More chess pieces got moved around in the second episode of the last season. it’s crazy that with two episodes down, we’re already a third of the way through.

Check out my Episode 1 review here

Well, let’s jump into it. SPOILERS ARE COMING

Jaime

The show picks up moments after where we left off last week, with Jaime’s arrival in Winterfell.

As episode 1 came to a close, Jaime had ridden into town, and Bran had been waiting on him. This episode, we pick up on the action seemingly just after.

Dani is sitting at the head of the decision-making table and is listing all of her offenses against Jaime. She has a reason to hate and not trust the Lannister. As they all really do.

Hearing everything that Jaime has done in his life that he doesn’t regret, but does put his character into question is balanced by those that are fighting for him, namely Tyrion and Brienne. Both characters come to Jaime’s defense, but Tyrion doesn’t really have much to stand on here. He’s made bad decisions and trusted the wrong people just a few too many times lately for Dani to trust him.

Brienne of Toft is another matter. When she comes to Jaime’s rescue Sansa listens and gets others to bend the ear to the would-be knight. With Sansa falling to keep Jaime alive, the question is put to Jon. His reply is what I was thinking the entire time – they need more men. Even if he had done terrible things, you’d still want him fighting if he was pledging to fight.

We then have some reunions of sorts with Jaime and the other characters that he’s interacted with throughout the show. He and Brienne have an interesting meeting outside in the campsite, and she doesn’t really know how to take him. He’s being nice to her.

The writers have seemingly done a This is your life of Jaime Lannister. We get to see how he has changed as a character throughout the show. We see his character development.

While Jaime and Tyrion are discussing their sister, Tyrion brings up a great point that is not only a dagger driven towards his brother but a reminder to the audience. Jaime claims that Cersei had fooled them all, to which Tyrion aptly points out “You were never fooled. You knew and you choose to follow her.”

This is the real growth of Jaime Lannister. He has been trapped behind “love,” but that was all because of himself. Once he left her at the end of last season, he showed real human growth.

Aria – our little assassin

On another front, Aria goes back to her blacksmith to see if her weapon is done, and the sparks start to fly. Gendry hasn’t made her weapon and even challenges her ability. Aria responds by basically proving how much she has changed over the years.

She even sits with The Hound and they have a moment between them that is interrupted by Beric.

Then, Aria gets her weapon. What seems to be a spear made of dragon glass. I can’t wait to see her slice through the walkers with it. I have a feeling there is more to it than just a spear/staff.

But Aria isn’t satisfied with her blacksmith. Sure the work is done, but then Aria moves into adulthood by putting the moves on Gendry. She even says that there might not be a tomorrow and she wants to know what it’s like to be with someone.

Then the most awkward sex scene over plays out. It’s not awkward because of the dialogue or anything, but because it’s Aria. We’ve known her since she was 11 years old. She still appears to be a young girl. So in a collective gasp, the entire world just felt like watching their cousin putting the moves on someone.

As far as the plot point, I’m not sure how much in character with Aria that is, but I don’t think it is too far away from what I expect of her. Besides, they weren’t the only ones itching to get it on that night.

Jon and Dani

Jon stays out of the way for the most part this week until Dani comes to find him in the crypt looking at his newly revealed mother’s tomb.

In an unexpected turn, he reveals everything to her. Everything that he found out. It should have been a bombshell exploding, and it might still be but of course they were interrupted.

Still, Dani’s first response isn’t you’re my family, it’s you’re my family and have more of a claim to the iron throne than I do. Of course, she’s been driven by that for ten years now, you’d still think that having slept with your nephew would have an effect on you.

Sansa and Theon

Continuing the character development here, Theon has returned to Winterfell one more time. This time, he has pledged to help defend it and asks for forgiveness.

Sansa almost immediately runs to him and accepts and I was left wondering about it. It might be because we haven’t seen much of Theon yet (he was just on a boat in Kingslanding last week) or because I’m in the middle of watching season 3 as well, but it took me a moment to realize why Sansa had such a connection with Theon. It all goes back to the Boltons and how Theon helped her there.

It was a nice moment between the two of them. They did start off like siblings when all of this started. I wonder if there’s something more there for later. Could Theon make it all the way to the end?

Not likely.

The War Council

While there were other stories beats that I’ll get to, I think this is a perfect place to really talk about the War council. The great minds come together here to come up with a plan.

Here’s the plan:

Bran will wait for the Night King to come get him by the red tree, and everyone else will try to kill him. And Theon has offered to attempt to protect him since he stole Winterfell from him before and then pretended that he burned his body alive.

There was also too much mention of the Crypts being a safe place for everyone. So it’s theory time!

My bet is that the Night King doesn’t go to the red tree, but to the crypt and brings back some other Starks back to life first. Then something will happen with the red tree and the Night King since he was created on one of those.

We will find out, but you can definitely count on the plan not really working like they want.

Knight of the 7 Kingdoms

Brienne and some of the other characters had a nice moment before the battle truly starts as they drank wine, told stories, and sang.

Tormund was truly in rare form trying to bed the giant woman. He also told a silly story about why he is called the Giant’s Bane, and the story is as crazy as you’d expect with him. There’s an interesting thing going on between Tormund, Brienne, and Jaime. While I totally ship Tormund and Brienne, the new kink with Jaime is very interesting. It goes even further when Jaime Knight’s Brienne. It’s something that she’s wanted forever even though she hasn’t ever admitted it to anyone.

It was a moment that was earned for sure. The moment she stands after being knighted and the smile battles it’s way onto her face is priceless. We’ve mostly all rooted for her since she was introduced and to see her geet this was a treat.

Off Script

So far, we’ve had two episodes to prep for the impending battle next week. It should be epic.

But it feels like we are a little far away from what made this show so great before.

Martin was great at crafting these stories to set us up for moments like Brienne getting knighted but pulling the rug out from under us. Martin killed our main character in the first book. He murdered pretty much the entire family a couple of books later. These people (and audience members) don’t usually get these kinds of setups. They don’t get to be happy.

I’m not saying these are bad or not deserved character turns, I’m just saying that the surprises are fewer now. Things seem to be clicking along like they are supposed to, which I’m not sure I’m a fan of.

Still to come

We are left this week with the White Walkers approaching Winterfell. Next week’s episode is going to be almost 90 minutes long and will probably be all battle. We are into Act 2 with the next episode. All the pieces have been laid out. That leaves me wondering what is to come after. I’m sure the fall out from Jon and Dani will be the focus of part of it. They will have to solve whatever it is that will come between them because of it.

I’m excited, and I’m ready. I’m ready for some White Walker action. I’m ready to see the plan fail. Maybe they will really need to go back to the Iron islands, or maybe that will be the next point they gather for the siege of King’s Landing. Cersei is still out there after all, and she hasn’t really done anything yet this season.

Check back next week to see what happens next.