Book-Reader’s Recap—Game of Thrones, Episode 704—”The Spoils of War”

Spoiler Note: This post is intended for those who have read the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. As such, the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. If you haven’t read the books yet, you can discuss this episode in our non-book reader (Unsullied) recap. Thanks!

Welcome to “The Spoils of War,” aka “The One Where Game of Thrones  Goes Action Movie All Over Everyone’s Ass.” Actually, that’s not quite fair. Ever since season 4, there’s been at least one episode per season that’s dedicated mainly to action, but with pressure mounting to wrap up a huge number of plotlines in a reasonable amount of time, the show can’t really afford to do that any more. Relatively short as this episode is, quite a lot happens, although I think we can agree that the more buzz-worthy moments come at the end, when Drogon wrecks the Lannisters.

Mindful of the importance of framing, the episode also begins with Team Lannister, as Jaime and Bronn cart their ill-gotten riches (one might even call them “spoils”) away from Highgarden. Jaime is understandably moody after being informed that Olenna Tyrell killed Joffrey, meaning that Tyrion’s imprisonment and everything that resulted from it were pointless. (I mean, he already knew that, but pinning down the real culprit must bring his dissatisfaction into acute focus.) “I’ll save my confessions for the High Septon,” Jaime says when Bronn inquires after what crawled up his butt and died. Bronn, ever helpful, points out that there is no more High Septon. “No, there isn’t, is there?” Jaime asks ruefully, his sister’s pyromaniacal vengeance clearly on his mind. It looks like Olenna’s warnings about Cersei got under Jaime’s skin, but how deep?

But Bronn has more important things on his mind. He and Jaime have a brief debate over Jaime’s continued failure to get Bronn the highborn wife and attendant castle promised to him back in “The House of Black and White.” For the record, I’m with Bronn on this one. This poor guy was sitting pretty back in season 5 — sure, he was engaged to an idiot who was second-in-line to inherit her father’s castle, but he was making it work. And then along comes Jaime Fooking Lannister with his boy band haircut and middling Dornish subplot to steal Bronn away from a chance at happiness. Jaime even has to gall to give Bronn the “Being rich is more trouble than it’s worth” argument. Get paid, Bronn — do whatever it takes.

As we’ll see later, this is the best Bronn episode in…probably ever.

Jaime does say that Bronn will have his pick of castles once the war is won and peace has come to the land, but Bronn — like the audience — has serious doubts whether that will ever happen under the reign of Queen Cersei the Always Angry.

Randyll and Dickon Tarly are also present — they’re in the process of collecting the harvest from the Reach and sending the food to King’s Landing. Randyll is in an interesting position here. I’m not sure if the book version of Randyll would have defected to the Lannister side, but then again, Kevan Lannister did talk up Randyll’s loyalty in A Feast for Crows, arguing to Cersei that appointing Randyll Hand of the King would “strengthen yourself and weaken Highgarden.” Something similar seems to have happened with Jaime’s offer to make Randyll Warden of the South.

Back in King’s Landing, Cersei is chatting with Tycho Nestoris. Cersei has promised to pay off the Crown’s debt to the Iron Bank in full with the gold pilfered from Highgarden, a quick fix that has Tycho impressed. “I always considered your father a very effective and efficient man,” he tells her, “but you appear to be redefining those terms entirely.” Please don’t validate Cersei’s terrible decisions with compliments, Tycho.

Helen Sloan – HBO

Moving into the map room, Cersei contemplates opening a new line of credit with the Iron Bank now that her debts will soon be repaid. She wants to hire the Golden Company of Essos “to recover some things that belong to me,” which is interesting. Perhaps she’ll send them to reclaim the North from Sansa and Jon Snow? A couple of characters have crowed in the past that no southron army has ever marched into the North, but the Golden Company is a different story. Or maybe we’re get a (very) loose adaptation of the bit from the novels where the Golden Company, formed generations ago by the exiled Targaryen bastard known as Bittersteel, touches down in the Stormlands with Jon Connington and the new Aegon Targaryen. Stay tuned.

Also, Cersei is drinking wine in this scene, although you probably didn’t need to be told that.

At Winterfell, we have an odd scene between two unlikely characters: Littlefinger and Bran Stark. I say “odd” for two reasons: 1) I’m not entirely sure of Littlefinger’s motives; and 2) Pretty much every scene with Bran is odd nowadays.

The thrust of it is that Littlefinger gives Bran the Valyrian steel dagger someone tried to assassinate him with waaaay back in the second episode of the series. (Naturally, Littlefinger lies about knowing who it belongs to.) If you’ll remember, Catelyn then took the dagger to King’s Landing, Littlefinger lied and said he’d lost it to Tyrion in a bet, Catelyn arrested Tyrion on the strength of that evidence, everything went to hell, and here we are.

So why would Littlefinger give the dagger to Bran? It sounds like he’s trying to ingratiate himself with the youngest surviving Stark male, who is, lest we forget, the rightful heir to Winterfell. Knowing Littlefinger, it’s part of a larger plot to solidify his grip on power in the North — as Sansa points out later, he sure as hell didn’t give it away out of the goodness of his heart.

But because Bran is now the Three-Eyed Robot, power grabs are kind of lost on him. That’s made clear when Bran quotes Littlefinger’s catch phrase back to him. “Chaos is a ladder.” Is that Bran firing a warning shot across the bow? After all, as an all-knowing, all-seeing entity, Bran must know all the shady shit Littlefinger has gotten up over the past several seasons, including betraying Ned Stark and killing Lysa Arryn. But as the past episode established, he may now be too focused on the threat of the White Walkers to care about any of that. But Sansa and Arya surely would. Maybe pass some of that information along, Bran.

Littlefinger, at the least, is unsettled, which could spell trouble down the line. But with his new big-picture outlook, it’s hard to predict what, if anything, Bran will do about it.

Anyway, Littlefinger is far from the last person Bran will make uncomfortable today. Meera Reed — good, diligent, kind-hearted Meera Reed — enters the room to bid him goodbye. Now that the White Walkers are on the way, she wants to head back to Greywater Watch and protect her family…what’s left of it, at any rate. As she points out, her brother died to keep Bran safe on the way to the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave, not to mention Hodor and Summer. She’s after a meaningful goodbye, but Bran absorbs her plea with all the emotion of someone who just realized they left the oven on.

“I remember what it felt like to be Brandon Stark,” he says. “But I remember so much else now.” Hmm. I like that Bran’s journey has changed him, but compared to the gradual changes that someone like Sansa has gone through, suddenly turning him into an automaton as the result of a mystical memory dump seems a bit hollow. Ellie Kendrick saves the scene with her performance, though. Her reading of the line “You died in that cave” is heartbreaking, especially when it splashes against the surface of Bran’s cold resolve. I hope we haven’t seen the last of her.

The emotion generated in that scene rides the wave of Ramin Dwadi’s swelling score as we cut to Arya Stark, who’s sitting on her horse and overlooking Winterfell. Now here’s a character whose journey has changed them bit by bit rather than all at once, and because we’ve been along for every step of the ride, we know exactly what she’s feeling when she looks at her childhood home with yearning and apprehension in her eyes. Welcome home, Arya Horseface! The North has missed you.

Although it hasn’t seen you for a while, so please forgive it if it wants to check ID. When Arya gets to gates of Winterfell, the guards initially won’t let her in. Understandably, they’re slow to believe that Arya Stark, long thought dead, has just shown up out of the blue. Then again, considering that exact thing happened when Bran turned up last week, maybe they should open their minds a little.

This whole bit is a callback to the moment from season 1 when Arya, dirty from chasing cats around the Red Keep dungeons, demands reentry into the castle. She’s much calmer this time around, and uses logic rather than precocious sass to convince the guards she is who she says she is. Then as now, Arya gets what she wants.

As with the Hot Pie and Nymeria scenes a couple weeks back, the producers are drawing lines between the Arya of season 7 and the Arya of yesteryear. We see that at work again when Arya, told not to move by the guards, opts not to give a f**k and peaces out, all without the guards noticing. Whatever weird and wild adventures she’s had between seasons 1 and 7, Arya goes where she bloody well wants, and now she has the ninja skills to do it quietly.

The guards run off to tell Lady Sansa of Arya’s disappearance before they dig themselves any deeper. When they mention that Arya name-dropped Maester Luwin and Rodrick Cassel, a small smile of recognition flickers across Sansa’s face, and she instinctively knows that Arya has gone to the crypts to visit her father’s statue. Again, we’re drawing lines back to season 1, emphasizing that the bond between the sisters is still there despite all they’ve been through. Stuff like this reinforces that we really are nearing the end.

The reunion is sweet, although nothing’s gonna top that Jon-Sansa reunion from last year. This one is understated, with the sisters embracing quietly in the sight of their dead dad.

Honestly, I could have done with some more emotion in this scene. I know the both of them expected to see each other, and that they didn’t have the warmest relationship beforehand, but they get down to the business of catching up awfully quickly. The most notable moments come right at the beginning, when Arya asks if she has to call Sansa “Lady Stark” now (Answer: Yes) and at the end, when Arya off-handedly mentions her kill list. Charmingly, that inspires them to hug, perhaps because Sansa is dismissing it for the moment as a flight of fancy on Arya’s part. I wish director Matt Shakman kept the camera closer to the girls as they hug it out.

Helen Sloan – HBO

The reunion train keeps chugging as Sansa takes Arya to see Bran in the godswood. Stone-faced as ever, Bran is diverted — at best — to see his little sister home safe and sound, and quickly reveals his newfound powers by saying that he saw Arya at the crossroads. “Bran has visions,” Sansa says by way of explanation. Translation: “He’s weird now. We think he ate some bad snow north of the Wall.” He also knows all about Arya’s list, the mention of which makes Sansa smile. Actually, I dunno — maybe Sansa thinks the list is a childish fancy, or maybe she’s already thinking of ways to put her sister-assassin to good use.

Finally, Bran brings out the Valyrian steel dagger, and the script-writers decide to obfuscate the plot so they can save a revelation for later. “Someone very wealthy wanted me dead,” Bran says, remembering the assassination attempt. Oh, COME ON. I know you’re all mystic guru man now, but if you’re all-knowing, you must know exactly who wanted you dead, so why not share that with the class? This scene is kind of annoying me.

At the end of it, Bran gives the dagger to Arya, deducing that she can make better use of it than he. A wise choice. Then there’s a shot of Sansa, Arya, and Bran strolling through the Winterfell courtyard, and while it’s affecting, I somehow want more. I feel like this moment should land harder. I’m more moved by Brienne, who watches the trio pass and talks to Pod about how, through pretty much no effort on her part, she’s fulfilled her oath to Lady Catelyn to keep the Stark girls safe.

Helen Sloan – HBO

The best of the week’s Winterfell scenes comes later, when Arya strolls out to observe Brienne trouncing Pod during one of their training sessions. It’s good that Brienne is keeping her word and training Pod, but damn, he must be covered in bruises from head to toe at this point.

Arya, walking like a rich person, strolls up and asks to cut in. What follows is a very entertaining one-on-one fight scene where Arya, calm and confident, dances her way in and out of Brienne’s swings and gives me vivid Syrio Forel flashbacks. Not for the first time, I’m impressed that the production can make Maisie Williams — a girl of 5’1” — look freaking deadly. Sansa, watching open-mouthed from the ramparts next to Littlefinger, clearly agrees with me. If she wasn’t thinking of possible hits before, she is now.

But really, the fight is a blast. It includes lots of different kinds of fight choreography, from Brienne’s hacks and slashes to Arya’s darts and parries to one well-placed kick to Arya’s mid-section. By the end of it, both combatants are out of breath and smiling. That beautiful friendship that should have started back in season 4 is finally underway.

Helen Sloan – HBO

Also worth noting is that, after her sparring session, Arya has a serious stare-down with Littlefinger. It’s not surprising that Arya would take an instant dislike to the guy, but honestly, it’s a little irritating how inevitable Littlefinger’s downfall is becoming. With so many people in the castle against him, he’s kind of the underdog now — I almost want him to pull something out of his ass and best them all.

One more thing: even though it was easy, Arya’s final line was great. Brienne: “Who taught you how to do that?” Arya: “No one.” C’mon, how could they not go for that?

At Dragonstone, Daenerys and Missandei bond for a moment bonding over Grey Worm’s bedroom stylings before Jon Snow, eager as a puppy, bounds up and asks Dany to come see this sweet cave he found. Okay, it’s not as blatant as that, but pushing him into the corner of the frame like this does give the scene a breezy, playful tone:

Macall B. Polay – HBO

Jon leads Dany and Missandei through the cave where he’s going to mine for dragonglass, and things go all Steven Spielberg as the score swells and everyone looks in wonder at stuff that’s just out of frame. Deeper in, Jon shows off some gnarly cave paintings made by the Children of the Forest however many thousands of years ago. Dany seems seriously wonderstruck here, by the way, awed by the fact that these paintings were made before any of Westeros’ prominent families had a chance to declare war on each other. That primes her for Jon’s real purpose: showing her rather more detailed paintings of the White Walkers. “See? I’m not crazy!” he yells. “Drawings!”

Not really. Actually, this sequence is effectively creepy, and the setting and lighting give it an intimacy that wasn’t there on the beach. That tone is put to good use when Dany turns to Jon and, with her trademark piercing stare, tells him that she will fight “for you,” and “for the North…when you bend the knee.” And the left hook catches Jon on the jaw. After he protests, there’s an effective callback to the conversation that Jon and Mance Rayder had back in “The Wars to Come,” with Dany asking him if the survival of the people of the North is more important than his pride.

I love that Game of Thrones is keeping the spirit of the wildlings alive through Jon. I mean, true, there are still actual wildlings left on the show, but their whole freedom-at-any-cost ethos has persisted in a way that the philosophies that enervated, say, Houses Baratheon and Martell haven’t. And it’s doubly poignant here, because when we think of Jon’s connection with wildlings, we think of Ygritte, another woman with whom Jon shared an intimate encounter in a cave. Layers, people.

Back outside, Tyrion and Varys also look like puppies, but the kind who’ve just peed on the rug and know they’re going to be punished. They tell Dany that the Unsullied captured Casterly Rock — that’s good! — but also that it was a trap and they’re surrounded and that the Tyrells and dead — that’s bad.

Daenerys flies into a queenly rage and makes everyone — including Jon and Davos — uncomfortable by insisting they stick around while she chews out Tyrion. As she points out, Tyrion’s strategy has resulted in the loss of Dorne, the Reach, and the Iron Islands (well, Theon and Yara’s followers). She goes for a low blow when she suggests that Tyrion may be pulling his punches to save his family members for harm. Ouch. I think she’s got it wrong — in the books, Tyrion’s hatred for Cersei especially is made very clear — but when the dragon is woke, you fear the fire.

Fed up with Tyrion’s “clever plans,” Dany asks Jon what he would do. She’s all in favor of mounting up and cooking Cersei in the Red Keep, which would go against the “I don’t want to be Queen of the Ashes” train of thought she was on before all her allies died. Perhaps sticking up for his bro, Jon advises taking the high ground, telling Dany she’ll be “more of the same” if she resorts to brutality. It’s a good moment because it tempers the bond of trust forming between Jon and Dany, and because it’s a subtle misdirect. Dany may not be brutal enough to kill civilians, but that doesn’t mean she can’t use her dragons against enemy combatants…

Macall B. Polay – HBO

She makes her final decision between scenes. Later, we pick up with Jon and Davos on break from mining for Dragonglass. They dish about that Daenerys girl, and the dialogue gets pretty romcom-y. Davos: “What do you think of her?” Jon: “Who?” Davos: “I believe you know of whom I speak.” Laying it on a little thick, guys.

Jon is complimentary of Dany, but denies he’s interested in anything beyond her “good heart.” Who can think of girls with ice zombies on the way? The scene gets a little more worthwhile when the pair runs into Missandei, who explains that there is no marriage on the island of Naath, and therefore no bastards, and therefore it couldn’t host a war epic with a moody bastard at its center, so what good is it?

That’s not the reason the scene is worthwhile. The good bit comes when Missandei explains why she follows Daenerys, saying honestly that she serves Dany because she wants to, and that Dany would give her a ship to take her home if she asked. (Remember that Dany offered to do something like that back in season 3.) “She’s not our queen because she’s the daughter of some king we never knew,” Missandei says. “She is the queen we chose.” Highlighting Dany’s beneficent nature is important because of how it will contrast with what comes later. And Davos’ line about wanting to switch sides is cute, too.

While the three are chatting, an Ironborn ship pulls ashore. It’s Theon and the few Greyjoy loyalists who survived the battle with Euron. Although Theon is respectful, Jon grabs him by his salt-stained lapels and shakes him back and forth for all the shit he pulled back in season 2. It’s a tense moment, although it lacks the impact it could have had if we’d had a better understanding of Jon and Theon’s relationship before Jon left for the Night’s Watch.

Out of respect for how Theon helped Sansa escape Winterfell, Jon refrains from pummeling him. Honestly, I could have watched this scene go on for a while longer — Alfie Allen is never less than captivating — but we’ve got an action sequence to get to. Theon wants to ask for Dany’s help in rescuing Yara, but she’s out. Where? Oh, we’ll tell you.

Cut to somewhere near King’s Landing — we’re not sure exactly where, but Randyll mentions that all the gold from Highgarden has made it to the city. He and Jaime also talk about how their forces are “stretched a bit thin” at the moment, which sets up the crushing defeat to come.

Macall B. Polay – HBO

Before the battle begins, we get a humanizing moment with Dickon Tarly. (Bronn has the comedy bit of the episode when he cracks up at the sound of the name.) Dickon is not the cruel man his father is, and admits to Jaime and Bronn that he had conflicting feelings about killing men from Highgarden, some of whom he’d hunted with when he was younger. As Katie pointed out in her Unsullied recap, this is something of an extension of the scene from “Dragonstone” where Arya ate with the Lannister soldiers. The Lannisters (and now the Tarlys) are technically the villains of the piece, but getting to know them calls that into question. It also may set the stage for a new villain, as we’ll get to in just a moment…

The battle starts slow. Bronn hears the pounding of horses approaching, and Jaime orders the Lannister army to form up. We already know the line is stretched thin, so the Lannisters are underdogs from the start. Shots of the Lannister soldiers, some quivering in fear, underscore this. We know and like Daenerys more than we know and like the Lannisters, but this battle sequence encourages us to revisit our preconceptions. That, more than anything, is what makes it different than the big battle sequences that have come before. Daenerys, with her army of screaming savages and terrifying dragon, is pretty scary in this one.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean the sight of the Dothraki charging headlong into the Lannister lines and Daenerys bearing over the horizon atop Drogon any less of a thrill, but I love that the show goes for a different perspective here.

Drogon spews enormous fireballs at the Lannister lines, and we get terrifying closeups of men wreathed in flame. Again, our perspective is of Daenerys as dangerous firestarter. Notice how we get a horrified reaction shot from, say, Dickon, but nothing really comparable from the Dothraki. It’s mostly just pure awesomeness from them, as when one Dothraki rider leaps off his horse and over the Lannister lines to cut throats from behind. Hello, stuntwork.

We don’t get much vulnerability from Daenerys, either. When we do get a shot of her, her brow is lowered in concentration, her black cloak rippling in the wind. Girl looks like a supervillain. Or a badass. The line grows thin, which I think is the point.

Compare that to a shot of Jaime, another character we like, looking panicked, and tell me who we’re supposed to root for:

Composer Ramin Djawadi deserves a lot of credit here, too. His score mixes Daenerys’ familiar battle theme with some unsettling horn blasts to keep us on our toes.

Also, I hope all my analytical musings aren’t underselling how INCREDIBLY FUCKING RAD this battle is. I mean, god, we’ve been waiting to see a fully grown dragon wreck some havoc ever since the end of season 1, and this is paying off our investment big time. As happy as I am that the battle plays with perspective, it also works as pure spectacle.

Trogdor!

Back to the play-to-play. Jaime orders his arches to shoot down Drogon, but of course the arrows don’t do any damage. Dany, showing advanced control over her eldest child, uses his body to shield herself from the projectiles, and then sets fire to the carts carrying the food from the Reach. If her armies can’t have them, she’ll make damn sure they don’t get to the Lannisters.

But the Lannisters have a hope: Qyburn’s dragon-killing scorpion (so Jaime names it) is still in play, and we get a great sequence-within-a-sequence where Bronn rides pell-mell across the field of fire to get to it. (Also, a Game of Thrones first: we have a close-up of a Dothraki guy cutting off one of the legs of Bronn’s horse. Keep surprising us, show.) And then Bronn gets his own version on Jon Snow’s one-shot spotlight from the Battle of the Bastards! We follow him through the fiery wasteland Dany has created as he stabs guys through the heart, dodges flaming wagons, and sees Drogon reaving through the blackened sky above. Bronn and Jon Snow, joined by camerawork! Yet another indicator of where our sympathies are supposed to lie.

Bronn reaches the covered wagon containing the scorpion and spears a Dothraki dude before turning his attention toward Drogon. I’ve seen some fans complain that there’s no way Bronn could lock, load and aim that thing without getting killed, but the episode has been very clear about how chaotic this battle is, so I don’t see a problem. Even without all the smoke and fire, there’s plenty to distract people.

At this point, we see that Tyrion is in the area, too, watching the battle unfold from a distance. “Your people can’t fight,” says Qhono, which means “He who wears too much eyeliner” in Dothraki. Tyrion looks like he’s going to be sick to his stomach. On top of reinforcing everything I’ve been saying about perspective, it also makes us wonder if Dany had a point earlier when she accused Tyrion of still having lingering sympathy for his family members.

Also: points for the mournful version of “The Rains of Castemere” that plays while Tyrion gives sad face. This episode is overwhelming.

Macall B. Polay – HBO

Another great, poignant moment: Drogon comes charging full bore at a group of Lannister soldiers. “Take cover!” Jaime shouts. Of course, there’s no cover to be had from dragonfire, and the men in Dany’s aim are burnt to ash.

That is one HELL of a powerful image, and gives a whole new meaning to “Queen of the Ashes.”

Back with Bronn, the sellsword manages to plug Drogon with one of Qyburn’s giant bolts, and while it doesn’t kill the beast, he’s clearly hurt — we finally get some vulnerability from mother and son as Drogon cries out in pain. Dany has to make an emergency landing, but not before obliterating the scorpion with a fireball. Bronn jumps clear just in time, and okay, this is the part where people have trouble believing he lived, but eh. Who’re you to say Dany didn’t pull on the scale that produced the precision fire blast?

Dany hops off Drogon to remove the bolt, and we have all the setup we need for the big moment of the night. Jaime picks up a spear and rides straight for Daenerys, intent on killing her. I’m totally with him. After all we’ve seen, of course he’d want to kill her and end this madness. Tryion watches from his hilltop. “You fucking idiot,” he says of Jaime. I’m totally with him. Of course he’s torn between love his brother and his queen. And Daenerys is trying to help her kid. I’m with her, too, because I’ve seen that relationship develop. It’s a wonderful moment where multiple perspectives collide, aided by ridiculous special effects and shit on fire. It’s transcendent.

Jaime’s about to succeed when Drogon breathes fire in his face, and Bronn tackles Jaime off his horse and into the nearby lake. Weighed down by his armor, Jaime sinks like a stone. Roll credits.

Is this the end of Jaime Lannister? Probably not, but after that episode, he can go out with his head held high. What an hour.

Next: Reading Between the Lines: How the dialogue in season 7 could foreshadow the show’s ending

Odds and Ends

• Generally speaking, we’re going to fewer and fewer separate locations nowadays, so even though characters like Sam and Euron don’t appear in “The Spoils of War,” we still see Pyke and Oldtown on the world map. I wonder if we’ll get any new map locations before the series is done. Somewhere north of the Wall, perhaps?
• In the novels, it’s heavily implied that Joffrey, eager to show his father that he was willing to take all necessary measures to protect the family, was behind the early attempt on Bran’s life. It’s hard to tell whether the show will take that route. I can see it committing to the idea that Littlefinger is the ultimate puppet master and making him responsible, although I don’t know what purpose that would serve. If we get an explanation, I hope it’s true to the books.
• Maester Wolkan whipped up a wheelchair for Bran. I wonder if he’s from the south and knew of Prince Doran’s peculiar method of mobility. Either way, that guy is earning his keep.
• The scene where Jon and Dany look at the drawings in the cave seems like a loose (like, very, VERY loose) reference to the advance chapter from The Winds of Winter where Arianne Martell goes looking for Elia Sand after the latter disappears into a cave in the Stormlands. Martin doesn’t dwell on the drawings as much as Benioff and Weiss do, but I’m betting that’s the genesis of the idea. The expansion worked well!
• Jon: “I saw the Night King, Davos. I looked into his eyes. How many men do we have in the North to fight him? 10,000? Less?” Davos: “Fewer.” Grammar callback. Respect the Mannis.
• So this episode was directed by a guy named Matt Shakman. It was originally supposed to be helmed by David Nutter, the guy behind dragon-heavy episodes like “The Dance of Dragons,” but he had to bail because of medical issues. Shakman is best known for directing episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, including one starring David Benioff and Dan Weiss in bit roles. Benioff and Weiss have been involved with Always Sunny for years, which I’m betting is how they met Shakman.

• I wasn’t sure a guy known mainly for comedy would handle an episode like this, but consider me won over.

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