Television

So, we know from the 20-second preview video above that Arya stays in the rubble of King’s Landing instead of riding that white horse far away. She’s looking at Dany with vengeance in her eyes since she experienced firsthand Dany’s unforgivable atrocities in the last episode.

Will Arya try to kill Dany? It sure looks like it’s being set up that way. On the other hand, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane’s words about forswearing vengeance are still ringing in her ears. I wish she’d get back on that horse, ride to Storm’s End and take Gendry up on his proposal, but she probably won’t.

Speaking of Gendry, ever since season one, my husband has been predicting that Gendry will win the game in the end. I scoffed at first, but it’s not so far-fetched now that Gendry has been legitimized as Robert Baratheon’s heir and made Lord of Storm’s End.

Even if the Targaryens are removed from contention for the Iron Throne, I don’t think Tyrion can win on the strength of a claim as the last surviving Lannister since everyone now knows Joffrey wasn’t Robert Baratheon’s son. Gendry has the superior claim in the absence of a Targaryen restoration. Maybe Gendry becomes king and appoints Tyrion Hand of the King. He’ll need help since he’s a blacksmith by trade.

My prediction is that Dany will sentence Tyrion to death by Drogon for springing Jaime from captivity — recall that she told him the next time he failed her would be the last. Maybe Bronn will kill Dany and/or Drogon to save Tyrion since he (Bronn) needs Tyrion alive to fulfill his promise to make Bronn the Lord of Highgarden? Bronn wants his damned payday.

So, if Dany dies, why wouldn’t Jon be the king? As he keeps telling everyone who will listen, he doesn’t want to be king. Maybe he’ll refuse the crown and head back north, rejoining Ghost and Tormund beyond the wall. It’s what he wants to do, as he told Tormund after the Battle of Winterfell. He wouldn’t be the first Targaryen to renounce the throne in favor of colder climates (recall Maester Aemon).

If Arya survives the looming conflict with Dany, maybe she actually does go back to Gendry, with the proviso that she won’t be pigeon-holed in a traditional lady’s role. She’s had a crush on Gendry since she first saw him. She once told him she could be his family.

In the first season, Robert Baratheon told Eddard Stark, “I have a son, you have a daughter — we’ll join our houses.” He meant Joffey and Sansa, of course. But maybe that’ll come true with a different set of Baratheon and Stark children. That’s probably too happy an ending to hope for from GoT, but I like it.

What about Sansa? Dany will definitely be gunning for her since she blabbed about Jon’s true lineage and is a staunch believer in Northern independence. I think Sansa survives and stays in her Lady of Winterfell role, ably guarded by Ser Brienne of Tarth.

And what about the Unsullied and the Dothraki? They’ve gotta get out of Westeros somehow. Maybe Dany lives after all. Maybe she addresses the people gathered in the ruins of King’s Landing (as depicted in that clip above_ and announces that she and her dragon and armies are headed back across the Narrow Sea to rule in Essos but Westeros better not start any shit, or she’ll be back to burn everything to the ground again.

That seems unlikely, but I also don’t see how the Unsullied and Dothraki remain in Westeros long-term, even if Dany wins the Iron Throne. Grey Worm, for one, can’t wait to get the hell out of there, and who can blame him after the way the Northern people looked at him when he rolled up to save their asses at Winterfell? Maybe Grey Worm leads the Unsullied to Naath and becomes the protector of that peaceful land in memory of his sweet Missandei.

And what about Drogon? If Dany dies and he lives, maybe he or she flies away, and the last scene shows him or her leaving three dragon eggs in a nest…

What do y’all think? Open thread!

So, from my cursory visit to the Twitters and elsewhere, I get the overwhelming impression that people are angry as hell about this episode. Glen Weldon at NPR has a decent recap and commentary here.

I disagree with one of his speculations — that Euron Greyjoy will end up being not-dead. He got a sword twisted into his guts and was clearly bleeding out! (Good riddance, BTW).

Weldon assumes Cersei and Jaime are dead, and certainly having tons of masonry rain down on the couple implies that they were crushed. But why foreclose the possibility of one or both of that incestuous pair’s surprise resurrection if you think Euron can bounce back from an evisceration? I think all three are well and truly dead.

Anyhoo, I’m not thrilled with the Mad Queen angle the series finale is taking, but I’m not as outraged as most folks seem to be. There was plenty of criticism for Arya’s sudden decision to listen to the Hound and abandon her quest for revenge, but I enjoyed this scene so much:

Sandor! She gave him his name at long last. RIP, Sandor.

The cinematography was pretty amazing, particularly when Arya was stumbling around in the smoke and ashes as the dragon strafed the city.

Many of the hot takes I saw said this episode ruined the whole series. That’s nuts, IMO. Plot holes? Yes, there were gaping plot holes. Etc. But we’ve seen this before with the series, and it still manages to be first-rate TV, IMO.

My only qualms involve the fact that we’ve only got 80 or so minutes to wrap it up, so I do wonder if the writers can stick the landing in that timeframe. We shall see. What did you think?

The Hound captured my reaction to this episode perfectly when he spotted Arya while riding away from Winterfell: “For fuck’s sake!” I’m nervous about Arya’s fate. She’s heading to King’s Landing to kill Cersei, I assume (perhaps wrongly). Will she kill Jaime and steal his face to do it? The face-stealing thing has to come back into play at some point, right?

But there’s no way the writers will let Arya end the Knight King and Cersei. My fear is she’ll steal Jaimie’s face to kill Cersei, but be killed in the attempt by the Mountain, who will in turn be killed by the Hound, who will get revenge not only for his own mistreatment by the Mountain but to avenge Arya.

That would wrap up those characters in a tidy bow. Hopefully that scenario is too tidy for the writers, who will find a way to surprise us. Speaking of surprises, the ones in last night’s episode were vile.

Goddamn it, not Missandei! Hasn’t Grey Worm suffered enough? I’ve got to think Missandei’s brave last word wasn’t in vain, though, which signals Cersei, the Mountain or both get roasted by the remaining dragon. Maybe. Someone does, for sure.

Another thing that pissed me off: Ser Brienne shown ugly-crying because her no-good boyfriend went back south. I don’t object to Jaimie’s leaving. I’ve never entirely trusted his transformation. It appears he has accepted his role as Cersei’s fool. Or maybe since Ser Bronn revealed Cersei’s plot on his and Tyrion’s lives, he’s going back to confront her?

Maybe Jaimie plans to kill Euron, if Arya doesn’t kill him (Jaimie) first. Somebody has to kill Euron! I would prefer it be Yara who takes out that smirking shit heel.

It would be cool if Ser Brienne, Yara and Arya survive and form an invincible all-woman pirate group. But the Iron Islanders have given up pirating, and Ser Brienne doesn’t strike me as a plunderer, not even to get over a broken heart.

Arya says she’s not going back to Winterfell. So, if she lives, where will she go?

If you go with the theory that the names of the dire wolves predict their humans’ fates, maybe Arya becomes a warrior queen like the legendary Nymeria, leading refugees to safety out of King’s Landing during the roasting. Maybe she connects with Nymeria the dire wolf again? I don’t know, but it seems unlikely we’ve heard the last of Arya’s dire wolf or the Nymeria legend.

Speaking of dire wolves, oh why did Jon Snow not even give poor Ghost an ear-scritch before lighting out for King’s Landing? And what was up with Jon’s and Tormund’s conversation about Jon belonging in the REAL north? It didn’t sound like small talk. It almost sounded as if that’s where he’ll ultimately land, reunited with Ghost. Will he give up the Iron Throne to be the new Mance Rayder? Seems like a demotion.

And what’s up with Sansa? I don’t blame her for being suspicious of Dany, but was she smart to blab about Jon’s true identity to Tyrion? And WTF is up with Varys? And Ser Bronn of the Blackwater/Highgarden?

Also, the Starbucks cup — funny mistake, or a sign that “Game of Thrones” was actually a bored barista’s daydream all along? What if the final scene of the last episode dissolves to…Dany as a barista in a green apron taking an order from an unpleasant and condescending high-powered executive, Cersei? Good God, I’ll throw a fucking brick through my screen if that happens!

Anyhoo, clearly I don’t have a fucking clue what’s coming next. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!