The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones’ seventh season, “Beyond the Wall,” was, in a word, bananas. We saw Jon’s “suicide squad” somehow survive in the cold for days(?) against the White Walker army, learned that Gendry is some sort of marathon sprinter, and that the Night King is really good at javelin-throwing. It was definitely one of the heaviest episodes yet in terms of fantastical elements, something that Game of Thrones has been edging more towards this season at the expense of the political drama that was featured so prominently in earlier seasons (although there has still been quite a bit of that too). All-out war with the Night King and his army is just over the horizon, as Daenerys is now fully on board with the idea that stopping an invasion of ice zombies is probably something she should be concerned with, but things aren’t exactly looking good for the living as we head into next week’s season finale.
12. Why Did Sansa Send Brienne To King’s Landing?
Not long after Sansa’s first run-in with her disturbed sister Arya (more on her below), Littlefinger has a conversation with the Lady of Winterfell in which he tells her something about Brienne being sworn to protect both of Catelyn Stark’s daughters, meaning that she wouldn’t let one sister harm the other (at least, that’s what I think Littlefinger was implying; it’s hard to know for sure with that guy). So what does Sansa do? She sends Brienne away at the first opportunity. Yes, Sansa has a reason for doing so, as she sends Brienne to be her representative at King’s Landing after receiving an invitation to go there … but couldn’t she just have ignored the invite altogether?
Why would Sansa send anyone down to King’s Landing at this point, let alone her most trusted and skilled bodyguard? Maybe there’s something I’m missing here but this just felt like a dumb move on Sansa’s part, almost as if the writers needed Brienne to not be in Winterfell anymore and came up with the first excuse that popped into their heads. Oh well, at least we’ll get to see Brienne and Jaime together again!
HBO