7x06 Beyond the Wall

[7.3/10] Is anyone else thrilled out? Overthrilled? The thrill is gone? I don't know quite how to describe my growing indifference to all of Game of Thrones jawdropping set pieces. So much is happening so fast in this season. The dragons have come out to play twice in three weeks. There have been so many reunions and departures and new missions and old friends coming together once more that it just becomes exhausting at some point. There was a time when I was begging for this stuff. How many scenes in Qarth or Dorne or with Bran not doing much of anything did we suffer through and wonder when the show's major players would come together and the real battle would begin? Fire. Ice. Winter. Fights for the Iron Throne. We're getting everything we've been promised.

And now I want to go back.

Maybe the grass is always greener. Maybe It's too much of a good thing. Whatever the reason, I now find myself wishing that we had more scenes like the first half of this episode, with people just talking to one another, figuring out what they believe and where they stand in relation to one another and to the major events going on in the wider world. With all the glorious incident taking place in this abbreviated season, I've started to relish those quieter moments when characters have those long, quasi-metaphysical conversations about who they are and what they want out of life that used to be the bread and the butter for a show that often felt like it was killing time until the dragons arrive.

Now the dragons have arrived, and so (kind of) have the White Walkers. And the scenes where they collide are done well enough. There's tension and excitement and a boatload of things that make little logical sense. (Why is Gendry so fast? How can Dany get there in time? How is that everyone, save Thoros, can be saved in the nick of time? Just how damn strong is everyone's plot armor?) But I'm kind of bored with spectacle at this point. It's cool, but it doesn't leave an impact on me the way that say, even the Loot Train battle did. You can only do so much of this stuff before it becomes commonplace and you're trying to distinguish redshirts from major characters in a muddy, bearded, snow-drenched mess.

It's not bad, but with so much happening, I just wish the show could slow down a little. I do like the two major threads apart from the battle beyond the wall. Arya and Sansa's conflict is a nice reminder that despite how much the two young women have changed, each sees the other very much in terms of who they were before they left for King's Landing, and I like that that's still causing problems. And I also appreciate Tyrion trying to look at the big picture with Dany and expressing his concerns about her recent, greater willingness to spit fire and use force. With only one episode left in the season, I hope they're going somewhere with both storylines, but there's intrigue in both.

Still, what should be the crown jewel of Game of Thrones' spectacle-fueled majesty just leaves me longing for the days when the show was seemingly marking time, but in the process, delivering more in terms of character and philosophy and the occasional surprise rather than this exciting but exhausting roller coaster.

“Death is the enemy. The first enemy. And the last.
But we all die.
The enemy always wins but we still need to fight him.”

That's what the white walkers are, Death. There is no reason for them wanting to kill everyone, they don’t want the iron throne, they just want to bring death. The battle scenes were intense. Jon and his crew did fight but it is not without death. Thoros, Uncle Benjen (he was on screen for like 10 seconds) and most importantly Viserion. RIP sorta. The night king has an arm and he now upgraded from an undead horse to an undead dragon.

I’m glad Jon decided it is more important to swallow his pride and bend the knee. I was surprised it was Tormund who kinda talked him into it. I’m sure another near death experience also put some things in perspective. Side Note: How did he not die of hypothermia, I mean he was under a frozen lake for a while and then had a long ride back to the wall in wet clothes?

Daenerys is really going on the offensive recently but one of these times Tyrion is going to be right and she won’t listen to him. She already lost one of her dragons. Will that slow her down? It looks like Jon and her really have some strong feelings for each other now. Once they find out Jon is a Targaryen will she be happy about it or mad since he has a greater claim to the iron throne?

I really enjoyed all the chatter from everyone north of the wall before the fighting. I loved the hound and Tormund going back and forth. Especially when he brings up Brienne. “Ah, dick. I like it. I bet you do.” It's crazy how intertwined everyone is and how they all came from different places to fight this one battle.

The whole Arya and Sansa fighting is a little strange. I don’t know why Arya would just want to kill Sansa? I mean does she really think she is going to betray her family now? When Sansa found the faces it made we think was Arya acting as Littlefinger earlier in the episode? Was she acting as Sansa when she sent away Brienne? Why is Sansa needed in King’s Landing? Does she need to kill them before she can use their faces?

You can really see with the shorter season where the budget is going. The special effects are amazing with all the wights and dragons and undead polar bears. They aren’t cutting any corners. Now the long(er) wait for the finale begins.

I knew it. As soon as I saw the dragon go down. I knew he was gonna get rezzed. Jeezus......why didn't they think about that? xD I mean they just reviewed proper wilding burial procedures.....though honestly I guess there's not really anything they can do about it. It's not like the other dragons could've burned the corpse if it fell underwater. And it's not like the Night King would've let them dredge it up like the whitewalkers did. I was really happy to see Daenerys go off to rescue them. No joke whenever I see the dragons come in I get goosebumps.

And wtf with Uncle Ben? He just came outta nowhere. Did he die for good this time?

I also liked the scene in the boat. Who knew hand holding could be so intimate? I liked getting to see all the dagger wounds as a reminder that he was once dead. Moreso though, I think the commitment by her to help him, and his suggestion to bend the knee further fanned the flames between them I wonder where Sam's discovery well come into play in this developing romance..There've been subtle hints here and there and one of em was his first introduction to dragons. They liked him it seemed.

The Stark sister feud definitely got very dark. Love the game of faces and finding the actual skins was creepy. Still kinda find it as a distraction but probably just me. About the only other major development was I think Littlefinger intentionally suggested Sansa send away Brienne so that she wouldn't interrupt any feuds between the sisters. Other then that I'm glad Sansa finally sees Araya as a real danger or asset. Honestly I hope they pull one over Littlefinger and band together against him.

If The Hound and Tormund did a spin-off series, I would be so there. Overall, there was lots of fun and terror in this one, but so much stupid, as well. For one thing, the whole plan to capture a wight was just so wrong on so many levels. For another, the time/geography factor. A lot happened while our gang spent one night on that little island. And then when Uncle Benjen saves Jon, there's "no time" for him to hop on the back of the horse and ride away with Jon? And then there's Arya. She's too smart and wily in her own right to get sucked into Littlefinger's games and manipulations so quickly and fully. And finally, on a real-world level, I still can't figure out why HBO is in such a hurry to end this show. It's getting terrific ratings and there's been no drop-off in interest from fans, but they're rushing so fast to an ending that it's really starting to hurt the narrative in all sorts of ways. In fact, all of my complaints about this one can be traced back to the time constraints under which the writers are writing these days. And it's more than a little unfortunate.