Weiss and Benioff Disappoint; “Beyond the Wall” Recap/Critique

Jordan Lieberman
Aug 25, 2017 · 12 min read
“Beyond the Wall”

Brought to you by The Weekly Tailgate.

This post is dark and full of spoilers.

“Beyond the Wall”, the penultimate episode of the penultimate season of Game of Thrones, has me questioning my faith in executive producers Dan Weiss and David Benioff. I have trusted these men to bring my favorite epic fantasy novel series into my home and onto my television screen for over six years. Even after some of their most abhorrent production decisions — omission of seemingly important characters, Ramsay and Sansa’s wedding night, completely desecrating Dorne — I have trusted them to depict this fascinating story. But, barring various dramatic reveals in the season finale, their use of illogical plot devices, fan-service, and their blatant disregard for the laws of physics may force me to remove Thrones from its Sharpied-in position atop my list of favorite TV shows of all time.

Although the episode focused heavily on the moments north of the Wall, back in Winterfell the Arya/Sansa conflict raged on. While bobbing and weaving Sansa’s punches of pure sass as expertly as Floyd “Money” Mayweather will undoubtedly avoid Conor McGregor’s fists this Saturday, Littlefinger has found his way back into Sansa’s inner circle of trust despite being the reason Sansa experienced the terror that was Ramsay Bolton. He also set into motion a scheme to prey on Arya’s hatred of Sansa, pinning one of the world’s best assassins against his beloved Catelyn-look-alike. I have yet to discern a reason for these simultaneous ploys, but a ploy they most definitely are.

Even more puzzling than Littlefinger’s motives is Arya’s apparent ignorance of Littlefinger’s deceitful activity. Arya spent two seasons in Braavos training to become a faceless man. She endured constant physical and mental torture, making it all the way to her figurative final semester, only dropping out of college because her final exam entailed poisoning a woman she grew to admire and view as a mother figure. Instead of embracing the life of a faceless man, she chose to take the obvious benefits of being No One (magical face swapping, ninja-like fighting skills) and pair it with her passionate urge to cross off every name on her kill list. Yet, even after nearly completing the most arduous training course in the Thrones world (yes, even worse than this), she appears to be getting hoodwinked by the most meddlesome man in Westeros. The plotline in Winterfell is throwing the incredible story arc and character development of many people’s favorite character, Arya, to the wind.

Or is it?

If Weiss and Benioff want to earn a part of my trust back they will have to provide logical closure to the story in Winterfell. They have been leading us to believe we will witness Stark-on-Stark crime. I see two possible logical outcomes to this nonsense at the Stark home, and both make the assumption that Weiss and Benioff are actually misleading us:

  1. Arya is on her shit, as she should be, and is going to kill Littlefinger.
  2. Arya is REALLY on her shit and is “training” Sansa in the only way she knows (brutal mindfucking) to get Sansa to do something she should have done a long time ago: kill Littlefinger herself.

These are the only two outcomes that make logical sense, although a murder of Sansa at the hands of Arya would be morbid closure to their incessant hateful relationship.

Before we head north to discuss the bulk of the episode, let us warg into a raven and fly south into the Dragonstone war room. Here, Daenerys and Tyrion have a brief but loaded conversation. After the Mother of Dragons threw shade at Jon’s stature (not the first, nor most savage shade sent Jon’s way), Tyrion proposed a concept that me and future Olympic hurdler John Wenner have been considering since the early episodes of Thrones. This concept, that Wenner and I initially discussed in the famous living room of 27 S Whiteoak St in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, concerns the political future of Westeros. Daenerys has talked about “breaking the wheel” throughout her lengthy journey but seems to have lost that optimistic, forward-thinking mindset. Tyrion has not. He joined Daenerys on a feeling of hope, a feeling he has rarely experienced in his life.

He, like me with Weiss and Benioff, is losing faith in the Mother of Dragons.

Even after his embarrassing mistakes in the war against Cersei, I still believe Tyrion has the most brilliant mind in Thrones. He, unlike Daenerys, has his mind set not only on the immediate future — the war against Cersei and the war against the undead — but also on the distant future, a future he hopes is vastly different from the current world he lives in. He asks Daenerys to consider the world after she has died; to consider a new plan for succession; to consider her promise to “break the wheel”. The only thing she considers is how much Tyrion is interested in her death, questioning the support of another top aide. Daenerys goes on to say “we will discuss the succession after I wear the crown”, which smells like nifty foreshadowing and reinforces my expectation that she will be killed before she has the opportunity to wear the crown. Regardless, she is clearly teetering on the hero/villain fence, and Tyrion is beginning to share my belief that she has gone full villain.

This conversation, paired with Jaime and Cersei’s conversation from “Eastwatch”, sparked another prediction. Tyrion is urging Daenerys to prepare for her meeting with Cersei. Daenerys has never dealt with Cersei, and Cersei has shown us in the past two season just how ruthless she can be (remember the last time all of her adversaries were gathered in one place?). The upcoming meeting in King’s Landing — specifically, in the Dragon Pits, as a special “fuck you” to the Dragon Queen — will not go as peacefully as Jaime has promised Tyrion. Cersei, with Qyburn’s help, will put a plan into action that will threaten the lives of Jon and Daenerys. This will cause the inevitable Cleganebowl to take place. Furthermore, the Valonqar prophecy will be fulfilled. Yes, that is right, I am predicting that Jaime Lannister will kill Cersei Lannister in the season finale. Do not steal my hot take!

Last stop on the magic raven is north of the Wall, to follow the Magnificent Seven as they attempt to execute the ludicrous plan crafted in “Eastwatch”. (Aside: unfortunately, Tyrion has not been spared by Weiss and Benioff’s onslaught of illogical plots. Tyrion is too intelligent to think Cersei can be reasoned with and that this plan would actually work. This is an example of Weiss and Benioff filling the “journey” section of the plot after choosing the “destination” of the plot — a plot development technique that GRRM rarely uses.) After teasing us with seven named characters traveling north of the Wall alone on a suicide mission, I was immediately disappointed to see six other random Freefolk in the squad — six people that Weiss and Benioff can kill in place of the seven named characters (Damn you, W&B!). As expected, all six (or one — the same stunt actor acted out most of these deaths) throwaway Freefolk were killed off one-by-one by the undead.

There was, however, one named character that met their end, but it may have been the least important named character of the bunch. Thoros of Myr, the alcoholic priest that is credited with the six revivals of Beric Dondarrion, met his brutal end at the jaws of a FREAKING UNDEAD POLAR BEAR (he initially survives, but dies in his sleep that evening). The rest of the squad watched for what felt like an hour as Thoros was thrashed about, only finally being relieved of his thrashing by Jorah and a dragonglass dagger. The hesitation by Jorah seems odd. I am assuming that Jon mentioned the usage of dragonglass during either the boat voyage to Eastwatch or the current trek north of the Wall — why else would Jorah even have the dragonglass daggers?

The only implication of Thoros’ death is obvious: Beric is on his last life (thanks for clearing that up, Clegane). I had all my money on Beric dying in this episode, mainly because I cannot determine how he fits into the remaining story. After Beric and Jon shared a brief moment discussing their purpose, I was even more convinced that Beric would go down in flames. “You and I won’t find much joy while we’re here, but we can keep others alive.” Things were lining up for Beric to die in an effort to save Jon; that the Lord of Light placed him there to keep Jon alive (to keep TPTWP alive). I was wrong, of course, and the real implication of that conversation presented itself later.

Some brief notes on the other pre-fighting conversations: Tormund convinced Jon to swallow his pride and bend the knee to Dany by comparing him to Mance Rayder; Jon offered Jorah Longclaw and was (thankfully) rejected; Tormund and the Hound provided comedic relief before the mayhem ensued…

The squad carried on and came across a conveniently placed undead scout team of about ten wights (reanimated corpses) led by a single White Walker (the “living” ones that look like this). Amidst the ambush, Jon slays the White Walker resulting in the immediate death (redeath? death 2.0?) of every Wight in the scout team…except one. Again, how convenient. This remaining Wight screams bloody murder before the squad can gag and bag him, alerting the entire horde of the undead. Jon, realizing the shitstorm they are about to face, makes Gendry run a marathon back to the Wall (pump those arms next time, G!) to send a raven to Daenerys. Jon and Co. run like hell to a rock island in the middle of a frozen lake. The undead horde is too heavy to follow, causing the ice around the island to cave in, creating a convenient barrier for our heroes.

And now we get to the truly massive amounts of bullshit. Buckle up.

They stay on this rock through the night, a night that is cold enough to refreeze the caved in sections of the frozen lake, yet not cold enough to freeze our heroes — who did not build a fire — to death. During this same night, Gendry completes his run back to Eastwatch and the Maester sends a raven to Dragonstone. These two events, plus Daenerys flying her dragons north to Jon and Co., take place in what appears to be less than twenty four hours. Logical time has not existed in this entire season, but this instance of time fuckery is hard to overlook.

Jon and Beric share one last crucial conversation before the Hound provokes the horde. They notice the Night King is up on a cliff, staring down Jon as he has before, and they consider their encounter with the undead scout team. Jon slayed the White Walker and most of the wights nearby fell too. What if they slay the Night King? Would all of the White Walkers and wights fall, ending this war forever? Is the Night King controlling/warging into the corpses, just as Bran wargs into Hodor, the ravens, and his direwolf? More on this later…

The heroes fight off the horde for as long as they can, slowly retreating towards the top of the rock island. Tormund nearly gets dragged into the water (the Hound smashed a hole in the ice early on in the fight) but is saved by the Hound. Tormund’s death would have been truly devastating, but I almost assumed he was going to be saved. The entire episode felt as if our heroes were invincible, abolishing any feeling of fear and angst the producers were hoping for.

They continue their retreat up the rock until finally there is no more rock to climb. The scene shifts to Jon’s perspective for a (surprisingly) wonderfully done slow motion sequence. Jon, facing the opposite direction of the other four remaining heroes, backs into Tormund. They share a look that screams “WE’RE SO FUCKED”. Jon and Jorah share a similar look before Jon turns to face the wights climbing up the far side of the rock. This was my favorite moment of the entire episode. Jon takes a single calming breath, knowing he is about to face his final moments, then raises his sword to fight until his last breath. This moment reaches back to Jon and Beric’s conversation. “Death is the enemy. The first enemy and the last…The enemy always wins. And we still need to fight him.” Jon’s acceptance is heartbreaking and beautiful. He finally gets to face death, to move on from this world he has been so miserable living in.

Enter the most predictable moment in Game of Thrones history.

The Mother of Dragons swoops in to save the day, providing us with the most typical epic fantasy moment we have ever seen on this show. I literally yelled, “Of course!”, at my TV. Sure, watching dragons burn undead ice zombies is entertaining, but if I wanted incredibly excessive action and violence with inconsistent plotlines I would go see the newest Transformers movie. Thrones is a world where magic, zombies, and dragons exist, yet it still feels real, with internal logic and constructs that make it incredibly believable. On Thrones, heroes die just as often as villains, keeping the show grounded and satisfying. “Beyond the Wall” changed the game, altering the rules and expectations for the remaining seven episodes.

To be fair, there was a small price to pay for Daenerys’ heroic actions. As Jon and Co. were loading the captured wight onto Drogon’s back, the Night King expertly slinged an ice spear through the sky, making his own case for the Olympics. The Night King sniped Viserion out of the sky with a single hit (your move, Qyburn). It is the most impressive feat ever performed on this show (this being a close second).

Okay class, homework time. Watch the scene again, specifically when the Night King is walking to the edge of the cliff with his ice spear (also observe how Jon’s commitment to heroism and killing wights is giving the Night King enough time to take aim). In the bottom left portion of the screen, we see the largest dragon, Drogon, stationary, on the ground, with a number of humans on his back — a.k.a. a prime target — yet the Night King aims for the smaller, moving Viserion, with no additional prizes on his back. This is so incredibly illogical. The Night King would never pass up an opportunity as juicy as this one.

Our heroes appeared to have missed an enticing opportunity as well. Daenerys had committed to putting her dragons in harm’s way; Jon and Co. just discovered that killing the Night King would kill all of the White Walkers and wights; the Night King was a literal stone’s throw away. Hey Dany, next time this opportunity presents itself, ROAST THE NIGHT KING’S FROZEN ASS! Instead, our Dragon Queen is sailing south with two-thirds of her dragon arsenal (although she may have risen another dragon…yes, I am talking about Jon’s dragon, or “little pecker”). (Aside: Jon’s presence should prevent Daenerys from spiraling out of control and from embracing the Mad Queen lifestyle, but there is still a chance that losing one of her “children” will be as traumatizing to her as losing Joffrey was to Cersei.)

This amount of illogical and inconsistent content may potentially sink this entire show. But, as I promised in my opening paragraph, there is a possible explanation for some of this nonsense. It centers around the theory that Bran is the Night King (check out my explanation of this theory here), a theory that has gained a lot of popularity and traction since this scene (link to Raven Swarm scene) in “Eastwatch”. That scene, which highlights the connection between Bran and the Night King, gives a sneak peak of a location that should be all too familiar after seeing “Beyond the Wall”: the rock island in the middle of the frozen lake. And what do we see atop the same rock that Jon and his four companions nearly died on? The Night King and his four White Walker generals (okay, W&B, I will give credit where credit is due: this is crafty foreshadowing).

The Night King set a trap, and our heroes took the bait (thanks Bran). The moments I described as too convenient were actually part of the plan, his plan to get his hands on a dragon, the most valuable weapon in the entire world. This is hugely beneficial to the Night King as it allows him easy passage over the Wall (or through it, if he can bring it down with his new prize). There will undoubtedly be a larger benefit to this trap that will reveal itself in the future, but this costly mistake by our heroes (and HBO; ice dragon CGI must be expensive) may cause the bittersweet ending GRRM has promised to be more bitter than sweet.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade