Knee-Jerk Reactions to “Beyond the Wall:” Five Best and Worst Moments
VALYRIAN STEEL FIVE: Everybody is bromancing everybody else
The long, long walk around the far north offered us a smorgasbord of humorous and sweet buddy-buddy conversations: Jon and Tormund talked about Mance Rayder refusing to bend the knee; Thoros of Myr, Beric Dondarrion and the Hound teased Gendry about being held captive by Melisandre; Jon tried to give the Mormont family sword to Jorah, who refused with dignity; Tormund bemoaned his love for Brienne, leaving the Hound aghast; Jorah told Thoros of Myr about how magnificent he once was at the siege of Pyke, even if he was drunk the whole time; Jon and Beric discussed the meaning of life and death. There’s more, I’m sure, but you get the idea.
And it was truly a group of seven: we all saw what the other guys (the red shirts) were for.
VALYRIAN STEEL FOUR: Everybody is saving everybody else (mostly)
battles mean fighting alongside your comrades, and most everybody stepped up in this episode, with a few notable exceptions. Just one example: When the awe-inspiring wight bear attacked, Thoros of Myr stepped up to protect the Hound from the burning monster, but the Hound couldn’t overcome his fear of the flames to return the favor.
At the frozen lake battle, Jorah saved Jon and the Hound redeemed himself by dragging Tormund out of the clutches of the wights. On cue after the SLO-MO last stand sequence, Dany arrives with her dragons to rescue Jon and what’s left of his expedition (and Biff — see below), but she loses Viserion in the process. Benjen appears for a few seconds, sacrificing himself to let half-frozen Jon, unable to board the Drogon 747, escape the undead army. Let all our heroes be so valiant.
VALYRIAN STEEL THREE: dragon fire on a lake of ice
We were treated to another magnificent battle sequence, this time on the frozen lake, replete with undead hordes, White Walkers, acts of desperate bravery and soaring dragons spewing fire. Game of Thrones has mastered the art of the epic this season. Daenerys’ rescue via dragon was a fantasy visual spectacular, even if the losses were bittersweet. The small moments, like the Hound throwing rocks (perfectly in character), pay off nicely as well.
VALYRIAN STEEL TWO: Jon and Dany can’t fight the feeling
When Daenerys stood on the Wall at Eastwatch and mourned the loss of Viserion, she was also desperate to see Jon return alive. And when he did, she realized that she was in love with him. Once she saw his scars and held his hand on his bed, the soft, doe-eyed stares between them means the love affair writing is on the wall, even if she’s pulling away at the last second right now.
VALYRIAN STEEL ONE: A blue-eyed wight dragon
Sometimes those pure fantasy-adventure moments burst magnificently out of GoT‘s grimdark scenarios, and we can count both Daenery’s dragon-rescue and the sob-inducing resurrection of Viserion by the Night’s King among them. We all knew that dragon eyeball was gonna be wight-blue, and it lessened the impact of it not one whit.