A long cold night, the dead army inching closer, and the knighting of a worthy soldier. Episode 2 of the finale season is getting us all lathered up right before the mighty forces collide. We do not get much action or at least the “action” we expected from this week’s episode but boy did our characters find interesting ways to deal with their cabin fever. Its important to notice that this entire episode is set in Winterfell, as we do not stray from the location at all. Afterall, the gearing up for the main event is about to reach it’s pinnacle. So, let’s get to it…
As the great battle approaches, all of the characters are dealing with tension and this episode emphasizes the difference of age and what kind of tensions they are all dealing with. As the older more battle-aged characters sit around and sing drunken songs, the young and unexperienced try to fill eager first-time experiences. We begin where we left off at the end of the premier, where Jamie Lannister has returned to the north and is summoned in front of an assembly. Daenerys, Sansa and Jon are at the head of the council where they try to judge their new visitor. Pretty much everyone in the north remembers Jaime as the guy who killed the king and has been a jerk his whole existence. Daenerys is really ticked off when Jaime mentions that his sister never intended on sending her army up north. So much for the reinforcements as Daenerys scolds Tyrion later on for being foolish and awful at his job. I guess everyone forgot that you should never trust Cersei with anything, literally anything ever.
No matter the family ties, Jaime has chosen his side and mentions that “This goes beyond loyalty,” and that “This is about survival.” Brienne stands up for Jaime and says that she would fight along side the king slayer, this forces Sansa to back up Brienne and just like that Jaime is part of the crew.
Down in the forge, Gendry is blowing through a year’s inventory of Dragon glass making all sorts of shanks and pointy sticks. Arya approaches Gendry and questions him about the White Walkers. She wants to know everything about them as in how they walk, look, attack and make love. Just kidding about the love making, that’s clearly through some osmosis process.
Jaime catches up with Bran in Godswood and tries to smooth over what happened between them. Bran isn’t too concerned about his past intentions because clearly, he’s focused on more important tasks, like all that crazy 3-eyed raven shenanigans. Jaime, I can see your future and its telling me that you need to make like a tree and leave.
After some slight banter with Tyrion, Jaime notices Brienne on the field. He marches up to her and pledges that he would be honored to fight with her. Brienne seems to harness a lot of confused emotions regarding Jaime. She mentions “We have never had a conversation last this long without you insulting me. Not once!” Hmm sound like the best of friends!
Despite all the chatter, the army of the dead is inching closer and closer. So, Dany decides to reach out to Sansa and see if they can mend their relationship. Sansa questions if Jon is only in lock step with Dany due to their love, and if Dany truly holds deep feelings for Jon. The mother of dragons expresses that she does truly love Jon but doesn’t hide her stern intentions of reclaiming the throne.
To the war room we go, where the generals and lieutenants plan out the path to victory. Bran reveals to everyone that the Night King is after him and only him because he has this sweet tattoo on his arm that attracts General Corpse. So, he devises an idea where he’ll lure the Night King and the dead army.
With the Night King taking his sweet time to Winterfell, the “cool” kids gather around the fire and swap ball busting stories. Tormund talks of how he was once breastfed by a giant. No seriously I’m not even disgusted, I’m actually impressed. Jaime, one ups him though as he knights Brienne by the fire. There you have it, the first female knight. Arise Ser Brienne! Yes, that was an actual smile from her too!
After a brief encounter with the Hound, Arya realizes that this might be the last night of her life and she can’t waste it talking to Meatloaf. She meets up with Gendry and after a brief interrogation of his sexual prowess, they forge their own dragon glass if you know what I mean. Many viewers have shared their opinions on this tasteless scene but luckily our image of Arya as the little sister hasn’t been too tarnished.
With the final scene, Jon is seen in the family catacombs gazing over the statue of Lyanna Stark. Dany approaches him and says that her brother Rhaegar Targaryen raped her. Jon insists other wise and decides to completely bring down the house of truth on Dany. “The last thing as she bled to death on her birthing bed was give the boy to her brother, Ned Stark, to raise as his bastard,” he says. Dany shocked at what she has just heard, mentions that the world doesn’t know this secret. As these revelations come to light for the young couple, the battle horn sounds of in the distance and leads us to the conclusion. With so many juicy nuggets revealed during the calm of this storm we can barely wait to witness the onslaught that is upon us. Grab your weapons, its go time!
