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We’re goin’ to Westeros! HBO
Game of Thrones’ season six finale, "The Winds of Winter," is a surprisingly muted episode of television for one that seemingly kills off half the show’s cast.
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Wildfire explodes, Cersei takes the Iron Throne, Jon Snow’s parentage is confirmed, & Dany heads for Westeros (finally), but the whole hour feels rather lượt thích an introduction to lớn the real action. Indeed, everything after the destruction of the sept of Baelor feels rather lượt thích the show immediately launched into the season seven premiere.
This isn’t a bad thing. Game of Thrones is all momentum now, and any time it stops to lớn reflect is time to realize that much of its plot doesn’t make sense anymore, và its characters are defined almost solely by what other characters tell us about them. (Notice how hard the show works khổng lồ convince us that Dany và Daario were in love, when they’ve barely shared scenes together in ages.) So simply plowing ahead with the story might have been the best call.
But the resulting episode was, lượt thích the season preceding it, heavy on incident & light on meaning. Yes, the hour was pretty remarkable at times. But Game of Thrones still used to be a show wrapped in rich themes, & now it’s pretty much one where characters shuffle from place lớn place, while the series tries to lớn figure out where they’ll be when the endgame begins.
If that sounds rather critical, I still had a lot of fun watching this episode, enough fun khổng lồ name more winners và losers than usual. As such, here are eight winners & seven losers from "The Winds of Winter."
Winner 1: Cersei Lannister
Cersei will have her revenge. HBO By almost any measure, Cersei rules this episode. She perfectly executes her plan to smite all of her enemies, particularly the High Sparrow và Margaery. (Only Olenna isn’t present when Cersei reduces the sept to rubble.)
She essentially decimates both House Tyrell & the Faith. Và she even ascends khổng lồ the Iron Throne, though under tragic circumstances (more on that in a bit). If Lena Headey is considering Emmy tapes, well, she should stop. This episode is all she needs.
If there’s one reason khổng lồ hesitate when it comes lớn proclaiming Cersei a winner, though, it’s how trò chơi of Thrones has effectively placed her in the role of the horrible villain who must be defeated, just in time to take over for Ramsay.
She’s certainly a better character than Ramsay, và a more interesting one, but it seems like the show is building lớn some sort of meeting between Dany và Jon, và she’ll probably just be the way of that.
Still, it’s not hard to lớn be a little swept away by how Cersei was reduced khổng lồ nothing, then got her revenge in seemingly record time. If she had lớn endure some losses along the way, so be it. But she’s got the full weight of the Seven Kingdoms behind her now, and she’s seemingly made everybody comfortable with the idea of a queen on that throne, an idea Dany may later thank her for.
Winner 2: Jon Snow
He does, however, get to lớn work with Davos, và that seems fun. HBO The episode ends with a very clear set of parallels among Jon, Cersei, and Daenerys. Trò chơi of Thrones has carefully built up all three characters’ leadership styles, và now, we’re going lớn see which of them holds the greatest sway over the people.
In terms of advantages, Jon has the least of any of the three. Cersei has the full weight of an entire kingdom, while Daenerys has a bunch of ships, a large army, & three dragons.
Jon has the fierce loyalty of a few people. But, hey, they really, really lượt thích him, & on Game of Thrones, that’s often enough.
What’s interesting is how the show seems really invested in convincing us Jon is the King in the North, when its other two major rulers are women, và Sansa has as legitimate a claim khổng lồ the kingdom as anybody. (None of them know Jon’s true parentage, after all.)
To some degree, this is because Sansa doesn’t think she should rule just yet. However, it feels lượt thích the tight bond between Sansa & Jon might fray around this central question. We’ll see.
Winner 3: Daenerys Targaryen & her ragtag band of misfits
Did Daenerys & everybody stop off in Dorne lớn pick up Varys? Does this mean that the Sand Snakes & Olenna are #TeamDany now? bởi we know why the four characters in that final shot of Dany, Tyrion, Missendei, and Varys were chosen?
It doesn’t matter. It’s just nice lớn see Dany on her way over to lớn Westeros after six seasons of bluster.
I couldn’t tell you what this season’s Dany story was supposed to accomplish for her, beyond her acquiring an entire Dothraki horde as her army (and striking an alliance with the Greyjoys), but I’m glad we’re getting this show on the road.
Plus: That shot of the dragons swooping & dancing among the ships was trò chơi of Thrones at its epic best. It"s hard not lớn be at least a little excited.
My theory is that the newly banished Melisandre will bump into Jorah next season, cure his greyscale, & allow herself to hear the good news of #TeamDany. It’s what the Lord of Light wants.
Winner 4: Samwell Tarly, maester in training
The shot of Sam staring longingly at the gigantic library at Hightower went on so long that a friend messaged me khổng lồ ask if he was about to be stabbed. But, no, it was just a really long shot of Sam smiling while he looked at a gigantic library.
That said, I don’t blame him. That library looks like a pretty great place, và I presume that we’re leaving off with him in the same way we left off with Bran a couple of seasons ago. The next time we see him, he’ll probably be incredibly knowledgeable in all sorts of mystical arts. At the very least, he did a fine job of bullshitting his way into the place when the maesters’ reception desk hadn’t even heard about Jeor’s death.
Meanwhile, he’s going to have to lớn find somewhere for Gilly & young Sam lớn hang out. No women & children in the library! (Maybe Queen Cersei will have something lớn say about that.)
Winner 5: Arya, more or less
Walder Frey was an intriguing loose end on a show that has a habit of lopping off loose ends as a matter of course. It was clear he would die at some point; the question was simply who would deliver the killing blow. When Jaime more or less wrote off the old coot by insulting him and walking away, it left an opening for the Stark you’d most expect to kill Walder: Arya.
In the post-episode discussion from game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the two tried lớn portray this as a sign of just how far gone Arya is, how troubling it is that she’s the kind of stone-cold murderer who would feed a man pies containing the toàn thân parts of his own sons. (Maybe she saw Sweeney Todd recently.) But I find it hard lớn get too worked up over Arya killing Freys. Maybe if she stalks and kills Jaime we can talk.
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Anyway, it seems like Arya is taking over a lot of the story that would have gone khổng lồ the sadly-not-adapted Lady Stoneheart. That means the sorts of wild fan theories that greeted the books-only character are now attaching themselves khổng lồ Arya, so I guess we have that to lớn look forward to.
Winner 6: Whomever came up with R + L = J
Bran’s impressed too. HBO Long, long ago, some brave mạng internet theorist came up with the idea that Jon Snow’s parents must have been Rhaegar Targaryen & Lyanna Stark, and that Ned had raised Jon as his own bastard, because he knew Robert would kill the boy if he heard tell of the kid’s royal blood. Others have embellished upon this basic framework over the years, but it’s long been perhaps the most popular fan hâm mộ theory about the books.
And it’s true! Just lượt thích everybody guessed, Jon is the child of Rhaegar & Lyanna. Good work lớn you, internet commenter. You figured it out!
For now, only Bran knows this truth (or maybe he’ll tell Meera), but it seems like he’s not too far from Winterfell. He can let Jon in on all of these secrets the next time the two see each other, which will probably be in the season seven finale, given how time works on this show.
Winner 7: Director Miguel Sapochnik
Lookit all the pretty ponies. HBO Sapochnik has a strong claim lớn winning an Emmy for "Battle of the Bastards," but his work on "The Winds of Winter" is just as impressive, thanks to lớn his use of muted colors, wide shots, and a deliberate pace that only enhances the tension in moments lượt thích the one where everybody is waiting for Cersei to blow up the city. His choice khổng lồ hold on the window as Tommen strode out of frame, then right back in khổng lồ pitch himself out of it, was masterful.
This episode is full of dark moments that the characters can’t take back, and Sapochnik matches that with gorgeous shadows và a distant camera that suggests some of these characters are unknowable lớn us now. (Check out how he gradually pulls us back from Cersei throughout the episode. Even her close-ups aren’t as close.)
Also, he keeps framing Jon và Sansa in a way that seems meant to lớn directly nod toward Ned & Catelyn Stark, and I don’t know what to vì chưng with that information.
Winner 8: Lady Lyanna Mormont
hero child. HBO Lady Lyanna is by far the best character trò chơi of Thrones introduced this season, & I hope she lives forever.
Loser 1: Cersei Lannister
Sure, Cersei got everything she always wanted, but at a terrible cost. She’s now lost all of her children (after Tommen took the dive out the window), & even Jaime seems a little terrified of her at this point.
All of that might be okay if she had somehow held onto whatever little bits of soul she had left, but she also sicced a zombie rapist on Septa Unella, the nun who guided her long walk of shame last season. On a show that has done an admirable job of pulling back on its sexual violence this season after everybody complained about it last season, that moment was... A little much (to put it mildly).
In short, Cersei might be a short-term winner, but she’s still losing the game in the long run. She doesn’t have many valuable allies left, while Dany & Jon are accumulating them left and right. Next season should be very interesting for her.
Loser 2: All of House Tyrell
In happier times. HBO I’ll be honest. Margaery Tyrell’s death might be one of the most shocking deaths on the show in several seasons.
It’s not that the plot needed her around. She was mostly just a foil for Cersei. But it seemed lượt thích she was protected by all of the relationships she had with various characters & the way she seemed integral khổng lồ a variety of plots.
I guess not. House Tyrell is pretty much done for at this point. Yes, there are remnants of it back in Highgarden, & Olenna is out there to plot her revenge (which will hopefully prove effective), but the Tyrells as we know & love them are effectively over, burned away in a haze of green wildfire.
Loser 3: House Frey
Unsurprising death. HBO This, however, was not surprising at all. If you had told me after the Red Wedding that Arya would kill và bake two Frey boys into a pie, then stab Walder after revealing what she had done, I would have said, "Sure! Sounds about right!" That didn’t make it any less satisfying.
Loser 4: Sansa và Littlefinger
The North is Sansa’s lớn claim. All she has to vị is tell Jon that she wants to. But she stands aside, in rather atypical Sansa fashion, then actually apologizes khổng lồ him for not telling him that Littlefinger might be coming. We can debate the ethics of Sansa telling or not telling Jon about that development, but it’s absolutely the sort of thing you don’t apologize for after the fact. You just act like it was always meant khổng lồ happen.
Even worse off is Littlefinger, who insists that he will sit upon the Iron Throne, with Sansa as his queen, only to lớn be quietly rebuffed. Và yet as Jon is acclaimed the King in the North, Sansa shares a meaningful glance with ol’ Petyr Baelish, one that makes me think we haven’t seen the last of this plot.
In general, Littlefinger strikes me as a character who will die next season. He just wants the Iron Throne too much to ever have it. I finally understand why people felt irritated by Anne Hathaway’s Oscar chiến dịch a few years ago.
Loser 5: Daario
The vast majority of scenes in "The Winds of Winter" consisted of certain storylines being closed off, & me saying to myself, "Well, I guess that story is over." Such was the case with Daario, whom the show worked hard to lớn convince us was Dany’s true love, even though it never seemed at all interested in this.
Daario wanders off and out of the plot. I’m sure trò chơi of Thrones will eventually find some way to wrap him back in for the final battle, but I think I agree with Tyrion when he says that leaving Daario behind is not, ultimately, a great loss in Dany"s pursuit of being queen.
Now we get lớn figure out whom Dany will find the most advantageous husband. Even money’s on Jon, but you never know.
Loser 6: The Seven Kingdoms’ postal service
Now that everybody seemingly travels everywhere via a teleportation service, you’d think important documents would no longer be sent by ravens, which can be shot down or even just get lost. But no! Everybody in the Seven Kingdoms is poorly informed because their mail is delivered by birds. Actual birds.