What I’m Watching: Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones: Season 7, Episode 4 “The Spoils of War” (B+)

It’s hard to avoid spoilers these days even when you’re just a few days behind, and I was fortunate not to have anything ruined despite seeing quite a few things, mostly on Facebook. Someone indicated that pretty much everyone had lost the game now, though I don’t think that’s the case since this episode actually contained no name casualties despite the gratuitous number of deaths it did feature. Dragons are powerful beings, and though Jon, when consulted, spoke an important truth that it’s better not to use them for terror and killing, there’s no denying that it turned the tide of battle. Bronn was able to fell the beast with just one well-positioned shot, which nearly gave Jaime the opportunity to strike from behind and kill Daenerys. It’s hard to know who to root for these days since Jaime is sort of a good guy despite being allied with one of the most evil characters on this show, and Daenerys was the headstrong one in this episode who didn’t listen to her advisers. She’s also still set on Jon bending the knee before she provides her army, proving to be incredibly stubborn while he’s being relatively accommodating. I like the conversations between advisers, particularly Davos and Missandei about how the concept of a bastard doesn’t exist when there’s no marriage, and I loved Davos’ quip about noticing Jon staring at Daenery’s “good heart.” To think that, after her long journey, Arya was nearly turned away at the gates by guards who didn’t believe she was who she said she was, and it feels so good to have the three very hardened surviving Stark siblings back together. Something tells me that their fourth sibling, Jon, won’t live to be reunited with them, though he’s survived worst.