Game of Thrones Recap – “The Spoils of War”

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Game of Thrones Recap – “The Spoils of War” (Se: 7 Ep: 4)

Craig Koshkin

WOW. Just wow. That’s all I can really say after the short but incredibly intense episode that was “The Spoils of War.” If you didn’t know, the episode leaked on Friday and many who watched it early called it the new gold standard that Game of Thrones would be measured. That’s pretty high praise, and while I think it was an excellent – even top tier – episode, I am not ready to label it the new gold standard. That still belongs to “The Rains of Castemere”, which gave us The Red Wedding, in my opinion. However, it was excellent and we need to get into this recap.

Highgarden/King’s Landing

The Lannister army is marching their “spoils of war” (see what I did there) on the road back to King’s Landing. Jaime stops to pay Bronn for his efforts. Bronn, disappointingly, takes the bag of coins given to him. He wants the castle that was promised to him. Bronn is then sent off with the Tarleys to help “motivate” farmers to donate their harvests to the crown.

Back in King’s Landing, Queen Cersei meets with the Iron Bank’s emissary who is quite impressed with the speed by which Cersei will pay back the crown’s debt. Even if that means that there will be no more interest payments. The Iron Bank is very eager to reinvest in Cersei’s rule, once the gold arrives.

Winterfell

Littlefinger offers Emo Bran – I mean The Three Eyed Raven a Valaryian Steel dagger. The very same dagger that almost ended Bran’s life while he was in a coma which LIttlefinger points out. Littlefinger also mentions that the dagger and whom it belonged to is what started The War of the Five Kings to begin with. Littlefinger then gives a half assed apology about the terrible things Bran has been through only to come back to Winterfell amidst all of this chaos. “Chaos is a ladder,” Bran mentions to Littlefinger. This is the very same line Littlefinger uttered to Varys in one of the series most epic speeches. Chaos is what allowed Littlefinger to achieve such a high ranking in Westeros and now he views himself as the distributor of chaos. Meera Reed interrupts at this point and Littlefinger sees this as the perfect opportunity to escape a conversation that is going south for him.

Meera is here to say her goodbyes and she is visibly upset to how indifferent Bran is to her leaving. Bran even goes as far to say that he doesn’t need her anymore and gives a monotone thank you. Upset, Meera points out that her brother, Hodor, and Summer died to help him. She points out that one more person died on their journey: Bran.

Arya approaches the gates at Winterfell and for the second week in a row I AM NOT CRYING, YOU ARE. Of course two idiot guards try to turn her away. Stop messing with the girl and let her see her sister. After appearing to run away, Sansa gets the message and finds Arya in the crypts below Winterfell. They embrace but Arya’s not that into it. Maybe she is remembering the way Sansa acted in King’s Landing, leading to Ned’s beheading. Sansa denies that she was the one who killed Joffrey, which gives Arya the perfect opportunity to bring up her list. Sansa laughs awkwardly. Another hug ensues and this one is more heartfelt. Sansa informs Arya that Bran is home but the look on her face says that he’s not the same.

Cut to Arya hugging Bran beneath the Weirwood tree. Bran thought Arya might go to King’s Landing to cross Cersei off of her list. Sansa wants to know who else is on the list, but most of them are dead already. Bran reveals the dagger Littlefinger gave him earlier. Bran hands it over to Arya knowing she might be more useful with it. It might be time Littlefinger jets from Winterfell. Let’s look at his work since Jon Snow was declared King of the North:

• Sansa doesn’t rust him
• Jon Snow has nearly choked him out
• Bran knows about his aspirations
• Arya doesn’t trust the “rich man” that gave Bran the dagger

Littlefinger is the master manipulator so he must have something up his sleeve.

Brienne and Podrick see the three Starks together and Brienne has fulfilled her vow to Catelyn, even if she did very little to make it happen.

Dragonstone

Missandei is worried about Grey Worm and the Unsullied. Daenerys wants to know what happened and before Missandei can recite her Penthouse Forum letter, Jon Snow interrupts. They’ve gotten to the heart of the dragon glass mine and Jon wants to show her. Some crude cave drawings, allegedly drawn by the Children of the Forrest and the First Men are shown. They depict how the two parties set aside their differences to fight a common foe in the White Walkers. Where is the flashback of Jon Snow and Ser Davos crudely drawing these themselves?

Daeny is ready to fight for the northerners if Jon is ready to bend the knee. He still has reservations but Daeny quickly points out that the northerners will accept what Jon accepts because they chose him to lead and protect them. If Jon really is about the survival of man, it may be time to bend the knee rather than stick by his pride.

Back on the beach, Tyrion approaches with news. Casterly Rock is theirs but at what cost? Ser Davos tries to get he and Jon out of this conversation but Daeny commands they stay. Tyrion wants to stick with the plan but Daenerys is ready to fight. She even goes as far to suggest that Tyrion may not want to hurt his family as bad as he says. She then turns to Jon and asks what she should do. Jon points out that Daeny has made the impossible happen (dragons) and that’s why people follow her. Maybe she can do the impossible and make the world peaceful but if she does it by killing the innocent, it is the same story all over again.

Winterfell

Brienne trains Pod. Pod isn’t very good. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Arya approaches and suggests she’d like to train. Littlefinger and Sansa watch from the perch above. Brienne starts slow but is impressed with Araya’s speed and agility.  She begins to try harder and eventually gets the best of Arya that prompts Arya to go even harder. After an intense 1 on 1 they end in a stalemate. “Who taught you how to do that?” asks Brienne. “No one.” Arya answers.

Dragonstone

Davos and Jon talk and Davos wants to know what Jon thinks of Daenerys. He’s noticed Jon staring at her “good heart”. They come upon Missandei and ask why she believes in Daenerys. Long story short, Missandei says that Daenerys is the Queen she and all who follow her chose and they believe in her.

A Greyjoy ship lands at Dragonstone and Theon (Reek?) is back. Jon and Theon haven’t seen each other since Jon left for the Wall and he’s very lucky Jon hasn’t run him through with his sword yet. Theon wants to ask Daenerys to help get Yara back but she’s not home. Where could she be?

Outside of King’s Landing

The gold that Jaime and co. is guarding is safely within the confines of the gates of King’s Landing. The rest of the wagon train is slow and Lord Tarley suggests that a flogging might pick up the pace. Bronn and Jaime talk to Dickon (chuckles) about his first battle at Highgarden. He didn’t realize that men shit themselves when they die. Well they do and it is disgusting. A sound is heard over the horizon.

The Lannisters form their lines in time. They think the Dothraki horses will just impale themselves on Lannister spears. Bronn compels Jaime to head back to King’s Landing. He refuses and the battle begins. Just as it seems the Lannister army might be able to hold on, Daenerys comes in on Drogon and the battle is over before it aver began. “Darkaris!” Daeny utters and the army goes up in flames faster than James Harden in Game 6 against the Spurs.

Drogon is destroying the wagon train and Bronn is told to seek out the anti-air/dragon defense system, “The Scorpion”. On his way there a resourceful Dothraki soldier throws him off his horse. Dickon (Chuckles) save Jaime from dying at the hand of the Dothraki. Back at the Scorpion, Bronn loads up a shot and fires. Daeny is only slightly smarter than Rickon Stark and veers to miss it. While Daenerys comes around to take out the weapon, Bronn loads up another shot and connects with his second attempt. Drogon is hit and begins to fall from the sky, pulling up just in time to keep from throwing Daenerys off. Daeny dismounts and attempts to remove the arrow/spear from Drogon. Jaime sees this as the perfect opportunity to try and take out the Queen of Dragons. Tyrion is looking on from afar and sees all of this unfold before him. He can’t believe he is about to see his big brother die. As Jaime approaches a seemingly scare Daenerys, Drogon pokes his head out and lights him up. Luckily for Jaime, Bronn is on the spot and tackles him off of his horse just in time. Unluckily for Jaime, he is tackled into deep water, in full armor, and is sinking like a stone.  *fade to black* *Roll Credits*

Is this the end of Jaime Lannister? If so, is Cersei about to go Mad Queen on everyone?

That was a rollercoaster ride and I can’t wait to see what the final three episodes bring.