Holy boat sex Batman! What a season! HBO’s Game of Thrones seems to be racing towards its conclusion even if we have to wait possibly over a year to witness it, and its final episode, The Dragon and the Wolf, did not disappoint.
Premiering Sunday August 27th, there was an extremely satisfying death, sexy time that made people feel some kind of way, an ice dragon that caused some serious destruction, a revelation that no one was surprised to hear, and even though there were many great reunions, the general sentiment of “we’re f—ked” seems to be more true than ever. At its longest running time, the 80-minute episode seemed more reminiscent of season’s past, taking its time to breathe before hitting fans with an impact that promises a bloodbath of a final season.
Greyworm! The Unsullied are in formation and ready as the Dothraki come charging. All are there in case something goes wrong as the Dragonpit summit between practically every character is about to take place. Cersei seems annoyed as usual and orders the Mountain to kill Daenerys, Tyrion, and Jon Snow in that order if anything goes wrong. Brienne and Podrick arrived earlier and are united with the other visitors as they make their way to meet with Cersei. Podrick sees Tyrion again and it is a sweet reunion, but Brienne and the Hound have one of the best moments as they discuss Arya like proud parents. Even Bronn and Tyrion have a dash of sentimentality before things get serious.
Cersei walks in with her crew and the Hound immediately takes the opportunity to confront his brother. He tells the Mountain, “You know who’s coming for you brother, you’ve always known.” It is a Cleganebowl confirmation, but fans will have to wait until next season to see these two face off. Daenerys is yet to make her entrance, a queen must arrive in style, after all. Again, Cersei is annoyed, but Dany flies in on Drogon with Rheagal close behind, leaving many in attendance in wonder, except Cersei who does not look impressed.
Tyrion tries to get things started but is rudely interrupted by Euron. This guy really needs to go. Thankfully, he is not there too much longer after he threatens to kill Yara if Theon does not submit to him. Seriously, dude? Even Cersei seems over his antics and commands him to take a seat so the grown ups can talk. Jon takes over to give his speech about the fight between the living and the dead, looking very overdressed while doing so. Really though, is he not hot in all that fur? Cersei does not seem to want to play along, but when the Hound brings a crate holding the captured wight and opens it, after a long somewhat comical pause, the wight jumps out and runs toward Cersei.
Cersei looks pretty terrified, but the wight is chained and is pulled back by the Hound who also cuts the wight in half. Qyburn simply seems turned on by the severed zombie hand, but once Cersei sees that only fire or dragonglass can really end the wight’s life, as demonstrated by Jon, she appears to be a bit more open to discussion. Euron decides to hit the road when he finds out the wights cannot swim and though it seems like a cowardly move, we later learn the true reason behind his sudden departure.
Cersei accepts the truce and everyone looks super relieved until she reveals her cooperation is contingent upon Jon staying neutral in her war against Daenerys. Unfortunately, Jon learned how to be too honest from dear old Ned Stark and admits that he is already pledged his loyalty to Dany. He expresses this in the most honorable way possible, but Cersei is not going to accept the armistice if the plan is to kill her once the dead are taken care of. Cersei makes her exit and Brienne tries to convince Jaime to knock some sense into Cersei. Jaime is all, we are on different sides since we are loyal to different people, and Brienne is all, “f—k loyalty!” Yes, girl. She knows what is at stake, but Jaime is not budging just yet.
Poor Jon. Everyone wishes he would have lied to get Cersei on board, but that is just not Jon’s way. He tells Tyrion, “When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything, and there are no more answers – only better and better lies and lies won’t help us in this fight.” Swoon! Could Jon be more lovable? The answer is yes as seen later in the episode. The next move is a talk between Tyrion and Cersei. It is possibly a death trap, but Tyrion feels it is their only option. What comes next is truly a fantastic scene between Tyrion and Cersei, the tension as high as ever between brother and sister.
Cersei accuses Tyrion of only wanting to destroy the Lannister family. She admits Tyrion was not responsible for Joffrey’s death but she directs her wrath on him, painting a picture of how he played a role in the demise of her other children when he killed their father and weakened their family. Cersei has a valid point and Tyrion does not deny it. He is sorry for the loss of Myrcella and Tommen, but proves that though Cersei blames him for all of her losses, she still cannot kill him because he is family. The conversation has emotions running rampant and Tyrion goes for the wine. He pours Cersei a glass too but she does not drink it and when he sees her clutching her stomach he realizes she is pregnant.
Speaking of pregnancy, Dany and Jon have a chat at the Dragonpit and she reveals the reason she believes she cannot have children is because a witch told her so. Jon thinks that is all hogwash and that probably means Dany’s getting knocked up y’all. Cersei returns and tells everyone she will send the Lannister army to help win the war against the dead. This, of course, is too good to be true. Cersei is simply playing everyone. She has no intention of helping Dany and Jon. She deduces that Dany only had two dragons, which means something must have happened to the third.
If dragons can not defeat the dead, there is no reason to sacrifice her men. She reveals to Jaime that Euron went to Essos to gather men from the Golden Company and they will just kill whoever is left. This is where Jaime’s moral compass finally reaches its breaking point. He cannot go along with this and decides to ride north. Cersei sees this as an act of treason and threatens to kill him, but she lets him go. Finally!
Now that Jaime has come to his senses and is making his way north – as winter begins to hit the south with snow – another family also gets things straightened out. At Winterfell, Littlefinger is still trying to manipulate Sansa to turn against her sister. The show almost fools everyone when Sansa holds a trial and calls Arya in, but she soon uncovers the real person on trial is Littlefinger. With Bran at her side, Sansa begins to state all of Littlefinger’s crimes of murder and treason, which were most likely revealed to her by Bran.
It is an extremely gratifying moment as we see the Starks come together, united against their enemy. Littlefinger begs for his life, declaring his love for Sansa, but she points out that he has done nothing but betray those he claims to love. Before he can get another word out, Arya slits his throat. So long, Baelish! Later we see Sansa and Arya bond and Arya reveals she could have never survived the things Sansa endured. But, Sansa tells Arya she is the strongest person she knows and the two realize that sticking together is the only way they survive.
Jon is making his way back to Winterfell and convinces Dany that she should travel with him so that they stand united in front of the Northerners. She agrees to sail together, but before these two essentially rock the boat, Theon speaks to Jon. The two have a bit of a heart to heart. Jon tells Theon that he forgives him for what he can and that Theon does not need to have an internal battle over his identity. He is both a Stark and a Greyjoy.
Theon admits he needs to save Yara since she came for him when he was Ramsay’s prisoner. Jon’s response is perfect as he says, “So why are you still talking to me.” Theon must then convince the rest of the Iron born men to help him rescue Yara. After it looks like he is about to be pummeled in a fight, he is able to gain the upper hand thanks to his castrated state. Theon can now lead the men on a mission to save his sister.
Family, either becoming united or torn apart, is a big part of the final episode of the season, and even though they do not yet know it, two other related characters come together in a way only Game of Thrones would portray. Yes, Thronies, your eyes did not deceive you and if you are battling with how you are feeling about the moment that was inevitable, it is not your fault. As Jon and Dany begin their journey north, Sam makes his way to Winterfell and goes to speak to Bran. Bran tells Sam he is the Three-Eyed Raven and Sam has no idea what Bran is talking about.
When Bran says he can see events of the past and what is happening now, Sam reveals that he has come to help Jon. Bran begins to talk to Sam about what he needs to tell Jon about his real parentage, but when Bran says that Jon is a Targaryen bastard, Sam tells Bran about Rheagar’s annulment and subsequent marriage to Lyanna Stark. He was paying attention! He asks Bran if he can see what happened in the past and we get to see the wedding between Rheagar and Lyanna.
As Bran talks about the love between Jon’s parents, we see Jon enter Dany’s chambers on the boat and there is no question what they are about to do. Tyrion creepily watches with a concerned look and one can only hope his concern is just about Dany growing attached to someone she may lose. But, there’s no stopping it now. Jon and Dany get sexual and we see a whole lotta Jon (no complaints).
In fact, some could label this scene as “the ass that launched a thousand ships.” Still, the show does not allow viewers to fully enjoy the moment. Yes, everyone knows they are aunt and nephew, but somehow this is way less bothersome than the twin sex between Jaime and Cersei. To balance things out, the show has Bran telling us Jon’s real name, Aegon, which also happens to be Dany’s father’s name. As Jon makes sweet love to Dany, Bran drops the bomb that Jon is the heir to the Iron Throne.
Of course, there is no way things would end on a happy note because war is coming. The army of the dead have made it to the wall. It took them seven seasons to make it there but now they have an ice dragon so breaching the wall is no problem. The Night King is now a dragon rider and dead Viserion unleashes blue fire to knock down a hefty portion of the wall, just enough to let the army pass through. Things are about to get real in Season 8 and we can expect to lose many loved characters. At least there is plenty of time to process all of this. Until the final season premieres in late 2018/early 2019, CrypticRock gives The Dragon and the Wolf 5 out of 5 stars.
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