for nothing. He is a badass!
