Game of Thrones Review: Beyond the Wall (S 7

Hey guys, welcome to my review for Game of Thrones season 7 episode 6, Beyond the Wall.
Ok so this was a very interesting episode, there was a lot about it I liked, but unfortunately
when it was over I definitely felt some dissatisfaction with the way things played which I’ll get
into later.
So let’s jump right in with my top 5 moments of the night,
Starting with the conversation between Littlefinger and Sansa, where she tells him she is worried
about Arya, only for him to subtly continue his manipulations in a really smart way.
When he sees that Sansa is clearly threatened by Arya he mentions that Brienne of Tarth
will protect her, but when he talks about he it appears he is not trying to reassure
her, but rather just trying to mention the name, so Sansa will make the connections in
her own head, to eliminate Brienne as an obstacle if she decides to turn against Arya.
And seeming to play right into his hands, Sansa then orders Brienne and Podrick to travel
south, so she cannot interfere with whatever she is planning.
I’ve heard some people mention that Sansa and Arya may be playing littlefinger or will
get the better of him in the end, and that may happen, but I certainly don’t get that
impression.
To me it seems like Littlefinger is playing them very well, although since he told Sansa
he doesn’t know where her sister got the letter, if Arya was to reveal where she found
it, he will be caught in a lie, which may contribute to his ultimate downfall.
At number 4: There was the undead Bear attack against the
companions, which took out 3 of their men.
Watching the bear which then was set on fire tearing through them was amazing, although
I was really angry at the Hound for not helping Thoros, I get that he is still terrified of
fire, but I was still disappointed he did nothing to help.
I was also surprised Thoros survived, though it made sense he didn’t make it through
the night.
At number 3: I chose the battle on the frozen lake.
Watching the companions surrounded by enemies fighting for their lives looked great, and
it was really interesting learning about the bond between individual white walkers and
the wights they turn.
As Beric pointed out this means that targeting the Night King is probably the most important
thing they can do since he turned so much of their army.
At number 2: I chose Daenerys flying in on Drogon, using
all 3 dragons to rip apart the army of the dead.
And while it was awesome seeing dragonfire rain down on the enemy, I was more impressed
by the White Walkers who completely unphased and seemed ready for the dragons, armed with
ice spears that can take them down.
At Number 1: There was the final scene of the episode, when Viserion is pulled from
the freezing lake and turned by the Night King.
This left me with the impression that next time we see the Night King, he may be mounted
upon his new weapon, though I am very curious about whether the dragon will still breath
fire, in my mind I’m imagining he will breathe a cold mist that freezes whatever it touches,
similar to the dragon from the GRRM story the Ice Dragon.
Which I recommend to everyone who like GoT, the story itself is not really canon to this
world, but it does feel like the world and you get a lot of cool insight into what Ice
dragons might be like.
Now with all that out of the way, I do want to go over what I didn’t really like about
this episode as well.
Personally, the reason I love GoT is because I feel it complements the ASOIAF world, providing
an amazing visual spectacle, awesome moments and great insight into where the novels may
be going.
So I don’t judge the show for small mistakes or things they might overlook, I am very understanding
about the momumental task they have in making this show, and since they started deviating
from the books so much after about the 4th season, I realize they don’t have GRRM brilliant
work as a guildline anymore, so I really don’t fault them for simplifying and speeding things
along.
But even with all that, and the leeway I give to the show, this episode was not what I expected,
and really did feel like a bit of a disappointment.
The biggest problem I had, may be my own fault, but I really was expecting them to reference
the story of the Last Hero much more then they did, I really though Jon’s mission
was going to mirror what we know about the tale, losing all of his companions and being
left alone in the north to finish off the mission.
Instead all of the important characters survived except for Thoros who went out in his sleep.
Everyone else who died was someone we didn’t know, and this felt like a big let down.
There was also the convenient group of wight which all got destroyed leaving only the one
they needed to capture, the fact that the army of the dead waited the entire night without
attacking the companions, even though the Night King later proved they can throw spears
really well.
Even if he was saving the ice spears for the dragons, couldn’t the white walkers just
take some normal spears from ther army and start throwing them at the defenders?
There was also the last minute rescue from Daenerys before anyone important could die,
the fact that Gendry was able to make it to the wall, send a raven south, and for Dany
to fly all the way north in a single day and night, and the romantic connection at the
end, which felt very forced to me.
Even though them getting together makes perfect sense, it just seems so obvious, I was hoping
they would slowly fall in love but die tragically before they could be together, but from the
looks of things, there relationship will be much more conventional.
I also found it very hard to believe Jon survived falling into freezing water and then rode
back in his cold wet clothes.
Some things that seemed strange but didn’t bother me was Benjen’s rescue of Jon, even
though it kind of came out of no where, it makes sense to me that Benjen would have been
tracking the white walkers, and probably saw Jon’s party but could not help them soon
because they were surrounded.
So he likely waited for the perfect opportunity to jump in, and I guess both of them on the
horse would have made it to slow to reach the wall in time.
I also did not have a problem with jon taking Dany is his queen, although I am not a fan
of the targaryens, and it is Jon’s decision to make.
My biggest problem was that the Targaryens force themselves on people who do not want
them, but if Jon can convince the northern lords to have her as their queen, her legitimacy
to me is no longer relevant, if they want her as queen then there’s not much more
to be discussed.
Now for the best kill of the night, it obviously goes to the Night King for spearing Viserion
and collapsing him to the ground.
Although the Night King did appear to have a shot at taking out Drogon, I guess it makes
sense he targeted the dragon that was actively destroying his army at that moment.
And seeing the dragon go down, literally in flames was pretty amazing.
For the best Line of the night, there was when jon offered to return Longclaw to the
Mormont family, only for Jorah to say: He gave it to you, I brought shame onto my
house.
I forfeited the right to claim this sword.
It's yours, may it serve you well and your children after you.
To me this sounds like Jorah’s unofficial endorsement of Jon’s potential relationship
with Daenerys.
In my mind Jorah not only wants Jon to have the sword, but wants Jon to marry Dany and
have children, so Dany’s children will also have the sword.
I may be reading to much into this since Dany believes she can’t have anymore children,
but that was the impression I got from the conversation.
I was really expecting to give this episode a 10 or a 9.5, but after watching it I just
didn’t feel it lived up to what I was expecting.
I still liked the episode a lot for it’s amazing moments and the incredible visual
spectle that they offer, especially with how realistic those dragons now look and so overall
I gave this episode 8.5 out of 10.
It appears that many episode this season have divided fan opinion, but what did you guys
think?
Did you like the episode or were there to many problems for you to enjoy it?
Be sure and let me know in the comments below and be sure to watch the episode recap already
available.
I’ll see you guys again next week for the final episode of season 7.

Game of Thrones Review: Beyond the Wall (S 7 - Ep 6)

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