Game of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 2: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Holy shit I forgot to post this episode review, somehow I listed it for April 2020. Whoops. This episode review was written without any knowledge of what happens in the third episode, by the way, which aired last night! Expect my review of episode 3 tomorrow or the day after.
The second episode of the final season of Game of Thrones is... it's a bottle episode, which ends up basically being treated as a payoff of many of our characters both main and secondary. In an ideal world maybe these storylines could've used another episode or two to breathe, but it would also ruin the fact that our heroes are simply just running out of time before the spooky White Walkers come and fuck up Winterfell. Narrative-wise, it's also pretty interesting just how the fandom as a whole have been shrugging off characters as "safe" because it wouldn't have been complete if, say, Gendry died before he met Arya, or if Jaime died before one last meeting with Tyrion or Brienne. And in this episode, so much shit happens as far as characters go, with every single character that was left in the background of the previous episode getting a lot of screentime, and a lot of storylines gets resolved... fear for the lives of your favourite characters, dear watchers, because characters with resolved storylines are probably the first on the chopping block.
The main political storyline of this episode is... it's still the bizarre web of muddling uncertainty on what Daenerys plans to do with the North after taking back the Iron Throne. She's been so dead-set in just doing the two "big things" of reclaiming the Throne and helping Jon beat back the Night King's army of the dead that she really haven't considered the real logistics of what's going on. And with the Northerners very much willing to call her out (Lyanna Mormont, we love you), we do get a pretty awesome scene with her and Sansa bonding together for being lady-rulers... yet she really has no answer as to just what she's planning to do with the North even as she admits that she's doing a foolish mission in no small part because she's smitten with Jon. Honestly, the conversation between the two is done so well, and makes me forgive the somewhat contrived drama from the previous episode. Sure, we don't get any resolution just yet since it's Game of Thrones, but the conversation between Sansa and Dany is genuinely well done, from the discussions of trusting men, or about how sometimes men do stupid things for women, to the burden of ruling. Shame that the whole "shit, what to do with the North" remains something that will always keep the two women, unwilling to compromise, pretty distant.
Meanwhile, Jon has apparently did a bit of an offscreen research, and has been avoiding Daenerys throughout the episode in a series of pretty unintentionally hilarious "no sex today bye c'ya" sequences. In the final scene of the episode before the cliffhanger of OH SHIT THE UNDEAD SCOURGE IS HERE, Jon ends up telling Daenerys before the tomb of his biological mother that, hey, by the way, they are related. It is pretty hilarious that Daenerys is completely unshaken by the incest thing (she wouldn't, really) and more about the fact that if what Jon claims is true, he's the last male heir of the Targaryen throne. As everyone speculated, the fact that it's Jon's brother and best friend that
is providing Jon this information is definitely more than a mite suspicious-sounding to Daenerys.
And while I'm genuinely not super-invested in this relationship, it is pretty interesting to see just how the writers will take this, whether Jon will even care that he's the rightful heir at all. Jon as a character has always been reluctant even in the times where he ends up in a leadership position, and it's interesting... but we do have to get through a zombie army first.
Speaking of the zombie army (and I am jumping around the episode), this episode shows a lot of preparations for fighting them. We've got dragonglass weapons being forged, dragonglass ramparts being set up, scenes of people like Dothraki screamers and whatnot, a huge table scene of them setting up strategy... and the revelation by Bran that the Night King's main goal at this point is to kill him, the Three-Eyed Raven, because he's the full culmination of mankind's memory, and to kill memory -- to make it so that no one remembers mankind -- would be true death. It's a pretty poignant theme (delivered well by both Bran and Sam via flowery speeches), that even if we die, we are survived by written accounts, by the songs of bards, by talk of mouth. It's perhaps not been a theme that has been front-and-center in
Game of Thrones, but definitely one that's pretty true of most fantasy settings.
Bran himself ends up noting that he will be the bait, hiding in the Godswood, for them to lure out the Night King and making it so that the forces of Winterfell will have a proper target to murder. That's one aspect of the final battle that's interesting, and while it does sort of reduce the story into having two keystone members of the army as living plot devices (Bran and the Night King) it also marks the stakes of the plot in a more clear way -- something that these large-scale fantasy battles are always better for including.
Love the fact that Jon, Sansa and Arya are basically unanimous in trying to protect their brother and trying to dissuade this.
Still, while we do have the political undertones of the Stark/Targaryen drama, as well as the logistics to set up the final battle in Winterfell, we do have a whole lot of payoffs as this episode is basically just the calm before the storm of death and destruction that's about to besiege Winterfell. We start off with Jaime's arrival on the court, with every single Northerner and Daenerys being in agreement for once -- none of them like the Kingslayer, and they don't have the audience's benefit of being privy to Jaime being humbled and developing as a character. It's not until Tyrion's testimony and Brienne's defense of Jaime's character -- and Sansa's unwavering trust in Brienne -- that Jaime is spared from becoming dragon snack. It's a pretty great scene, and Bran even gets a good dig on Jaime by quoting "the things we do for love". The subsequent scene between Jaime and Bran is also pretty neat, with Bran's creepy detachment from emotion and everything being pretty unsettling.
Meanwhile, Jaime's revelation that Tyrion mis-read Cersei and she has no intention of cooperating at all obviously rubs Daenerys the wrong way, ranting about just how Tyrion has sort of utterly
sucked ever since he went to Essos and became her Hand, prompting Jorah Mormont to deliver this impassioned speech that, sure, he was once jealous of what Tyrion has ascended into, but also recognize that Tyrion is a smart man and despite his mistakes, he deserves a second chance. It's a neat moment for both Jorah and Daenerys... although poor, poor Tyrion has admittedly been pretty "off" as a strategist for the past couple of seasons.
And then we get a fun mix of scenes as characters interact with each other. Arya and Gendry flirt around in the Forge, with Arya showing off to Gendry that she's so much more than just a spunky girl that can defend herself, and ends up having sex with him near the end of the episode, noting that she wants to know what it's like. It's a pretty interesting to see her basically starting to indulge in healthy, non-faceless-man interests once more.
Arya also gets a pretty neat scene talking to the Hound, and it's not particularly big, but it's a neat little follow-up from their not-quite-friendly encounter in the previous episode, with the Hound admitting that he's genuinely fought for Arya in the past. They're buddies now, aww. Just like many other characters in this episode, mainly Theon and Jaime, the Hound has gone through a fair bit of character development over his appearances in the previous seasons, and has well and truly earned redemption, and Arya's parting remarks to the Hound clearly says far more that, no, she doesn't consider the Hound on her "list" anymore. (Beric's also there, but... he's sort of a flat character, huh?)
Oh yeah, Beric, Tormund and Edd arrive with their unit to inform the Winterfell defenders that the zombies are coming. We get a pretty awesome, hilarious scene of the remainders of the Night's Watch -- Jon, Sam and Edd, and also fucking GHOST -- hanging out on the ramparts and making jokes about just how far Sam's gone into being a certified badass. Speaking of characters returning, Theon also shows up, catches up the Winterfell folks on that's been going on with the Ironborn, and we get an awesome, tearful hug between Sansa and Theon. That's neat.
After a fun bit of brotherly reunion between Jaime and Tyrion -- pretty well done, if unspectacular -- Jaime meets up with Brienne to thank her and ask to serve in her unit, an act that baffles and unnerves Brienne since Jaime hasn't insulted her once throughout their conversation, which is pretty hilarious and also heartwarming. Also freaking Podrick Payne's actually a certified badass in the battlefield and the bed.
This ends up leading to the increasingly large gathering of characters around the fireplace. First just Tyrion and Jaime reminiscing about the past, then Brienne and Podrick join in (leading to a hilarious "half cup" joke), then Davos show up, and finally Tormund. Tormund's hilarious speech as he tries to build himself up and talk about how he got the name "Giantsbane" in his hilariously doomed attempt to woo Brienne is HILARIOUS as shit. And these characters that, as Tyrion pointed out, has been on different sides of the battlefield fighting each other, gathering together for one last night around a fire and just... just talking, you know? It's pretty awesome, and it could only get so interesting in a show with a history and lore that's as well-crafted as Game of Thrones. It's not perfect -- particularly the TV adaptation with its wonky pacing -- but it definitely made me care for many of these characters, even less important ones like Tormund and Podrick, and seeing them just interact and exchange random lines and stories is just amazingly well done.
It, of course, leads to the wildling Tormund questioning Tyrion why Brienne is considered a "Lady" and not a "Ser", leading to Jaime basically calling bullshit on the whole "women can't be knights" thing, and notes that any knight can knight another person, leading to the very dramatic and genuinely tear-jerking scene as Jaime knights Brienne without a sign of mockery and all seriousness. You get the feeling that Jaime has always respected Brienne for being the true, perfect knight that he has never been able to be, and the composition of the scene, from Brienne's clearly-hurt "never wanted to be a knight anyway" to the dramatic delivery, the music, and the applause from everyone else in the room... it's amazing. Brienne of Tarth has grown very organically into one of my favourite characters in the entire series, and from what's a "yeah, she's a badass fighting against the system that oppresses her, of course we'll root for her" character into one that I genuinely cheer for when Jaime knighted her, giving her the one thing she genuinely wants.
Another fun scene is Lyanna telling Jorah off for daring to suggest that she hide in the crypt with everyone. She's a badass little bear, go you tiny child, stab those wights in the face! Jorah is then gifted Heartsbane by Sam, because Sam served under Jorah's deceased father, and he's clearly not practiced well with such a long blade. It's actually pretty neat.
Of course, not all the scenes in this episode are super amazing. Davos and Gilly running the soup kitchen earlier in the episode and talking to a little girl with face scarring about how she has to "protect everyone in the crypt" felt a bit off, other than to set up the fact that the refugees are hiding in the crypt. And... and I kind of suspect that the refugees might not be in the safest place at all. Can the Night King raise the corpses of the dead people that wights didn't kill? I don't remember. I do like just how Davos totally sees little dead princess Shireen in this scar-faced little girl.
We also get the non-sequitur of a scene between Gray Worm and Missandei, where they straight up swing fifteen death flags above their heads. Because, holy shit, they were just straight-up talking about retirement plans and going back to a beach. Moreso than any other character in this episode, one or both of this pair will die.
And while Game of Thrones has -- to my slight disappointment -- moved more from politics to action scenes and huge setpieces in its final seasons, I absolutely adore that before the eve of the big zombie battle, we're having this amazing sequence of people just talking and sharing in their humanity, simultaneously forging bonds and wrapping up storylines (Jaime, Brienne, Jorah, Arya, Gendry, Hound, Sam, Bran, Gray Worm, Missandei and Theon all arguably have 'wrapped up' most of their story, and characters like Gilly, Edd, Davos, Tormund and Pod were always likable but never safe) and making a lot of these characters fair game for the scary scary shit that's about to come down when the Night King and his army of more-than-four horsemen advance upon Winterfell. I really like this -- it's been a fair amount of time in Game of Thrones where I feel like no one is safe, and it's this uncertain tension that defined the first couple of seasons of the show where we have people that were built up to be main characters like Ned Stark or Khal Drogo dying like flies.
Overall, this Sunday's yesterday's episode is going to prove to be a huge, huge clash, and for once, we're not hindered with "unresolved storyline plot armour" that has been around a significant amount of our characters for a while. Sure, at least Daenerys and Jon are probably safe, but I am genuinely worried for a good chunk of the cast, since a lot of them did wrap up their storylines as best as they could over this episode, and a final confrontation with the threat of the personification of death itself, I genuinely doubt that we're going to finish the next episode without at least a good chunk of the cast in Winterfell dead.
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