Let’s Talk About ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7, Episode 4

Game of Thrones had an uphill battle after the HBO hack and leak of  season 7 episode 4 “The Spoils of War”, but the show pulled in some super impressive viewership numbers for arguably one of the best episodes yet. If you haven’t caught up on the saga of Westeros yet, you may not want to keep reading, as THAR BE SPOILERS HERE.

Seriously, this is your last chance to click away before we dive into things that happened during this episode.

OK, so, some stuff happened this week, GoT fans. Not only did we end up with one of the most anticipated reunions, we got a sparing match of epic proportions, a reveal of unbeatable knowledge, and that loot train barbecue.

After YEARS of wanting to see the Stark surviving children together again, we were rewarded with having Sansa, Arya, and Bran back home again beneath the weirwood in the Gods’ Grove. Aside from the obvious X-Men joke of having Jean Grey (Sophie Turner plays Jean in the current X-Men films), Professor X (Isaac Hempstead-Wright doesn’t play anyone in the X-Men films, but obvious parallels), and Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams will be playing the werewolf character in the upcoming New Mutants film) together in the snow, it was mostly heartwarming to see the family together again at Winterfell.

But that sparring duel, guys. With Arya back home and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) present, it was only going to be a matter of time before the two crossed paths again. Or, in this case, swords. A match right up there with The Mountain and The Red Viper, this Yoda vs. Count Dooku fight is pretty spectacular.

That knowing look of Arya’s, her reasoning for wanting to train with Brienne (“You beat The Hound”), her fighting left-handed and showing her water dancer’s stance — so, so good. I want another six scenes of this.

Bran knows more than anyone in Westeros at this point, and he’ll let you know it. Kind of like the worst-best hipster, his quoting callback to something Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) said back in season 3 could have some seriously interesting things in the future. We’re all expecting Bran to be the one to tell Jon about his true parentage, right? Because that’s what’s gonna happen on Thrones at some point.

And now the thing everyone is talking about: The Loot Train. The first dragon strike against the Lannisters led by Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was pretty damn epic. From the charge of the horse Klingons — I mean, Dothraki horde — to the insane amount of literally on fire stuntmen, it was a sight to see.

The biggest question everyone was left with, once the score-less credits ran (never a good sign if you’re expecting someone to live, remember The Red Wedding?), is the fate of Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Is that lake the deepest, or what? One minute, Jaime is riding his horse across the ankle deep water all Leeroy Jenkins towards Dany and the wounded Drogon, and the next he and Bronn are sinking ever deeper into impossible depths.

There was of course also the Jon Snow (Kit Harington) showing Dany his etchings — ok, the Children of the Forests’ pictographs- in the caves underneath Dragonstone scene. We were all waiting for him to show her something ELSE, amIrite? Just me? Ok, ok.

Needless to say, there are so many new things in motion at this point that next week’s episode The Gift is looming large in our anticipatory TV list. Game Of Thrones airs on HBO on Sunday nights; check your local listings for time.