Yahoo News Game of Thrones episode 6 review: Breathlessly exciting
The closing moments of last week's episode teased out an epic adventure to come, as seven brave warriors (well, five warriors, one priest and a paladin) headed out north of the Wall to capture a dead man. 'Beyond the Wall' followed through on that promise and then some, dedicating almost the entire hour to this suicide mission, and although it gave us a succession of ultra-cool moments, it wasn't without its flaws.
In the early going, the episode had fun testing out a few new pairings as the Eastwatch Seven trekked through the snow, with the Hound and Tormund probably the highlight – particularly when it came to their differing takes on Brienne of Tarth. Everyone got their moment, and it was all set against some of the more stunning landscapes the show has ever presented: the cinematography is simply jaw-dropping.
And if the scenery was one of the big sells, then the action wasn't far behind. Even before the army of the dead show up, we're treated to a wight bear attack, which ultimately spells the end for poor Thoros of Myr, who probably felt like the most expendable of the group even before they left. The image of a flaming undead bear was exceptionally cool, and returning director Alan Taylor – a veteran of the show who has since moved on to Hollywood fare like Thor: The Dark World – builds up the tension nicely. These seven may be relative strangers, but they form up into a defensive circle like old pros. And, of course, Beric and Thoros' flaming swords are awesome.
None of that helps them, though, when they find themselves trapped on a tiny spot of rock on a frozen lake, as the dead surround them in frightening numbers. The eerie silence that falls over the scene as the dead wait our heroes out is particularly effective, but it's also here that the episode falls into tricky waters of its own.
There's no real question that this truncated penultimate season has been rushing through things. Game of Thrones is expensive to produce, and while they could undoubtedly drag it out for years to come, it's certainly better to get to the point and go out on a high. Up until now, the shortcuts have been easy to overlook. Yes, Euron's ships seem able to appear wherever the plot needs them to, and Davos was able to flit from King's Landing to the Wall in the same episode, but it felt like nothing was lost in fast-forwarding certain journeys.
Here, though, the contracting of Westeros works against the show. How long were the Seven on that rock for? A few hours? It's easy enough to buy that Gendry (as good a runner as he is a rower) would make it back to Eastwatch in that time, but for a raven to also travel all the way south to Dragonstone, and for Daenerys to then travel all the way back up north of the Wall? No. Wings are faster than legs, of course, but with the Seven's wait being such a focal point, the shortcuts here are more jarring and incongruous than ever before. Frankly, it's just silly plotting, and it's hard to ignore. Dany's rescue is suitably epic, but it's a shame that the show had to take so many leaps to get us there.
It's also noticeably unfortunate that the other Night's Watch nobodies – those not part of the Eastwatch Seven – don't get a look in and are present purely to be killed off while our heroes look out for one another. It lessens the stakes once it becomes apparent that nobody else of note will die, especially when the show keeps teasing imminent death. Those other men may have taken the black, but they're red shirts through and through, and for a show so renowned for ruthlessly killing characters off, the more fake-outs they do the less impact it all has going forward.
Still, Ramin Djawadi's score is magnificent, and the cinematography continues to stun, and when the song of ice and fire plays out for real, it's thrilling to the extreme. Seeing Dany's three dragons taking flight is unbearably cool, and watching them burn swathes through the frozen dead is stirring stuff.
Perhaps the episode is best encapsulated in Benjen Stark's (Joseph Mawle) short cameo. He swoops in, swinging his flaming chain, and saves Jon. It's a great moment, and Benjen's unique weapon makes a change from all the swordplay. After two lines to one another, Benjen then sends Jon on his way, but stays behind to die – for no reason! There was very clearly plenty of time for him to join Jon on the horse, but the series had no further use for him, so it manufactured his death. Too often here the machinations of the writers were exposed. Benjen may not have been the most important character, but his death was symptomatic of the episode: incredibly stylish, but lazily plotted.
There are a few scenes that take place south of the Wall, as Tyrion tries once more to offer Dany wise counsel that she largely ignores, and Arya and Sansa seem to have reached a point of no return in their relationship. Arya is an angry and increasingly terrifying figure, and Maisie Williams is lapping up every delicious moment of it. Arya trained to become an assassin so that she could scratch the names off her list, but the confidence her new powers have given her have also let a darkness in, and it now seems she's willing to point the knife at anyone – even her own sister. She's a fool for letting Littlefinger get into her head, but Arya's a dangerous person, and positioning her as a villain for the final run could be fun.
Equally dangerous is Littlefinger himself, who continues to scheme and play the sisters against each other. Was getting Brienne sent away part of his plan? We'll probably find out soon enough. Of course, it's always possible that Littlefinger is dead already, and his faceless body is stuffed in a dark corner somewhere… with Arya's Faceless Man training, it's rather difficult to be sure these days.
The episode ends with our heroes on the way to deliver the wight to Cersei in King's Landing, in what promises to be a sequence that puts more characters in the same room than ever before. There are more hints of Jon and Dany's romance (unconvincing as it is), and the promise of a united front against the Night King. And for all the episode's clunky plotting, the final shot can't help but elicit a squeal of excitement. There's something about the words 'zombie ice dragon' and the prospect of it going up against its living brothers that makes you want to forgive any lapses in logic. Ultimately, this was Game of Thrones at its best and its worst – at once breathlessly exciting and frustratingly careless.
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