“The Spoils of War” the fourth episode of Game of Thrones season 7, has landed. What did we think of it? Read our thoughts below, tell us yours in the comments, and vote in the poll!
DAN: I’ll start with the obvious. Here are some words that describe the Dothraki-vs-Lannisters battle at the end of the episode: riveting, nail-biting, splendiferous, subversive.
It’s that last one that made it really stand out. In most of the show’s big battles, we had a clear idea of where our loyalties lay. Obviously we didn’t want the Night King or Ramsay Bolton to triumph in “Hardhome” and “Battle of the Bastards” respectively. Things were also pretty clear in “The Watchers on the Wall” — sure, we liked a few characters in the wildling camp, but we still wanted the Night’s Watch to stop them. The knottiest big battle before this was the one in “Blackwater,” where I kind of wanted both sides to lose. But the Loot Train Attack (that’s what HBO has named it — get used to it) was different. When Jaime was charging at Daenerys, I honestly wasn’t sure who to root for, and I LOVED it.
This is a battle the show could only pull off now, after we’ve gotten attached to different characters who happen to be on different sides of a conflict. Game of Thrones is justifying its long life, which is impressive when you consider that most shows tend to get worse as they go on. Way to flip the script.
So the battle was clearly the highlight of the episode, but quite a lot else happened. I’m still thinking through the scenes at Winterfell. Tell me if it’s just me, but did the reunions between the Stark kids feel kind of…muted…to anyone else? Maybe it was because the Jon-Sansa reunion last year set the bar so high, but I wanted more emotion from these scenes, particularly the one with Sansa and Arya. Maybe I’m not allowing enough room for how their journeys have changed them, but I was looking for a catharsis I didn’t quite get.
I give more leeway to the reunion with Bran, because he’s in a weird place right now. I’ve heard some great arguments as to why Bran is so distant nowadays — he no longer cares about anything other than humanity’s preservation, he doesn’t have room for a personality with all those new memories knocking around, he’s trying to avoid unfairly affecting current events with his vast knowledge of all things great and small — but none of that makes up for the fact that he’s acting odd and I want him to snap out of it. And he must know who sent the footpad to kill him way back when. I know you have other things on your mind, Bran, but could you let us know just for our own edification?
The Arya-Brienne fight was a thing of beauty, though. Having Arya back in Westeros is the gift that keeps on giving.
Helen Sloan – HBO
COREY: For me, other than that fantastic battle scene at the close of the episode, it was the moments of levity I enjoyed. From Dany and Missandei’s girl talk to Bronn cracking up at Dickon’s name, I was grinning a lot during “The Spoils of War.” Arya’s reunions with Sansa and Bran had me smiling, too. If you cut out that last 15 minutes, “Spoils” might have been one of the lightest episodes in the series…not that I’d want that battle scene cut.
This episode was only 50 minutes long, tied for shortest episode of the series, yet every single member of our podcast panel placed it in their top 10. And when you consider that the episode leaked early and still managed to become the most-watched episode of Game of Thrones ever, it’s even more impressive. And why shouldn’t it be? There was an epic battle, family reunions we’ve been waiting years to see, and lighter moments mixed in to keep us from drowning in the depths of dread like Jaime was drowning in that magically deep lake.
Season 7 has been moving faster than any season before, but the episodes themselves don’t feel rushed. Sure, some people have jumped around the map without any regard to geography, but I’m surprisingly okay with it. It isn’t often that we get multiple battle scenes of this quality in one season. As close to the end of the season as we are, I’m enjoying the ride.
RICHARD: Everybody is raving about that Dothraki-Dragon-Lannister battle scene, and rightly so. Game of Thrones has produced a number of stupendously cinematic battle sequences, the Massacre at Hardhome and the Battle of the Bastards included, and The Loot Train Attack is right up there with them. I agree with Dan that the ‘Loot Train Attack’ moniker is a tad lame, but it never appears onscreen, so we’re safe.
Every episode this season has gotten better and better, and it seems almost impossible that HBO can serve up three more episodes that top them. Even if one episode stumbles a bit, I can’t see a scenario where this season won’t be considered one of the best in the series. The Loot Train Attack was an action masterpiece because it wove epic, large-scale moments in with smaller, character-driven ones involving Jaime, Bronn and Daenerys. We’re talking the cinematic equivalent of a Mozart symphony here. There was even time to grapple with Tyrion’s feelings of dismay as he watched the massacre of his Lannister family soldiers.
HBO is delivering what was promised, and our years of emotional investment in the characters and their stories are paying off in a big way. On second viewing, I do agree with Dan that the Stark family reunions, especially the one between Arya and Sansa, could have gone deeper somehow. But that sparring match between Arya and Brienne was so good it pretty much made up for it. And Jon and Dany are totally getting together. Like AM PM, it’s “too much good stuff.”
Macall B. Polay – HBO
RAZOR: What can I say about “The Spoils of War” that my fellow council members haven’t already said? This episode had it all, from Dany and Jon’s first date at the Dragonstone Cave Art Exhibit to yet another heartwarming Stark reunion. It had Arya showing off her ninja assassin skills and Jaime and Bronn hazing the new guy about his name.
But of course, that climactic battle (I’m calling it the Field of Fire 2.0 because I refuse to call it the Loot Train Attack) was worth the price of admission by itself.
There’s just something about the thunderous approach of a Dothraki Horde charging with wild abandon toward their enemy that gives me chills up and down my spine. But throw in the roar of a full-grown dragon as he descends from the sky, and you’ve got a literal heart-stopping combination.
While that scene by itself was amazing, Ramin Djawadi’s breathtaking score had me rewinding and watching, and watching, and watching again to see where he changed from each character’s theme as they appeared. When the Dothraki warriors stood on their horses, Djawadi made sure their theme was played loudly — it evoked awe, as we’d never before seen a Dothraki horde charge into a proper battle before.
Drogon’s theme is played as Dany utters the command, “Dracarys!” You feel excitement and dread as the Lannister soldiers are roasted alive in their armor. As Jaime watches the Dothraki tear through his line, the score abruptly changes back to the Dothraki theme, and then elegantly fades into “The Rains of Castamere.”
And when Dany and Drogon begin their strafing run through the loot train, her theme is masterfully weaved over the sound of steel clashing and men screaming as they die a fiery death, and for a second you forget the horrors of war. But that moment is fleeting.
As the battle rages on, the score alternates between each character’s point of view. Then Tyrion crests the hill and watches House Lannister soldiers being butchered, and the score begins to subtly change. And then two horses attached to burning cart gallop across the scene, and my heart is ripped from my chest as “The Rains of Castamere” shows up again. This time, Djawadi slows it down to make it sound even sadder than it normally does. The point of view switches to Jaime as the score plays on, and I’ve got tears running down my face.
First time Game of Thrones director Matt Shackman deserves a standing ovation for topping the Battle of the Bastards, and composer Ramin Djawadi deserves a heart-shaped award because his score made mine jump out of my chest.
Macall B. Polay – HBO
KATIE: Dan, it’s funny you mention the rather muted reunion between the Stark siblings, as Sarah and I discussed that very thing the other day. There is a distinct difference between Jon and Sansa’s reunion last year and what we’ve seen in season 7, and I think it’s deliberate in its efforts to distinguish the sort of relationships these characters have with one another. Sansa’s arrival at Castle Black was all swelling music, slow motion, and intense gazes—frankly, it was played as a romantic scene; one would think she and Jon were long-lost lovers rather than half-siblings. Sansa had sought Jon out for her salvation, for a safe haven in her escape from Ramsay; now, though, she’s home and in her element, if not entirely safe (excuse me while I direct a side-eye at Littlefinger and, you know, wherever it is the White Walkers are).
Meanwhile, the reunions between Sansa, Bran, and Arya are much more downplayed, but still emotionally resonant. They’ve all endured so much, so differently, and they’re hesitant around each other because they don’t quite know who they are anymore. Rumors and—for Bran, at least—visions have filled in the blanks, but none of them know the whole truth of their siblings’ trials. They’re measuring each other up in an attempt to figure out who, exactly, they are now, regardless of the people they remember each other to be. The Starks have, by and large, been on their own since their separation; at this point they’re accustomed to self-reliance. They’ve reunited physically, but the emotional journey will probably involve some family bonding: for example, Scrabble, or conspiring to totally murder Littlefinger.
With this in mind, Sansa, Arya, and Bran’s scene in the godswood was my favorite from “The Spoils of War,” but the closing battle is obviously noteworthy as well. I have major beef with Daenerys for burning the food stores, though, because… -Why?- One second it’s all “I can’t feed my armies because Cersei’s taken all the food from the Reach,” and then Daenerys goes and… burns all the food from the Reach… and I’m not sure what problem that was supposed to solve? Is it supposed to be a power move? Because, let me tell you, show up on a dragon and I think you’ve made your point. Instead of taking her spoils of war, as it were, Daenerys destroys them. This is just like last year, when she wanted to incinerate a fleet she desperately needed, except this time she -actually incinerates- what she should have simply taken for her use. Seriously, I’ve been thinking about this for like five days, I’m about to lose my mind over the utter nonsense of it.
In that vein, Jaime’s charge is a close second to my favorite scene of the episode. It speaks tremendously to his character: Here he is, in the midst of a fiery battle that must feel all too familiar, reminding him of what he’d seen and done under the Mad King’s rule. Jaime’s reputation is weighed down by the choice he made then, to stab Aerys in the back; but now he has the opportunity to take out the king’s daughter head-on, and he just -goes for it-. He’s not afraid or deterred or held back by any oaths—this time, he’ll end a Targaryen reign before it can begin. And judging by what Jaime sees on the battlefield, if he didn’t go after Daenerys, then history will only repeat itself. (We have to wonder, too, now that Jaime’s seen such destruction, how it will affect his relationship with Cersei, who obliterated the Sept of Baelor during his absence last season.)
SARAH: Episode 4 was a fantastic ride from start to finish, especially the part where Arya returned to Winterfell and I realized that I’ll never need to watch another episode again. Great finale, guys. Top notch. Two hugs for my girls. TWO.
My entry this week is almost entirely Stark-centred. My thoughts on the Loot Train Attack — which sounds exactly like a wild west-themed rollercoaster at a Disney resort — align almost identically with Katie’s. This is the second time that Dany has had to be explicitly told not to burn a city, and it seems only a matter of time before she stops listening and goes hell for leather for King’s Landing. Her character has always had the potential to go either way, but nothing I’ve seen so far has convinced me that she’s not headed for an inevitable downturn. The fact that she and Jon are into each other doesn’t convince me that she won’t see him as a threat as soon as his true parentage is made public knowledge.
Contrary to popular belief, I think Bran is an absolute baller, and I’m absolutely loving his scenes this year. Isaac Hempstead Wright is a brilliant actor. He’s playing Bran’s deep encasement within the walls of the Three-Eyed Raven with appropriate pathos and sadness, and just enough hints of the real Bran to let us know that somewhere, deep down, he’s still in there. I’m disinclined to agree with Meera that he died in that cave, and more apt to believe that he’s buried.
I’m also pretty certain that Bran gave Arya the dagger to arm her against the White Walkers, which makes me wonder if he knows that she’s got a higher purpose that she’s simply not ready for yet. She’s still speaking of her list in the present tense, which indicates that she has a way to go before she abandons a revenge plot that can never bring her peace. Fighting for the living is an excellent alternative, I’d say, and Bran might just have set her on the right path. For all the hype over characters like Jon and Daenerys, it seems clear to me that the consistently overlooked Brandon Stark is one of the most important players in this universe, if not the most important.
I, for one, was perfectly satisfied by the reunion between Sansa and Arya. Yes, it was less of an emotional outpouring than the big, dramatic reunion between Jon and Sansa, but they were the first two Starks to meet again, directly after Sansa escaped the clutches of Ramsay Bolton, while Jon had literally just come back from the dead. Of course their emotions would bubble to the surface in that situation.
With Winterfell now in the hands of the Starks and Sansa’s evil husband dead and gone, she met Arya in a far calmer and more controlled environment. No, there weren’t any tears or grand professions, but the love was undoubtedly there, from Sansa’s smile when the bumbling guards inadvertently confirmed that her sister had, indeed, come home, to a beaming Arya moving in for a second hug. It’s only natural that these two guarded, jaded women will find it difficult to fully open up to one another immediately.
I’m firmly entrenched in my belief that the two girls are going to find support, strength and understanding in one another that they simply can’t get from anyone else, and that their arcs have always been leading them towards each other — but that kind of trust, between two girls who never used to get along, is going to take some time. They have a huge roadblock to surmount in the form of Petyr Baelish, who is undoubtedly going to try his best to keep Sansa as far from her siblings as possible, particularly Arya, who with her open hostility presents the most immediate threat to his safety. The show did a brilliant job in distracting him from Bran, who I absolutely believe will be instrumental in his eventual downfall.
In the meantime, and despite whatever disagreements they may have in episodes to come, I continue to feel secure in the knowledge that the powerhouse duo of Sansarya is the non-romantic endgame pairing that Westeros deserves.
What did you think of “The Spoils of War?” Vote in the poll and let us know in the comments!