Game Of Thrones Power Rankings: The Last Of The Starks

Last week on Game Of Thrones, the army of the dead marched on Winterfell. This week, Cersei returned, Dany had some stumbles, and almost everybody else got drunk. GOT is all about how people jockey for power, so click through for our SPOILER-FILLED season eight, episode four Game of Thrones Power Rankings.

1. PIRATE > DRAGON: Coming on the heels of last week's epic, single-minded, barely-lit battle royale, this week's antepenultimate installment of Death, Sex & Dragons was a somewhat disjointed affair. The first third was pretty wonderful, a chance for all our favorite characters to process "The Long Night," gossip about who is sleeping with who, and play drinking games. The middle third concerned preparations for the battle with Cersei, as well as some necessary plot advancements that involved some very questionable characterization decisions. And the last third, which felt the most rushed (they suddenly went from planning in Winterfell to being at Cersei's front door?) revolved around the ambush of Dany's forces at King's Landing and the losses from that. If this were season four, it likely would have been split into two far more-satisfying episodes that gave every big revelation room to breath. But there's only [checks Wikipedia] 160 minutes of GOT left, and we need to make sure we have at least five scenes of Qyburn nodding at people, so gotta keep movin' here!

One thing is for sure: if you had asked me in 2015 what I thought the endgame of GOT might look like, I never would have guessed it involved a ridiculous Captain Hook cosplayer murdering a mighty dragon with a comically large (and comically accurate) crossbow. And yet, Psychotic Pirate Joshua Jackson did indeed take down Rhaegal, a MAGICAL dragon who just survived a MAGICAL battle with his MAGICAL zombie brother only to be felled by a decidedly unmagical BIGASS CROSSBOW.

I suppose it counts as foreshadowing that the new opening credits of the show have made sure all season to include the King's Landing crossbow which had last been used in season seven's Loot Train battle (sigh, yes that was the real name). Oh to be a fly on the wall of the meeting after that battle in which Qyburn explained to Cersei how they were going to get it right next time: "What if we take the bigass crossbow I designed...the one that failed to even nick a dragon...and get this...made it...bigger?!?!" And even though dragons can gracefully fly through the air and like spit literal fire...it worked. It actually worked. Qyburn, you madman—you're a legend for this one.

2. Cersei's Five Point Plan For World Domination: 1. Seduce a freelance pirate, ask him to buy you an army 2. Tell both your brother-lover and freelance pirate you're pregnant 3. Giant crossbows 4. ??? 5. Be smug.

In all seriousness (none of this is serious), just by skipping out on the whole army of the dead sidequest and spending her time preparing a trap for Dany, Cersei really played the game well this week. Too bad she's almost certainly going to die next week :(

3. A Game Of Gossip & Treason: Absolutely fantastic week for both gossip and treason (which combined = treachery??). "We may have defeated them, but we still have us to contend with," Tyrion says to Ser Davos during the Winterfell post-battle banquet. And hoo boy, he doesn't even know the half of it at that point. Once Tyrion learns that Jon is actually a Targaryen, he and Varys engage in what George Bluth might call some "light treason."

Varys really went from all-in on Dany to all-in on Jon in the span of a couple scenes. When Tyrion rightly points out that Jon doesn't even want the throne, Varys pooh-poohs it: "I'm not sure it matters what he wants. The fact is people are drawn to him. Wildings, Northmen. He's a war hero." Not caring about what Jon Snow wants, we admit, is pretty good advice. But Tyrion really wants Jon & Dany to get married (because...he's had such great luck at previous weddings?). The whole incest thing is a dealbreaker though. "I worry about her state of mind," Varys finally admits, articulating what Tyrion's face is giving away. "Maybe Cersei will win and kill us all, that would solve our problems," Tyrion says right before Cersei's forces literally MURDER A DRAGON. Stop foreshadowing Tyrion!

After they wash ashore at Dragonstone, Varys passionately argues against firebombing King's Landing and killing innocents ("Do not become what you have always struggled to defeat"), which Dany of course ignores. Instead, she starts talking about destiny and Varys is shook. "I'm here to free the world from tyrants. That is my destiny. And I will serve it, no matter the cost," Dany says, like a totally normal person who is definitely not in the midst of a heel turn (more on that below).

And so as Varys and Tyrion renew their treasonous whispers, we get to one of the major themes of GOT: Jon Snow keeps getting promoted into better and better jobs he doesn't want...and maybe that's what makes him a good ruler? "He's temperate and measured. He's a man, which makes him more appealing to the lords of Westeros, whose support we're going to need," Varys argues. "Joffrey was a man. I don't think a cock is a true qualification, as I'm sure you'd agree," Tyrion counters. But cocks are important, sadly. And Varys is only loyal to "the realm," whatever that means.

The Powers That Be at the Game Of Thrones Power Rankings has complained several times over the last two seasons that Tyrion has not been a very clever or useful advisor as of late, compared to the master strategist and thinker he was during the first four seasons. But these chats with Varys bring out the best in him—and the best in actor Peter Dinklage, who does great work here exposing Tyrion's doubts as he attempts to convince himself that Dany is the right leader to stick with. "At a certain point you choose a person you believe in, and you fight for that person," he declares, before adding with slight hesitation, "I believe in our queen. She'll make the right choice...with the help of her loyal advisors."

But of course, Tyrion has at least one giant blindspot: he keeps thinking he can emotionally appeal to Cersei, even though they she hates his guts and would probably always do the opposite of whatever he asks. His inability to learn from his mistakes with her is only matched by his inability to shout loud enough for her to hear him.

4. The Winterfell Kissy-Kissy Drunk Hour: As previously mentioned, I really enjoyed the first third of the episode centering on the Winterfell banquet, which apparently got everyone hot and bothered: Gendry proposed to Arya, Tyrion asked Brienne whether she was a virgin, Jon and Dany made-out and argued, Tormund and Pod hooked up with randos, Tyrion played wingman to Jaime, hell, even Sansa touched hands with The Hound.

It all reached its apotheosis with the long-awaited resolution of the Jaime-Brienne-Tormund love triangle, which concludes with Brienne and Jaime bickering and then boning. Here's what Gwendoline Christie told EW about the coupling:

I haven’t been certain of the relationship between Jaime and Brienne. It hasn’t been a love story. It’s been this strange relationship between a man and woman that’s never been able to find it’s true form. Brienne has also felt something of an obligation toward Jaime due to losing his hand to save her honor. It’s something he chooses to do, but she’s sensitive and aware of it. So there is something that seems tangible between them, but she’s never had a relationship before and he’s only had a relationship with his sister. So you’re dealing with two people who are not terribly functional in the emotional world. I think going through sharing the experience of surviving the war together and saving each others’ lives continuously proves to be a very heady combination. Physicality often releases emotion and I think that’s what happens — working together unlocked them.

"She’s not just a woman who can fight incredibly well and doesn’t have any need for anything else," she added. "She is a woman, she’s a human, she fights brilliantly, she also has some desire of companionship and sensual love." Too bad it all goes to hell about 10 scenes later.

5. I'VE GOT A SUPER DUPER SECRET YOU GUYS, BUT YOU CAN'T TELL ANYONE: For 18 years or so, Ned Stark kept a huge secret: Jon Snow was actually Aegon Targaryen, the secret child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned was so dedicated to keeping this humongous secret, he even lied to his wife and family and claimed he had fathered a bastard while at war, hurting his own reputation as the most honorable man in Westeros. And it only took Jon about two days to spill the beans to his sisters (I love how Bran is so bad at playing coy)...and another five minutes or so for Sansa to use the information to her advantage by telling Tyrion about it.

But you see, Sansa is actually a master tactician now: Sansa "knows what will happen if she gives Tyrion this information. She’s a student of Littlefinger, and she knows how information travels, and she can think many steps into the game, the way Littlefinger did," said showrunner DB Weiss in the "Inside The Episode" vid. And I guess a bit of time is supposed to have passed between the fateful Stark Family Meeting and her talking to Tyrion (though it seems like it occurs right afterwards, because Sansa still seems somewhat shellshocked by the news). "These are all things that have been occurring to Sansa between the time we see her get that information and the time she passes the message on," Weiss added.

So I guess the real villain here is the same one that plagued the abbreviated season seven: with so few episodes left, and so much that has to happen, the pacing has been all out of whack in stark contrast to the careful, measured pace of the first four seasons. There's no time to show Sansa mulling over this Jon Snow parentage reveal—there is only the reveal, and then her using the reveal to move the plot along.

6. Ser Bronn Demonstrates How To Survive The Game Of Thrones: Ser Bronn, who last we saw in the season premiere was tasked by Cersei with murdering the Lannister bros with a crossbow full of meaning, waltzes through the Winterfell gates (I know everyone was drunk from the banquet but...it shouldn't be THAT easy) and comes upon his favorite "gold-plated cunts." He proceeds to blackmail Tyrion and Jaime into promising him Highgarden for a few delightful minutes of screen time. "Year after year I've shoveled Lannister shit, and what do I have to show?" he reasonably asks.

After possibly breaking Tyrion's nose, Bronn offers a perfectly-worded summary of the great houses of Westeros: "Who were your ancestors? The ones who made your family rich? Fancy lads in silk? They were fucking cutthroats. That's how all the great houses started, isn't it? With a hard bastard who was good at killing people. Kill a few hundred people they'll make you a lord. Kill a few thousand, they'll make you king. And then, all your cocksucking grandsons will ruin the family with their cocksucking ways." And then he makes the incredibly wise decision to skip out on fighting in King's Landing: "My fighting days are done. But I still got a few killing days left." You know how Arya thinks Sansa is the smartest person she's ever met? I think Bronn is probably the smartest person left in this show.

7. Sometimes Vomiting Is Celebrating: YES IT IS JON SNOW, YES IT IS. Everything Tormund does is perfect and good, whether he is chugging alcohol from a horn, simultaneously roasting and toasting Jon Snow ("He's little, but he's strong. Strong enough to befriend an enemy and get murdered for it. Most people get bloody murdered, they stay this way. Not this one...he comes back and keeps fighting..."), drinking some more, getting his heart broken by Brienne ("After all that, this fucker comes north and takes her from me. Just takes her, like that. I mean Clegane, my heart is broken!"), rebounding with someone who isn't afraid of Wildlings, quickly discovering he may have jumped the gun on that one ("Women down here don't like me"), roasting Jon some more ("You weigh as much as two fleas fucking"), and finally taking the Free Folk back north. He even adopts Ghost! Brienne will never know what she missed out on.

8. Jon Snow's Goodbye Best Friends Feel-Good Hug-a-thon: Two emotional beats that definitely worked for me: Jon hugs it out with his two besties, Tormund and Sam, before setting off for King's Landing. Tormund is still smarting from being rejected by Brienne, and needs to rebound by going on a road trip back up north. He loves his little Jon Snow! Sam & Gilly haven't had much to do the last two episodes, but Jon finding out Gilly is pregnant was lovely: "There's only so many books a person can read," Sam explains. "I'm sure he knows how it happens," Gilly says. I don't even know what's better: that they want to name the kid (if he's a boy) after Jon, or Sam saying, "You're the best friend I ever had."

I also don't know whether that is the last we'll see of Tormund, Sam & Gilly—there doesn't seem to be any plot need for any of them, though I assume Sam & Gilly will be sticking around Winterfell—but if so, this was a very satisfying and lowkey goodbye. Too bad the scene ended on a miserable sour note (more on that down below)...

9. Mass Cremation, Westeros Style: Last week, we were left with some questions, such as: "Who the hell is left alive to cleanup all the dead bodies?" and also, "How do you cleanup all the dead bodies?" The show was kind enough to immediately answer both by starting the episode showing the aftermath of the battle, including masses of bodies piled on top of each other on pyres in front of Winterfell. It seems like a very efficient disposal method, though I cannot imagine how horrible the lingering smell must have been (at least The Hound acknowledges the smell in the banquet scene). But assuming this is the day after the battle...how did were they able to so quickly to get the bodies all organized like that? These are truly questions within questions.

10. Bran Being Wheeled Out Of Awkward Conversations Dot Gif: I find it incredibly notable that for the first time this season, Bran did not once correct anyone by saying he "isn't Bran." When Tyrion notes that he's the last direct male heir to Winterfell, he doesn't offer his usual response by saying, "actually, I'm a raven who is also a tree who also time-shifts into the past and maybe the future, though I've been really unclear about that part." He just says he doesn't want the job. "You shouldn't envy me. Mostly I live in the past," he says, like a total fucking weirdo. And then right on cue, he is hilariously wheeled out of the conversation, as if this were a Laurel and Hardy routine. PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF WHEELCHAIRS IN WESTEROS BRAN, THAT IS VERY INTERESTING INFORMATION. If this whole show somehow ends with Bran as king of the realm, would that be the funniest possible outcome or the stupidest possible outcome at this point?

11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: CLEGANEBOWL 2019 CONFIRMED: We all knew it was bound to happen right? It's literally the only reason The Hound survived the battle with the undead. As he tells Arya, he has "unfinished business" in King's Landing, and let's just say he isn't talking about picking up some boxes of clothes he left there in season two. The Hound is going to fight his brother, Zombie Mountain, and I expect it to be nasty and dirty. And considering the fact it's been brought up a few times this season already, how much you wanna bet Arya will end up mercy-killing The Hound after he is mortally wounded or whatever?

(Unfinished Business Addendum: five minutes ago, Arya was talking about how important family was, and all of a sudden she's quietly slipping out of Winterfell without saying goodbye to anyone with no intention of ever coming back again? WTF Arya!)

12. Lord Gendry Baratheon: It was a...mixed week for the blacksmith abs-god formerly known as Gendry Rivers (?). First, he tries to discretely sneak out of the Winterfell party to go to the bathroom and ends up getting made the Lord of Storm's End by Dany. Seems pretty good! He was maybe feeling himself a bit too much though, considering that he tried to keep his good luck streak going by, um, proposing to Arya a day after they slept together for the first time. She lets him down as gently as a little assassin can: "You'll be a wonderful lord, and any lady would be lucky to have you. But I'm not a lady. I never have been. That's not me." There's no reason they can't arrange a friends-with-benefits type situation though.

13. Jaime "C-" Lannister Relapses: After hearing about Cersei's ambush of Dany's forces, Jaime makes the decision to leave Brienne and head to King's Landing. I initially interpreted this as an agonizing moment of clarity for Jaime—he has to go to help stop Cersei, because he spent so long capitulating to her hatred. It drives him to confess his greatest sins to Brienne, and try to drive her away for her own sake. "You think I'm a good man? I pushed a boy out of a tower window, crippled him for life, for Cersei. I strangled my cousin with my own hands just to get back to Cersei. I would have murdered every man, woman and child in Riverrun for Cersei. She's hateful, and so am I."

Jaime is hateful because of Cersei—she is at the root of every shitty decision he made in his life, in all the pain and misery he's inflicted on himself and others. It's his responsibility to try to stop her, and he is in the unique position to actually maybe being able to do something here (like get close to her). It all kind of makes sense, in a heartbreaking way.

Nope! In the "Inside The Episode" video all the way at the top of this post, DB Weiss and David Benioff—the showrunners and dudes who really, really just want to get this story over with so people will leave them alone to make Star Wars films—explain that my good faith interpretation of the scene is completely wrong. Jaime just "relapses" and wants to be with Cersei again, I guess?

"I do believe that when Jaime decides to stay behind with Brienne, it's a choice he makes with every intention of seeing it through. When he hears what Cersei's done, I think that's the turning point for him. At that point, Jaime has to take a really long, uncomfortable look at who he really is," said Weiss. "As much as Jaime cares for Brienne and admires her and loves her, he's got almost an addiction to Cersei that he just can't break. So even though he's given a chance at happiness and some kind of different life for himself, he can't take it, he makes the choice to go back to Cersei," added Benioff. I'm not sure whether this is accurate to the incredibly selfish dumbassary of Jaime Lannister the character, or if this is an indictment of Weiss and Benioff manufacturing an inorganic tragic ending for Cersei and Jaime together.

Either way, at least we got one really great Jaime/Brienne scene this week, because he's probably never going to see her again.

14. Why Do The Showrunners Hate Dany So Much All Of A Sudden? The heel turn, at its simplest, is the moment when a character goes from being a "good" one to a "bad" one, often with a sudden, dramatic flair. The writing has been on the wall all season that this would be Dany's final arc, and it took a major step toward becoming a reality tonight. She's lost her closest advisors and friends (Jorah, Missandai), she's insecure around the Northerners who all love her boyfriend more than her (just look at those pained close-ups of her face during the Winterfell banquet), she's increasingly impatient with Tyrion (who the audience is always supposed to side with) and she's eager to unleash her dragons on her human enemies (consequences be damned). She now knows Jon has a better claim on the throne than she does, and basically threatens him to keep it to himself or else she'll break up with him. And worst of all, she just lost another one of her dragon-children.

"She’s really back where she was at the very beginning,” Weiss said in the "Inside The Episode" video. “Emotionally, she’s alone in the world and she can’t really trust anybody. Unlike then, she’s extremely powerful and unlike then she’s filled with a rage that’s aimed at one person specifically." Benioff adds, “I think what’s echoing in Daenerys’ head in those final moments would be Missandei’s final words. 'Dracarys' is clearly meant for Dany. Missandei knows that her life is over and she’s saying, you know, light them up."

We spent the past seven seasons watching Dany slowly develop the skills to become a great and fair leader—she spent all those middle seasons idling in random cities specifically to learn how to rule, so she'd be ready for the considerable task of taking over the Seven Kingdoms. We've seen her do everything she could do distance herself from her father, the Mad King, winning over skeptics (and audience surrogates) like Tyrion and Jon Snow on the way. And now her two closest living advisors are actively discussing giving up on her. "I have served tyrants most of my life," Varys notes. "They all talk about destiny." Is she cracking under pressure? Was she always destined for madness? Or is this just disappointing writing?

As this thread below points out, the books did a pretty good job of comparing and contrasting Jon and Dany's leadership styles as the "traditional heroic fantasy protagonists" of the story. The show also tried to do this but...something may have gone amiss around season five...

Maybe it's not just Dany though—Benioff and Weiss might just not be great with the female characters. Maybe that's a bit too harsh, but there were more than a few characterization decisions this episode that really rubbed some fans the wrong way. How about Arya leaving Winterfell forever without saying goodbye to everyone mere moments after extolling the importance of family? Or Brienne, the most honorable character in the show, breaking down in tears over a boy she just slept with for the first time? Or even worse, Sansa talking to The Hound about being raped...and how it made her...stronger?

15. "Dracarys": Missandai was never an "important" character, at least compared with the Jon Snows and Cersei Lannisters of this world. Since joining the show in season three, she's mostly acted as an advisor to Dany, though she also got to play a really sweet, lowkey love story with Grey Worm (they got to share a couple small, intimate scenes over the course of the series that had absolutely nothing to do with plot, and were quite beautiful). Like Podrick Payne or Hot Pie, she was a character we could all root for without ever thinking she would significantly impact the bigger plots, like the wars involving kings, queens, dragons and Qyburns. And we didn't need that from her—she was the kind of side character who worked because she reminded us of the forgotten commoners and former slaves whose lives were in the hands of these larger-than-life figures like Dany and Jon.

But after some hasty editing to get them to King's Landing, she was put on a skiff by Grey Worm, got captured off-camera, was briefly seen in Cersei's chamber, and then was beheaded by The Mountain as a final "fuck you" to Dany and Tyrion. When Grey Worm and Missandai previously discussed going north to retire after the war, we knew at least one of them was a goner. But at least she got to go out in a satisfying way.

Actress Nathalie Emmanuel felt similarly. "I thought it was a fantastic scene," she told EW. She added that it was "really emotional and she’s so brave in it and shows her strength and fearlessness even though she doesn’t wield a sword. She believes in her queen and believes in her cause. I’m so happy that she has that kind of exit. It’s emotional. She said she was willing to lay down her life but we hoped she wouldn’t have to. You can watch the end of a show and think the character is living on to do whatever. But there’s a real sadness to the fact that the character won’t. It seems likely to push Daenerys to a scary level." Whoops, I guess her death will have an impact on the greater plot after all.

16. The Good Boy Who Was Promised: At least Missandai died knowing she had (at least) two people who loved her and will mourn her; and that there is an army of Unsullied, led by her boyfriend, who will probably avenge her death next week; and that she got a pretty badass last line. What did Ghost get??? HE DIDN'T EVEN GET A SINGLE PET ON THE GODDAMN HEAD???

He stood guard when Jon was murdered by his Night's Watch brothers. He heroically ran into battle against the undead. He got charred and bruised fighting a bunch of zombies. He's wounded and in desperate need of a bath and he just took it all, because he is a loyal doggo. He is The Good Boy Who Was Promised, and there is no place in the south for good boys all of a sudden. So Jon sends him north with Tormund to the country, just like your average negligent dog owner trying to dump his pet on someone else because his life is just so complicated right now, it's so unfair on the animal.

All that is bad enough, but here's the worst thing: Jon had emotional goodbyes with his two best human friends while Ghost was standing there (subtly trying to bring some attention to his poor charred fur). Jon dramatically hugs both of these best friends. And then he just kinda... grimaced at Ghost, and walks away forever.

This show always did Ghost dirty, but this was truly a new low. I may never forgive Jon Snow for this one.

The Viserys Targaryen Memorial Least Powerful Person Of The Week Award: Forget Missandai. Forget the Unsullied who drowned in the ocean with nary a mention. Forget the piles of red shirts at Winterfell. The least powerful person this week is The Person Who Left A Starbucks Coffee Cup In The Shot At The Winterfell Banquet. For the night is dark and full of pumpkin spice lattes.

The Ser Pounce Memorial Most Powerful Pet Of The Week Award: We've already discussed how this show has done Ghost dirty at length, and it is just making me too sad to have to think about it again. You were too beautiful for this world good boy!! So instead, I'm giving this one over to My Boy Jorah Mormont, Rest In Peace, who finally got a teensy bit of action in the afterlife.

The Hodoriffic Honorary Minor Character Of The Week Award: Podrick Payne's smile could light up the Empire State Building, but this one goes to Ser Davos. He didn't make any soup this week, but he did ask some relevant questions about what the fuck was up with the Lord of Light. Great question!! Here's another one: don't you still have a wife who is alive somewhere? Are you ever going to go see her?

Also, we miss Hodor every week, but especially this week because of this vid:

The Leslie Jones Award For Outstanding Celebrity Contributions To GOT Fandom: I touched on this briefly last week, but we really need to stand back and acknowledge that T-Pain has stepped up to become one of the greatest GOT tweeters of our time. Here are but a few examples:

What's George R.R. Martin Been Up To Besides Not Writing Or Contributing To These Final Episode Of GOT? For the first four seasons of the show, Martin wrote at least one episode every year. Then in season five, Martin bowed out of his annual tradition, coinciding with the split between seasons based on the books (1-4/5) and seasons most decidedly not based on any published materials (5/6-8). On the one hand, he may have made the right choice distancing himself a bit. On the other hand, maybe if he had been even a little more involved with the show, it would have made less frustrating endgame decisions.

BOATSEX WATCH 2019: How Much Pro-Incest Propaganda Was In The Episode? Dany 100% does not give two shits that she and Jon are related (and don't forget, they're not even distant relatives—aunt/nephew!). Jon seems a little more uncomfortable with it—though he still has no problem making out with his aunt. But if she had just relented on the whole "let me tell my sisters this secret" thing, I think he would have gone for it with her. The verdict: the show seems to be saying, "incest is okay as long as you are at least somewhat momentarily troubled by it."

The Best Quotes From Exit Interviews With Deceased Castmembers:

• "There was one thing he said to me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I wasn’t sure if she would be really scared or just a slight bit of scared. We tried it several ways. He said, 'It’s like someone removed her fear gene.' And that was just … yeah, that was a really great bit of direction." Actress Bella Ramsey, aka Lyanna Mormont, told EW what director Miguel Sapochnik told her about her final scene against the zombie giant.
• "I remember a couple of times when I did the walk, and I go for my target, which was Bran, and he said, 'Bran, he is not man. He is a cake. And you would like to eat this cake. And I would like to see you acting, you’re walking to him, you’re walking like you’re looking for that cake, which is waiting for you under the tree.'" Slovakian stuntman Vladimír Furdík, aka the guy who played the Night King since season six, told Vulture what Sapochnik told him as direction for his final scene.
• "Other than the painfully obvious one of making love to Daenerys, way back when, in all honesty, no...I could say I wish Jorah expressed himself more, but that’s just not who he was. [The showrunners] always said, slightly joshing, 'You’re great in silence. We always like having you in a scene when you’re not speaking.' But they were being sweet." Iain Glen, aka Jorah Mormont, responded to EW's question as to whether there was anything he wished his character had gotten to do.
• "The whole show tapped into my personal fear of death. That has always been a big theme in this show. Everyone’s trying to run from it, and as the Hound actually says, nobody can. That primal fear, I have nightmares like that. It felt like I was watching one of my nightmares. Whoever you are, whether you’re a fucking prince or a king or a peasant or whatever, no one can escape. That makes us all the same. It connects us all." Carice van Houten reflected on playing Melisandre to Vulture.

Way Beyond The Wall: As we heard this episode (but did not see), Yara has successfully retaken the Iron Islands, the people of Dorne (which doesn't include any characters we know, because they're all dead) stand behind Dany, and The Ghost Of Ned Stark's Man Bun is still happily buried in the crypts under Winterfell. The rest of the minor randos remain MIA: Robyn Arryn (aka Prepubescent Julian Casablancas), Salladhor Saan, Daario Naharis 2.0, Meera Reed, Edmure Tully (?), The Children Of The Forest (maybe some of them are still kicking?), The Faceless Men (I guess they count?), and of course, the mighty Hot Pie, who I guarantee will appear one more time before this whole thing is over (now THAT is fan service, baby).

On next week's penultimate episode of GOT, shit is about to go down in King's Landing. Until then, if you like your music videos with a healthy dollop of plot summary, then you won't want to miss the video for "Power Is Power" by SZA, The Weeknd, Travis Scott and the Night King.