Game of Thrones: “The Dragon and The Wolf” Review

Oh my freaking goodness. What a spectacle finale. The entire season has been building to this. 7 seasons have been building to this. EVERYTHING HAPPENED.

Let me start by saying that I called the Wall coming down at the end of the season at the beginning of the season. That being said, I did not predict the Wall to come down in the spectacular fashion in which it did. Seeing the Night King turn Viserion last week, I figured that that is what it was leading to.

The absolute terror on Tormund’s face when the White Walkers show up is astute. Seeing their army in the hundreds of thousands is terrifying. Compare that to the earlier scene where the one wight scared the wits of out Cersei and her people. Imagine hundreds of thousands.

The wight dragon(?) or blue eyes white dragon as people were memeing, looked incredible in action. Was it just me, or did it seem much faster than Drogon? Either way, Drogon is going to have his/her work cut out for. There isn’t much of a science to this, but is the blue fire even more powerful than the regular dragonfire? I’m sure we’ll find out.

So much happened in this episode that it’s an incredible amount to dissect. Arya and Sansa were playing Littlefinger. I am extremely happy that Littlefinger has finally got his comeuppance, by way of Cat’s Paw dagger to the throat. Some good dramatic irony there. It is his fault that the entire Game of Thrones started in the first place. Now that the show is moving past that, sort of, his end makes complete sense.

Overall, however, I did not really enjoy this story line. Yes, the end was satisfying and very deserved, but the process was painstakingly long. To have an entire season plot line specifically designed as a red herring, especially at this point, with these two characters, is a bit of a slap in the face to the audience.

Yes, we got to see Arya kill both at the beginning and the end, but there was a lot in between that was wasted time. If the whole point was merely to get that final moment of Arya and Sansa reaffirming their allegiance to each other and their family… that could’ve happened way sooner. Especially with the all-knowing three eyed raven, who clearly spoke to his sisters off screen, able to divulge all the important information.

I sincerely hope that next season will have a much bigger role for all three of these characters. Arya needs to be in the fight. Sansa needs to lead her people. Bran needs to, well, warg into something big and help out. I am actually quite curious to see how the Stark siblings are going to take the news about Jon.

Which speaking of, holy crap. The R+L=J reveal people have been waiting 25 years for! Not only was it confirmed that Jon is Rhaegar and Lyanna’s son, but that his name is actually Aegon, and that he is the heir to the Iron Throne! And it was all montaged and intercut with Jon and Dany having sex for the very first time! This show certainly loves its incest.

This major news is definitely going to impact everything that is going on. I do not see Jon actually wanting the throne. His eyes are set on something much more important, you know, saving the world. However, the more vital aspect, is how Daenerys is going to take the news.

Daenerys has been raised to believed that this throne is her birthright that has been snatched away from her. Now she is going to discover that there is another person, her nephew, who has more of a claim than she does. And, yeah, she just had sex with him. Shout out to Jorah for trying to c-block them by the way. Sorry mate, your redemption story comes with taking an arrow for Dany, not being with her.

We may see some animosity between the two of them going forward. If anything, this relationship legitimizes Daenerys even more. If they were to get married, she can be the queen she always wanted to be. She’ll just have to settle for just-like-his-father Ned-no-wait-that’s-his-uncle Jon Snow, sorry I meant your nephew Aegon Targaryen, to be her husband and king.

With the pointed dialogue about Daenerys having children, I suspect that she will become pregnant with Jon’s baby. I can see the ending now, either Jon or Dany die, leaving the baby with a single parent. With how much Dany’s death has been teased, it will probably be her.

And who else might end up killing Daenerys but the treacherous current sitter of the Iron Throne herself, Cersei Lannister. Cersei pulled a fast one on everyone. Cersei lied about helping them out, and I can only hope that that will come back and bite her.

It already has, as Jamie has left King’s Landing to help with the war. For a split second, it looked like Cersei was going to have Jamie killed. Of course, she wouldn’t do that. She didn’t kill Tyrion. Although, that was all part of her plan with Euron.

We’ve heard the Golden Company mentioned so much that they will have to show up at some point next season. In what capacity will it be? Will they simply come to King’s Landing and prepare for the future fight against either the White Walkers or the Stark-Targaryen alliance?

We know that the Golden Company is in Essos. We also know that Melisandre, a character that we barely saw this season, also went to Essos. What is Melisandre doing in Essos? Maybe she’s getting some red priests and priestesses to come to Westeroes for the battle. Or maybe she’s trying to work her magic, no pun intended, with the Iron Bank or the Golden Company. I can’t wait to find out.

What a spectacular season of Game of Thrones. I absolutely cannot wait for the final season, and I sincerely hope that it’s not delayed until 2019. Here’s to royal incest and dragon battles in 2018.

Observations:

• Did I just accidentally come up with how Jorah is going to die? Huh. Call me GRRM, I’ll write the book for you.
• THAT CLEGANEBOWL TEASE
• Brienne and Jamie still have a chance!
• They better not kill EVERYONE at the Wall in the premiere. I need more Tormund and Gendry in my life. RIP BERIC though, he’s a goner for sure.
• All of the non-royalty characters are expendable at this point of the season. Now that we are heading to the final season, I expect a heck of a lot of sad deaths.
• Don’t you dare take away a potential Tormund-Brienne moment
• How cool was the wight dragon and the blue fire?
• Tyrion is still getting outplayed
• Didn’t even get to write about the Theon moment. That character has come an insanely long way for his redemption story. When Jon called him both a Greyjoy and Stark, it hit me in the feels. And I despise Reek.
• I guess I was wrong and Cersei is actually pregnant. Well, she’s either going to lose the baby or die pregnant. And Jamie has to be the one to kill her.
• Odd but, does Sansa have a potential mate? They haven’t introduced anyone who could be that person. Unless of course she steals Gendry from Arya.
• Where did Bronn and Pod go?
• We still do not know what the Night King actually wants. He hasn’t said a word. I’m still hoping for some kind of explanation to his actions. What are his motives? Does he just want to destroy everything and make everything winter? I worry that the show is going to remove the threat of the White Walkers early on, just so that they can have time for a human war. After all the waiting we’ve done, I hope that that isn’t the case. In fact, I hope the White Walkers actually do make it to King’s Landing, and everyone is forced to fight each other.
• What if the Night King just wants a queen? That would be something.
• The double meaning of the title is glorious. The dragon and the wolf referring to both Dany and Jon, and Jon’s parents Rhaegar and Lyanna.
• You mean to tell me that if Rhaegar and Lyanna did not hide and announced their marriage openly, Robert’s rebellion would not have happened? REALLY SCREWED UP THERE RHAEGAR AND LYANNA.

Expect a season review from me soon. Keep a look out on my Twitter @branddnh and follow me here to get updated when I post. We are going to be moving to Vocal soon and you are going to want to follow The Unbalanced on Twitter for all that info. Thanks for reading this season!