LAST CHANCE: SPOILER ALERT. BEYOND THE WALL WILL BE SPOILED AFTER THIS.
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R.I.P., Viserion. You were the dragon whose name few of us knew, but you were a son to Dany, you spit hot fire, and you will be missed. With one very certain and otherworldly heave of an ice javelin, the Night King destroyed 1/3 of the world’s dragon population. By the end of the episode, holy fucking shit, there’s a wight zombie dragon. I can’t pretend it wasn’t satisfying to finally see fire square off against ice, or that it wasn’t heartbreaking to see that majestic creature hurdling toward the icy earth with a mortal injury. But there are some issues lingering in my mind after this episode. With just seven left in the entire series, we need to work the following out…
1. Does zombie Viserion spew ice? What kills him now? Does dragon glass kill dead dragons? This will almost definitely be answered, so I won’t linger.
2. How does Beric Dondarrion arrive at the conclusion that killing the Night King will destroy the entire army of the dead? There's definitely some circumstantial evidence, given that their earlier killing of a white walker led to the instant death of all of its wights, but it's a big risk to plan a world-saving strategy on.
3. When this show started more than six years ago, Jamie and Cersei’s relationship broke what is arguably television’s biggest taboo with their incestuous affair. Now, approaching the end of season 7, it appears the majority of viewers (me included, I think. I’m not totally sure) are actively rooting for an incestuous affair in hoping to see Dany and Jon (aunt and nephew, we’re all but certain) ‘shipped. And what’s more, the writing/acting suggests they know we want it. I’m just putting that out there.
4. The travel time issue has become a distraction. To compensate for cutting down the length of the final two seasons, GoT’s writers have greatly accelerated the pace of the plot, often leaving little screen time for things like, oh, questioning the overall value (never mind the wisdom) of going beyond the wall to capture a wight in hopes that an insane ruler will have an abrupt change of heart and choose to fight beside her sworn enemies. But we forgive this, because things just have to start happening at this point. A byproduct of the acceleration however has been a downright disorientating lack of context for how long it’s taking armies and men to move across entire continents. The show’s always required an understanding that different plot lines were happening on different timelines, but it’s getting ridiculous. This episode saw our party beyond the wall surrounded on a literal island awaiting an attack from the army of the dead. Imminent death if ever there was. Within the span of what appeared to be a single night, they sent Gendry back to the wall, to send a raven to Dragonstone, to alert Dany to the situation so she would ride back beyond the wall to incinerate the dead. She does this. Dragonstone is more than half the length of Westeros away from the Wall. Fine, dragons are insanely fast, but how fast are these ravens?
5. How many unnamed characters left Eastwatch with Jon, Tormund, The Hound, Gendry and our friends in the Brotherhood? It seemed like the same anonymous “other guy” was getting mauled to death over and over again.
6. How and why was that bear killed? Was it meant to be a scout for the army of the dead. It seems odd that they would have killed it and just set it free.
Bonus: Where do we pick up a sword that can be set aflame by running our glove over it?
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R.I.P., Viserion. You were the dragon whose name few of us knew, but you were a son to Dany, you spit hot fire, and you will be missed. With one very certain and otherworldly heave of an ice javelin, the Night King destroyed 1/3 of the world’s dragon population. By the end of the episode, holy fucking shit, there’s a wight zombie dragon. I can’t pretend it wasn’t satisfying to finally see fire square off against ice, or that it wasn’t heartbreaking to see that majestic creature hurdling toward the icy earth with a mortal injury. But there are some issues lingering in my mind after this episode. With just seven left in the entire series, we need to work the following out…
1. Does zombie Viserion spew ice? What kills him now? Does dragon glass kill dead dragons? This will almost definitely be answered, so I won’t linger.
2. How does Beric Dondarrion arrive at the conclusion that killing the Night King will destroy the entire army of the dead? There's definitely some circumstantial evidence, given that their earlier killing of a white walker led to the instant death of all of its wights, but it's a big risk to plan a world-saving strategy on.
3. When this show started more than six years ago, Jamie and Cersei’s relationship broke what is arguably television’s biggest taboo with their incestuous affair. Now, approaching the end of season 7, it appears the majority of viewers (me included, I think. I’m not totally sure) are actively rooting for an incestuous affair in hoping to see Dany and Jon (aunt and nephew, we’re all but certain) ‘shipped. And what’s more, the writing/acting suggests they know we want it. I’m just putting that out there.
4. The travel time issue has become a distraction. To compensate for cutting down the length of the final two seasons, GoT’s writers have greatly accelerated the pace of the plot, often leaving little screen time for things like, oh, questioning the overall value (never mind the wisdom) of going beyond the wall to capture a wight in hopes that an insane ruler will have an abrupt change of heart and choose to fight beside her sworn enemies. But we forgive this, because things just have to start happening at this point. A byproduct of the acceleration however has been a downright disorientating lack of context for how long it’s taking armies and men to move across entire continents. The show’s always required an understanding that different plot lines were happening on different timelines, but it’s getting ridiculous. This episode saw our party beyond the wall surrounded on a literal island awaiting an attack from the army of the dead. Imminent death if ever there was. Within the span of what appeared to be a single night, they sent Gendry back to the wall, to send a raven to Dragonstone, to alert Dany to the situation so she would ride back beyond the wall to incinerate the dead. She does this. Dragonstone is more than half the length of Westeros away from the Wall. Fine, dragons are insanely fast, but how fast are these ravens?
5. How many unnamed characters left Eastwatch with Jon, Tormund, The Hound, Gendry and our friends in the Brotherhood? It seemed like the same anonymous “other guy” was getting mauled to death over and over again.
6. How and why was that bear killed? Was it meant to be a scout for the army of the dead. It seems odd that they would have killed it and just set it free.
Bonus: Where do we pick up a sword that can be set aflame by running our glove over it?
