Small Council: What did we think of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”?

The second episode of Game of Thrones season 8, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has come and gone. What did we like? What didn’t we like? The Small Council is in session.

DAN: I feel like we needed this episode. A lot has been made of Game of Thrones accelerating its pace starting in season 7 and what it’s done to the show’s tone and texture. In some cases I agree with those criticisms and in some cases I don’t, but it was definitely a treat to slow things down and spend time with characters in whom we’ve invested a lot of emotional energy over the years. This was as close to a bottle episode as Game of Thrones will ever get, and I really enjoyed it.

It’s been a while since I laughed at one of Tyrion’s jokes, but I was chucking at him quite a bit in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” especially when he filled Pod’s cup up to the brim with beer despite Brienne’s misgivings. It was unexpectedly satisfying to see Sam, Jon and Dolorous Edd manning a wall again, and I didn’t think I’d be as affected by Sansa and Theon’s reunion as I was. There were just a lot of little moments this episode got right, and they added up to something bigger.

Easily the highlight of the episode was Tyrion and Jaime’s impromptu house party, which was so relaxed and atypical for the show it almost felt like a gimmick. But after rushing around the map for seven seasons, these characters more than earned a little downtime, and any setup that leads to the scene where Jaime knights Brienne gets a free pass forever.

The episode didn’t forget to push the plot forward. Dany and Jon have an awkward conversation ahead of them and the Sansa-Dany tension remains unresolved. But mainly, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” exists to remind us why we love these characters before the show starts to kill them. Mission accomplished.

ARIBA: Hands down one of the strongest episodes of the series. So much has been leading up to this point, and for a “calm before the storm” episode, it was perfect. After seven seasons of hustle and bustle and bloodshed, the characters deserved to have some downtime. My favorite part was the group just sitting around the fireplace, talking and singing. Who knew Daniel Portman had those pipes?!

Jaime knighting Brienne was probably the most emotional part of “A Knight of Seven Kingdoms.” It felt like a culmination of everything they’ve both been through. There is so much love and respect there, and whether or not Jaime is allowed to officially knight her, there isn’t anyone else I could have imagined doing it. I loved seeing Brienne finally get what she wants and deserves; I had my tissue box sitting right next to me the entire time.

Another scene that really got me was the bit with the scar-faced girl, Davos and Gilly. There’s just so much going on there that goes way back. I’ll never forget the bond they shared with Shireen and it was heartwarming for the show to acknowledge it.

As for what happens next, I have to point say that after hearing “the crypts are safe” for the third time I knew something was up. The dead are totally rising from the crypts, aren’t they? The anticipation has me on the edge of my seat.

The episode did a great job bringing mellowing things out and letting us spend one last calm moment with these characters. Battle of Winterfell, here we come!

RAZOR: Everyone take a deep breath in and hold it…hold it…now exhale. That’s what it was like for me to watch “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”

We’ve known for a solid year, at least, that Episode 803 is going to be a game-changing bloodbath the likes that have never been seen on film or television, right? So when the season premiere kind of rushed through the reunions I waited two years to see and left me scratching my head as to what I’d just watched and if I was truly happy about it, I was in much need of this kind of deliberated paced hour.

My favorite part had to be Podrick singing “Jenny of Oldstones,” because Daniel Portman’s voice is velvety smooth, but more importantly I got to go all “book-nerd” for a bit, explaining to anyone who would listen where the song came from and how it had so many connections to the characters currently at Winterfell.

A close second is Sansa and Theon’s reunion. I think it’s become apparent that no one on the show gives better hugs that Sansa, and the bond these two characters share because of their torment at the hands of Ramsay Bolton made their reunion much more emotional than the one between, say, Jon and Bran. Oh well, like I said, Sansa gives better hugs anyway.

I also very much enjoyed the individual scenes with groups or pairs of characters finding solace in each other’s company. You couldn’t help but wonder which characters were going to live and which would die as they said goodbye to each other. Jorah telling Lyanna Mormont she was the future of her house, and then Sam giving him Heartsbane and talking about Jorah’s father almost certainly spells death for the wayward Knight of the Seven Friendzones.

Grey Worm and Missandei’s conversation and passionate kiss pretty much meant one or both of those characters will soon be members of the Night King’s army. And of course, there’s Podrick. Pod has had quite the journey on the show: He squired for Tyrion, befriended Bronn, and learned how to comport himself as a knight with Brienne of Tarth. Say your goodbyes to Podrick, because kid’s not making it out of the North alive.

In a shortened final season, we should all be thankful for the opportunity to say goodbye to our favorite heroes before the dead come calling. Hold on tight, Sunday night is gonna be rough.

RICHARD: Superbly done. I’d been worried that the showrunners had boxed themselves into a corner by deciding to go with six episodes (some supersized, of course), but I need to trust they know what they’re doing. I mean, HBO offered Benioff and Weiss essentially carte blanche — they could’ve had 50 episodes if they’d wanted, and they chose to go with the half dozen.

“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was a character bonanza, with most (though not all) of our favorites getting a decent amount of time to reconnect. Jaime got a big chunk of attention, along with Tyrion and Brienne. Arya and Gendry’s storyline was beautiful, and while Sansa and Theon only had a few moments onscreen, they were incredibly poignant and they were enough. We fans got a big return on our decade-long emotional investment in these characters.

The big Jon-is-Aegon shoe finally dropped on Jon in the premiere and now Daenerys, so those two had a colossal bite of stress-sandwich after some lovey-dovey time at the end of season 7.

I still feel a bit cheated on the Arya/Hound relationship, but maybe those two will link up on an adventure or mission later on. I don’t feel their brief moments together so far have hit their mark — I sorta bounced off the surface of their scenes so far. The show either hasn’t managed to find the heart of their relationship or that scene is coming later. True, both characters can be emotionally distant, but they have a long history.

So, IMHO, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was a success. I’ll never be ready for the slaughter to come, but at least I got to be part of a lot of warm goodbyes.

SARAH: Are we finished with bullet points? That’s a shame.

I can be partial to hyperbole at the best of times, but I can say with total sincerity that “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was one of the best episodes of this show I’ve ever seen. Good character work is what I’m here for. It’s what keeps me coming back.

A few bullet points, and I’ll try to hit points that have been left out thus far:

• Back in season 7, when Missandei told Jon and Davos that Daenerys would gift her with a ship and wish her well if she ever expressed a desire to leave her service, I’ve had a feeling that she or Grey Worm would ask, only to be refused. Her conversation with Grey Worm has only given weight to that theory.
• Bran was staring very pointedly at Tyrion last episode, and this week they sat down for a chat that was almost completely denied to us. I feel like that’s going to come into play again, somehow, but I’m scratching my head over what exactly may have transpired.
• Alfie Allen deserves innumerable Emmy nominations for his continually stunning performances, no matter how little he’s given to work with. Theon made me cry. Twice. Thanks a bunch, buddy.
• Watching Sansa recognize Dany’s manipulation attempt and goad her true colors out of her with some well-placed flattery, and equally well-placed questions, was a delightful experience that made me cackle with glee. Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner did wonderful work here. As scene partners they have excellent chemistry and I hope to see them interact further as the season progresses.

I’m still convinced that Daenerys is turning villain this season. It struck me that she seemed totally emotionally removed from what was happening around her. Every other character had a moment of softness or poignancy—one that was directly related to the impending battle for their lives—that they shared with somebody else, all except Daenerys, whose obsession with the Iron Throne underpinned every single scene she was in. Even at the war council meeting, she managed to bring the discussion back to the Iron Throne when the more immediate concern was the matter of staying alive. It seems like a very pointed decision on behalf of the showrunners. More on that to come, I suppose.

The Arya/Gendry sex scene was my favorite of the episode, and not just because I am a proudly rabid Gendrya shipper who has been waiting impatiently for them to so much as hold hands for years. Arya first declared that Death was her god after Melisandre took Gendry away from her, and her years of service to death began shortly after. This bloody path of retribution won her a lot of fans, I know, but in my list of reasons why Arya is my favorite character, her skill at combat and need for vengeance don’t even make it into the top ten. I have long believed that the only fitting end to Arya’s arc would be for her to give up her list of names and devote herself to the things that, deep down, she has been searching for the whole time: love, family and friendship. We already saw the beginning of this when she chose Winterfell over King’s Landing. Now she has reunited with her family, and on what might be her last night on earth, she chose to make love to a man she trusts and cares about, clinging to the most primal act of living in the face of certain death. I really believe that this brand new, incredibly human experience is going to compel her further down a better path and open her up to emotions that she has been trying so hard to close off. With Death having been her friend and leader for so long, and with a physical embodiment of Death so close to knocking on her door, we are soon to see Arya Stark fight for the living, for a change. I don’t believe that she will die on Sunday, but I do think that experience will shake her and change her and turn her towards the light. I think she might be ready to look Death in the eye and tell it, “not today,” as Syrio once bade her to do. I think she might be ready to choose life. I think I need to stop writing about this before I go on for as many paragraphs as I have done in other corners of the internet. Suffice to say, my ship is sailing, so I’m really going to need it to stay afloat.

What did you think of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?” Vote in the poll and let us know in the comments!

What did you think of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”?

Next up is the Battle of Winterfell! Assume crash positions.

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