The makers of Game of Thrones are leaving no stones unturned in making the penultimate season the best one so far. After a somber start, a decent follow-up and a heart pounding the third episode, the fourth one tops them all in every aspect. Titled Spoils of War, the fourth episode sees the sown seeds of ultimate theories take shape of a sapling, as they pop out of the soil of your imagination and breathe on screen. The episode has all emotions of a good family drama, a start of a new 'ship' and a glimpse of the War that's coming. Shortest one from the season till now, the 50-minute run time seem to pass in a jiffy as you contemplate why the hackers waited till this particular episode to hack- the excitement is too much to contain (not justifying the illegal upload in any way, though).
Stark assassin, Arya, finally comes home after six seasons and much to her dismay the guards don’t recognise her and deny her entry. However, Arya being Arya, escapes their eyes and meets Sansa near her father’s statue and the sisters finally embrace each other. The warmth between the sisters is not lost, however, Bran seems a little happier on meeting Arya than he was on seeing Sansa (does that hint towards Sansa’s betrayal to Starks?). However, Bran’s ‘no-emotion-show’ concerns Arya. Bran also gives his little sister, the Valyrian steel dagger that was meant to slit his throat in Season 1. It is proved that Bran was killed inside the cave by the white-walkers and what remains is an eye that can travel to the past to define the present.
Arya is then seen training with Brianne, amusing all in the vicinity, including Sansa and Littlefinger, with her tactics and sword-swinging skills. However, Sansa doesn’t appear as happy as she should be much to Littlefinger’s content. (Do we sense another sibling rivalry?)
The episode sees Daenerys Targaryen being concerned about her unsullied army with no news of them when Jon Snow takes her inside the cave full of Dragonstone. While the two Targaryens look on the figures drawn on the wall by Children of Forest, Daenerys somewhat seems convinced about the White Walkers and the threat of the dead. However, the queen is still a queen and asks Jon to bend his knee if he expects her large army to wield the dragon glass and fight alongside the northerners. So will a king's pride take a backseat and honour the lives of his people more than his title? Only time will tell.
Next, Jaime Lannister is seen with Bronn as they take the food and wealth after winning the little war at Highgarden. With armies taking the 'winning' to the Iron Banks in order to pay Lannisters' debt, things seem pretty sorted for the Queen residing at Kingslanding... not for very long though.
Tyrion Lannister and Varys bring the concerned news of the Unsullied stranded at Casterly Rock and demise of Olenna Tyrell, fouling Danerys' plan of locking Kingslanding. With her Westeros alliances gone, the mother of dragons is forced to put the scheming and plotting behind and do what she does the best - lead an army.
With much opposition from Tyrion, Daenerys rides Drogon and few good Dothrakis to the outskirts of Highgarden which results in one of the most spectacular fights of the season. With Drogon burning Lannister Army alive, there's no one to match the ruthlessness of Dothrakis, until Cersei’s ‘secret weapon’ comes into play. Drogon gets injured but not before blowing up the weapon. However, Jaime tries to cease the opportunity and runs to attack an unaware Daenerys while Tyrion watches the entire scene atop the hill and yapping “Flee you Fool!”. If only the brother could hear him! Bronn manages to save Jaime just in time, however, it’s not clear if both of them are now prisoners of the Dothrakis or not.
The episode gave the viewers an adrenaline rush which is going to last until the end of the season. The war within The Wall has begun from both sides and it’ll be interesting to see how Cersei reacts to this major blow.
The future episode will build up the tension between the Daenerys and Cersei and each will try to take down the other. The mother of dragons will need all support she’s got (read Jon Snow) and maybe her ‘Bend the Knee' rant will take a backseat for the time being. Dragons are now revealed to the army and trust Cersei to come up with a plan to take down both - Daenerys power and her pride.
A rivalry is brewing in Winterfell and Littlefinger will do everything to use this 'chaos as his ladder'.
PS: Keep an eye for Bran, who is going to be the key player in the last two seasons. This Stark-boy has seen and been at places hidden from the world but known to the guilty. Overall, Spoils of War has pinned up our hopes which the remaining episodes seem to follow. So much to tell in a limited time, hearts are supposed to beat faster in every given episode.
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