Game of Thrones – The Spoils of War

By starrymag | August 12, 2017

By: Tara Donahue

 

 

 

This was the shortest episode in “Game of Thrones” history, but that didn’t keep it from being full of action and excitement. We had another great reunion, Dothraki in battle and, of course, dragons. This episode definitely had it all.

 

We open on the Lannister army marching away from their victory at Highgarden. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) gives Bronn (Jerome Flynn) his reward; a very large bag of gold. But this isn’t enough for Bronn. He wants the castle he was promised. Jaime assures him that once they win the war, he will have his choice of castles.

 

Tycho Nestoris (Mark Gatiss) is quite impressed that Cersei (Lena Headey) has managed to pay back such a huge debt in one single installment. Sure, the Queen of Thorns, Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg) had to lose her life for it, but a Lannister always pays their debts. Right? The Iron Bank is impressed and now they want to invest in Team Cersei.

 

At Winterfell, Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) is presenting Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) with the dagger that had been used to try and kill him while he was in a coma back in Season One. It’s the same dagger Littlefinger claimed he’d lost in a bet to Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) so that he could implicate the latter in the assassination attempt. Bran looks the dagger over, but he couldn’t seem less interested if he tried.

 

Littlefinger continues to try and suck up and when he mentions chaos, this gets Bran’s attention. “Chaos is a ladder,” he says. This dates back to Season Three when Littlefinger told Varys (Conleth Hill), “Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder.” It was essentially his way of saying that all the unrest and discord in Westeros wasn’t a bad thing for someone like him – an opportunist who could use the chaos to climb in status and gain power.

 

Bran’s words seem to have an effect on Littlefinger, but before he can react Meera (Ellie Kendrick) interrupts. She’s come to say goodbye. She doesn’t want to leave, but with the Army of Dead coming she wants to be with her family. Bran’s cold, robotic response to this news surprises and upsets the emotional Meera. She’s gone through hell to protect him and many have died to protect him (RIP Hodor). But Bran isn’t himself, not anymore. He remembers what it was like to be Brandon Stark, but he “remembers so much else now.”

 

At the gate of Winterfell, Arya (Maisie Williams) is greeted by guards who don’t know her. Arya Stark is dead they tell her. But this doesn’t deter her. She manages to talk her way inside while they go let Sansa (Sophie Turner) know she’s there. While they argue over who is going to tell her, Arya slips away. Sansa finds her in the family crypt. The Stark sisters are finally reunited.

 

Now it’s time for them to find Bran so he can welcome his younger sister back, as well. Sansa explains that Bran has visions after he talks about seeing her at the crossroads. He thought she would go to King’s Landing. He knows about her list of names. Sansa wants to know who else is on the list, but Arya tells her most of them are dead already. Bran pulls out the dagger Littlefinger gave him and Sansa is surprised and concerned. Littlefinger doesn’t give something without thinking he would get something in return. This doesn’t matter to Bran, he doesn’t want the weapon. He gives it to Arya. It’s wasted on a cripple.

 

Back at Dragonstone, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) is talking to Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) about Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) and the things that happened between them, to be more precise. It seems that, even in the midst of the battle for the Iron Throne, there’s still time for some good old-fashioned girl talk. But it’s short lived as Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) interrupts. He wants to show Dany something. Inside the cave where he’s mining for dragonglass, he shows her how much there is. It’s all they’ll ever need. Yet that’s not all that he has to show her. He’s found paintings on the walls of the cave made by the Children of the Forest. They were there together, the Children and the First Men. But they weren’t fighting each other, as another cave painting depicts. Despite all their differences and suspicions, they fought together against their common enemy – the Night King and his army. They, too, are going to have to do this if they’re going to survive.

 

Daenerys tells Jon she will fight for him and for the North, but only after he bends the knee. Jon doesn’t think his people will accept a southern ruler. If their King does, they will. They chose him to lead and protect them, Dany reminds him. “Isn’t their survival more important than your pride?” She asks.

 

As they exit the cave, Tyrion and Lord Varys are waiting with news. Casterly Rock has been taken, but Highgarden and Lady Olenna have been lost. Dany is not pleased by this news. All her allies have been taken while she’s been at Dragonstone. Tyrion pleads with her to stick to the plan, but Dany won’t hear of it. She’s angry and accuses her Hand of not wanting her enemies defeated since they are his family.

 

Daenerys is done with clever plans, she has dragons and she’s going to fly them to the Red Keep, where her enemies are. Tyrion doesn’t feel this is a good plan, but Dany says she’s at war and she’s losing. She wants to hear what Jon Snow thinks she should do. He reminds her that people follow her because she’s made impossible things happen and she wants to build a world that’s different. But if she just uses her dragons to melt castles and burn cities, she’s not different. She’s just more of the same.

 

Back in the North, Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) is training Podrick (Daniel Portman) the art of sword fighting when Arya approaches. She wants Brienne to train her, not someone else, because she was the one who defeated The Hound (Rory McCann). They begin to spar and we see, in Arya’s moves and skills, all she’s learned since she’s been out there on her own. Each style of all the different “mentors” she’s had shines through. She defeats the older woman, with Sansa and Littlefinger watching. Brienne asks her who taught her how to do that. “No one,” Arya replies.

 

Jon and Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) talk about Daenerys at Dragonstone. He wants to know what Jon thinks of her. Jon thinks she has a good heart and Davos tells him he’s noticed him staring at her good heart. Jon has no time for that, which is good considering that while Jon might not know, we do know that Daenerys is technically his aunt.

 

They approach Missandei and ask her how she went from being a slave girl to an advisor to Daenerys Targaryen. Dany bought her and set her free. She isn’t serving Dany because of this, despite Ser Davos’s thoughts. She serves her queen by choice and if she wanted to return home to Naarth tomorrow, Dany would provide her with a ship and wish her well. Daenerys isn’t their queen because she’s the daughter of some king they never knew. She’s the queen they’ve chosen.

 

A Greyjoy ship approaches Dragonstone and it’s Theon (Alfie Allen) and the remaining men. He and Jon have a very tense reunion. The only reason he’s allowing Theon to live is because of what he did to help Sansa. Theon isn’t there to speak of old grudges though as he’s seeking help from Queen Daenerys to rescue his sister, Yara (Gemma Whelan). But Dany isn’t there. “Where did she go?” Theon asks.

 

We cut back to Jaime and Bronn overseeing the transport of the grain they’ve taken from Highgarden. They’re talking to Dickon Tarly (Tom Hopper) when the sound of hoofbeats interrupts them. It’s time to rally the army because they’re about to be under attack.

 

As the Lannister army prepares for battle, we see the source of the hoofbeats. It’s Dany’s army of Dothraki, riding into war like rockstars on horses. Some of them are even standing up on their horses as they shoot their bows and arrows, charging into battle. Bronn encourages Jaime to head back to King’s Landing, but he refuses to leave his army.

 

Maybe he should have listened because riding above the charging Dothraki is Daenerys Targaryen herself, riding on Drogon. “Dracarys,” She orders and the dragon lights up the army below. Burning men are screaming and running as the Dothraki army rides through the flames into the fight. There are bodies dropping everywhere, on both sides. Drogon and Daenerys continue to deal their damage from the skies.

 

Jaime sends Bronn to Qyburn’s (Anton Lesser) new weapon; Scorpion. It’s the giant crossbow we saw him show Cersei. One of the Dothraki tries to stop him, but Bronn manages to get away and to the weapon. The Dothraki warrior finds him again, though just in time to take one of the obscenely large bolts to the chest. Talk about overkill.

 

Bronn loads up the next bolt. We see Tyrion watching from a distance, the destruction Daenerys is leaving in her wake. She’s doing everything he advised her not to do. She’s becoming the Queen of Ashes he never wanted her to be.

 

Drogon is still breathing his deadly flames, killing anyone and everyone possible. Bronn fires a bolt from Scorpion, but it misses. Dany sees it and she and the dragon move into place to put an end to this weapon. Before this happens, Bronn manages to fire again, this time hitting his target. It hurts the dragon and he and his rider go falling towards the ground. But before landing, he takes out the weapon designed to kill him.

 

Daenerys is trying to pull the bolt out of Drogon when Jaime spots her. Tyrion sees what’s about to happen and despite the warning he mutters to himself, his brother grabs a spear and charges the vulnerable Mother of Dragons as she tries to tend to one of her children. He’s going to kill her. Or at least try. She turns and sees him, but so does the dragon. Just as he breathes his flames, Bronn tackles Jaime from his horse into the water. He might have saved him from the flames, but that heavy Lannister armor Jaime was wearing and that hand of gold was doing him no favors. The last thing we see is the Kingslayer sinking further beneath the depths of the water.

 

Is this the end of Jaime Lannister? Something tells me it’s not. But we’ll have to wait until next week to see!