Game of Thrones Season 8 Review Part 3: "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones

The episode begins with Jaime on trial. Daenerys is bitter about Jaime killing her father, Aerys II Targaryen, despite knowing what kind of person "The Mad King," was, and has fantasized about killing Jaime. She reminds Jaime that Cersei reneged on her pledge to help fight the Night King and blames Jaime for that. Jaime lists all of the forces Cersei has, from the Iron Fleet to the Golden Company, and acknowledges that Daenerys will have to fight Cersei's massive army next if she defeats the dead, but pledges to help Daenerys.

Tyrion tries to vouch for Jaime, but she has little trust for Tyrion and even less for Jaime. Surprisingly, Sansa agrees with Daenerys for once, bringing up Jaime's attack on Ned in Season 1. Jaime defiantly insists that they were at war, and he'd do everything he did again. Bran then quips, "The things we do for love," which is innocuous in and of itself, but horrifies Jaime, since that's what he said to Bran before pushing him out the window. As call-backs go, this was one of the more effective and less gratuitous ones.

Of course, since Cersei is the only one besides Bran and Jaime who knows the significance of the words and she isn't here, the conversation gets back on track to where Jaime's loyalty lies. Daenerys asks why Jaime would abandon his house if he's so loyal to his family, but Jaime asserts this is about survival.

Brienne gets up and vouches for Jaime, mentioning that Sansa owes him her life. After some consideration, Sansa agrees with Brienne and gives her approval. Jon pragmatically points out that they need every man available, and Daenerys reluctantly allows Jaime to live. The Unsullied commander known as Grey Worm returns Jaime's sword to him and court is adjourned. Daenerys reminds Tyrion that he's on thin ice, since believing Cersei so easily makes him either a traitor or a fool. It's meant to show that Daenerys is becoming more and more harsh, but I can't help but sympathize with her lack of patience with Tyrion's incompetence. If anything, I'm more amazed that she isn't angrier about the misadventure up north of the Wall costing her a dragon.

In the forges, Gendry is still busy making weapons, and Arya wonders when he'll get to hers. He advises her to take shelter in the crypts... when the enemy can raise the dead. If you can find the problem with that piece of advice, maybe you could have helped make the final season better.

Instead of pointing out that problem, Arya asks if Gendry will be in the crypts, and he says no. He insists that the dead are worse than rapists or murderers. Arya, unimpressed, says that Death has many faces and she looks forward to seeing the one he wears, while showing off her skill at throwing knives.

In the godswood of Winterfell, Jaime has a private conversation with Bran, apologizing for what he did. Bran observes that Jaime wasn't sorry at the time (although the way his book counterpart said, "The things I do for love" expressed some guilt over what he was about to do), but acknowledges that they've changed- in his case, he no longer considers himself Brandon Stark. Brandon says he's not angry, since he seems to have lost the capacity for that emotion, and Jaime's no good to them dead. Jaime asks what will happen next, but Bran replies that there's no guarantee they'll survive.

Tyrion and Jaime reunite, noting that neither of them is very popular among the Starks. Neither is Daenerys, since the northerners remember what happened the last time a Targaryen brought dragons north. While this is an obvious reference to the distrust most people have toward the dynasty, it ignores the in-universe history.

Tyrion laments falling for Cersei's agreement to help, although his believing her in the first place is out of character. Jaime remarks that she fooled him, too, but Tyrion calls him out on loving her despite knowing what kind of person she's always been. Still, the two achieve some progress toward reconciliation making morbid humor about what kind of death Tyrion will have and what he'll spend his undeath doing. 

Jaime spots Brienne and, after an unusually friendly conversation, awkwardly expresses his desire to fight with her. Meanwhile, Jorah Mormont, Daenerys' former right-hand man, asks her to give Tyrion another chance, since while he's made mistakes, he's learned from them. It comes off as a rather forced way of insisting Tyrion's still competent. He has another suggestion for Danerys, which leads into the next scene.

Daenerys requests a private conversation with Sansa. Daenerys is disappointed that Sansa suddenly changed her mind on Jaime when they were about to agree, but Sansa replies that she trusts Brienne. When Daenerys mentions how her advisors let her down, Sansa replies that Tyrion is a good man, but that isn't enough for Daenerys; Tyrion has to be good at his job. Daenerys complains about Tyrion trusting Cersei, but Sansa, who has even less trust for Cersei, points out that Daenerys actually believed Cersei for a moment.

The two rulers bond over their commonalities, such as being female leaders with complicated familial relations. Daenerys expresses a desire to get along better with Sansa, starting with getting to the root of the conflict between them. Sansa expresses wariness of Jon's feelings for Daenerys, since people who are in love can do stupid things, but Daenerys points out that she was only focused on winning the Iron Throne until she learned about Jon's war against the dead. The two share a laugh, but Sansa asks what happens next, after the dead are dealt with and Daenerys takes the Iron Throne. Daenerys is unable to answer that question before she's interrupted.

This was probably one of the best scenes in the final season, showing some good character development and interesting interactions between Daenerys and Cersei, so it's a shame how the two of them ended up.

The interruption turns out to be Theon, who reports that his sister is free but doesn't have many ships, so she's retaking the Iron Islands. As for Theon, he wants to fight at Winterfell.

As Ser Davos Seaworth, King Stannis' former second-in-command, serves soup, and Sam's wife Gilly guides refugees, Tormund, Berric Dondarrion and Dolorous Edd arrive, bringing with them bad news about Last Hearth, and the worse news that the dead will arrive within a day.

Jon briefs the others on how dire the situation is, since they're all hopelessly outnumbered. Their only hope is to kill the Night King by luring him out, and Bran, as the Three-Eyed Raven and "the world's memory" will be the bait. Bran will wait in the godswood, defended by Theon and the Ironborn. No one's terribly optimistic, but at least they have a plan.

Some complain about the Night King being dealt with so easily and the final conflict being for the Iron Throne, despite the narrative implying that it's just a petty distraction from the forces trying to destroy the world. It's a reasonable point, but not only does the fact that the war resumes after the crisis ends speak volumes about human nature, but the Night King isn't as interesting as the human antagonists, which may be because we know little about his motivations in canon.

Daenerys' assistant Missandei speaks with Grey Worm about what will be left for them after the battle and where they will go.

The surviving Night's Watch brothers recall how far they've come, especially after the previously cowardly Sam recalls all his feats of daring. They recall the fallen Pyp and Grenn, and repeat their vow that whoever's the last man standing burns the rest.

The Lannister brothers drink together, wondering what their father would think of them dying to defend Winterfell. They recall how they visited Winterfell in the first season, as well as how they've changed and how they haven't. They are joined by Brienne, her squire Podrick Payne and Davos, who aren't as interested in drinking. Tormund shows up and compares his sobriquet of Giantsbane with Jaime's "Kingslayer."

Arya sits with Sandor in awkward silence until he complains about it. She's skeptical of why he's here, since he isn't the type to fight for others, but he points out that he fought for her. Berric arrives, and apparently doesn't mind that Arya wanted to kill him for letting Sandor go and turning Gendry over to Melisandre. Arya then excuses herself, not wanting to spend her final hours with "old shits." Instead, she has sex with Gendry.

The scene switches to Tyrion's group, which is composed of the Starks' former enemies- Jaime and Tyrion are Lannisters, Davos was loyal to Stannis, Brienne once served Renly, and Tormund is a wildling- now fighting to defend the castle. Tyrion is actually somewhat hopeful they'll survive after everything they've been through, with some offering self-deprecating commentary on their own failures and shortcomings. They then get to Brienne and discuss how she's no knight, which Jaime proceeds to rectify, since any knight can knight another person.

Jorah tries to convince his young cousin Lyanna not to put herself in harm's way, but she insists on honoring her pledge to fight for the north. Sam gifts Jorah his house's sword in honor of Jorah's father, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont of the Night's Watch, whom Sam admired.

In the crypts, Jon tells Daenerys of his true identity as Aegon Targaryen. Daenerys is skeptical but quickly realizes the implications- Jon has a stronger claim to the Iron Throne than she does. Of course, they're soon forced to put aside their worries, as the dead arrive.

Review

This is probably the best episode in the entire final season, albeit because the competition is rather feeble. It has some good character development and interaction between people who have never met before, and effectively builds up to the conclusion. The only problem is that, as you know by now, there are only four episodes to wrap up the Long Night and the war for the Iron Throne, conflicts that should each last at least a season.

As such, I give this episode one melted Iron Throne out of five. These ratings may seem lenient thus far, but trust me- the worst is yet to come.