Knee-Jerk Reactions to “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”: Five Best and Worst Moments

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN FIVE: Ser Davos ladles out the gruel.

Ser Davos certainly had more screen time this week, but is he really serving Winterfell in his best capacity handing out soup? He and Gilly are trapped in a somewhat cloyingly sentimental scene about the bravery of Winterfell’s children, probably the least effective scene in the episode.

That slop Davos is serving looks disturbingly like bowls o’ brown. And if food is in short supply, why is nobody taking any bread?

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN FOUR: Tormund goes overboard on a drinking horn.

Nobody loves Tormund more than we do, and he provided a lot of this episode’s humor, especially with his mammoth-sized crush on Brienne of Tarth. But the scene where he tells his giant killing/suckling tale followed by the sloppy draining of the drinking horn made him look a bit too silly. Yes, he was trying to impress Brienne, but it wasn’t necessary.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN THREE: Never plan your future before a battle.

We love Grey Worm and Missandei here at WiC, but it continually feels like Thrones is setting the cute couple up for the chopping block. In this episode, they plan their future on the beaches of Naath after the way is over, which almost certainly means that at least one of them won’t survive it.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN TWO: Theon volunteers to die.

Theon Greyjoy’s entire story has been one of the most fraught, disastrous and redemptive of any character on Game of Thrones. He’s made enormous mistakes and suffered horrific consequences. Now he’s back to fight for the Starks, and his rekindled relationship with Sansa is a major tear-jerker, in a good way.

But now Theon has volunteered himself and his Ironborn to serve as Bran’s only immediate protectors while he’s left out in the godswood as bait for the Night King. That move has martyrdom stamped all over it. Perhaps that is the best way for Theon’s story to end now that he’s rescued Yara, but it’s also pretty telegraphed.

FLEA BOTTOM BROWN ONE: why can’t we all get along, even for just five minutes?

If Thrones has been guilty of anything, it may be its propensity to try to wring conflict out of nearly every major relationship, no matter how close the two people are. It would be nice to see two major players, both good at heart, come to a understanding despite their differences. It seemed like Sansa and Dany (having basically just met) were on the road to a sisterly compromise, a meeting of the minds, but then Sansa had to be a stick in the mud about Dany’s reign over the north.

Jon has already bent the knee to Dany and the White Walkers are about to come knocking, so perhaps it may have been better, for the sake of the alliance, for Sansa to hold back on the whole “who rules the north?” thing until later.