

Ultimately, this was Game of Thrones at its best and its worst – at once breathlessly exciting and frustratingly careless.

There's something about the words 'zombie ice dragon' and the prospect of it going up against its living brothers that makes you want to forgive any lapses in logic. Its biggest achievement lies in taking events that you can see coming and. And for all the episode's clunky plotting, the final shot can't help but elicit a squeal of excitement. Beyond the Wall is one of those rare hours of television that stuns you into inaction. There are more hints of Jon and Dany's romance (unconvincing as it is), and the promise of a united front against the Night King. The episode ends with our heroes on the way to deliver the wight to Cersei in King's Landing, in what promises to be a sequence that puts more characters in the same room than ever before. Of course, it's always possible that Littlefinger is dead already, and his faceless body is stuffed in a dark corner somewhere… with Arya's Faceless Man training, it's rather difficult to be sure these days.
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Was getting Brienne sent away part of his plan? We'll probably find out soon enough. Venture north of the Wall in this new, 7-minute immersive VR experience based on the acclaimed HBO series Game of Thrones. She's a fool for letting Littlefinger get into her head, but Arya's a dangerous person, and positioning her as a villain for the final run could be fun.Įqually dangerous is Littlefinger himself, who continues to scheme and play the sisters against each other. Arya trained to become an assassin so that she could scratch the names off her list, but the confidence her new powers have given her have also let a darkness in, and it now seems she's willing to point the knife at anyone – even her own sister. Arya is an angry and increasingly terrifying figure, and Maisie Williams is lapping up every delicious moment of it. There are a few scenes that take place south of the Wall, as Tyrion tries once more to offer Dany wise counsel that she largely ignores, and Arya and Sansa seem to have reached a point of no return in their relationship. Benjen may not have been the most important character, but his death was symptomatic of the episode: incredibly stylish, but lazily plotted. Too often here the machinations of the writers were exposed. After two lines to one another, Benjen then sends Jon on his way, but stays behind to die – for no reason! There was very clearly plenty of time for him to join Jon on the horse, but the series had no further use for him, so it manufactured his death. It's a great moment, and Benjen's unique weapon makes a change from all the swordplay. And GoT episodes from earlier in this season are averaging around 29 million. He swoops in, swinging his flaming chain, and saves Jon. If you include repeats and streaming, Beyond the Wall is already up to 14.2 million viewers across all platforms.

Perhaps the episode is best encapsulated in Benjen Stark's (Joseph Mawle) short cameo.
