Game of Thrones Episode 704 Recap: Here Be Dragons

A lot of things happened in “The Spoils of War.” But who cares, really, when there were dragons? While we’ve seen Daenerys’s pet monsters unleash some minor pain in the past, this is the first time we’ve witnessed a fully grown, totally empowered dragon fly into battle and do its worst. Was it satisfying? Yes, it was satisfying. I cheered. If you still care about the rest of the episode, though. . .

HERE’S THE IMPORTANT STUFF:

Dragons!

Sitting around a musty old castle has clearly worn on Daenerys Targaryen’s last nerve. And what better way for for a down-in-the dumps queen to cheer herself up than by incinerating some Westerosi? So—against everyone’s best advice—Dany hops on No. 1 dragon Drogon and heads off with the Dothraki to find Jaime Lannister and his army, basically just so she can set them all on fire. (What, you thought she was going to take back her rightful throne just by showing up and being really nice to everyone?)

We can be thankful for Dany’s rashness, because it gives us one of the most epic battle scenes Game of Thrones has ever seen. But how is this going to work out for her? The episode goes out of its way to point out that Dany can’t just claim the Iron Throne by force: if she’s going to rule Westeros, she has to have the people on her side. And you don’t win the hearts and minds of your potential subjects by chasing them with a big monster and burning them all to a crisp.

Do you suppose Dany may have a big lesson to learn? Oh, who cares: she’s riding a dragon, it’s breathing fire, and everyone’s running around screaming with their hair aflame. Is that not exactly what we’ve been waiting to see for seven seasons?

AND SOME OTHER THINGS HAPPENED

__Arya Gets a Knife__

You know, pretty soon this show is going to run out of Starks to reunite with each other—and then what are they going to do? (More dragons, perhaps?) In this installment, Arya returns to Winterfell, collects her allotment of hugs from Sansa, and makes herself right at home. The band is back together (minus Jon), and it feels great. Yes, Arya’s turned into a bloodthirsty littler killer, and Bran is now an aspiring tree—but if you ignore those details, it’s almost like old times.

Bran isn’t much for hugs these days; he shows his excitement at seeing his long lost sister by re-gifting her with the Valyrian steel knife that was recently bestowed on him by Littlefinger. A girl can never have too many bladed weapons, after all, and Arya goes on to prove it in a rousing training sequence with Brienne of Tarth. (Arya may be an accomplished assassin by now, but she’ll never stop enjoying a good training sequence.) When she drops her sword, the knife comes out, and Brienne nearly cries from sheer pride.

But Wait, Whose Knife Is That Again?

If you found yourself struggling to remember exactly what the deal is with the dagger that Littlefinger gives to Bran, a quick refresher: way back in Season 1, while Bran is convalescing at Winterfell after being pushed out the window by Jaime Lannister (remember when Jaime used to be a bad guy?), Bran is attacked by a knife-wielding assassin. Catelyn Stark is able to fend off the attacker with her maternal steeliness, and, afterward, is misled by Littlefinger to believe that the knife belonged to Tyrion Lannister. Catelyn promptly jumps on her horse and goes after Tyrion, setting of the conflict that leads to—well, just about every terrible thing that’s happened on Game of Thrones since then.

Only one problem: it wasn’t actually Tyrion’s knife. So whose was it? As it turns out, we still don’t know. While the books have indicated that Joffrey was the one who sent the assassin after Bran, it seems unlikely that the show is going to go with the same explanation. And if the knife is making its reappearance now, after all this time, it seems reasonable to expect that we’re going to be finding out more about it soon. (I’m going to go out on a limb and guess this happens either shortly before or after it’s used to kill Littlefinger.)

What’s that thing they say about the gun in the first act?

Meera Reed Says Goodbye

Poor Meera Reed. After trundling Bran Stark around the frigid tundra for god knows how long, tending to his every need, she has decided it’s finally time to head home. And what thanks does she get for her tireless service? Well, Bran does technically say thank you, so there’s that. But it’s not exactly a rousing send-off for one of the most self-sacrificing characters on the show. (Maybe Sansa will make him write a thank-you note.)

Bronn Doesn’t Die

While it was great to see the return of Bronn—everyone’s favorite sellsword—it was a little sad to see him pitted against his old pal Tyrion, who is now on the side of Dany and the dragons. But he gets to shoot a dragon in the face with a comically oversized crossbow, and he doesn’t even die doing it. Neither does the dragon. Good for both of them.

__Jaime Lannister: Also Not Dead__

(Although how well he can swim in that big suit of armor is an open question.)

A Lannister Always Pays Her Debts

After months of avoiding calls from collection agents, Cersei finally swears up and down to the nice man from the Iron Bank that she’s going to give him his big pile of gold—just as soon as Jaime finishes pillaging it for her. But, oh, wait: dragons. Maybe she can work out an installment plan?

Source: vanityfair.com