The second episode of Game of Thrones’ final season aired this Monday. Many people were once again up at 03h00 to watch it and avoid the otherwise nearly inevitable spoilers.
Speaking of which, please stop reading this article now if you haven’t watched the episode yet. Because I kind of need to, you know, discuss it.
Classic opening and tension with Jaime getting it from not only the Mother of Dragons and the Lady of Winterfell, but the Three-Eyed Raven as well with his “the things we do for love” comment. Maybe they could use all of these flames to fight the White Walkers.
Luckily for Jaime, he has Tyrion and Brienne defending him, and Brienne ends up vouching for him and Jaime thus wins Sansa’s begrudging acceptance.
Tormund and company arrive to tell Jon that the White Walkers are practically on Winterfell’s doorstep. Unfortunately, we only get to see them at the very end of the episode. Umar Buckus (21), an Honours student in BSc Construction at the University of Witwatersrand, says that while he thought the episode wasn’t very eventful, “the sort of rounding out of a lot of characters story lines was great”.
Umar Buckus (21) at Jozi Rumble with his Hand of the king/queen pin. PHOTO: Lia Snijman.
Buckus recently helped host a debating tournament, Jozi Rumble, that was Game of Thrones-themed. It saw teams, all named after characters from the show, compete for the Iron Throne trophy. The tournament ended with the Three-Eyed Raven winning, possibly a sign of hope for the upcoming episodes?
We see some more great character moments, such as Theon coming back to redeem himself and being warmly welcomed by Sansa. Dany and Sansa also almost warm up to each other through the age-old bonding method of hating the same person, but they get stuck on minor details such as whether or not Dany will completely dominate the North.
Arya tests out some of Gendry’s knives in the workshop and later tests out some of his, um, other equipment. Seeing the two young ones get together and some Maisie Williams “side boob” has some people up in arms and others cheering them on. I personally think she should get credit for not sleeping with a family member, although I guess it’s easier when quite a few of them have been eliminated.
What you need to know in terms of strategy is that Bran will be used as bait for the Night King, and pretty much everybody believes they will die in the battle.
More prayers for the dothraki 😂#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/1zjrx02E6J
— アトゥマニャ (@atumanya_) April 23, 2019
A tweet showing how the different armies are coming together against the Army of the Dead.
At least this means people are drinking and we get great moments like Brienne being knighted, Tormund telling his weird Freudian giant story, and hearing Podrick sing. Maybe those golden pipes are part of the reason he won over the prostitutes? I mean, you’ve seen people at Stellenbosch University’s (SU) acapella/sêr.
Lyanna Mormont makes a short but fierce contribution to the episode and we also have Sam give the Tarly sword to Jorah Mormont. It’s good to see that the dwindling houses can at least support each other.
Marie Mjacu (20), a final year BA International Studies student, said that all her favourite scenes – Arya and Gendry, Missandei and Greyworm, and Brienne being knighted – are “also the worst moments because they’re just showing us all this now so that it hurts even more next week when everyone dies”.
BA Humanities student, Chloë Bosman (19), seems to echo this sentiment, saying: “Everybody’s going to die. I’m not okay.” Another BA Humanities student, Dylan Thwaits (20), weighed in: “I’m just stressed actually. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Tamlyn Newman (19), a BA Humanities student, expresses her dismay that she has “been attached” and that she will be very frustrated “if [Cersei] is the only one left in the end on the Iron Throne”. Cersei was oddly absent from the episode, probably busy plotting how to use her elephantless army.
BEng student Elaine Nyamayaro (20), said she thinks it “will be cool to see what the dragons do now”. Buckus also stated: “I think the next episode is going to be the first epic battle of the season. I’m hopeful for a dope CGI battle like the Battle of the Bastards.”
For now, we must all be content to watch that tiny episode 3 trailer on repeat and to listen to “Jenny of Oldstones” by Florence + the Machine.