Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 4 "The Spoils of War" Review

I don’t think my body was ready for what episode 4 had in store for us. So many things came to fruition on screen that I’ve waited so long for, although the same could be said for last weeks episode as well. The episode kicks off mildly with Jaime and Bronn in the aftermath of the taking of High Garden. Bronn has always been heavy comedic relief for Game of Thrones, but my favorite was when he was at Tyrion’s side, because their back and forth banter was always spot-on. Him and Jamie are funny together too, but don’t quite hit the same mark in my opinion. Bronn is complaining about how he has still not been fully compensated for his services, despite having a very heavy bag of gold in his hand, which Jamie points out. Jamie and Randyll Tarly discuss transporting all their spoils back to King’s Landing, and we can’t stop laughing at Dickon’s name.

Cersei continues collaborating with the Iron Bank and is so confident that she will win this war without any setbacks. Boy is she wrong.

Honestly, I’m getting pretty sick of seeing and hearing Littlefinger on screen. I know his character is leading towards something of significance, because he’s a smart bastard who has survived it all so far, but I just want them to get to it! Littlefinger has always been riveting to me with awesome speeches, but this season he just feels like a nuisance. He gives the Valerian dagger to Bran, the same one that he was almost murdered with back in season 1. But then we can get the punchline of the scene, “Chaos is a ladder.” Last episode we get to see Varys shook, this episode we get to see Littlefinger shook. I love it. This was a direct call back to season 3 when Varys and Littlefinger are having a conversation in the throne room. Little finger ends the scene with “Chaos isn’t a pit, it’s a ladder.” They’ve been connecting a lot of small things back to the earlier episodes this season, and I’m loving every bit of it.

Bran, still being the stoic Three-eyed Raven, has a cold farewell scene with Meera Reed, who accurately points out that her brother, Hodor, and Summer all died for him, but that he also died in that cave. It hurts to have these Stark reunions watered down since this really isn’t Brandon Stark anymore.

Arya finally makes it to Winterfell! I was hyped to see it, and it felt great to see her soak it in, but she realizes that it’s not the same Winterfell she left when she was a child. Arya has a warm scene with Sansa in the crypt, at the foot of Ned’s grave. They’ve both gone through their hardships over years and have come out stronger because of them, and I feel that there is a base level of respect going both ways because of it. That being said, watching both their faces closely, you can still feel the tension and jealousy between them. When Arya asks if Jon left Sansa in charge and she says yes, Arya’s face shows her confusion about the decision, as well as Sansa’s face when she sees Brienne and Arya training.

That was an amazing scene by the way. Watching Arya practically beat Brienne of Tarth in one on one combat, the same person who beat the Hound a few seasons back. Sansa looked awfully threatened by her fighting skills, and finally realizes that her sister is not the person she thought she was. I mean, I worry for Arya’s bloodlust. It can’t lead anywhere good, at least not for too long.

Arya, Bran, and Sansa have a chat together where Bran shows Arya his new abilities by bringing up her kill list. Now Sansa knows this isn’t a silly little joke. Bran also gives Arya that Valerian steel dagger which is amazing. Pretty much guarantees that we’ll see her use that against a White Walker in some capacity!

Daenerys and Jon explore the caves on Dragonstone that are packed with dragonglass. The scene is very close quarters and it feels that way, in the way it was shot. Jon leads her deep into the caves where he shows carvings in the stone, supposedly done by the children of the forest, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Through the drawings they decipher that the children of the forest banded together with man, to fight their common enemy, the White Walkers. They were etched into the stone, conveniently with blue eyes and all. It serves as a great parallel to their current predicament and how they need to band together before it’s too late. And let’s not leave out the sexual tension between the two of them in the cave. The physical proximity along with their looks, and the music that accompanied the scene. It was getting pretty heavy in there, and I hope Bran tells Jon that Daenerys is his aunt sooner rather than later. These two are such powerful characters, put they’re also human, and politics isn’t the only thing at play here any longer.

Daenerys gets word that the Unsullied are trapped at Casterly Rock and she loses it. Tyrion’s plans have failed over and over and she’s had enough of fighting with one hand behind her back. She challenged Tyrion’s true loyalty which hurt a little, but it was more out of anger than anything else. She asks Jon for advice, and he advises her not to burn down King’s Landing, as tempting as it might be.

Davos and Jon grill Missandei on her loyalty to Daenerys as a Greyjoy ship is seen in the distance. This has been a season of reunions so far, and what’s another one? Jon and Theon are face to face after countless seasons and all of Theon’s betrayals, and he makes it very clear that he is only alive right then and there because of what he did for Sansa. Then we find out that Queen is gone.

Skip over back to Jaime and Bronn, where Randyll Tarly informs Jamie that all the gold has been safely transported past the gates of King’s Landing. *RUMBLE* Lannister army goes into formation. *LOUDER RUMBLING* The Dothraki come charging at the Lannister army, but Jamie is still confident that they can hold them off. Enter Daenerys, on Drogon’s back at full speed, and Jamie’s face changes in an instant. Dracarys.

I will say, I’m impressed with Jamie’s bravery, despite it being completely stupid. As soon as he saw that dragon he should have been out, no hesitation. But he stayed to fight, and he’s going to regret it big time.

The actual action set piece was jaw-droppingly amazing. Comparable to battle of the Bastards, but a little less brutal with the one on one combat. People were being killed left and right, but it was the burning soldiers that was the most intense. And the amount of horses being brutally murdered was a lot to handle. We can see from this battle alone that the budget for this episode was very generous, and these dragons are finally looking top notch this season.

My heart dropped when Bronn hit Drogon with that scorpion arrow because I thought it was headed straight through his mouth, and a part of me would have died with him. I was very emotionally conflicted during this whole battle because we’ve never had multiple main characters go head to head in a battle of this scale before. Not a single part of me wanted Jamie or Bronn to die, and of course I didn’t want Daenerys or Drogon to die, so I didn’t see how this was going to end. Jamie somehow thought it’d be a good idea to charge at Daenerys while she was trying to remove the arrow from Drogon’s shoulder, and as he gets close, Drogon looks over and I thought Jamie was going to be roasted alive. And once again, Bronn saves him by tackling him into the water. The fact that the episode ends with Jamie floating to the bottom is killer, and we’re now officially more than half way through the season. Only three more episodes to go, until we have to wait at least another year for the finale of this masterpiece of television.  But I just can’t wait to see how this episode is topped sometime in the next three weeks, because I’m sure it will be.