Game of Thrones
The Spoils of War
Original Air Date: Aug 6, 2017
Vincent Chia – Staff Writer
vincent@thetwocentscorp.com
Two seasons ago, Jon Snow fought the Night King north of the wall, in a giant battle. He lived through that battle, but I recall the day after, one co-worker said “I really thought the producers were going to kill Jon Snow. I mean, i really feared for his life.” Jon Snow survived, but was killed in the next episode. Tonight, I had a very similar feeling for Jaime Lannister. Does he survive into the next episode? I don’t know!!! Let’s get a roundup of all the great houses.
House Lannister
The Lannister army is marching across the “Reach.” Their “loot train” is heading back to King’s Landing from Highgarden. The horses and wagons along with the desert and canyons backdrop reminded me of the Wild West, as opposed to something more medieval. Jaime reaches into one of the wagons and pulls out a bag of gold coins. He tosses it to Bronn. Bronn appreciates the gold, but reminds Jaime that he owes Bronn a castle. This is a reference to two seasons ago when Jaime broke up an arranged marriage where Bronn was set to marry and become a lord.
Jaime jokes the castles are a hassle. (Hey, those two words rhyme!) There’s a lot of maintenance and upkeep. The more you own, the more it weighs you down. Spoken like a true billionaire. They always whine about how having a yacht is great but it’s so much upkeep. More money, more problems. Bronn wanted Highgarden castle, but Jaime says for all he knows, Targaryen comes back to conquer it one day after Bronn moves in.
The Tarlys report that the farmers of the Reach are taking their merry time transferring their granary stores to King’s Landing. Jaime sends Bronn to go with the Tarlys to “nudge” the farmers.
Back in King’s Landing, Tycho the Iron Bank representative is impressed and surprised. Nobody has ever repaid a giant debt in one single installment. Some at the Iron Bank will be disappointed since they were growing accustomed to the interest payments. Cersei says maybe she’ll need a new loan
House Stark at Winterfell
Littlefinger gives Bran the Valyrian steel dagger that someone once used to try to kill Bran. Littlefinger claims to want Bran to have it and wants to protect Bran. He feels sorry that Bran came back home to all this “chaos.” Bran says “chaos is a ladder,” which seems almost to unsettle Littlefinger. Littlefinger once said that to Varys in a previous episode. That chaos is a ladder which he can climb to power.
Meera Reed interrupts and Littlefinger leaves. Meera tells Bran she is going to return to the Reed (castle?). Bran is now safe and Meera wants to return to her family. When Bran says “Thank you,” without much emotion and says nothing else, Meera is angry. Meera has done so much for him. Bran says he is no longer Bran. Meera says he died in the cave. (Where he learned to be the three-eyed raven). I got the sense that maybe Meera had romantic feelings for Bran and that she wanted him to ask her to stay.
Arya arrives at Winterfell. At first, the guards won’t let her in, since they believe Arya is dead. They eventually allow her to enter, but lose sight of her. They report this to Sansa and Sansa guesses where Arya is. Arya is in the catacombs where the Stark family is buried. Sansa and Arya have a very friendly reunion, despite the fact that they weren’t very close sisters before their lives were turned upside down in King’s Landing. Sansa also takes Arya to see Bran.
Bran, sitting in front of a weirwood tree, says he saw Arya at the Crossroads and thought she might go to King’s Landing instead of Winterfell. When Sansa asks why Arya would go to King’s Landing, Bran says it’s because Cersei is on Arya’s list. Previously, in the catacombs, Arya had told Sansa that Joffrey was at the top of her death list. Sansa thought Arya was joking. Now, Sansa knows the list was real. Is real.
Bran gives Arya the Valyrian steel dagger. He believes the dagger is wasted on a cripple.
Arya approaches Brienne and asks to train with her. Arya is impressed that Brienne killed the Hound. The two of them engage in a pretty evenly-matched swordfight. Brienne has the advantage in strength, but Arya is flexible and mobile. When Arya manages to hold the Valyrian dagger to Brienne’s throat, Brienne is impressed and asks “who taught you that?” Arya says “no one.” Brienne smiles. I wasn’t clear whether Brienne knew what that meant.
House Targaryen
Jon Snow shows Daenerys the dragonglass under the mountains of Dragonstone. He also shows drawings in the caves that appear to be drawn by the Children of the Forest. The drawings depict the Children of the Forest united with the “First Men” fighting together against the White Walkers. Jon says they will also need to band together to fight the White Walkers. Daenerys seems to believe Jon, but I was wondering why couldn’t have Jon draw those the first time he was there and then brought Daenerys down there and pretend someone else drew them? It’s not like they have carbon dating.
Daenerys says she will fight for the North, as soon as Jon pledges allegiance to her. Jon says that the lords of the North will never accept a southern ruler. Daenerys says they will if their king does. Daenerys asks Jon isn’t their survival more important than his pride? Um…. hey Daenerys. Isn’t survival more important than *your* pride? Hmm….
When Jon and Daenerys exit the caves, Tyrion reports to Daenerys that they have captured Casterly Rock. Hurray!! Right? Right? We don’t see Tyrion report that they’ve lost Highgarden, but we see the aftermath. Daenerys is enraged. She wants to fly her dragons to King’s Landing and burn it all down. However, Tyrion objects. Daenerys asks Jon what he thinks she should do. Jon says that her followers love her because she is different from other rulers. If she takes her dragons to melt down King’s Landing, she is no different at all.
As Davos and Jon are chatting, they see a Greyjoy ship sail in. Jon almost kills Theon, but says he will spare Theon for helping Sansa escape from Ramsay. Theon says his sister Yara has been captured and would like to ask Daenerys for help rescuing Yara. Jon says Daenerys isn’t at Dragonstone. Where is she??
House Targaryen versus House Lannister
For the third episode in a row, we end with a battle. This battle is many times larger than the previous two.
Warden Tarly reports to Jaime that the gold wagons are safely within the gates of King’s Landing. Tarly also says they need the tail end of their formation to hurry up and reach King’s Landing or else they risk being ambushed. Well well, you now know they’ll be ambushed. Tarly suggests that they whip the stragglers so that they hurry up. Jaime says no. The soldiers fought hard in the recent battle against Highgarden. However, give the soldiers a warning that they may be whipped if they don’t pick up the pace.
Soon, the Lannister Army is attacked. The remaining Lannister soldiers are ordered to form lines and raise their spears and shields. The Dothraki horsemen ride in. Bronn tells Jaime to ride back to King’s Landing but Jaime refuses to abandon his men. “You’re a commander, not an infantryman,” says Bronn. But hey, the soldiers need a commander.
Daenerys flies in on Drogon and burns a gap in the Lannister front lines. Although Jaime commands the soldiers to hold the line, the Dothraki crash through the gap Daenerys burned down. Jaime also orders his archers to loose arrows at Drogon, but they have minimal to zero effect. The entire army appears to be burned to the ground.
Jaime is able to kill a couple of Dothraki and sends Bronn to the giant crossbow. Jaime can’t fire it with just his one hand. In a chase scene, there is some danger that Bronn will be killed by a Dothraki. A Dothraki warrior slices Bronn’s horse’s leg and Bronn crashes into the floor. After being chased, Bronn makes it to the giant crossbow and kills the Dothraki chaser. He manages to fire a bolt at Drogon by misses by a hair.
Tyrion witnesses the Dothraki massacre the remaining Lannister troops. Tyrion seems to have mixed feelings. A Dothraki leader tells Tryion that the Lannisters are horrible warriors. Oh yea? How would the Dothraki fare if the dragon were flying for the other side?
Jaime is distraught to see his men burnt to ashes. Daenerys flies Drogon directly in line towards the giant crossbow. Just as Daenerys orders her dragon to breath fire, Bronn lets loose a bolt which hits Drogon right in the mouth. I was quite surprised. Drogon is wounded. Although he recovers, he has to land onto the ground. Drogon destroys the crossbow. Jaime sees that Drogon is wounded, and charges Drogon while on horseback with a lance. Tyrion sees this and whispers to Jaime not to be an idiot. He cares for Jaime’s safety, but Drogon breaths fire in Jaime’s direction. Jaime is saved from the fire last minute. Possibly by Bronn. Jaime and his savior are in the water and it is not completely clear whether Jaime will drown or revive. He is seen falling deeper and deeper into the water.
Ahhhhhhh! I suppose if Jaime dies, he died a pretty epic death. I am also very impressed by Bronn’s loyalty to Jaime. I’m not completely even sure how that loyalty developed. One second he’s fighting as a champion for Tyrion. For no reason really other than just for kicks. And then the next time I can recall, he’s joining Jaime on a weird quest to save Myrcella. Well, a hat tip to you, Ser Bronn, for your loyalty.
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