Game of Thrones - The Last of the Starks

There's some odd pacing happening in "The Last of the Starks" as the episode spends much of its first half with characters honoring and grieving those lost at Winterfell, and making plans on the invasion south, to quickly jumping ahead to Daenerys (Emilia Clarke)' arrival and the welcome which Cersei (Lena Headey) has planned. Although she's been largely absent this season, Cersei reasserts herself as the series' main villain here. The Night King (Vladimír Furdík) may have been a monster to defeat, but Cersei Lannister is the monster to defeat. Taking out both a dragon and Daenerys' (Emilia Clarke) only remaining friend leaves her as alone as she has been in quite some time. Given Jon Snow (Kit Harington) ignoring her wishes to keep his lineage a secret from his family, I doubt she's feeling much love from the land she came home to liberate. While the show may still have one great swerve up its sleeve, it sure seems to be pushing to the inevitability of Jon Snow on the Iron Throne.

The episode isn't without its issues (and I'm not talking about the infamous Starbucks coffee cup that makes it into a scene). While the fleet are geared with giant crossbows to take down the dragons, only the front of the ships (all sailing in the same direction) are armed with them (meaning the Mother of Dragons could have easily flown behind them and burned them all into the sea). Given the terrific sequence that ended with her knighthood in the previous episode, hopefully this visage of a barefoot weeping woman in the dead of night isn't the last we see of Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) begging Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to avoid the coming battle. The scene of Arya (Maisie Williams) sneaking away and joining Clegane (Rory McCann) on the road brings their story around full circle, but it does feel a bit odd given Arya's journey has been continually pushing her into new challenges only now to see her so quickly embrace a relationship she's already outgrown. Is this foreshadowing of one of three rumored Game of Thrones spin-offs in the works? Conversely, Sansa (Sophie Turner) putting her new knowledge to work and playing on her history with Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) is a reminder at just how devious she can be when she sets her mind on a goal and has no plans on taking any steps backward.