Wildcard

So… Jon and Dany, right? That’s gotta happen now, surely. Maybe it won’t be sparks from the first moment what with all the political dramas but there’s bound to be a little infatuation there. These are the two sexiest people on the show, at least according to the marketing team, and they’re both single and ready to mingle (in destroying Lannisters and White Walkers).

Nah, definitely getting ahead of myself there. After a first episode where it was all about setting the table, we had a second episode where it was all about people taking their seats at that table. Who’s gonna align with who, what’s the next plan… all that talking stuff. Right up until the ten minute war sequence as Euron ambushed the rebel Greyjoys (right as Yara was about to get some Dornish lovin’) and pretty much slaughtered everyone as flaming debris tumbled from the sky.

Oh hell yeah, we’re into this bad boy now. Not only with the thrilling action that finally flicked the switch but also in what it means down the line. Euron just struck a huge blow, taking Ellaria Sand and one of the Snakes hostage, as well as Yara, having killed two other Sand Snakes (RIP Keisha). Not only a blow within the Ironborn bloodline but also a major statement for Cersei against Daenerys. This invasion isn’t gonna go smoothly. It seemed like with enemies on every side that the Lannisters were facing imminent defeat but don’t forget that they have the established position on the map. They’ve got the walls, they’ve got the dragon-slaying crossbows. They sure as hell ain’t gonna crumble.

Nymeria returned. Arya’s wolf. Far as I can tell she and Ghost (Jon) are the only dire wolves left ticking but unsurprisingly the one that’s been on the loose since early on in season one has become pretty feral. It was a fateful meeting with Arya. Clearly the two recognised each other, they have that connection and everything. But Nymeria isn’t ready to return from the wild just yet… it’s like a Jack London novel.

Of course she’s not ready though. Arya’s not ready yet either. The wolves have always had a way of mirroring their human companions and Arya, for all intents and purposes, has gone rogue too. She just last week murdered a whole room of people out of pure revenge and that’s after she made the trek back to Westeros after all her training overseas. Up until she met Hot Pie she was travelling south to murder Cersei Lannister. Speaking with those soldiers last week she was warm enough but she was definitely very wooden, to the point where they all laughed when she straight-faced said she was gonna kill the queen. Then speaking to Hot Pie… by the way, welcome back Hot Pie… she was even more wooden. Every answer was dry and bland like she was putting up a shield or wearing a mask. And then the news about Winterfell finally woke her up. She’s on her way back to the person she once was and the wolf won’t return fully until she returns fully.

Hey, speaking of overseas… Westeros is Westeros but we’ve already travelled around Braavos and Meereen and those weird places. The White Walkers are coming for Westeros but what’s stopping the people of Westeros just moving to a warmer climate? Throwing it out there as an idea, is all. Could be a refugee crisis to the East on the way.

Guts to Arya, she’s gonna miss Jon on the road. Here’s hoping she keeps just enough of the old ruthlessness to deal with Littlefinger though because that’s getting really uncomfortable. He doesn’t tend to sit in the shadows smirking for long before he makes some move and Sansa doesn’t have Jon there right now for extra protection. Although the camera has a way of spotting a vigilant Brienne whenever Baelish stares at Sansa across the courtyard.

Here’s a point to make: Dany has too many counsellors. Tyrion usually has something clever to say and nobody said anything cleverer than what Olenna said about ignoring clever men. Varys is a yapper, the Ironborns might be missing the next meeting but they’ve usually got an opinion (Yara, at least). Add in Melisandre trying to grease some wheels and Jon and his crew on the way… there’s push and pull from every direction. We all know that the crucial thing is to fortify The Wall with dragon glass and dragon fire but how’s Dany supposed to trust that while the Lannisters are striking and everyone else is all blah-blah-blah?

This is where the Mother of Dragons starts to resemble the Mad King. She fair roasted Varys for being a pragmatic fellow who had chosen to follow her quest. At the end of making her point where she demanded he always tell her to her face when she’d erred she polished that off with a violent threat. Violence is not the answer. The only reason peace doesn’t last is because of violent and retributive leaders.

Quite honestly, the best leader in the Seven Kingdoms is Jon Snow. You know why? Because he’s willing to sacrifice. He’s willing to make compromises in order to pursue the changes he knows his people need to see. Everybody else is all ‘my way or the highway’ while Jon openly admits he didn’t want to be the leader but he accepted it because it’s what the people wanted. There’s a leader for you, folks.

The other thing he does as a leader is he embraces knowledge – hence sending Sam off to train up as a maester. Jon is the only one who openly seeks the advice of experts. And there’s tubby young Sam, doing what he can to help the people that need it. Prying off greyscale like a proper surgeon. Feeding the mistress and child that didn’t have a home until he took them in. He’ll break the rules for the right reasons.

Plus his relationship with Maester Jim Broadbent has been absolutely joyful, the most fun parts of the season so far… at least until the big boat fight. In the flashback to this one, the ‘previously on…’ thing, there was that clip of Sam’s dad ripping on him for wanting to live a life spent documenting the exploits of much better men (that was also Sam’s dad who was offered Warden of the South by Jaime if he’ll align with the Lannisters).

Well, Jon is Jon and Sam is Sam. Both are essential to the future of Westeros. Jon because he might be the genderless prince that was promised. Sam because he is the man tasked with documenting the faults and follies of others so that the future folk won’t be doomed to repeat them. You can narrow this show into many universal themes but the failure to learn from the corruptive power of others is one of the main ones.

And what’s that book that the maester is writing?

Archmaester Ebrose: “If you're going to write histories, Tarly, you have to do the research. If you want people to read your histories, you need a bit of style. I'm not writing The Chronicles of the Wars Following the Death of King Robert I so it can sit on a shelf unread.”

Samwell Tarly: “…”

Archmaester Ebrose: “What? You don't like the title? What would you call it then?”

Samwell Tarly: “Possibly something a bit more… poetic?”

How about you call it ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ and we all Sam ‘George R. R. Martin’ and everyone lives happily ever after on the HBO residuals?

Diggity Doc

Oh the petty bullshit. 

I actually laughed a lot this episode; half thanks to Sam Tarly's many moments of brilliance and half thanks to the petty concerns of humans who don't know what's up.

The main idea from the second episode of this season was how important history is in building a picture of what the future could be. At King's Landing, Cersei outlined how Dany had arrived and that she's nothing more than the daughter of the Mad King, thus bringing with her to Westeros absolute doom. Tyrion knew this would be the case and planned accordingly, but this was a lot more than a well thought out PR campaign from Cersei as we also saw such a narrative rolled out in the North.

Jon Snow received a note from Tyrion, inviting him down to Dragonstone for a hongi and some kai. The leaders of the North weren't have a bar of this though because to them, Dany's nothing more than the daughter of the Mad King and not only do the Lannister's have a sketchy history in extended invitations, the Mad King didn't exactly leave a positive vibrations permeating throughout the North. 

So yeah, Cersei was wise to spread negative propaganda about Dany to her counsel. Yet this didn't feel like it was conjured out of thin air and as there was a similar perception in the North, this was more a case of displaying how these people in Westeros only have history to define things. In a modern context this is like our obsession with defining things into categories, genres or anything of the sort - rather silly. But we do it because it's a natural instinct and makes our lives a lot easier.

No one has really got to know Dany, so it's just easier to lump her in the same evil category as her father.

Those who have dug a little deeper, or have better instincts, are able to see past the Targaryen history and view Dany for what she is. Others, like Jon have the right instincts - a queen needs to deal with a king - and Jon needs to be vulnerable because he knows there's a far greater evil on its way than Dany.

Dany's dealings with Varys and Olenna Tyrell were super funky in that regard. Dany is still learning about leadership and while she was quick to assert herself over Varys, she also made it know to varys that when Dany stops being a leader for the people, it was Varys' job to let her know of her failings. Much like Varys is playing his own game for the people, Dany is a queen who has a mission, a purpose for the people and that differs greatly from the power-hungry, greedy, nasty politicians ... woops, I mean the many Westerosi kings who have come before her.

Lady Tyrell kinda pointed that out to Dany. Many kings have come and gone while Lady Tyrell's still kickin' it and she encourages Dany to be a the dragon that she is, not the sheep that Westeros' kings have been. 

Again, I view this whole leadership narrative as reflecting our situation on Earth. This will be an idea I flesh out a lot in writing about GoT, so I'll plant that seed now and come back to it each week. 

The pettiness comes in the form of these human relationships and these squabbles or political battles won't matter when dragons are fighting magical creatures, or Bran Stark is shifting through time. I'm not mad at this pettiness as we know of this threat on the horizon, while the many humans engaging in pettiness don't know, or know but don't really know how great the threat is.

Hence it's so fun following Jon as he's the character who knows the most of what's coming, yet he's having to juggle these human aspects as well. Jon has to deal with Littlefinger's creepiness and then go to Dragonstone where his mission is to try get Dany on-board to fight the Winter, yet Dany just wants him to bow down. As viewers, we've effectively got Jon's perspective and it's glorious how the very human relationships and the mystical/magical world of GoT run parallel to each other; not for much longer though.

Sam is perfectly poised to help bridge those two worlds, that's if he can avoid getting booted out of Maester Academy for being a rebel. The dialogue at the Citadel is a pleasure to watch unfold, with Sam eagerly searching for answers that most in his position wouldn't want to seek and thus constantly being shut down. 

We were treated to another icky Citadel scene and with the brutal battle scene to close out this episode via Euron's next level ruthlessness, those two Citadel scenes gross me out the most. Sam is trying to get Jorah's greyscale off, like literally peeling it off and I'm not sure how efficient that method is, although there's not a whole lot of choice. Will all that greyscale come off in one night? 

Sam did note that Shireen was cured of greyscale and I suspect that Sam's research could possibly lead to another dragonglass discovery. 

That icky Citadel scene was followed by an equally disgusting transition to Arya meeting her homie Hot Pie at the Crossroads. After wondering whether Arya would really go to King's Landing to try murk Cersei, this solved that conundrum as Hot Pie broke down how Jon defeated Ramsay Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards. Note that this is another nod to history and how events get glorified story treatment, the same as Cersei blowing shit up at King's Landing.

While Hot Pie's dropping knowledge, Arya's blank expressions were golden and I'd love to know what was ticking over in her mind. Not excitement, no disappointment, just 'alright, okay, all good'. Obviously Arya acted on her new information and this sets up a reunion between her and Sansa, which will probably come while Jon's away at Dragonstone but should coincide with Littlefinger being a bit too eager with Sansa.

Arya then stumbled upon her ol' direwolf Nymeria, who is now massive and leads a pack of wolves. Sure, there was a hearty moment as Arya invited her long-lost wolf to join her in going back to Winterfell and Nymeria rejected the proposal. This does however set up some intriguing possibilities as Nymeria's size and the fact that she's leading a pack makes her the perfect killing machine, so don't sleep on Nymeria coming back to partner Arya when shit hits the fan.

Nymeria isn't about that domestic life any more; "that's not you". 

And that ain't you Theon, that's Reek. Here's hoping Theon's demons end positively as I reckon there will be a long-term benefit in Theon reverting back to Reek-mode and jumping ship.

GoT S07E02 Character Rankings

1. Grey Worm & Missandei - *puts on Barry White record*
2. Samwell Tarly – Knowledge is power. Greyscale is disgusting.
3. Euron Greyjoy – Jeez he’s a crazy bugger, isn’t he? But the man sure can swing that battle axe.
4. Tyrion Lannister – All dwarves are bastards in their fathers’ eyes but few characters have had had the wild journey that Tyrion has. Think of where he is now and all the places he’s been before.
5. Sansa Stark – Queen Regent of the North, baby!
6. Hot Pie – They don’t call him that for nothing. One of the few cutback characters who’s actually prospered since we last saw them. The secret is in browning the butter before it’s cooked.
7. Lady Olenna – She’s known many clever men but the cleverest thing she ever did was ignore them all. Dany needs to be a Dragon but Olenna will always be a Thorn.
8. Arya Stark – Home is where your previously estranged and fellow orphaned sister is. Not to mention the creepy uncle figure who loves her and a whole bunch of rigid northern lords too. Not the dog though.
9. Littlefinger – Can’t help but feel that with Jon temporarily out of the way the path is cleared for whatever seeds Old Baelish has been sowing to start growing.
10. Theon – Call him a coward if you want but he got out of there alive, didn’t he?

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