I suspect mileage may very significantly for viewers of the first two episodes of Game of Thrones‘ final season. These two installments have been talky affairs, devoid of any action or catharsis. It might test one’s patience (I had my doubts about “Winterfell,” but that episode has grown in stature since I watched it), but these two episodes go beyond table-setting. They allow for some of the show’s most human moments, and the acting is so solid that it’s clear no one is phoning it in at this point. With four episodes left, and the dead encroaching upon Winterfell, it’s only a matter of time before we say goodbye to all of these characters, whether they live through the battle or not. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” picks up where “Winterfell” left off, and does a beautiful job of humanizing everyone.
The biggest development this episode has to contend with, of course, is Jaime’s arrival in Winterfell. His scene opposite Sansa, Dany, Jon, and Bran is brilliant. GoT has done right by Jaime, and given Nikolai Coster-Waldau ample opportunity to explore the recesses of this damaged, complicated character. His is one of the show’s strongest arcs (second only to Sansa’s), and he has carried that conflict on his shoulders and in his soul since he and Brienne parted ways. It takes a lot of guts to show up in Winterfell, knowing he won’t be trusted, knowing what kind of reception he can expect. And the brilliance of the writing here – and Coster-Waldau’s performance – is that we never doubt Jaime’s sincerity. No one would buy him as a turncoat if he weren’t one. “She betrayed me too,” he says of Cersei, and confirms that she was never going to send an army to help.
As the show looks back to season one and before, it’s inevitable that some scars still haven’t healed. Bran coolly tosses off the line “The things we do for love,” but he doesn’t rat Jaime out, because they seem to be some of the only people taking things as seriously as they should. When Dany takes Jaime to task for killing her father, he refuses to apologize. Coster-Waldau’s performance is so dynamic and subdued at the same time that he really sells the gravity of the situation. He doesn’t bring an army; he brings himself, hoping only that that’s enough, while knowing that it probably won’t be. He just wants to die on the right side.
The beauty of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is in its smallness. Better than any recent episode, “A Knight” knows how to use its ensemble, and at times it functions as a bottle episode (the episode never leaves Winterfell, and Cersei doesn’t even make an appearance). There are so many great human touches throughout this episode: Arya sharing a drink with the Hound; Davos serving up soup; Tormund arriving and immediately asking, “The big woman still here?” There are a few big scenes that stand out, though. The first of these is Jon’s conversation with Dany, wherein he reveals the truth about his parentage. Dany pays zero attention to the incestuous relationship she’s found herself in – par for the course for a Targaryen – and instead wants to know about Jon’s claim to the throne. Between this, and Dany’s growing animosity towards Sansa, I worry that the show is showing its cards too early. There will eventually be a rift here, and Jon will have to pick sides, I just wish it weren’t so obvious. To be fair to the show, it’s laid the groundwork for this development, by having Dany do things like burning Randyll and Dickon Tarly alive, just like her father would have done.
One of the biggest scenes of the episode, though, is Arya’s sex scene with Gendry. For a long time, I’ve resisted the Arya/Gendry shipping, because it boiled down to rooting for a grown man to have sex with a teenager. So needless to say I was surprised when Arya made her move. Yes, it can be strange for long-time viewers to watch Maisie Williams undress, but there’s an underlying sweetness to the sex scene which the show hasn’t afforded to Arya in a long time. For the first time since she left King’s Landing, she seems like a teenage girl, and it’s completely understandable that she would want to lose her virginity the day before she expects to die. Beyond that, it doesn’t compromise Arya as a character. She’s not seduced or pressured in any way. Everything that happens is her decision, making this one of GoT‘s rare scenes of consensual sex. She maintains her autonomy and independence throughout, and you get the sense that she’s chosen Gendry, which is different than just using him to fulfill a need. The great part of Williams’ performance is that she never loses sight of Arya the killer or Arya the girl. “I’m not the red woman,” she tells Gendry. “Take your own damn pants off.” While it can be disconcerting, this is also one of the best sex scenes the show has ever had, because it focuses on character and not prurient nudity.
The best scene of the night, though, belongs to Jaime and Brienne. What begins as a fireside chat between Tyrion and Jaime – one of this show’s best pairings – turns into a small gathering wherein people discuss why Brienne isn’t a knight. “It’s tradition,” she tells Tormund, who replies, “Fuck tradition.” (It’s incredible that the show can make Tormund’s crush on Brienne seems strangely innocent and sweet, as opposed to creepy or predatory.) Jaime takes it upon himself to knight Brienne, to a chorus of applause. This is maybe Gwendoline Christie’s best scene in the entire series, and she barely says a word. We see on her face incredulity, then anticipation, then, with that final beautiful smile, pure joy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this might be the first time Brienne has smiled on this show, and it was worth the wait. It’s a moment of beautiful catharsis and humanity, and wouldn’t land nearly s hard had the show not done such a great job with Jaime and Brienne’s relationship in season three. Game of Thrones has a long memory, and while it can sometimes muddle plotlines, when it pays off, as it does here, it does so incredibly well.
Next week is likely to be rough. The dead are almost to Winterfell, and the battle won’t be pretty. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was probably a goodbye to a lot of main characters. But the thing that makes Game of Thrones different from other shows is that it doesn’t kill for shock value. We won’t be saying goodbye to characters. We’ll be saying goodbye to people. That is the triumph of episodes like this.
4.5/5
A Few Thoughts
- Lots of Lord of the Rings vibes in this episode. Preparing for battle brought to mind memories of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers, and Podrick’s haunting song over a montage of people arming themselves reminded me of Pippin singing to Denethor in The Return of the King.
- No one loves anything as much as Bran loves telling people he is no longer Bran Stark.
- Emilia Clarke gives a solid performance here. There’s lots of layers. Dany seems both manipulative and sincere, smug but approachable at the same time.
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