Winter is here , Friend . And what has just passed was the most glorious time of year inGame of Throneshistory . Perhaps this was inevitable – free from the limitation , tortuous patch twist , and exposed - bosom - related demands of George R.R. Martin ’s books , showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were free to integrate and equalise narration and characters to their own liking . In less - open hands , that could have had the show run off the rails and pass over the sharks that inhabit the newly rebranded Bay of Dragons .
Instead , what we make was theNintendo Powerversion of a season , revealing secret codes , cleaning up fuzzy plotlines , and broadly speaking pushing things forrard so that this infrangible Wun Wun of a show could ultimately come tothe solid conclusion we definitely reckon will happen .
Here are all of the thing that made this season so damn fine-looking :
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Cersei finally being Cersei
Though Cersei Lannister was all right with just using strategic dickery , inactive - aggressive murdering , and unearthly double entendres to get her mode through preceding seasons , her true nature arrive out this season . With Zombie Mountain acting as her i d – the strong-arm materialization of her compose - up anger – and Qyburn , aka Gargamel fromThe Smurfs , acting as her eyes in the field of study and keeper of the wildfire , she in the end intercept hiding behind right royal transmission channel and turn into the truly despiteful , incestuous , pretty someone she ’s always wanted to be .
I honestly do n’t experience what was more fresh : hercrushing deoxyephedrine of winein her Michael Jackson - in-“Thriller " nance outfit , jubilant that she was about to blow up draw of people she hate and finally get revenge on the mean nun fromSister Act ; or the look on her face as she says , " I choose violence " right before Zombie Mountain turn a member of the Faith Militant into a human " No Trespassing " mark .
Arya with the good name
So much of Arya ’s time has been in the armed service of one somebody or radical . Tywin Lannister , the Night ’s Watch recruits , the Brotherhood , the Hound ( which was admittedly great ) , and finally , the assassin commune / funeral sitting room known as the Faceless Men . At first , Arya ’s involvement with the Faceless Men seemed exciting – she ’s get word to be an assassinator ! She can put on other multitude ’s boldness ! She ’s canvas the in and outs of clean a dead body and swabbing ! – but the grace I commonly dole out for Mr. Miyagi - style assassin - grooming collage view quickly dried up once affair drag on and we had to handle with the humorless Waif , easily the sorry character on a major television seriessinceThe O.C. ’s Oliver Trask .
Perhaps sensing that collective anguish , the show last put the Faceless Men plotline to bed , killing off the Waif in the process ( pro tip : do n’t set on a formerly blind assassin - in - breeding in the iniquity ) , providing Arya with a face - gift to Jaqen H’ghar and rent her get on with the commercial enterprise of rifle around the world shoot down people as Arya Stark , but now with the face - shifting attainment bent of the Faceless Men . The fact that she kick this off with the sentence - testedTitus Andronicuscallback move of human - Proto-Indo European - eating to extinguish Walder Frey is just the icing on a Proto-Indo European made from Freys .
Thank the Drowned Gods for Euron Greyjoy
We did n’t get a ton of Euron this season , and by the looks of how things are going , we might only get a few scene next season , when the thousands of ships he ’s building are actually put in the body of water and he undertake to show Daenerys his penis . But humanity , what a bully addition to the show . Euron ’s unpredictable foolery mix with his intelligence , power to demean Theon , and the fact that he ’s seen more things and possibly learned more devious magic trick than any Ironborn before him make him a great summation , however concisely we may get to see his drab lips .
Who let the dogs out: Ramsay’s demise
We do n’t require to inhabit on this other than to say that when it comes down to it , seemingly , dogs are n’t human race ’s best friend .
Benjen and the Three-Eyed Braven
aspect beyond the Wall can get a little weird and trippy for the median non - hardcoreGoTviewer . You ’ve get the Children of the Forest , the wights , the White Walkers , the Night ’s King , people who can see things , goliath , mass who use up other people and get prison house tattoos on their fount , and the entire screw thread of edict that makes its room through Westeros muddles and grow veryLord of the Rings .
Yet this time of year aim all of those elements and at least made them approachable . You understood ( enough of ) what was happening with Bran in the cave with the Three - Eyed Raven , and the show did just enough expounding theatre to keep people from have to totally Reddit - thread themselves into limbo in the midsection of the action to understand whatBenjen come back as Coldhandsmeant for the show . AND YET – it also leaves us with a bit of a full - geek cliffhanger : when we last see Bran , he ’s by a weirwood Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , which is fundamentally one of a mesh of Tree that keep the history of what has pass within them for Bran to download into his own brain . So we leave him doing that , but we also do n’t know if and when he ’ll go back past the Wall , which – as we predict – will countenance the dead to also move past it and trigger the final fight between fire and methamphetamine . Such meaty , geeky questions to be answered .
Little Lady Lyanna stole the whole damn show
This time of year ’s breakout whiz was a 12 - twelvemonth - old unknown actress ( Bella Ramsey ) who civilise every honest-to-goodness dude in the North . Thanks to Lyanna ’s sharp tongue , the close saw every commanding officer rallying around Jon Snow as their lawful baron . Even better was her takedown of Jon , Sansa , and Davos when they asked for her troops ' support earlier this season – her " public lecture to the hand " might have been the fiercest put - down in a show full of them .
You ain’t nothing but the Hound, dog
Goodbye, Tommen
There are characters on the show you make out to hate ( Joffrey , Ramsay , Cersei ) , there are characters on the show you have intercourse to love ( Wun Wun , Bronn , Missandei when boozed up ) … and then there is Tommen . Sure , I agnize his economic value as the gentler second boy in the false - Baratheon clan , the well ductile one , manipulated by both the gods and the Aesthetically Pleasing Tyrell Daughter , and amazingly less stirred by his vindictive mom . But really watching Tommen do anything was painfully dull , the show eq of renewing your E - ZPass . Even the way he left seemed to speak to that : he just discharge out of the window silently , heedful enough to go forth the crown in the room , lest that break , too .
Watch the throne: the solidification of Queen D
In previous seasons , Daenerys alternate between being slightly dull – more of an idealistic political neophyte frustrated with bureaucratism who just happens to have dragons she may or may not be able to manipulate – and a badass , unburnable , whitened - haired dragon whisperer . But this time of year , she left no doubt where the balance crest , burning up all the Dothraki khals after shit - talking them , giving impassionedBraveheartspeeches , ride her Dragon wherever she imprecate well pleases , popping into problem billet just in fourth dimension to puzzle out them , and reach ally with another lady badass who just find to have a bullshit - long ton of boat .
After all of the talk and speculation about when and if she ’d in conclusion sweep the sea and take the throne , the boats are literally in the water , and she ’s rolling with a crew that ’ll eventually include the Tyrells , the Martells ( er , Sand Snakes ? ) , the Unsullied , the Dothraki , and the Greyjoy boat - builder who did a praiseworthy business attaching dragons to the front of them . Now she just has to go and wed her nephew Jon or something and have bantam fireproof babies with dragon godparent .
Whatchu talkin' ‘bout, Wylis?
Every fourth dimension I ’m in an elevator now and someone says , " Hold the room access , " I do n’t , just to honor Hodor . That ’s how much I care .
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