Game of Thrones: S7 E7 Recap: 10 Things That Made Us Cry With Joy In 'The Dragon And The Wolf'

If you thought they’d blown the action sequence budget last week, you haven’t seen anything yet. This finale is so crazy, shock-filled and epic, it feels like they’ve squeezed an entire season into a single episode, partly because it’s is the first feature-length instalment of the show (all of season eight’s episodes will be of a similar length *SQUEAL*).

So, the end is nigh *SOB* and, as it turns out, they’ve saved the best (and the incest) for last…

the big meeting

The gang’s all here, with basically all of the shows best characters (and Theon for some reason) gathering together to parlay terms for a truce - to give all of them a chance to defeat the Night King and his frozen pals.

Packed with small reunions and beautiful bits of dialogue (as well as a couple of odd moments, where characters suddenly decide to bring their personal family dramas into the mix, which made it feel a bit like the weirdest Christmas dinner ever), this was a tense and exciting sequence. Our favourite bit? The Hound and Brienne, bonding over Arya’s antics - just beautiful. 

brothers reunited

The Hound decides to interrupt the meeting for a confrontation with his big (and ugly) zombie brother, promising him he’ll kill him one day. Fans dubbed this potential confrontation ‘Cleganebowl’ a couple of seasons ago - looks like it’s on, get hyped!

wight attack

As intense as any horror film, the brilliant bit where The Hound kicked over the box of dead person, only for it to hurtle straight to Cersei (scaring even her!) wasn’t just an episode highlight, it was a season highlight.

Then, we see it get chopped to bits, before the scene culminates with Jon holding up a severed hand (still wriggling its fingers), while he calmly give a lesson on burning wights like the world’s strangest science teacher. Just perfect. 

northern honesty

Oh, Jon. We really hope your Ned-style propensity to tell the truth at all times doesn’t end up getting you killed (again), we cursed the screen when Jon refused to promise he wouldn’t side with Dany in any upcoming wars with Cersei.

He did it partly because he’s super-honourable, and partly because he wuvs Dany, but either way - it breaks the truce before it had begun. But as frustrated as we were, we loved Jon’s explanation of why he did it - great writing, that doubles as a justification for Ned’s season one behaviour.  

tyrion vs cersei

In an episode full of reunions, this was the most delicious. Tyrion at his smartest, Cersei at her most furious, with a large undead soldier silently watching the brilliant dialogue unfold… AKA Game Of Thrones at its very finest.

Somehow Tyrion manages to convince big sis to play nice, and the truce is back on! Well, sort of - it turns out to be another sneaky Cersei trick. But it’s nice while it lasts!

go on theon!

Theon got his balls back (well, not literally) in a golden-fist pumpingly satisfying scrap, setting up his season eight journey - rescuing his sister Yara (Yara! Yara!) from evil uncle Euron. We like this version of Theon, we hope he sticks around and doesn’t jump into the sea again. 

littlefinger gets his comeuppance 

YAS QUEEN (yeah, we know she’s not actually the queen in the North, but what else do you call someone this cool?), Sansa finally gets her revenge on the creepy creep that is Littlefinger, who pleads, begs and weeps his way to a casually slit throat courtesy of Arya wielding the dagger he once threatened Ned with.

It’s been a long time coming, this was arguably the most satisfying Thrones death since Joffrey. 

jaime heads north

Like Jon, Jaime’s honour also almost gets him killed. Like Tyrion, Cersei threatens her brother with death by Mountain. But like both of them, we didn’t think for a second that Jaime wasn’t making it to season eight - which doesn’t mean we weren’t still relieved to see him walk past Ser Gregor and into next year’s plotline.

We can’t wait to see how he gets on in Winterfell - especially if it means picking up where he left off with Brienne.

r + l = j confirmed

Bran had the final major dialogue scene of the episode, and it’s the most important in the show’s history. Jon’s heritage t is something that’s been discussed by book fans long before the show existed - with plenty of people having already worked out this big reveal, thanks to George RR Martin’s dedication to keeping things logical.

So, how to keep things shocking? Deliver the information over a scene of an aunt having sex with her nephew of course!

wight dragon 

Cinematic and awe-inspiring, the sight of a zombie dragon destroying a massive ice wall with blue fire was basically the best set-piece of a season full of them.

Season seven has been Thrones at its most impressive - will they top it in season eight? Of course they will. Did we mention they’ve got a zombie dragon now? Any show with a zombie dragon is the best thing ever, that’s just maths. 

Now take a look at Maisie Williams chatting about Game of Thrones S7 and her Arya Stark spinoff...