Yes, it was hard not to have stirring KINNANORTH feelings when all the lords raised their swords for Jon (after being shamed by the total pint-sized badass who is Lady Mormont). Still, within this, was that lingering rift between Sansa and Jon. They love each other, but she’s now got a bit of Littlefinger in her approach. She admitted to being wrong about keeping the Knights of the Vale a secret, but she’s a schemer now and probably always will be, and she didn’t seem to like the ovation Jon got. As much as she doesn’t trust Littlefinger, the things he says to her will always resonate somewhat, so there’s a chance that if he could get her to the actual Iron Throne, she’ll take it.
Of course, that Winterfell scene came right after the Tower of Joy semi-reveal - which yes, many fans have predicted for years - that Jon is a Stark/Targaryen. I'm not sure why we couldn't fully hear Lyanna's whispers but it was strongly indicated/hinted that Jon is son of Rhaegar (with Lyanna now confirmed as his mother), taken in by Ned so that he wouldn’t fall victim to Robert’s quest to kill all Tagaryens in the land and end the bloodline. Perhaps they're saving the actual concrete reveal so that Bran can tell Jon himself next season. Or tell someone who needs the information. And that being said, I do hope we start to find out just what Bran can do with all the power he now has. He’s the Three-Eyed Raven now, but what was the Three-Eyed Raven even doing to help the world before Bran took his place?
Sticking with the Starks here, Walder Frey fell to the fast pass travels of revenge-bot Arya - who now possesses Faceless Men skills. I was wondering, when Jaqen smiled at her last week, after she’d said her name, if he’d let her basically keep the gimmick - as in, he admired her so much that she could use the disguises and training and basically be a rogue Faceless Man. Which is to say I’m assuming he’s okay with all of this, as it felt like a deed done with his implicit blessing.With Walder gone now, so falls - perhaps - the last truly wicked man in Westeros. Ramsay’s gone, Walder’s gone - there are no more fully loathsome people. And now who will Arya target? She allowed Jaime to live and leave the Twins, but Cersei’s the last name on her list. And now Cersei’s queen. So Arya will have to really want to find a way into the belly of the beast if she wants to take a shot at the supreme ruler of the land. And overall, this is essentially what many viewers wanted from Arya - to be able to get trained as an assassin and then use those skills to murder her way through the realm.
[Spoiler Warning for the Song of Ice and fire books in the following paragraph]
On top of that, having Walder eat his own sons, cooked into a pie, was a nice little nod to the Wyman Manderly “Frey Pies” from the books. It was a story they never got around to, though we did see Lord Manderly get shamed by Lady Mormont in this very episode. But the pie reveal for Walder Frey was just a fun, vicious little moment that winked at book readers while also showing us how absolutely brutal Arya is now. Once you carve a face off a Waif, anything’s up for grabs.
Now let’s talk Queen Cersei - Arya’s presumed white whale prize. The King’s Landing trial scene, and subsequent fiery bloodletting, took up almost an entire half hour of the episode and it was excellent. Overall, the King’s Landing arc, with Cersei and the Faith Militant, wasn’t the most engaging storyline this year, as there wasn’t really anyone to root for and it was just hard to shake the fact that Cersei had brought all the trouble onto herself and was now only trying to climb out from under it all. But the fact that the end result was that she’d be queen - which seemingly wasn’t her true intention - gave us a grand payoff. She just had to unintentionally lose Tommen to do it.Remember, Cersei started this entire ordeal because she was petty and wanted to get rid of Margaery so I guess, in that regard, it… worked? A crap-load of people had to die, yes, but in the end Margaery was one of them so I guess the original goal was met. Of course, meeting that goal also came with the added tragedy of Tommen tumbling out the window - which not only finalized the Maggy the Frog prophesy but also echoed Jaime’s attempt to kill Bran in the pilot episode.
The actual staging and pacing of the trial and violent reckoning was really cool, with everyone getting dressed and little puzzle pieces falling into place, little birds leading men to their deaths, and Ramin Djawadi’s excellent score (the same week he also beautifully scored Person of Interest's series finale) eerily texturing the whole thing. So while the High Sparrow storyline wasn’t always the best, it did wind up paying dividends right at the end. Now it feels like there’s a vital power in King’s Landing and a formidable adversary for Daenerys, who’s on her way with a giant fleet of ships and three cranky dragons. Well, formidable in the sense that Cersei will want to fight, not in the sense that she could possibly stand up to dragons. It all makes me wonder if Daenerys will have other stuff to contend with before she gets to Westeros - like Euron’s thousand ships. That would be awkward.
The “Hand of the Queen” scene was very touching, which was a bit surprising considering how Dany and Tyrion don’t typically connect with one another emotionally. She’s had a lot of people at her side over the years and he’s the newest of the batch so I didn’t think we’d get a sentimental beat from them, but it worked. Maybe she let her guard down with him a bit since she had to be so strong while dismissing Daario.
Other smaller but still notable moments included Sam checking in at the Oldtown Maester Center, an outraged Davos calling for Melisandre’s head (she only was banished for now), Olenna meeting with the Sand Snakes in Dorne, and Jaimie returning to King’s Landing in time to see Cersei take the throne. Sending Jaime away still feels like a weird detour for the season, though in the end it allowed Cersei to become the Mad Queen/Sith Lord that she truly is while also bringing Walder Frey back into frame so that he could get his throat slit.
