'Game of Thrones' Finale Recap: "The Dragon and the Wolf"
Kyra Power ’19 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Warning: the following contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones season seven finale.
So, here we are. The end of the season already done with a possible two year wait until the next episode. Unlike last year’s finale, which left me on the edge of my seat and is quite possibly one of the greatest episodes of television ever made, this finale is exciting, dramatic, but also quite predictable. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it left me feeling a little let down. That being said, there was still some great content.
I’m going to be honest, I missed Tyrion drinking wine with Cersei in King’s Landing. I missed them constantly fighting and trying to outsmart each other, and their scene does not disappoint. You can feel their conflict and tension. They hate each other, but they are family and whether Cersei likes it or not, Tyrion does understand how she thinks. We don’t know exactly know what he says in the end to convince her to the truce, but it stems from his understanding of her want for power and legacy. That being said, Cersei lies about this truce and is planning on storming the North while Dany and Jo and co. fight off the wights. I was initially suspicious of this turn in events. Like I said, I kind of just want her dead. Yet, it introduces the possibility of a more classic Game of Thrones plot-line for next season. Everyone is literally going to die if the army of the dead comes, but Cersei still doesn’t care; she wants to take the kingdom while all the other armies go North. The show has been streamlining its plot towards this living vs. dead showdown for so long, but is it possible that leaving Cersei alive is their way of complicating this? Will this lead to a Cersei-Sansa showdown while everyone else is North? That is, of course, only if Crazy Uncle Euron (Piou Asbaek) gets to the Golden Company before Theon (Alfie Allen) comes for Yara (Gemma Whelan). And now that Jaime (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) is over Cersei, will he team up with the Northern Squad? There is still quite a lot to be wrapped up in the next season.
The big “reveal”, though, is that Rhaegar+Lyanna=Jon is actually R+L=Aegon because Jon’s real name is Aegon Targaryen and he just straight up sleeps with his aunt. Game of Thrones always loves to ruin anything remotely happy and they really do this with the intercutting of Jon and Dany getting it on and Sam (John Bradley) and Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) discussing who Jon truly is. Sidenote: I’m sorry Sam, you discovered that Rhaegar and Lyanna were actually married?? Nah, Gilly did that. Give her some credit. It is a great scene, though, and definitely left everyone feeling a little uncomfortable. How will both of them react when Bran and/or Sam tells them? They technically are only aunt and nephew and as Ned’s parents were cousins, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing if they marry anyway. This again goes back to the exciting scene, but no surprise. We’ve all known they were related and in love. Obviously it’s going to get complicated. That’s the problem with a show that has laid out all these intricate plots that is now trying to resolve them: the fans figured things out years ago, but the series still has to show it. It’s a tough place to be, especially for a show that is known for its surprising and sudden plot twists and deaths.
The final scene is, again, not a surprise at all: the wall falls and the army of the dead is coming. The music in this scene is great and totally foreboding. Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) possibly just dies, but seeing as the show hasn’t been killing people recently, he will probably survive. Hopefully. I need this Tormund, Hound, Jaime, and Brienne love square in my life. Viserion, newly back from the dead and with some awesome blue flames, is going to be a huge threat. The Night King is not holding back in his demonstration of power.
