This article contains spoilers for "Game of Thrones" through Season 6, Episode 10 and for "A Song of Ice and Fire" through "A Dance With Dragons" and spoiler chapters for "The Winds of Winter."

Also this article discusses certain events of the series, including rape, that might be triggering to some individuals.

I want to be very upfront about this: this was, by far, the best episode of the season and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. It was a fun episode! Things happened! There was plot! This episode felt properly constructed. It was great as both a stand alone episode and as a cap to the season.

For a season that began after some very intense cliffhangers (the deaths of Jon Snow and Stannis Baratheon, Arya's blindness, Sansa's escape) it just sort of plodded along, but this episode was fun to watch and, though it does not excuse the laziness of most of the season, I can admit that watching it was a good time.

That does not, however, mean it was without problems.

So let's discuss.

Plot 1: King's Landing

Holy shit.

The opening montage was beautiful. Each shot felt purposeful, and I thought highlighting how each person was preparing for the trials was a good idea. It gave us hints of the character's current states. Tommen appeared nervous, Cersei confident.

Just the design of Cersei dress said "murder" so it was a dead giveaway for what was going to happen (and frankly, what was heavily implied over the past two episodes).

The music, too, was miles above anything else produced for this season. Honestly, the music was excellent through Season 4, but Seasons 5 and 6 were subpar by my memory.

I don't remember much of it, and that's the problem. I still remember the haunting refrain of "The Rains of Castamere" when Tyrion shot Tywin back in the Season 4 finale. This season there was an episode where they refrained that song like four times, but the scenarios didn't make sense. "The Rains of Castamere" is a song about a ruthless victory Tywin Lannister had over House Reyne. It's not just about victory, it's also about brutality, and about a sort of devastating victory over your adversaries.

Anyways, the opening piano music after the silence was just so incredibly effective. (Also I need that song so if anyone knows which one it is, please let me know so I can purchase it. The music this episode was so good holy shit.) Also the visuals were amazing thank you Dark "Game of Thrones" for showing me the forbidden sets and characters and allowing me to view them with proper lighting.

So then we see Pycelle and his prostitute and it makes you wonder why the Faith hasn't taken care of that yet.

But I guess they only care about it when it's convenient.

And then a small child appears and whispers something to Pycelle and he starts following the small child.

Which brings us to Lesson #1: Don't trust small children. You will get stabbed and die.

We're then shown the trial of Loras Tyrell. The first thing I want to say is poor Finn Jones who has been playing Loras since the beginning and who has only featured in two of these episodes this season.

Then Loras basically pledges to become part of the Faith Militant because remember the Faith has a homophobic crusade going on even though that doesn't make sense given the Faith's actual mission.

Remember, the Sparrow Movement (in the books) started because members of the Faith of the Seven are angry that the High Lords are playing their game of thrones and failing to protect the small folks from atrocities committed during wartime. In the Riverlands everyone's armies are just sort of raping and pillaging everywhere and the High Lords aren't doing jack shit.

Their crusade isn't about people being gay. It's about the High Lords thinking they're above anyone and can do whatever the hell they like.

Frankly the homophobia front is super anachronistic and it just comes across as them parading the fact that they're ~progressive~ so they know homophobia is bad.

If they're so progressive, I'd just like to ask why Loras's sole character trait is that he's gay. I mean it's a deep seeded issue, and it's definitely not just an issue this season. Since Loras's sexuality was revealed it has become his only character trait. When Sansa was trying to flirt like two seasons ago it was treated like, "haha this character is literally 2 gay 2 function, why can't you see it Sansa?"

I wish Finn Jones was given actual Loras Tyrell to play, I wish we could see him be valiant and sacrifice everything to protect his sister. I wish that he got an actual plot this season rather than being tortured in prison behind the scenes for 8/10 episodes.

I mean the other dumb thing is the weird disinheritance plot which, due to how Benioff and Weiss adapted "A Song of Ice and Fire", makes no sense. Remember, in the books Loras is the third son of Mace Tyrell and Alerie Hightower. This means that he's behind his brothers Willas and Garlan to inherit. This means that basically he's not going to. That's why he's able to join the Kingsguard.

But in the show, with Margaery as Queen of the Realm, and Loras disinherited, it basically means that House Tyrell has no heirs at all. Whoops. I guess what proceeds to happen doesn't matter then????

Okay so Margaery starts getting squirrelly on the High Sparrow because Cersei hasn't shown up yet despite the fact that the High Sparrow has sent Lancel and some other members of the Faith Militant to fetch her.

What happens is that Lancel becomes obsessed with chasing a small child for some reason.

Then we're back to the opening piano theme (which is still excellent in its second incarnation) and more scenes of Cersei and Tommen.

Tommen prepares to leave, and the Mountain that Rides refuses to let him out of his room.

It's at that point that things start going wrong (or right, depending on whose side you're on).

So we have a montage of Pycelle and Lancel following some random children through various hallways.

Again, DON'T TRUST CREEPY SMALL CHILDREN.

Then Pycelle enters a room and Qyburn is there and Pycelle is a confused, old man and the audience is like "RUN DUDE YOU'RE GONNA DIE" and Qyburn is like "forgive me." And then Qyburn has a bunch of children murder Pycelle.

The piano music during these montages is on point though, I honestly wish the whole season had music like this.

So let's talk about the implications of Pycelle's death. It has happened with in the books, but it wasn't due to Cersei's machinations and that makes all the difference. See, in the books Varys sneaks back into King's Landing and murders both Pycelle and Kevan Lannister. He does this because he supporting an alleged Targaryen Heir whom he and Illyrio Mopatis (the Pentosi trader who housed Dany back in Season 1) have been grooming since birth. They claim it's Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar and Elia, who was miraculously switched with another baby before the Mountain murdered all of them. Varys appears to confirm that Aegon is actually Rhaegar's son to Kevan before shooting him with a crossbow to make it appear that Tyrion is back in King's Landing. Many bookreaders doubt this claim and believe that Aegon is actually (F)Aegon, a Blackfyre (a cadet branch of House Targaryen stemming off of some royally legitimized bastards). The Blackfyre's are responsible for some pretty nasty civil war between House Targaryen members which led to the deaths of a lot of dragons. Bloodraven, the Three-Eyed Crow, is one of the Blackfyre bastards.

History lesson aside, Varys kills Pycelle and Kevan like Tyrion killed Tywin because he wishes to further destabilize the realm and make it right for a Targaryen revolution (under Aegon, of course). See, by this point Cersei has fallen into political blunder after political blunder. She is unjustifiably paranoid about everything and everyone. Varys seeks to make that worse.

So Qyburn killing Pycelle at Cersei's orders does succeed at killing Pycelle, but it doesn't have the implications and set up that it should.

So onto Lancel. Well, this small child leads Lancel through some creepy tunnels, before shanking him once in the side and watching him fall to death.

You think someone as strong as Lancel would be able to survive a single knife wound considering Arya got shanked like twenty times and managed to survive but whatever.

Anyways, the visuals on this scene were super cool. It starts out super dark and Lancel looks kinda horrified as he tries to army crawl over the ground towards some unseen thing. As he does that, the dark starts getting filled green. Little by little you realize that Lancel is in an underground Wildfire bunker build by Aerys when he wanted to blow up the entire city.

As this happens Margaery sort of realizes that Cersei's absence means that something else is afoot. She tries to get everyone to leave, but for some reason the High Sparrow and the Faith Militant won't let everyone leave the Sept. The High Sparrow is still too caught up on his laurels from brokering a Faith-Crown alliance that already existed.

Anyways, we see Cersei look at the Great Sept of Baelor from the Red Keep and it all sort of seems to slow down for a second. We see people trying to get out of the Sept, we see Lancel try to stop the candles from catching the Wildfire, we see the High Sparrow looking triumphant and then - BANG - it's all consumed by fire.

We watch the Sept explode and we see it from multiple perspectives. It's beautifully shot.

Someone told me earlier today that they didn't think this would happen and my response was "how could it not? They've been heavily hinting at it for two episodes...."

I assume that the High Sparrow, Margaery, Lord Tyrell, Loras, and like anyone else in attendance is basically dead -- though none of that has really been concerned. I hope we get some salty exit interviews from the actors, it's become my favorite part of death on "Game of Thrones."

I mean Cersei just basically bombed the Westerosi equivalent of the Vatican. The shot after the explosion is literally just Cersei drinking wine while watching it. The shot after is Tommen's horror.

Then we're treated to one of the most disturbing scenes of the episode. I think it's safe to say that Cersei is a villain once more. Her not subtle murder dress says that already, I guess, but it's kinda hard to see her as a villain because the show has made her incredibly sympathetic and has had her basically being the best Westerosi Tiger Mom she could be. But I guess she's become the villain once more. Maybe? It'll be interesting to see where the go from here.

Obviously the Cersei Wildfire Plot has been discussed within the fandom for a while, many people believe it'll happen. I think if it does happen, it'll be even more extreme than just the Sept. Remember, Aerys had stashes of Wildfire all over the city. A deeply unhinged Cersei burning down the entirety of King's Landing is something I actively support within the context of the books. It's also why when people ask me who I want to sit the Iron Throne I'm not sure how to respond. I don't think there will be an Iron Throne at the end, because I don't think Westeros will survive that way.

So it appears that Benioff and Weiss have jumped ship from "relatable Tiger Mom Cersei" to "deeply misogynistic and vengeful Cersei." Cersei is a very misogynistic character. She hates women for being weak and she hates that part of herself. That part of her character is so apparent in the books. She is also definitely her own victim.

Nothing that has happened to her these past two seasons has been really her fault. In the books she's directly responsible for her own downfall, in the show her downfall was an accident. While this new Cersei who dresses to kill is fun, it's a little annoying that we couldn't have seen Cersei in a more morally grey context earlier. I'm all for the Wildfire Plot, and I think the art direction was beautiful and the pace was exhilarating and it was just so cool to watch, it just feels out of place for how Cersei has been treated by the narrative thus far.

I with that Benioff and Weiss actually adapted Cersei, I wish Lena Heady got to play Cersei. This episode was the most Cersei that Cersei has ever been, and at this point it's kinda too late.

Back to our new Villainess though. We find out that Cersei has (the terrifying) Septa Unella bound and is basically torturing her, much like the torture Cersei received at the hands of the Faith back in Season 4. Cersei brings in the zombified Gregor Clegane (and we actually sort of see his face and it's horrifying) and it's basically implied that he rapes her. The show has a really shoddy track record on rape as a plot device, I can't believe they're continuing to use it.

But I guess it's to confirm that Cersei is once again the villain? Maybe? We might have to wait until next season to confirm.

Then we're treated to a scene of Tommen who looks understandably devastated as he gazes upon the wreckage of the Great Sept of Baelor. I mean his wife and all his in-laws, plus the leaders of his faith are all dead - murdered by his mother. Not to beat around the bush but he takes off his crown and throws himself out of the window. Cersei has now outlived all of her children. Now all that needs to happen is the valonqar (which, let's be real, has totally been cut because the writers love Jaime and Cersei together because it's super unproblematic remember the "rape that became consensual" back in like Season 4?).

Can we all agree that the Valonqar prophecy (the one that Cersei hears from Maggy the Frog that says that the valonqar -- High Valyrian for "Younger Brother" -- will kill her) is about Jaime and not Tyrion because it makes sense thematically? Moving on....

So the next scene is Qyburn and Cersei over Tommen's body and, honestly, I was hoping for a bit more. I wish Cersei reacted a bit more to her son's death because, according to Show!Tyrion her only redeeming quality is that she loves her children. Well that, and her vagina.

And then near the end of the Episode we have one final scene in King's Landing. It is pure art. The direction of this scene was phenomenal, the art direction was phenomenal, the music was phenomenal. Finally a scene worthy of the clip from "The Rains of Castamere." This is exactly what this song is about, a ruthless victory.

It appears that Jaime is back from the Riverlands already and now can witness the fallout from Cersei's decision.

The scene, beautiful as it is, and chilling as it is, has one huge narrative problem. Frankly, the show has this problem. Everyone refers to Cersei as Cersei Lannister. Both in and outside of the show. Cersei should technically be referred to as "Cersei Baratheon" as she married Robert Baratheon. Tommen, Myrcella, and Joffrey were all technically of Baratheon line (despite their confirmed bastard status by this point). Cersei should still be Cersei Baratheon in universe.

Everyone outside of the universe refers to her as Cersei Lannister because that's definitely how she thinks of herself, but within the universe she's still technically a Baratheon.

I think Jaime's reaction to all of this implies that maybe there will be some proper Jaime/Cersei tension next season which there really should have been more of by this point.

Whatever.

This episode's King's Landing episodes were honestly so much fun to watch and were beautiful despite their clear narrative problems. I know I sound overly critical and nitpicky about it, but King's Landing was a lot of fun this episode and honestly was actually enjoyable for once.

Plot 2: The Twins (and Frey Pies?)

So before Jaime gets back to King's Landing to see the literal fallout from the wildfire incident, he has to sit through what looks like an intolerable feast at the Twins in the company of House Frey. I don't think there's a character in-universe besides the Freys themselves who actually likes House Frey. They're just awful.

Already this episode is making a big deal out of some random wine pourer who can only be Arya Stark because we've never seen this character otherwise so why does she matter?

"The Freys and Lannisters send their regards" lmao said no one ever.

Anyways Jaime gets Bronn laid because they're bros. Bronn is the worst and he serves no narrative purpose other than to like make sex jokes.

Then Walder Frey decides that he wants to talk to Jaime and he reveals that poor Edmure is once again locked up because "you can't go killing your son in-law."

lmfao

Like honestly, so many people have murdered their kin this season and been rewarded for that, it's frankly super insulting and it feels like the writers are like "lmao we totally did that screw the rules."

Also House Frey broke the guest rite and murdered guests in their home. But whatever I guess, Walder gets what's coming later.

So in the next scene, Walder is alone and in comes the ~mysterious wine pourer~ to serve him pies.

Lord Frey wonders where his sons are and the wine pourer is like "my lord, they're here" and he's like "well bring them in" and she's like "no, they're here *gestures to pies*" so I guess Frey Pies have been confirmed, I guess? Then the ~mysterious wine pourer~ rips off the face she got somewhere and proceeds to murder Lord Frey as Arya Stark is wont to do, I guess.

I'm tempted to say that this little incident confirms a fun fan theory called Frey Pies. Basically when Ramsay is set to marry "Arya Stark" (actually Jeyne Poole) he requests the Northern Lords all attend. Lord Manderly comes up from White Harbor with his three Frey guests. On the day they head up from White Harbor, he presents the three Freys with a departure gift. This symbolically signifies the end of a guests stay, meaning that what happens next isn't breaking the guest rite. Somehow, on the journey the three Freys disappear. And Lord Manderly is basically like "*shrug emoji* I gave them departure gifts, so it's not my fault they got lost -- they weren't my guests"

Here's the kicker though. To Ramsay's wedding, Wyman Manderly brings three meat pies that he serves and consumes with great gusto. He makes such a show about serving these pies, that most people theorize that somewhere along the journey he killed the three Frey boys and is now serving them as pies at Ramsay's Wedding. The theory is therefore called Frey Pies.

Where did Arya get the other face? Generally the faces are supplies to the Faceless Men, but since Arya is clearly not a member of the Faceless Men, I don't know exactly where she got it unless she stole it from the House of Black and White when she left. Also when did she become a good assassin? Like she accomplished nothing in her arc over the past two seasons. Whatever though. Screw House Frey, they got what they deserved.

Plot 3: Sam and Gilly at Oldtown

Sam has been criminally underused this season. This is like the third episode he's appeared in. All he's done is 1) been on a ship 2.) been to his house and stole his dad's sword and 3.) gone to the Citadel. I wish there was some sort of arc there, but for some reason stealing Heartsbane from his father has done nothing. Sam can't use his sword anyways. It's just sort of a thing he has to carry, like that baby who is like at least three years old and for some reason is unable to talk and walk. What it time? Time isn't real.

Anyways, we get to Oldtown which is really pretty (did you see that Hightower??? amazing). Also Sam and Gilly get there just in time to see a bunch of White Ravens leaving the Citadel (which is not the Hightower, by the way).

So Winter has finally come, I guess. The white ravens signify the changes of season. The last one we saw was at the beginning of Season 2 announcing the end of Summer.

So then Sam is meeting with who I imagine is basically just the Archmaesters' secretary. And somehow they don't know that Jon Snow is Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (or was the Commander? He's not the Commander anymore...) and they also don't know that Maester Aemon is dead. Something tells me they should probably know these things, Jon Snow's status, at least, is pretty commonly known all over Westeros there's no way the Citadel is the last to find out especially when they have a set of eyes and ears within every castle in the kingdom. They are probably one of the best informed institutions in Westeros. There's no way they're not informed. Bullshit.

Anyways, Gilly just kinda stands there. And the Secretary is about to lead Sam into the Library to wait for the Archmaester and then he kinda freaks out because omg we can't have women and children in institutions of higher learning because we just can't have that.

I mean I don't have an issue with some properly represented (and temporally correct) patriarchy, but I have an issue that it just sort of appears and disappears at a whim. Women are oppressed in this world. That's built into the world. They're not simultaneously oppressed and not oppressed just to fit some sort of narrative. People are not unoppressed just for your convenience because you don't know how to write.

The problem is that when you write a patriarchal system and then you magically handwave it away at certain moments, it makes the moments that you decline to handwave it away look really awful. For example, if the patriarchy doesn't exist until it negatively impacts Cersei, or if it doesn't exist at Horn Hill, or in Dorne, it makes the fact that Littlefinger literally sold Sansa Stark to the Boltons really fucking gross. If the patriarchy doesn't exist then nothing that happened to Sansa these past two seasons makes sense. If it does exist then somehow women are acting super anachronistically and are extremely empowered in a system where they don't have power.

Alright so Sam gets into the library and the library is very well done. It looks incredible. The lighting, the design, everything is wonderful. My one thought is that it reminded me of a repurposed Great Sept of Baelor which literally just exploded earlier this episode.

Now, I don't know if that set has actually just been repurposed, but the fact that I'm able to question it means something is wrong. The issue is, of course, that there's been some laziness in set design. The castles and stuff are made using some really obvious CGI, but the streets of Meereen, King's Landing, and Braavos are all filmed on the same soundstage which is why the streets between these three very distinct cities look exactly the same.

Poor Sam, he has no real arc his season. Better luck next year!

Plot 4: Winterfell

Honestly this is the part of the episode that I think I hated the most. Part of me will always resent what happened in last season's "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" but also the plot is so narratively weak at this point and no amount of flashy battles can fix that.

The problem really stems to the fact that this plot cannot support both Jon Snow and Sansa Stark and Benioff and Weiss always favor Jon Snow. Furthermore, Sansa's presence continues to create some logical problems that the show tries to get through by just shouting "KING IN THE NORTH" at you for like two minutes straight.

So it appears that Jon Snow has already assumed command of Winterfell and is touring Melisandre through the Great Hall and explaining what it was like when he grew up. Davos enters and what follows is perhaps the best acted, and most overdue scene of the season.

Davos is understandably upset about discovering that Melisandre burned Shireen, an act that Mel freely admits to doing because of desperate times. She did it to save the army.

I mean she failed, and she was wrong and Davos is rightfully angry.

He wants Melisandre executed and actually convinces Jon Snow to send Melisandre away (to the south).

I mean Carice van Houten (Melisandre) is wonderful in this scene. The lady can act and she's wonderful as Melisandre. Liam Cunningham is also wonderful as Davos. The problem with this scene is that it is about ten episodes too late.

Davos all of a sudden cares about Shireen again. If you recall, I've been pushing for some Davos reaction all season, but by this point it's so overdue that I can't bring myself to really care anymore. Jon knows that Melisandre burns people, so does Davos. Davos allowed Stannis and Selyse to take Shireen to Winterfell with them despite the fact that she was much safer on the Wall. Honestly Selyse shouldn't have gone either.

Then the army, about ten feet from Winterfell, got buried in maybe 10 inches of snow and then Stannis and Selyse allowed their daughter to be burned to the Red God to solve the weather problem.

I mean it worked, it just created more problems (like a morale crisis).

This scene is just incredibly acted. Both actors really delivered this scene. But it's just late. Shireen was burned eleven episodes ago (5x09), it's too late for Davos to be mad about it. How long has it been in-Universe? I'm not sure. But nonetheless it's still too long. This scene needed to be in the first episode of this season, and then the second season can be Davos going back to Mel to convince her to try and raise Jon from the dead.

It's just such a clear pacing issue. They knew they needed this scene, but they didn't have the time to write it in while Jon was anywhere else. This is, of course, despite the fact that we didn't see Melisandre for a great swath of episodes in the middle of the season while she was suspiciously absent.

Also it's not like the news that Melisandre burns people is new, she's literally been doing it since we first saw her on Dragonstone. Melisandre burns people to offer them to the Red God. Jon's known about the burnings since he's met her, it's a little late to be like "you crossed a line burning the child you burned like last year and now I'm upset about it."

Also where is Melisandre even going? The only hint was south. I assume she's meeting up with the Brotherhood without Banners again.

Speaking of the BWB, bringing back Sandor this season really had a dramatic impact on the finale, he literally didn't appear in the episode.

Then we have a conversation atop the wall of Winterfell between Sansa and Jon, a conversation which continues the problematic trend of denying Sansa things that are rightfully hers.

Jon's telling Sansa that she's the real Stark and she just sort of modestly agrees, but at the same time doesn't take control over Winterfell. Sansa Stark has a better claim to Winterfell than Jon Snow does. She is a legitimate heir of Ned Stark. In the absence of Bran (who she knows is alive) and the death of Rickon, Sansa Stark is the next heir in the line of succession. Pretending she isn't, or doesn't want it, is super problematic.

But, of course, the problem is that Benioff and Weiss can only build up one character during a plot at a time. Jon's sort of ascension to true action hero means that he's the plot focus, and she's the plot accessory.

Then they proceed to have a conversation that is functionally identical to numerous conversations between Cersei and Jaime. Jon tells Sansa that they need to trust each other. Which is obviously just setting up some untrustworthy stuff that Sansa will probably do because this is Jon's story and Sansa (according to Benioff and Weiss) is a boring character.

We're then treated to a scene between Littlefinger and Sansa where he almost kisses her and I almost vomited all over the world. Lord Baelish also revealed that his goal is to eventually be seated on the Iron Throne and have Sansa rule beside him.

He also reminded Sansa that she has a better claim on Winterfell, which is just further seeding the Sansa/Jon mistrust next season. The sad thing is that he's right. Sansa 100% has the better claim, and the fact that everyone is conveniently ignoring it is driving me insane.

So then there's a feast and for some reason Jon is the one leading the feast because apparently he's the one who is going to lead Winterfell and House Stark WHEN THEY HAVE A LEGITIMATE HEIR LITERALLY SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM.

I'm never gonna get over it. #TeamSansaStark #NiceThings4Sansa

Jon is like "we gotta keep the army together" and all the Lords are like "how about no?" and then Little Lyanna Mormont gets up and reads all of them to filth.

Someone get that girl an Emmy.

And she's like, "as I said before 'House Mormont knows no King except the King in the North whose name is Stark'" and for a brief, brief moment I was filled with joy because I thought that the current (female) head of House Mormont would support the actual Stark in this situation (Sansa, a female) but then Lyanna went "well I guess Snow is fine too *shrug*" and then got all of the Northern Lords to swear fealty to Jon Snow.

I would like to point out that Sansa Stark literally saved everyone's ass when she recruited the Vale Knights. Jon Snow was going to get everyone killed with that dumbass charge. Legitimately Jon Snow couldn't lead the Night's Watch successfully, so idk how he's gonna be a good King.

During that scene there was some very dark and foreboding eye contact between Sansa and Littlefinger. Honestly can we just send that man away? #TeamGetLittlefingerAsFarAwayFromSansaAsPossible #SansaStarkDefenceSquad

Plot 5: Dorne (ugh)

So after shitting all over the Dornish plot line in Season 5 and then receiving backlash about how awful it was, and then fixing that by literally murdering everyone in the beginning of this season (and then thankfully ignoring it), it seems fate has taken us to Dorne once again.

This takes an ambiguous amount of time after Cersei's bombing of the Sept which allegedly killed Mace Tyrell, Margaery Tyrell, and Loras Tyrell.

So apparently Olenna Tyrell was invited down to Dorne (even though the houses are confirmed to hate each other due to an incident eluded to in the show) and she goes because what makes a trainwreck of a plot better than just a sassy old lady?

Basically House Tyrell is dead and Olenna knows the House can't survive (because they have no heirs and she's the only one left) but she does want vengeance. Ellaria Sand can offer her some revenge.

It's revealed that Varys went to Dorne to forge some sort of alliance between the Tyrells, the Martells, and the Targaryens.

None of the terms are stated, but I guess it means that we're getting more Dorne next season, which is possibly the worst thing I've heard all day.

But yeah, that's all that happens in Dorne.

Plot 6: Daenerys

So Dany starts out trying to gently break up with Daario. Apparently the ships are done so Dany is finally going to leave Meereen. Instead of taking Daario and the Second Sons with her, she wants them to stay and keep Meereen stable until it forms its own government.

Lmao, Meereen is in no position to do that. But whatever.

Daario understandably wants to go to Westeros, but Dany tells him that she can't bring him to court because it doesn't work that way. At this point in the conversation it becomes painfully obvious that Dany is just Tyrion's mouthpiece, and due to his experiences with Shae, he doesn't think Dany should bring her paramour to court.

I just want to point out that the head of a mercenary company and a prostitute are totally different things, but w/e.

But like Dany is like "you promised that you were mine to command and I am commanding you to do this" and Daario looks like he wants to say "yeah but that was when we were sleeping together" but he doesn't. He agrees to help rule Meereen.

Now here's a problem. Daario in the books is not white, but Daario in the show is hella white. Daenerys is just putting another white person in power over a bunch of people of color. There are many, more qualified options for this position. Someone like Missandei who has literally advised Daenerys for years, and who was a former slave herself, is a much better choice than white bro Daario.

People claim this show doesn't have a White Savior complex, but this plot line is such a mess and frankly is ridiculously white savior.

Anyway the scene ends and Dany proceeds outside the room and (shock & awe) it was Tyrion's idea. Dany reveals that she didn't feel bad making Daario stay which is not surprising. The book makes it clear that she's not in love with Daario, she's just sexually attracted to him.

But then Daenerys takes out of her boobs, a pin she had made for Tyrion. It's a replica of the Hand of the King pin worn by Westerosi hands. She names Tyrion Hand of the Queen because she's so impressed with the way he ruined Meereen while she was gone. I mean she came back and Tyrion was basically at war.

But I guess none of it is his fault, right? How could the saintly Tyrion Lannister make mistakes?

The final scene of this plot is the final scene of the season, an overview of the Targaryen fleet sailing for Westeros.

Somehow Varys is aboard despite the fact that he was literally in Dorne previously in this episode. I mean there was no reason for Varys to be on that ship, but for some reason he is. I need a good reason though, because it just looks like lack or foresight or lazy plot development. Maybe they filmed it first before they realized they needed to send Varys to Dorne to make Dorne somehow important.

Plot 7: Bran (and the ?+L=J Theory reveal)

So Benjen drops Meera and Bran in the Weirwood Grove just north of the Wall explaining that the dead cannot cross the Wall (I wonder what'll happen when it falls????).

Then Bran is like "I must become the Three-Eyed Crow" so he puts his hand on the Weirwood and is immediately teleported to the conclusion of the Tower of Joy scene.

I'm gonna be frank here, this is another scene that should have happened ages ago and it's just that they wanted the reveal to wait. They strongly seeded the Tower of Joy and R+L=J in the beginning of the season until we saw the tower itself. Then...nothing.

It's so clear that they wanted to make it a reveal during the last episode, and that desire sort of trumped everything, even doing it well.

It's so clear what's happened. Lyanna gave birth to a baby and asks Ned to protect it. Well Ned and Lyanna talk vaguely about something and then the baby is revealed and then the baby's face immediately cuts to a long pause on Jon Snow's face just so people who are too dumb to put it together can figure out that Jon Snow is not Ned Stark's bastard, but rather that he's the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen.

Or I believe it's Rhaegar Targaryen, they don't actually say is name in the episode so it's understandable that people miss the fact that Jon's father is actually Rhaegar (aka Dany's brother). But they were pretty heavy about the fact that the baby is Jon. Like it was a dramatic cut to a close up of Jon's face.

It's not that there was anything wrong, but it's just so laughable to me that the scene immediately following this reveal was the scene at the feast in the North where everyone was like "this is Ned Stark's bastard he can rule instead of the legitimate Stark heir no worries!"

Besides the fact that it's just too late after the initial Tower of Joy scene to really made sense within the narrative (especially since there was no further seeding after the first ToJ scene), I have no real complaints. It's fine. I'm glad they finally revealed it, it was clearly too late, but at least it didn't feel cheap.

And that was the season finale of "Game of Thrones." I'll probably do a recap where I can better talk about the pacing issues on the season.

Besides that though, this episode was the best of the season in my opinion. There are narrative decisions that I don't like, but when aren't there? At least this episode didn't feel like it dragged on for ages. There felt like a clear plot and it was at least able to stand on its own. Each arc had development, which I think is very important especially given the middle episodes of this season where development was so languid that it took episodes for anything to happen.

But no, tonight was fun! It was actually fun television for once! Improvement!