After its exciting premier set the pieces on the board, Game of Thrones returns to let the game play out.

SPOILERS!

On Dragonstone

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Fan-favourite Daenerys opens Stormborn by challenging Varys’s allegiance. An exposition scene in disguise, its conclusion carries a lot of weight. Dany makes Varys promise that if she ever neglects the people, he’ll tell her rather than scheme behind her back. This is what separates Dany from other rulers, who are so steadfast in their own beliefs and honour that they leave little room for the insights of their advisors. However, this is immediately contrasted by her threat that if he betrays her she’ll burn him alive. It’s played for comedy but she means it. After all, it’s her answer to everything.

This is emphasised later in a scene with Olenna Tyrell, who tells Dany to, “be a dragon.” This makes me very nervous. Will we see Dany tragically fall? That’s where my money is. She is a great conqueror but not a great ruler, despite her heart being in the right place on many issues.

Next, Melisandre turns up and recommends that Dany invite Jon Snow to Dragonstone. While it finally pays off Tyrion’s weird decision to use the Red Priests to spread good news through Mereen, I didn’t like this scene. Tyrion knew Jon Snow for about a week, and thinks he knows him well six years later. He doesn’t. The show just needs an excuse to get these characters together.

Grey Worm gets it on with Missandei before he is sent to war. I’ve never been invested in their romance, but this scene is touching. While we imagine men having a send-off with their wives before being deployed, this delicate scene serves as a reminder that Grey Worm and Missandei’s trauma is something that they fight to end while not letting it define their sexuality. And while in season six we heard the High Sparrow’s religiously fuelled words, “congress does not require desire on the woman’s part,” it was nice to see a scene devoted to a woman’s pleasure.

In the North

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So, Jon Snow gets invited to Dragonstone, and learns that Dragonstone conveniently sits on a mountain of anti-White Walker glass. Also, Davos finally utters what viewers have been screaming at their screens for five years: Fire kill Walker, dragon breathe fire.

Jon and Sansa are once again at odds over how to address the issue. The Northmen tarnish Tyrion and Dany with the same brush as Cersei and the Mad King. This plays into a theme developing this season. Last week, Jon forgave the children of the Karstark and Umber houses for the sins of their parents. So how can it be right that Tyrion be blamed for the actions of his family? Jon knows it isn’t, and best of all, he acts on it.

The best moment comes when Jon decides he’ll go to Dragonstone after all. What makes this so great is that everyone around him might hate him for it, but he does it anyway. That’s who Jon Snow is, and that’s why we love him, even though it got him killed last time.

Before he departs, he places Sansa in charge. Sansa’s character progression is one of the show’s many triumphs, and Sophie Turner has grown into the role. Shaped by Littlefinger’s mentoring and three horrific engagements, Sansa knows how to play the game. I cannot wait to see what she gets up to.

Speaking of Littlefinger, it’s great to see how everyone sees through him now. Yes, he saved Jon’s ass at the Battle of the Bastards, but only because he wanted to advance his own position.

In the Narrow Sea

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The episode concludes with what I actually thought was its weakest scene. Battles are exciting, sure, but these characters (except Theon) are the ones we care least about. I don’t know Euron, and the Sand Snakes are so damned annoying that I was relieved to see them die (maybe next time use something more practical than a sodding whip – a throwing knife, perhaps?).

It is punctuated with Theon jumping overboard rather than attempting to save his sister. Alfie Allen perfectly displays the terror Theon feels when faced with such a dilemma. Be honest, after spending three years tortured and enslaved by Ramsey Bolton, would you risk becoming the plaything of another savage? I’d run, for sure, and I’m curious as to where this tortured soul will wash up.

In King’s Landing

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Cersei and Jaime manipulate the lesser houses to gain their support for the wars to come. Again, it serves another theme this season is developing. Cersei labels Dany and her army as a legion of foreign savages. Is she wrong? It reminds us that whoever documents these events falls victim to bias, but more on that later.

There’s a dread-inducing moment when Kyburn reveals a giant crossbow built to take down dragons. All he needs now is a black arrow and a man called Bard to fire it. While I was a little disappointed at the simplicity of Kyburn’s scheme – he’s infamous for biological experimentation, not mechanical engineering – I did enjoy the inversion of this trope, as we’re rooting against the men and their arrows and for the giant beasts that’ll burn them alive.

In the Riverlands

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More cooking advice from Hot Pie as Arya ventures into the Inn at the Crossroads. Despite being a ridiculous character I enjoy his appearances. The show gives us the right amount of him, and I giggle every time at his whole “if they’re wearing armour, they’re a knight” misconception, a recurring gag that started way back in early season two.

Crucially, Arya learns that Jon has retaken Winterfell and decides to travel there. This surprised me, as I thought she’d be jonesing for Cersei’s death too hard to turn back. The Hound was absent from this episode, but we know he’s in the same area and heading in the same direction. Surely, they’ll bump into each other and provide some of the juiciest drama of the season.

Oh yeah, and Arya bumps into Nymeria. Now, I thought Bran was going to warg those wolves away despite him being on the other side of Winterfell. Instead, Nymeria wanders off after Arya’s failed attempts to reconnect. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what this scene is all about, but I hope it matters. Perhaps it’s foreshadowing that Arya will fail to reconnect with the surviving members of her family?

At the Citadel

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Samwell begins the process of trying to cure Jorah. It’s nice having these two together, given their connection to the former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, and I really hope Jorah gets cured, bless him.

The most terrifying moment of this season so far is in a scene with Archmaester Jim Broadbent. I felt my heart stop a moment. It’s revealed that the Archmaester is writing a chronicle of the events of the show, and Sam suggests he name his book something more poetic. And it would have been so easy for him to say: “Why don’t you name it: A Game of Thrones?” By leaving it implied rather than spoken, the writers dodged a bullet. A line like that, and I’d have lost my shit.

Still, it emphases the ambiguous nature of writing history. How will the story be told by a man who doesn’t even believe the White Walkers are a legitimate threat?

Conclusion

Another great episode packed with rising tension, moments of beauty, and exciting promises. Knowing Jon Snow and Dany are finally going to be in the same room soon is enough to make me giddy. Unusually, the only misstep for me was the battle scene – I wasn’t fussed about it until its dark conclusion. And hey, at least Ed Sheeran wasn’t in this one.

Predictions? Dany’s reaction to Euron decimating her fleet will be fiery to say the least, sparking the beginning of her tragic collapse.

What did you think of this episode? Let me know, and if you missed it, check out my review of this season’s premier.

Header image credit: HBO