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Well, that episode was boring as fuck… amarite? :P
Obviously, I’m kidding because holy shit! I’ve never been so tense for 82 minutes in my entire life! Coupling that with Endgame happening the night before, this past weekend was like a Nerd Triathlon that I barely survived.
There is so much to unpack and it’s all a blur in my head, so this review is likely to be jumbled, out of order and rambly, but it’s the best I can do.
First and foremost – We didn’t lose as many people as we thought we would. I know it’s a joke on the internet right now that GoT fans are pissed that people didn’t die, but there’s still another battle to be had. Never fear, we have plenty of characters still to lose. We did say goodbye to Edd, Lyanna Mormont, Theon, Jorah, Beric and Melisandre. That was more than enough for me because Jorah and Beric gutted me completely to witness.
Theon, my god, what a character arc this man had. From disliking, to loathing, to hating, to pitying, to rooting for, to sobbing hysterically over his death. He took us on an emotional journey for the past 8 seasons that is unparalleled. Thank you, Alfie Allen, for portraying him in a way no one else would have been able to.
Jorah’s death was the most emotional for me. Dying protecting the woman he loved more than anything and Drogon coming down to mourn his death, wrapped around Dany. ALLLLL THE TEARS.
Lyanna – What a badass. Here she stands, motherfucker. I loved it.
Edd – Sam is a liability at this point. I know he wanted to be a man and fight, but… come on. Take a dragon glass dagger and go to the crypts. You would have served better there. RIP Edd.
The next two deaths had a bit more meaning in the overall lore.
Let’s start with Melisandre. From the beginning, she’s always preached about serving a bigger purpose. Stopping the Night King and ending the Long Night. She did that with this episode. She was nearly the MVP runner up. (And not just for providing great lighting when we needed it.) She gave the pep talk of the century to Arya in just one simple question. “And what do we say to the god of death?” ….. NOT TODAY. NOT FUCKING TODAY!
I’ll cover Beric’s death in a moment because I want to talk about Arya Stark.
Holy fucking shit balls. Did ANYONE expect that? If you say you expected that, you’re a damn liar. She is the last person I expected to land the killing blow to the Night King, but upon second viewing… the clues were all right there, under our noses, the entire time.
Everyone served a purpose to bring Arya to that moment.
Syrio Forel – Teaching Arya to sword fight and giving her the invaluable “Not Today” speech.
Ned – Died, sending Arya off on a journey to train. A journey she’d NEVER HAVE unless Ned was beheaded.
The Hound – Keeping her safe all the way until she left him for dead and left for Bravos.
Jaqen H-ghar – For teaching her the ways of being a faceless man. Teaching her to be No One.
Jon Snow – Brought back to life in order to unite the North and bring Dany along to ensure they stood a chance. Had Jon Snow not won the Battle of the Bastards, Arya would have never returned to Winterfell at all, thus she would have never been there to kill the Night King.
Bran – Gave Arya the dagger she used.
Hell, even in season 3 – Melisandre tells Arya there is a darkness in her and she’ll shut green eyes, brown eyes, and BLUE eyes forever. COME ONNNNN.
Beric was brought back to life time and time again because HIS purpose was to stand in that doorway and keep Arya alive.
It was ARYA’S journey all along. She showed in Episode 1 when she snuck up on Jon at the Godswood that she is ninja silent. She showed that again in the library early in episode 3.
We were just looking the other way while Arya was being primed for this moment….. and it was absolutely AMAZING.
And side note – Brienne and Jamie fight together… on the wall… using the two swords forged from Ned Stark’s Ice. Ice was protecting Winterfell again. Don’t even get me started on how beautiful that is.
Onto the next!
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