Ep 701 "Dragonstone"
Before the theme song or credits even ran we got our first scene and it was of Walder Frey. Or, it looked like Walder Frey, but was actually Arya getting her revenge on the rest of the Frey family using the magic she learned about faces at the House of Black and White.
"Walder" is holding another feast at the Twins for all of the men in his family. Even though they just had one, he says he's gathered them there again to discuss his great plans for the family and what they will do now that winter has come. The servants pour everyone wine for a toast. The Frey's aren't the fanciest and normally don't drink wine, but Walder has acquired a special wine for this feast. We all knew they were about to bite the dust. Especially when Walder (Arya) tells his latest young wife not to drink it because he doesn't want to waste good wine on a woman. The men gulp the wine down and Walder says he's glad they are all gathered. All the men in the room helped kill the Starks at the Red Wedding. They cut down a pregnant woman, killed a king they swore fealty too and killed the king's mother. They slaughtered guests whom they had invited into their home, but they didn't slaughter all the Starks and that was their big mistake. The men start coughing and throwing up blood and then they all drop like flies. Arya pulls off Walder's face, turns to the wife and tells her to spread word of what has happened there. The north remembers and winter came for House Frey. She leaves the castle and the theme song and opening credits begin.
Once the theme song ends and the credits are over we see a huge snow storm. It was such a strong storm that I wasn't 100% sure if it was snow or sand for a moment, though my bet was on the former. You can't see anything coming until it gets really close. And then, who do we see, but the Night King and his enormous wight army. He even has at least three giants.
Next we see Bran and Meera. They've made it to the Wall. Dolorous Edd greets them and thinks they are wildlings until Meera explains who she and Bran are. Edd isn't sure he should believe them, but Bran tells Edd that he saw him in visions at the Fist of the First Men and Hardhome. He knows Edd has seen the Night King and what is coming. This is enough to convince Edd to let them through. He takes one last long look out into the wilderness - knowing the enemy is out there - and he turns and goes back through the Wall as well.
In Winterfell, Jon is speaking to all the lords of the north. He says that dragonglass can kill the White Walkers so he wants every person from the age of 10-60 mining every day and making weapons. One of the lords asks if he expects the women and children to fight when the time comes and Jon says they will need every person capable of fighting. The men start to balk at the thought of their innocent little girls fighting. Then, Lyanna Stark helps Jon out once again by backing his decision and saying she will be fighting and not knitting by the fire. (I think she may have a crush on Jon).
His next step is to find men to man the empty castles on the Wall. The Night's Watch currently only mans three of the 19 castles they have. And they may not even have men at the those three anymore after all of their previous fights with White Walkers and Wildlings. Tormund volunteers to take his men to Eastwatch by the Sea since Jon says the Wall will be the most important part of their defense. If the White Walkers somehow get through the Wall then The Last Hearth and Karhold are the first keeps that would be reached. Smalljon Umber and Arnold Karstark (both deceased now) fought with Ramsay so some of the lords believe the castles should be given to new families that were loyal in the Battle of the Bastards. Sansa speaks up and even says she thinks Jon should hand the castles over to loyal families. Jon is against this. He doesn't want to take castles away from families who have had them for centuries just because two sons made a mistake in backing the wrong man (and somewhat out of fear). Sansa speaks up to Jon again in front of everyone and you can see he's unhappy about it. He says he's not taking the keeps away from the original families and that is his final decision. He asks the new lord of The Last Hearth, Ned Umber, and the new lady of Karhold, Alice Karstark to pledge their fealty. Both are young - as so many in Westeros are now - but they both bend the knee and pledge their loyalty to House Stark. Petyr Baelish (aka Littlefinger) takes delight in the argument between Sansa and Jon over this. Jon tells them again that the north needs to ban together to defeat the Night King.
Once they leave the great hall, Jon tells Sansa not to question his authority in front of other people. She says Joffrey never listened to anyone. He asks if she really thinks he is like Joffrey and she says he's the exact opposite of Joffrey. She tells him he is very good at leading, but he needs to be smarter than their father and Robb were. They were very smart, but they made mistakes that cost them their lives. He asks if being smart means listening to her and she asks if that would be so terrible. They receive a letter from Cersei. She of course wants them to come to Kings Landing and bend the knee. Jon says the war with the Night King is more important, but Sansa tells him to listen to her because she knows Cersei and she won't stop until she gets what she wants. Jon says if he didn't know better he would think Sansa admired Cersei. She only says that she learned a lot from her.
Speaking of the "Mad Queen," Cersei is making her plans in Kings Landing. She has had a custom map of Westeros painted so she and Jaime can draw up said plans. She says Jaime's been quiet since his return and she wonders if he is angry with her. He says he isn't, so she asks if he is afraid of her. He asks if he should be and she tells him maybe he should be. After all, Tyrion is Dany's Hand now and she is coming to Westeros. Jaime let Tyrion go after killing their son (Joffrey - which no, he did not) and then he killed their father. Now he has joined with Dany to help her conquer Westeros. She asks Jaime where Dany's army will land and he thinks they will go to Dragonstone first. It was the family seat of House Targaryen and it's been abandoned since Stannis Baratheon's death.
Cersei also tells Jaime that Jon has been named King in the North and Sansa is with him. Jaime tries to impress upon her that they need to prepare for winter instead of finding more enemies to fight. The Tyrells had provided them with food for the city and the army and she destroyed them. He thinks Lady Olenna could join with their enemies. Cersei doesn't think Lady Olenna will join with Dany and have her men fighting alongside a Dothraki army. Little does she know... Jaime tells her their enemies might join with Dany if they think she will win. He says they are in great danger. She says she knows they are in great danger, but whoever wins the war can create a dynasty that could last for 1,000 years. He asks what their dynasty would be. All of their children and family are dead. She says she will create it for the two of them because they are the last two Lannisters that matter because they survived.
Jaime tries to open up a conversation about Tommen's suicide. Cersei says there is nothing to talk about. Tommen betrayed her and became her enemy. (Damn, woman that is just cold). Jaime says they must have allies to win the war and they don't have any. Walder Frey is dead and the other great houses are against them. Cersei tells him not to worry because she listened to their father the last 40 years and she learned something about making allies.
The ally she is referring to is Euron Greyjoy. He has come to Kings Landing to offer her his hand in marriage along with his Iron Fleet. Jaime doesn't understand how the Ironborn are any better allies than the Frey's were. The Frey's were stupid and the Ironborn aren't much better. She says they have ships and they are good at fighting, but Jaime thinks they are just bitter people who steal what they can't build themselves.
While his ships were being built Euron got a makeover and most importantly a hair cut. He was actually looking pretty good. He presents himself to Cersei and says he is heartbroken that his family betrayed him. He can't believe they took his ships and turned on him. (Um, duh you tried to kill them). He wants to join with Cersei and fight Yara, Theon and Tyrion. He understands her hatred for Tyrion since she is blaming Joffrey's murder on him. Jaime says the Greyjoy's started a rebellion once before and in fact it was started by Euron. Euron says he remembers and he saw Jaime fight during that rebellion. He heard all of these stories about the Kingslayer and didn't think any of it could be true, but then he saw Jaime and he was the best fighter he'd ever seen. Euron even thanks him for beating the Ironborn and forcing him into exile because now he is the best captain on the seas. Cersei says he's not very humble, but he says she isn't either. He asks what she could want with the Iron Islands. She should just let him have them. Then he says he always wanted to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. So here he is with all of his ships and "two good hands." (Jaime isn't too happy about that comment.) Cersei declines his marriage proposal. The Iron Islands are untrustworthy and have broken oaths many times and he's even admitted to killing his own brother. Euron says he understands her mistrust of him, so he is going to leave and get proof of his good intentions for her. He won't return to Kings Landing until he has a gift for her. I think he means he's going to try and capture Tyrion.
Sam's busy working from the very bottom to become a maester. He works at the library, cooks soup for the men and cleans the chamber pots of the maesters that are incontinent. We saw scene after scene of this and the gross thing was that you couldn't tell the difference between the food and the waste. Poor Sam was dry heaving and throwing up the whole time and I can't blame him. There is a locked section of the library that he can't get into. Along with his other jobs, he helps an archmaester (played by Jim Broadbent) and helps him perform autopsies on dead maesters. While they are weighing the organs of a deceased maester, Sam asks if there is any way he can get access to the restricted area since he has seen and fought White Walkers. The archmaester tells him he can't have access because he is not a maester yet. Sam says no one at the Citadel believes what he has seen, but the White Walkers are coming. The archmaester says he believes Sam, but the Wall has been standing for thousands of years and winter always comes, but they always make it through. He says maesters are special because they record the history of Westeros He thinks the Wall will stop the White Walkers. So, Sam steals a key from one of the maesters and takes home some restricted books to study.
We go back to Winterfell and Brienne is training Pod. Tormund is watching and tells Pod he is a lucky man and Brienne looks like she may be warming up to Tormund. Sansa is watching from above and Littlefinger comes to whisper in her ear. He says he heard that Brienne beat the Hound in single combat. Sansa asks what he wants. He replies that he wants her to be happy and safe. She says she is safe, but he says what about happy? Brienne comes up then and Littlefinger tries to get the last word in with Sansa, but she tells him to refrain. She's sure whatever he would've said was sure to be clever and witty though. Once he leaves Brienne wonders why he is still in Winterfell. Sansa says that Littlefinger and the Knight's of the Vale saved them from the Boltons. Brienne thinks Littlefinger wants something and Sansa says she knows what he wants.
Arya is riding through the woods and she hears some soldiers singing by a fire. One of the soldiers is played by Ed Sheeran. They offer her food and a spot by the fire. I keep waiting for them to be jerks as the men you find in the woods in Westeros usually seem to be, but they are genuinely nice to her. They are also Lannister soldiers who are in the Riverlands because of what happened to Walder Frey. She asks if they have any good stories and one of them says his wife had a baby. Arya asks if it's a boy or a girl and he says he doesn't know because soldiers don't get ravens. He hopes its a girl because they take care of their fathers in their old age, but boys have to go away and fight other men's battles. She sees another side to these Lannister soldiers and realizes that they are very different from the lords they fight for. They ask where she is heading and she says she is going to Kings Landing to kill the queen. The guys get very quiet for a minute and then burst into laughter, thinking she is joking.
The Hound is travelling with Beric Dondarrion and Thoros. They find a house to stay in and it’s the same one he and Arya stayed in with the father and little girl. The Hound stole their food and money and left them there to die. He doesn't want to stay there, but he can't say anything to the others. The Hound makes fun of Thoros’s man bun saying he only has it to cover up his bald spot. When they go inside they find the father and the daughter dead. The father killed the daughter and then himself because they were starving.
The Hound wonders why the Lord of Light keeps bringing Beric back because he’s not special. Beric says he doesn’t know why, but he asks himself that question every day. The Hound asks why - if the Lord of Light is so powerful - doesn’t just tell them what the fuck he wants? Thoros calls him over to the flames. The Hound says it’s just his luck that he would end up with a bunch of fire worshippers, but Beric says it seems like divine justice. Thoros tells him again to look into the flames because only the fire can tell them what they need to know. He asks the Hound what he sees and the Hound actually ends up seeing a vision in the flames. He see’s a wall of ice and where the Wall meets the sea. He see's a castle and a mountain that looks like an arrowhead and the dead are marching past. Thousands of them. (I believe he is referring to Eastwatch by the Sea). Beric asks if he believes them now? During the night, Thoros wakes up to noise. He takes his sword outside and finds the Hound digging graves for the father and daughter. Thoros figures out that he knew them somehow. The Hound even says something over their graves. He may really be a changed man.
Sam and Gilly are looking over the books he brought home. He finds a map of Dragonstone and discovers there is a mountain hidden underground that is full of dragonglass. He sends a raven to Jon - which I'm guessing will go to Edd at the Wall first since Sam doesn't know about Jon's death and resurrection and that he has reclaimed Winterfell. The next day Sam goes back to his duties at the Citadel and to return the books. He is collecting bowls from cells and when he reaches the opening to grab one bowl, a hand covered in grayscale shoots out. It's Jorah asking if Daenerys Stormborn has come yet. Sam, who's totally creeped out at this point says that Dany has not yet come to Westeros. So, Jorah went to the Citadel for help with the grayscale, which is pretty smart. If anyone can do something about it, it would be the maesters.
And right after Jorah asks if the dragon queen has come to Westeros we see Dany land at Dragonstone - her ancestral home. She gets off the boat and feels the sand beneath her fingers. After years of exile she is finally home. They open the gates of Dragonstone and she removes the Stag banner of House Baratheon. She goes to the throne room and looks at the seat of her ancestors. The others hang back to give her a moment. Then she goes to the room behind the throne, which is the room with the carved table of Westeros. She asks Tyrion "shall we begin?"
All-in-all a great episode, though I'm ready to see something happen with Dany. I was hoping it wouldn't take the whole episode to show her landing at Dragonstone, but I pretty much expected it. We finally know that Cersei completely abandoned her children choosing being queen over their lives. Will Jon and Dany cross paths once he finds out about this hidden mountain of dragonglass? And is Tyrion safe, because I really don't want Cersei to get a hold of him.
Until next week...
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Courtenay | Mother of Dragons
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