Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 6 "Beyond the Wall" Review

Episode 6 opens with a pan across the map table, which leads to a direct transition to our warriors beyond the wall. The landscape North of the wall is simply beautiful and it would have been a wasted opportunity to not get beautiful shots of the scenery. This episode hit one of the highest highs of all time for this series, but it wasn’t full throttle the whole hour and six minutes. That being said, practically every minute of this episode was at the very least enjoyable.

Our first pairing is Tormund, Jon, and Gendry talking about how damn cold it is, and wondering how Tormund survived out here his whole life. Not much of importance to the plot is discussed by these characters as they travel North, but it delivers such a feeling of satisfaction to see all of them conversate on screen, despite their conditions.

Gendry then falls back with Thoros, Beric, and the Hound and starts to complain to them about how they betrayed him and sold him all those years back, despite his desire to join them. Beric points out that wars need money to be fought and it was nothing personal. Considering Davos saved Gendry and he’s with them now, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to hold on to the past!

Next, we have Jon and Jorah. One of the pairings I enjoy most for a number of reasons. Ned wanted to execute Jorah back in the day, so Jon had a certain image of this man before he met him. But Daenerys holds him so dearly that it has forced Jon to reconsider his presumptions. There’s also the slight jealousy factor that I mentioned from last week, but that pettiness had no place beyond the wall at this moment. The other layer that really adds a different dimension to these two is Jon’s relationship with Jorah’s father, Jeor Mormont, the ex-commander of the Nights Watch. He became a father figure to Jon, and saw the future leader within him, before Jon knew what he was capable of. Jeor was betrayed by his own men and murdered in cold blood, which Jon avenged. They step aside from the group, and Jon offers Jorah Long Claw, the Valerian steel sword that was given to him by Jeor. It was one of the moments that you knew the outcome beforehand, because Jon wasn’t actually going to part ways with Long Claw, but it was nice to see that moment between these two men who share an obscure link.

Back at Winterfell, Arya and Sansa are not having a good time. After a touching monologue from Arya about Ned and how he knew Arya wasn’t going to fit the mold, she drops the bomb on Sansa’s head. The message Littlefinger planted last episode was one that Sansa wrote to Rob before Ned was executed. She was coerced by the Lannisters, and we know that Sansa was much weaker as a child than Arya was. But Arya isn’t having any excuses and calls Sansa out on this mistake, one which would be very damaging if the heads of the northern houses were to hear of it. Sansa spits back though, as she tells Arya that Winterfell would still be under enemy control if it wasn’t for her, as Arya was out traveling the world. It’s rough seeing these two tear each other down with words, because even though I love Arya more, I don’t want them to be divided. I just want to see someone slit Littlefinger’s throat, preferably one of the two Stark girls.

Back to the group, we have the hilarious combination of the Hound an Tormund. Tormund pushes and pushes to get something out of the Hound, trying to figure out why he’s so mean. The Hound asks, “Do you want to suck my dick, is that it?” Tormund confusingly asks, “Dick?” “Cock!” The Hound replies. “Ah dick, I like it.” Literally comedic gold right there. I was in stiches. And guess who pops up in conversation next??? Brienne of fucking Tarth, the woman who cut down the Hound and also happens to be the woman Tormund is obsessed with. I do hope they get together, or at least have a conversation, although I don’t think Brienne is really into Tormund.

Jon and Beric. The two men who have been brought back to life by the Lord of Light. They mostly talk about the Lord of Light and why they’re both alive. Beric has a few interesting lines about life and death, and seems to connect with Jon in the sense that maybe they’re both still alive simply to save other people from death. I think Beric is a fascinating character. He has his faith, because who wouldn’t after being killed 6 times and being brought back every time. But he also has a practical way at looking at life, and one Jon can also get behind. I also think the actor that plays Beric does a great job in delivering his performance, because there’s something magnetic about him when he’s on screen.

Daenerys and Tyrion have a nice chat by the fire about a number of things. They start of light, when Tyrion points out that Jon is in love with her. With a schoolgirl smile, she plays the notion off, jokingly saying that Jon is too small for her. Spoiler alert, he’s actually your nephew. Then they move on to the more pressing matter, the meeting with Cersei. They go back and forth on the upcoming dangers of this negotiation but then Tyrion strikes a nerve when he calls Daenerys impulsive. Or more along the lines of her making impulsive decisions, in reference to her burning the Tarlys alive. Which Sam still doesn’t know about, by the way. Tyrion spits facts, but then brings up the idea of succession, and Daenerys wasn’t having any of it. She tabled that discussion to after she wears the crown, and I think that’s fair enough. She definitely trusts Tyrion very much, but she does hit him with some low blows, no pun intended, quite often since his strategic blunders. But I think they’re in a good place overall, Tyrion just needs a few victories to get back on even footing with his Queen.

We get our first bout with an undead polar bear, which in retrospect may have been foreshadowing for the end of the episode. But the undead bear was incredibly badass and scary as hell. Vicious, with blue eyes, he was tearing through men like paper. Here we get that intense clip from the trailer, where all the men form a circle as they face outward. They all attack, as Beric and Thoros light up their swords with flames. Beric lights the bear on fire and now he begins to die, but not before causing some major damage, and freezing the Hound in his tracks, as we see that he is still petrified of fire. Because of his fear, the bear sinks his teeth into Thoros and drags him around “The Revenant” style, before Jorah delivers the killing blow to the beast. Thoros has some open wounds in his chest and is in agony, but Beric places his flaming sword on him to cauterize the wounds and they keep moving.

Sansa seeks out Littlefinger for advice (kill me) and he continues to snake his way in between the Stark girls. He reminds Sansa that Lady Brienne swore to protect both her daughters, and if one was planning to hurt the other, she would be forced to intervene. That spells nothing good for anyone.

Jorah and Thoros have a short conversation about past battles and triumphs, and Thoros admits that he doesn’t remember most of it, on the account of being so damn drunk all the time.

The group stumbles across a small group of whytes, being led by a White Walker, and they set a trap. They ambush the dead, and are dealing with them pretty easily, when Jon gets the best of the White Walker, and kills him the same way he killed the last one at Hardhome. When the White Walker dies, so do all the other whytes that were with him, except for one. That must have been just to serve the plot since they need one alive, because it doesn’t really make any sort of sense. They overpower the whyte, but can’t stop him from letting out a screech that can only mean bad things for them. Jon frantically commands Gendry to get back to the wall and send a raven to Daenerys. He leaves his battle hammer with Tormund, and starts to haul ass back towards the wall. The Hound picks up the whyte, and the group starts running away from the sound of the army of the dead. They reach this frozen lake that begins to crack under their weight, but when they see the army charging behind them, they run to the center.

Gendry arrives at the wall, with literally no energy left in his body, with just enough strength to tell Davos to send a raven. Cut back to the group, and they are completely surrounded in the middle of the lake, and the only reason they’re not dead yet is because the ice broke all around them, blocking the army from getting to them. The passage of time is blurry in this episode because you have to assume a lot. You have to assume how long they were walking before they found the whytes, how long it took Gendry to run back to the wall, how long it takes a raven to get to Dragonstone, and how long they’ve been waiting in the middle of the lake. Thoros has now frozen to death, so they burn his body and Beric says his Lord of Light lines. Been a while since we’ve heard the night is dark and full of terrors. God, I love that line.

Sansa receives a raven from King’s Landing, inviting her to meet with Cersei. She wisely rejects, but instead sends Brienne to go to represent her interests. I’m not really sure what the point of that was, and Brienne points out that she doesn’t feel safe leaving Sansa alone with Littlefinger. Yet, Sansa disrespectfully dismisses Brienne and commands her to go in her place.

Daenerys, against Tyrion’s warning, mounts Drogon’s back, and flies away with her three dragons to go save our group beyond the wall.

We then get back to the Hound, throwing rocks at dead, out of pure boredom is seems. We now have an idea that these men have been trapped here for quite some time, and the cold is wearing them down. The second rock that he throws lands at the feet of a whyte, and then we get the slow “oh fuck” from the Hound. That was perfect piece of dialogue because it anticipates the audience’s reaction and perfectly encompasses the feeling of what’s about to transpire. As the rock slides across the ice, we and the army of the dead realize that the lake has frozen over, and they’re safe to cross over and attack.

Cue battle stances and the flaming sword!!! And just like that, we go from 0 to 100, real quick. I will say, I think it’s hilarious that they sent out a bunch of random dudes to go on this expedition with our main characters, because it’s so obvious they’re only there to die. I mean if it was just our main characters, then it would be rather unbelievable that most of them make it back, but with a handful of nameless bodies, it gives the army of the dead some people to chomp on, without any real consequence. There are a few other heavy hitters in the series, like Brienne, Bronn, Arya, Greyworm, and the Mountain but it’s safe to say this group of men is almost as good as they come, in terms of combat. So to see them in a circle, mowing down countless whytes was pure eye candy. It felt like I was watching that epic scene from “The Avengers”, when the camera pans in a circle around all our favorite characters.

We already lost Thoros, probably the character I cared least for out of the group, so I was praying we wouldn’t suffer another causality. But when Tormund got grabbed and overrun, my heart dropped. He got clocked in the head and was not only trying to fight off like 3 whytes on top of him, but was being dragged into the water by another two. The sounds he was making had me convinced it was a wrap for my favorite wilding warrior, but the Hound comes in and saves him just in time. Another point for the Hound’s redemption arc.

With Tormund and Jon back to back, it felt like a repeat of Battle of the Bastards, in the worse way possible. Why does Jon keep putting himself in these unwinnable situations? And just like Sansa and Littlefinger showed up to save Jon with the Knights of the Veil, Daenerys flies in with Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal and brings down hell on the army of the dead.

This is literally something we’ve waited years to see. These are forces that have always been worlds apart, and to see it materialize on screen is nothing short of spectacular. The dragons are mowing down thousands of the dead, and the contrast of fire and ice is breathtaking. My only quarrel with this scene was directly linked to the question I kept asking myself. Why did Daenerys not have all three dragons attack the Night King and the White Walkers? They were literally all on horseback within feet of each other, just standing there. But I guess if that happened, season 7 would have been the last season. Anyway, the scene was incredible. Every second of it was awe-inspiring and I didn’t want it to end. Everyone but Jon began climbing up on Drogon to prepare for the escape, when the worst happened. With all this madness going on, one of the White Walkers hands the Night King an ice spear. He locks onto Viserion, cocks back, and launches with strength and precision. The camera follows the trajectory of the spear, similarly to the arrow shot at Drogon by Bronn a few episodes back. Except this one goes straight through Viserion, and it does not end as well for him as it did for Drogon.

He got hit while he was breathing fire, so flames where spewing out of the puncture hole like a gas can had exploded. His screech was piercing and there was a huge amount of blood pouring out of the beast. Drogon and Rhaegal let out cries for their injured brother, but there was nothing anyone could do to save him. He crashed into the ice, and slowly slipped into the freezing water. Another small nitpick, while the Night King was getting ready to throw that spear, Drogon was sitting still, not even looking in his direction. So instead of killing the biggest dragon, who was also the stationary target, he decides to kill one of the dragons that was flying around. Ok.

We’ve heard it more than once this season that Daenerys sees her dragons as her children, since she’ll never actually be able to have children of her own. The look on her face as her baby came crashing down to ground felt so genuine. The pain on her face transcended the screen, but I really loved the pan of the camera across all the faces that were on Drogon’s back, as they watched Viserion die. The Hound, Beric, Tormund, Jorah, and finally Daenerys. They each had a look of pain, sadness, or shock, but Daenerys just lost a child, and both Jon and Jorah know how much they mean to her. Jon starts to walk towards the Night King, as he sees him with another spear in hand. He runs back towards Drogon, yelling for them to leave now as he gets tackled into the water by whytes. Daenerys then sees what Jon saw, and commands Drogon to take flight immediately. The force of his wings flapping blow back a bunch of whytes and he takes flight, dodging the ice spear by inches.

Daenerys and the crew fly back to Dragonstone and Jon emerges out of the water, barely alive, and I imagine as cold as anyone can be. He stumbles across the ice, Long Claw in hand, and the herd of whytes slowly turn around to see him alive. They start charging at him by the hundreds, when a swinging flame is seen in their midst. Good ole Uncle Benjen! Using the same weapon he used to save Bran and Meera after Hodor died, he puts Jon on his horse, and sends him on his way, knowing only one of them was making it out of there alive. And seven seasons later, uncle Benjen finally dies, or does he? It wasn’t too clear what his deal was. Seemed like he was half whyte and half alive. Does he die like a normal person would? Is he full whyte now? I have no idea, but they played that sad Stark music as he was being overrun, so he may be dead for good this time around. But, he saved the King in the North from certain death, so what more could we ask for. There’s a theory that states Benjen was the only person Ned told about Jon’s parents, so Benjen realized the importance of saving Jon once he saw the dragons. But that’s not really important at this point.

Back at Eastwatch, the Hound loads up the whyte in a boat and parts ways with Beric and Tormund. Daenerys waits for Jon Snow, even though everyone thinks he probably dead. The horns blow just as she’s about to leave, and we see him ride up to the wall on horseback, alone.

Back at Winterfell we have one more scene with the Stark sisters, and this one was even worse than previous ones. Sansa starts snooping through Arya’s room and finds some of Arya’s faces. Arya being the ninja she is, catches her in the act, and proceeds to creep the hell out of Sansa by doing all but slitting her throat then and there. This was the point where I’m thinking Arya really needs to chill. I have a feeling this all may be defused by next week’s finale, if Bran finally opens his mouth and tells them the truth about Littlefinger’s sins.

The episode begins to close on a beautifully perfect scene between the Mother of Dragons and the King in the North. Jon wakes up from almost freezing to death, shirtless, with his abs out but also flaunting those gross looking stab wounds that he died from. I’m assuming at this point she realizes that he indeed took a knife to the heart for his people. Jon wholeheartedly apologizes for the expedition, wishing he had never gone, knowing the pain that it’s caused her. But she tells him that she needed to see it to believe it, and vows to help Jon destroy the Night King and his army. “Thank you, Dany.” She’s taken aback, remembering the last person to call her Dany was her coward of a brother who Drogo gave a molten crown too. “Not the kind of company you want to keep.” “Alright, not Dany. How about my Queen.” And there you have it folks, the bending of the knee, without bending the knee! She’s overcome with surprise and happiness at hearing this, and they hold hands for a few seconds too long. We didn’t get it this episode because Jon is healing, but bet money these two have sex next episode. It’s been a long time coming. Or at least 5 episodes, but still.

For the grand finale, for the moment we’ve all been waiting for. I’ve been calling this for so long, I think I even wrote the prediction in one of my earlier reviews, but to see it come to fruition on screen was too much. We see the Night King having his army of the dead drag something out of the water with these massive chains. WHERE IN THE HELL DID THEY GET MASSIVE CHAINS?! Aside from that though, Viserion emerges out of the water, dead as can be. The Night King walks over to him, places his hand on his head, and BAM, eye lids open to reveal those beautifully evil blue eyes. ICE DRAGON!

The theories can run wild now, with all the possibilities for the final episode of the season alongside the predictions for next season. What I know we’ll see next episode, by just putting 2 and 2 together, is this. We may for the first time ever have all these people in one room: Daenerys, Missandei, Jorah, Jon Snow, Tyrion, Jamie, Cersei, the Mountain, the Hound, Brienne of Tarth, Sir Davos, Podric, and I’m sure a person or two I’m forgetting. I’m sure I’m missing a few, but that alone boggles the mind. I CANNOT WAIT. But also I can, because that means no more GoT for at least a year, although there’s rumors we may not be getting season 8 until 2019. Let’s pray that’s not true. But I feel like this season may have no better ending than by the Night King using his newly acquired dragon to break down the wall and start leading his forces through. I’m no betting man, but I would love to see that happen. One more week folks!