The Spoils of War, the fourth episode in the seventh season of Game of Thrones, had a lot of epic plot twists tied into the short, 50-minute long episode. While there were vital conversations, heartwarming reunions and some weird cave-exploring – the main event was towards the end of the episode where Dany took the Lannister army by storm with some Dothraki soldiers and a dragon.
Viewers were obviously torn at the scene because – of course we all want to see the Lannisters fall – but, Jamie and Bronn are both pretty good guys deep down and, have grown into great men on the show. Sure, Jamie f*cks his sister and Bronn f*cks anything with two legs (probably one leg, too), but they are genuine people – or so they seem to be at this point in time. A lot of people have been rooting for Dany to take the Iron Throne and overrule Cersei and her evil ways – but, the way in which Dany got down this episode was shocking and also twisted.
I was personally proud of Dany for listening to Olenna Tyrell (RIP) who told her previously this season to “be a dragon.” She literally rode into an open field of Lannister soliders and rained fire upon them all. The scene was absolutely insane.
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After Dany was basically savaging an entire army of people – one Dothraki soldier looks over at Tyrion Lannister, Dany’s “hand” and says –
“Your people can’t fight.”
This scene, in particular, is crucial to understanding where Tyrion is at throughout this episode and moving forward. Tyrion has always hated Cersei, his sister, and deemed her to be completely evil. But, he never hated his brother in the same way. And, Jamie has never truly hated Tyrion until Cersei was convinced he and Sansa Stark were the ones who poisoned and murdered their son – Joffrey. Even then, he helped his brother escape execution.
After the last episode, Jamie finds out it was not his own brother – but Olenna Tyrell who poisoned and killed his son, as well. This gives Jamie almost a relief to know it wasn’t his own brother and that he made the right choice in setting him free.
While Tyrion hates Cersei, one can see his genuine concern for Jamie throughout the end of this episode on the battle field. The camera cuts to his face several times – in which, he looks concerned. When Dany and her dragon land after the dragon has been hit with an arrow – Tyrion even mutters “flee, you idiot” hoping that Jamie would run, rather than make the stupid choice of going after a dragon.
Of course, this isn’t the result and – we’re left with the cliffhanger of the unknown as to whether or not Jamie Lannister is alive. While Tyrion has been helping Dany take down his own family, seeing his own brother nearly die or actually die, could change a lot of things for Tyrion. He has always been the laughing stock of the Lannisters – being an “imp” and an alcoholic (but so is Cersei, so, whatever). Jamie, however, has always treated him like family and always included him in their “family name,” even though Cersei has always hated him for “killing their mother” during childbirth.
How can Tyrion be supportive of someone who tried to kill his own brother – the one who really only accepted him out of their entire family? It’s really hard to say.
In the preview for next week’s episode – episode five – Dany speaks to a crowd of people telling them to bend the knee and accept her as their queen, or die. Tyrion makes a face of surprise and shock in the short clip, giving viewers the sense that he doesn’t really agree with her new ways of going about taking the throne. In the next part of the preview, Varys is speaking to Tyrion saying – “you need to find a way to make her listen.” Such can only be inferred that they are speaking about Dany and her newfound power – as she has become quite the savage in wanting to defeat anything in her way of taking the throne.
This could possibly be the demise of Tyrion and Dany’s partnership – but, we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out – obviously.