Though it hit fairly similar beats to last week’s season premiere, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ makes for a much more tonally consistent and thought-out episode. Set over the course of the night preceding the battle for Winterfell, we take a step back from the epic scale of war to explore much smaller, more intimate stories of characters who are facing certain death. In their last moments people seek each other out for solace, and this common theme makes for an episode that is in equal parts suspenseful, hopeful, and tragic.
Jaime takes a lot of the focus at the beginning of this episode, and rightly so. He and Brienne were the only characters who we did not spend much time with last week, and so they were given a number of opportunities to shine this week. After narrowly escaping Dany’s fury, being forgiven by Bran, and repairing his relationship with Tyrion, Jaime is ready to go down fighting for the living. His knighting of Brienne is a testament to how far his character has come since season 1, and through his suffering he has earned every bit of development.
The knighting isn’t just significant for Jaime though – it also marks Brienne’s own formal acceptance into a society that has always shunned her. As much as she says it isn’t really a big deal for her, it kind of is. A lifetime of rejection turned her from an innocent girl into a cold, hardened fighter, and it is hugely satisfying to see Jaime gradually breaking down those barriers.
Dany is still having trouble keeping the Northmen’s loyalty, and Jon’s bombshell isn’t helping things at all. Never mind that they’re blood-related – her biggest issue is that he may have an even better claim to the Iron Throne than her. Dany’s failed attempts to hash things out with Sansa and her continued belittling of Tyrion show poor leadership skills on her behalf, and aren’t great signs of her future as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
There isn’t much onscreen strategising going on here, save for some incidental shots of traps being set and one scene that reveals a key motivation for the White Walkers and their army. As we discover, the Night King doesn’t just want to stop at wiping out humanity – he wants to destroy any memory of them that is left behind. Bran is the physical embodiment of this, and so he is a prime target for the army of the dead. Almost every main death in Game of Thrones has left a legacy in its place, and the ramifications of this has driven every single plotline right from the start. The Night King brings a new kind of death to Westeros though – one that lets its victims simply be forgotten over time. Though he has often been accused of being a fairly one-dimensional villain, this development provides some depth to his character and raises the stakes even further.
Also, Arya finally got the weapon she wanted from Gendry, but not in the way he was expecting. It’s a little odd seeing her in this light after being depicted as such a non-sexual character for the past seven seasons, but all props to her for wanting to go out with style.
We get the chance to drop in on minor characters too, and everyone is helping out where they can. Davos is serving soup to the smallfolk, Gilly is ushering all the women and children to safety, and Tormund is trying his hardest to impress Brienne with stories of drinking giant’s milk. Although the fireplace scenes feel a bit forced, the pacing is mostly spot on as we cut from character to character facing what may be their last moments alive.
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is still setting up the pieces for our first big battle of the season, but its smaller scope and greater focus on character development may potentially make it one of the best episodes this season. Considering the next episode is supposed to feature the longest battle sequence in film history, this was a much-needed step back to let us appreciate these characters one last time before they charge to their deaths. Though the episode pretty clearly sets up inevitable deaths for some of them (see ya Theon, Grey Worm, and Brienne), I don’t think anything will be able to prepare us for what’s to come next week.
