Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 4: Thoughts


[Contains Spoilers] 

I had seen the leaked scenes of the episode the night before....the important scenes, the heartbreaking ones and I had gone to bed disturbed, not looking forward to watching episode 4 at all.

Anyways, so the episode opens with funeral pyres - several of them. We begin with Dany saying her goodbye to dead Jorah which was sad but meh (then she leans over to whisper something to his dead ears). Next we have Sansa sobbing over Theon’s body and that stuff got me, especially when she took off her Stark sigil and pinned it on Theon. I got goosebumps then. Theon died at home as a Stark. Finally. We see the survivors gathered in front of Winterfell to pay respect to the fallen. We see injured Ghost - everyone is injured. Then Jon gives a speech on how the dead were “the shield that guarded the realm of men”. It honestly felt flat and redundant for me. First time it was great, second time it was good but after a number of times, it has lost its charm on me. We now see several people carry their own torch and move towards the pyres - Arya goes to Beric Dondarrion, Sam gets Edd, Jon gets Lyanna, Dany - Jorah, Sansa - Theon, Greyworm - the Dothraki and Tormund - the wildlings.

The next scene is at the Winterfell hall where a feast is going on. At first, the feast seems a bit sombre with the the people at the head table looking serious af. We see Gendry very clearly looking for Arya. He fails at getting the Hound to tell him her whereabouts so he starts to leave the hall to look for her himself when suddenly he finds himself being given his father’s seat and title of being Lord of Storm’s End. I hadn’t thought anything about it until Tyrion points out how clever it really was to have a big house be loyal to the crown. Tyrion is impressed but Sansa isn’t; she even manages to look disgusted (what is wrong with our little bird?). We see Jaime pouring drinks for Brienne in a celebratory gesture.

While Davos is recounting his encounter with Melisandre at the night of the battle to Tyrion, we see Jon sitting at the table talking to someone that looks suspiciously like the Blackfish in the background. And then when the camera cuts back to the head table, they all are back at being sombre again. Then Tyrion goes to Bran to talk about wheelchairs and inheritances. And I found it very funny how Bran just looks over his shoulder and has someone wheel him out of the conversation and I wondered how weirdly better it would be if he just warged into some random guy and wheeled himself out. 

Back at the head table, Tormund is being the life of the party by forcing Jon to drink. He raises his horn to the Dragon Queen who raises her cup to Arya Stark - the hero of Winterfell. She clearly feels out of the place in this loud gathering of mostly over-assertive men even though she tries to hide it behind a forced smile. She sits down rather uncomfortably after the toast.

Then we get to see Tyrion host his drinking game with Jaime, Brienne and Pod. Successfully. He is getting Brienne to loosen up a bit. Tormund is going on about praising Jon again while being piss drunk and it’s nice seeing Jon do more than just brood and be angry. While I was getting busy being disturbed by the amount of wine Tormund is spilling left right centre, I completely failed to notice a Starbucks cup on the table in front of Khaleesi. 55 continuous nights of shooting must have left the crew very much out of their game it seems. Meanwhile Dany can’t help but notice how loved Jon is (all the while thinking oh fuck, this guy even has the right to the throne before me). Tormund seems to have forgotten Dany rides a dragon too and loosely states it takes either a mad man or a king to ride a dragon. And Jon looks back uncomfortably at Dany and to her credit she just raises her cup. She looks around at people who are very much enjoying themselves - Tyrion with his brother with not a care in the world playing his drinking game and Jon surrounded by Davos, Tormund and other men with obvious admiration and she has no one. She leaves the table and Varys notices.

Back with the Lannister brothers, Brienne and Pod, the drinking game is on full swing (and I can’t stress how much I admire Peter Dinklage as an actor - absolutely blessed). Brienne seems to be enjoying herself very much until (uh oh I see the look on Tyrion’s face and I see it coming) Tyrion puts Brienne being a virgin at the table and she stands to leave. Right on cue, Tormund comes a dancing over to Brienne but she shoves him aside and leaves. He tries to follow her but Jaime stops him and goes after her instead. Then we see Tyrion and Pod successfully cockblocking this giant man who, heartbroken, turns around and walks off (ah I had never seen such a confused and dejected look on him before). Pod looks on smiling as he walks away and finds himself looking at a smiling girl. And here we go, the Winterfell girl is about to find out the answer to the burning question of what Pod is capable of. Tormund goes to mop about his broken heart with Clegane who isn’t at all interested but a couple of Winterfell girls are. Another one tries to charm Clegane too but fails. Luckily, Pod takes her too under his wings. Sansa comes and joins the Hound and they reminisce about the past, how she could’ve been saved with all the horrors she had had to live with if only she had left King’s Landing with him (but of course, as show-watchers, we wouldn’t have all the fun that way).

Gendry finds Arya who is practising her archery since for her, a part of the list is still unchecked. Gendry, still being buzzed with the victory and being named the Lord of Storm’s End, goes down on his knees and professes his love for Arya and Arya being Arya, turns him down. She plays the usual, it’s not you, it’s me card (Thought: It was cute that Gendry fell for Arya hard and asked her to marry him. It was good to imagine them together as Lord and Lady ruling a great house. But did we really want Arya to become a Lady? Sure, she could accept his proposal after the war had been won since I’m not discounting the possibility for a Lady to be a lady and a badass ninja assassin but it would feel like something was off. But what does my opinion matter in the grand scheme of David Benioff and D. B. Weiss’s world?) Also, questions - How did so many people survive the Great War? Where are Dany’s people?

Anyhow, Brienne and Jaime hook up. Brienne is not a virgin anymore. 

Next we go over to our King in the North who’s nursing a hangover in his room when Dany interrupts his peace. He tries to give his condolences for the death of Jorah and she tells him how she friendzoned him because she loves him, Jon. Alright, so, in her world, relationships between relatives is absolutely fine and she sees her affair with Jon working perfectly. But in Jon’s world, it’s unthinkable. Imagine Rob and Lyanna, eww, right? But throughout the seasons, they’ve thrown the Jon + Dany thing so hard at us that even for us, in 21st century, it feels not only acceptable but also welcome. I mean this is a world where there is magic and dragons, why the fuck not. Jon seems to be ok with being in love with his aunt until he remembers he’s not okay. Her frustration is multiplied by this and she starts complaining how she feels like a foreigner this side of the sea. I mean I get it. She was almost worshiped for being a badass queen back in Essos and she was indeed invincible with the biggest army and three fucking dragons. She comes to Westeros, falls in love with this Northerner and goes to fight his war for him (which would eventually have been her war but not immediately, like it is for Cersei at the moment), loses a dragon, her best advisor and God knows how many men in the process and now to have her right to rule questioned would be too much for anyone and she is the Mad King’s daughter. She begs Jon to not tell anyone of his parentage so that they can go on like the same way they have been. Jon insists on telling his sisters (well, cousins) but Dany knows exactly what the repercussions of that will be. I hate the way Jon can’t do what Dany wants and I hate the way the break from their embrace. This can’t end well.

We see Jaime lay awake while Brienne sleeps beside him (don’t see any point of this scene except for making me wonder - what the hell is Jaime thinking about?)

Then we go to see the strategic plan room where it is revealed that half of the army is gone (only half, huh?). They discuss about what is to be done. They agree on starving the folks of King’s Landing and making Cersei appear like the villain. And once more, I get this feeling that it is a bad idea, simply because everyone agrees on this immediately. Dany is impulsive and she often has to be restricted from doing impulsive shit but at the end of the day, she always has to resort to violence and this seems like another of these instances. Sansa of course has to object stating that the army needs rest and this wonderful idea is squashed - another terrible idea, courtesy to Jon’s desire to please his queen. Dany is pleased and she shows it by eyeing Sansa while leaving the room. And Arya blocks Jon’s way to demand “a word”.

In the Godswood, the last of the Starks convene and Jon states the obvious by saying Dany played a huge role in defeating the army of the dead, and Sansa has to be a bitch and remind Jon that Arya was the one to kill the Night King. (Look, little bird, if it hadn’t been for Dany and her army, Arya wouldn’t have gotten the bleeding chance to kill the Night King. End of.) Arya is trying to string them all together reminding Jon that they’re family (well, LOL. Jon is a dragon and Bran is a raven). Jon feels uncomfortable on being called a Stark and he makes them swear to not tell anyone this and has Bran reveal his true identity to the girls. Man, I really wanted to see their reaction but the camera cuts off to the Lannister brothers.

Tyrion and Jaime are sharing a warm brotherly moment (Jaime is to stay behind in Winterfell with Brienne btw which, wow) when Ser Bronn of the Blackwater comes in swagger threatening them to not die in the coming battle and gets promised High Garden by Tyrion. Alright: Bronn doesn’t kill either of the Lannister men which is what I had predicted. Now, does he go vamos like he promised he would or does he make a heroic entry later in the show when the Lannister brother-duo are in trouble. My money is in the latter but hey, you never know. Anyways, Bronn has always been my favorite character and he brought some good banter into the bland episodes.

Next we have, the Hound on a majestic horse going south when he finds company in Arya and I laughed at their conversation:
“On your own?” “Not anymore”
“I don’t like crowds” “Me neither”
“You’re a big hero” “Don’t like heroes”
“Must’ve felt good sticking a knife on that horned fucker” “Felt better than dying”
“I have some unfinished business” “Me too”
“I don’t plan on coming back” “Neither do I” (she’s going to go to Gendry after that unfinished business is finished because he said, “none of this will be worth anything if you’re not with me”. Gendry should absolutely not die in this war because I won’t be alright)
“Gonna leave me to die if I ever get hurt?” “Probably” to which the Hound laughs. Oh I love this duo.

Next we see Rhaegal who seems to be injured but okay. Both of the dragons take to the sky which Sansa looks on from the castle. Tyrion joins her and they have an exchange regarding their feelings towards Dany and before we know, Tyrion knows Jon Snow’s heritage all because Sansa can’t stand another woman on the throne.

Jon is taking the road south to let Rhaegal time to heal. Tormund says his goodbye because he doesn’t want to fight the southern war no more. And he gets to take Ghost (who is terribly injured in the battle) north with him and his wildlings. I like how Tormund manages to make Jon smile more than anyone. He leaves foreshadowing that they might meet again. Sam and Gilly come out to say goodbye to him and Jon finds out that Gilly is indeed pregnant. Gilly wants to name the child Jon, if it’s a boy (don’t you dare!) Jon looks over to Ghost and leaves (without even saying a proper goodbye). Now, people lost their shit when Ghost didn’t get petted by Jon calling Jon a cold hearted bastard but as far as I can see, he is only protecting Ghost by not letting him follow him into yet another battle. Ghost can’t last long in the battle with living men, so I’m okay with him roaming in the north where he belongs.

Dany and crew head back to Dragonstone with the dragons and her Targaryen fleet. Grey Worm and Missandei share a moment on the ship. They don’t like the north so they’re happy they finally get closer to a warmer region. In one of the cabins, Tyrion shares the secret about Jon with Varys which the latter aptly points out is now not a secret anymore but an information, an information that can take on a life of its own and can potentially change the course of war that’s happening. We can obviously see that the two men agree on the precipitous predicament they both have found themselves in. Loyalties seems to be divided. Varys, as dear as he is, only cares about the end not the means and he is not someone you would want fighting against you.

The dragons are flying well and Dany is looking happy that Rhaegal is healing...until a big ass arrow comes out of nowhere and shoots Rhaegal on his chest. Then another finds his wing and the last one pierces his throat. Poor guy falls bleeding through his mouth. Tyrion and Varys come running out of their cabin to see him plunge right into the ocean. Dany is almost hit by a rogue arrow and she looks back to see Euron Greyjoy and his fleet lurking in the bay and he has many Scorpions lined up on the decks of his ships ready to shoot Drogon too out of the sky. Dany loses her shit and has Drogon fly directly at the Iron men’s fleet only to swerve at the very end to avoid an incoming projectile of many arrows. She has to retreat.

Now that they missed to kill both dragons, Eurons aims the arrows at the Targaryen fleet and shoots with almost a glee on his crazed face. Everyone has to run for their lives by diving into the sea. Tyrion himself barely makes it out alive but they almost made us believe he might have died by that falling mast. We see a handful of Dany’s men coughing on the beach including Varys, Tyrion and Grey Worm who seems to be deranged to find out that they lost Missandei.

In King’s Landing, Cersei opens the gate of the Red Keep to the small folk. Apparently she’s managed to fester fear into the stupid men and women against Dany - the Usurper. Give me a fucking break, the bitch is only hiding behind the “innocent people”, masking the act with generosity and chivalry. Given half a chance, she will repeat the nasty wildfire business many more times until there is only dust and ashes left in the wretched Capital. Euron tells her about Rhaegal and she in return tells him about the child that she is carrying in her womb. She rightfully looks uncomfortable with Euron breathing so near her face. Then we find out that they have captured Missandei (how exactly did they do it, again?)

At the battle table in Dragonstone, Dany, Grey Worm, Tyrion and Varys are discussing battle plans on how to take Cersei down, and they seem to be in disagreement. Dany wants to attack, Grey Worm is with her, Varys wants patience since he is “for the people” (eye roll), and Tyrion wants parley (like he always does even though he knows he can achieve fuck all). Later Tyrion and Varys talk about tyrants and Varys asks if Jon would make a better ruler than Dany would. Tyrion avoids the question by saying Jon doesn’t want it. You see, there is no black or white in this world (or any world), there are a lot of grey areas. Dany has been portrayed to be a great ruler across the narrow sea but out here, where people are different, her way of “ruling” is not well received. Jon is a good leader and a great commander. He knows how to serve his people who he treats like his own. But he’s got no charm on him. Yes, they could make a good couple and rule together, IF the issue of Jon being a Targaryen wasn’t there. I don’t know what I want to happen next in the series, I certainly couldn’t hazard a guess. Varys wants Jon to be the King. Tyrion seems unsure why they would want to betray Dany. And in the process of wanting Dany to not rule the Seven Kingdoms, Varys heavily implies that Dany would have to die. Oh boy. Varys is asking to be burned alive. And Oh My God, Melisandre had foretold already that he would indeed die in this land. Yup, Varys dies next episode.

Back in Winterfell, Jaime finds out about what’s happening down south and before you know it, fuckboi up and leaves Brienne “ for Cersei”. I have so many emotions about this, I can’t even fathom where to begin so I won’t.

At the gates of King’s Landing, Dany and her 14 Unsullied do a staring contest with Cersei, the Mountain, Lannister soldiers and the 100 Scorpios trained at them from the ramparts. The gate opens and Qyburn walks out to meet Tyrion half way. Their “talk” achieves nothing so Tyrion goes over closer to Cersei herself. While he moves closer the Lannister soldiers draw their arrows, ready to lose but Cersei makes a dramatic show of proving who’s in command here. (ugh this hateful woman) Tyrion tries to bring out the motherly side of Cersei and begs her to surrender for the sake of her unborn child. (In Cersei’s mind - oh gosh this idiot is going to say the child is Jaime’s and I’m doomed, don’t say it don’t say it don’t you dare say it) She goes over to Missandei and asks for her last words. Missandei, calm and resolute, looks at Grey Worm and then at Dany, who both are shitting bricks by now and shouts, “DRACARYS” and good god, the hair in my arm just stood up. Cersei turns back and looks at the Mountain who lops of Missandei’s head. (this is what I had seen the night before, this and Rhaegal’s death, this is what had stressed me out the entire evening).

Dany turns around and walks off, MAD as ever. Alright, I saw this in twitter and I couldn’t agree more - “She lost Barristan Selmy, She lost Viserion, She lost Jorah, She lost the Dothraki, She lost her claim to the throne, She lost Rhaegal, She’s losing Jon and She’s lost Missandei too” Why wouldn’t she turn Mad Queen?

Next episode: Dany didn’t go rogue on them right then, she went back to Dragonstone to brood or nurse her mad streak. Tyrion is inching closer to her (to warn her against Varys?). Smug Cersei is overlooking her city with the Mountain and Qyburn at her back. The city walls seems to be lined with Scorpions. Jon and friends have arrived at the gates. Euron’s fleet is ready, so is the Golden company and the Unsullied. They train one Scorpion over to the sky and wait. The sky is overcast and Euron is seen to be blocking his eyes from the sun (most probably) when he sees something in the sky that makes him look surprised and very afraid. The camera cuts off to a dragon roar. There have been so many speculations about this particular scene. My favorite is that Drogon had laid eggs in Old Valyria while he had gone rogue back in Essos, and he’s now come to rain fire at the Iron fleet and King’s Landing with his fleet of dragons. I personally thought Euron saw Drogon in armour. Now, people have asked where they had the time to build an armour for a dragon but come on, of all the questions you could ask about this series, you choose this?

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