Daenerys brings a dragon into battle in a hugely satisfying Game of Thrones

Reviewing the fourth episode of Game of Thrones Season 7, ‘The Spoils of War’

Unsurprisingly, the endgame of Game of Thrones is going to frequently be about delivering moments and scenes that the show has been building up to for years. Seeing Daenerys swoop into battle on the back of Drogon is the kind of thing fans have been waiting to see for a long time, and this episode delivers on Robert Baratheon’s warning that “only a fool would meet the Dothraki in an open field” as the dragon queen takes the fight to the Lannister army.

It’s a massive piece of spectacle and a tremendous conclusion to an episode that, while one of the shortest on the show ever (at just under 50 minutes), is stuffed full of compelling scenes and conversations. ‘The Spoils of War’ pushes the story forward in complex ways and brings us more character reunions (a trend for this season, clearly) while establishing conflicts that will continue to pay off in the remaining episodes of Season 7.

Cersei pays her debts

Lannisters always pay their debts — even if it means stealing all the gold from the Tyrells! It doesn’t take long for Jaime to start gathering the titular spoils of war to send back to his sister at King’s Landing. This extra cash will embolden Cersei to add the sellsword army of the Golden Company to her forces, now that she’ll have the backing of the Iron Bank. The show seems to be suggesting that she has the tactical aptitude of Tywin Lannister, but it seems that what she has looks more like luck than anything else. At a certain point, something is going to go wrong for her. Employing the mercenaries of the Golden Company could be it, as we know sellswords have no loyalty to anything other than gold.

We saw last week that Cersei’s cruelty and thirst for revenge has reached new heights, and it’s going to be interesting to see how she reacts to the news of how the Lannister and Tarly armies fared when attempting to combat dragonfire and the Dothraki. The queen’s master plan is a loose collection of ideas around creating a dynasty with no children to sustain it, and destroying the Lannister enemies and potential allies while holding an unstable position as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Even if the show has attempted to level the playing field, Dany’s claim that she’ll be a better queen is still more convincing than what Cersei’s currently achieving while on the throne.

The Stark family is getting back together

Before Jon and Sansa met last season, the two of them hadn’t shared the screen at all. That’s not the case for the Stark reunions that this episode delivers, as Arya returns to Winterfell to find Sansa in charge and a much-changed Bran (there’s almost no sign of emotion or humanity in him now). Arya seeing Sansa again is a huge moment that relies on tension and conflict between the characters developed in Season 1, and their acknowledgement of how much pain they’ve been through to get here. The show delays the reunion by having the guards not believe Arya’s who she says she is, before Sansa discovers her in the crypt of Winterfell. Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner play the meeting beautifully, and the whole development sets up interesting changes to their relationship as the season goes on.

Elsewhere in Winterfell, Littlefinger continues to be creepy by gifting Bran the knife that almost killed him, while Bran shows he can creep right back at Littlefinger. By returning his “chaos is a ladder” line, Bran shows that he knows about some of the schemer’s most private conversations, and it’ll be difficult for Littlefinger to know what to do about someone who knows his secrets. In another strong scene, we see that Arya’s fighting ability may even rival Brienne’s, giving Sansa reason to believe Arya’s revenge quest. Wisely, the script doesn’t let on how Sansa feels about this realisation, and it’s going to be rather fascinating to see how this all plays out.

Jon visits another cave

Over on Dragonstone, Jon is busy getting ready to mine the dragonglass that will be essential when it comes to fighting the White Walkers. Daenerys comes to see how he’s getting on in the cave, and he shows her ancient wall paintings he’s discovered that were clearly left by the First Men or the Children of the Forest. These images show the First Men and the Children teaming up to battle the dead, which Jon tries to use to convince Dany that they must band together to deal with this enemy. She’s willing to help but, perhaps unsurprisingly, not until after she claims the throne and Jon bends the knee.

Theon also returns to Dragonstone in this episode, eager to get Dany’s help in rescuing his sister from Euron. When he comes ashore, though, he’s met by Jon and finds that Dany has already left the island. Jon’s reaction to seeing Theon again is expectedly abrasive. We’ve been following Theon through all of his torture and redemptive arc, so it’s easy to see him as sympathetic and to forget how much his betrayal affected the Stark family. The only reasons he’s spared by Jon is because of what he did to protect Sansa, and that feels appropriate. Jon’s relationship with Theon was always a difficult one, even if it was only established in a few short scenes back in Season 1, and it’s unlikely that the two of them will be able to be friends after all that has transpired in the past.

Enter the dragon

Frustrated by her lack of progress in the war and how quickly she’s losing her allies, Dany begins to talk about how quickly she could end this all by invading King’s Landing with her dragons. She even accuses Tyrion of holding back when it comes to fighting his family in this war. She’s had enough and isn’t waiting around with her greatest weapon any longer. The episode ends with an absolutely breathtaking battle scene that sees the Dothraki horde attack the Lannister and Tarly army as they transport the food they’ve stolen from Highgarden and its surrounding farms back to the capital.

The Westerosi soldiers are no match for the Dothraki on horseback, and certainly don’t stand a chance against Drogon when Dany arrives on her dragon. This is the first time ever that two forces with main characters that we root for on either side have met in the field of battle, and it lends a palpable air of tension to the scene. While we feel relatively sure that characters like Dany, Bronn and Jaime are safe, there’s no reason why main characters wouldn’t be at risk in a scene like this, and that makes it all exceptionally stressful to watch. When you put it all together, this ranks among the best moments of spectacle on the show ever. As the ending to an episode full of excellent moments, it elevates ‘The Spoils of War’ to all-time great status. Let’s hope there’s more like this to come!

“Who taught you to do that?”

“No one…”

— Brienne to Arya

Best scene of the episode

Part of me would love to say the terrific sparring between Arya and Brienne is the best scene of the episode, and it’s one in which the brilliant choreography cleverly shows off individual skills Arya’s learned from Syrio, the Hound and Jaqen H’ghar. It’s a fantastic little character moment, but in this episode there’s nothing quite like the attack on the Lannister army at the end. It’s a scene that had me on the edge of seat for the whole of its duration, and it puts a lot of characters we know into conflict. We know a lot of them aren’t likely to die, but that doesn’t stop it being suspenseful and creating a huge amount of tension and excitement.

Queen of the episode

Now that we’ve got three different queens in Dany, Cersei and Sansa, I thought it appropriate to start a “queen of the episode” section. This week, even as Daenerys goes close to full “mad Queen” and Cersei continues to scheme, it seems right to sing the praises of Sansa Stark. She may now be becoming one of the most patient and practical rulers in Westeros, and she’s dealt really well with the arrival of two of her much-changed siblings (although it is weird that neither of them have mentioned Rickon at all). Sansa is proving herself to be someone who is prioritising the safety of the north, and I have a feeling that she’ll be able to endure whatever devious plans and tricks Littlefinger may have up his sleeves.

MVP of the episode

Let’s be fair to Drogon, he’s got to be the MVP of the episode. The ferocious dragon doesn’t hold back at all as Dany takes on the Lannister forces and completely destroys her enemies. Dragons feel a little like an unfair advantage (and it’s worth remembering she’s got two more of them, who sat this one out, likely for budgetary reasons) for the Targaryen invaders, and this episode does a great job of showing just how woefully unequipped the armies of Westeros are for such an attack. Dragons change the game, and the visual effects mastery on display for the episode’s conclusion (along with the incredible musical score) really drives that home.

What’s next

Dany continues to ask everyone she meets to bend the knee, Jon gets word from Bran that the White Walkers are on the move, and Cersei remains unfazed when it comes to the challenges she faces. Watch a preview for the next episode below:

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