This should go without saying, but if you haven’t caught last night’s brand new episode of Game of Thrones, you should really avoid watching next week’s preview and reading our speculation, below.
The brawl of the century hit Game of Thrones last night, causing a butterfly effect for many of the show’s characters, including poor Tyrion, who seems to have backed the wrong horse. While King’s Landing has offered the more interesting and intricate political battle across the season, it looks like we’ll have to put our interest in the Lannisters on hold. The preview for next week’s “The Watchers on the Wall” makes it abundantly clear that Castle Black and a battle between the Crows and the Wildlings will be at the focus.
Due to his good looks and excellent moral compass, Snow has been a favorite among the show’s female demographic. This season, Snow made it back from the Wildlings' clutches only to face challenges inside the walls of Castle Black, including a trial and problems with the leadership, who seem to think neither the Wildlings nor the White Walkers are a threat. Despite this, Snow has persisted to stand up for what he believes is right and seems to be pretty ready for the battle to commence. But with his former lover Ygritte on the way, the battle should be a whole lot more complicated.
Speaking of Ygritte and Snow’s love, a voiceover at the beginning of the preview notes that, “Love is the death of duty.” As if that isn’t ominous enough, we see shots of the Wildlings readying for battle before things really start to get intense. A few weeks ago, when Snow was pleading for the Crows to make certain the passageways in the ice were barred, he mentioned giants. While we don’t get a look at the creatures from beyond the wall, here, we do get a shot of giant legs passing by tall trees, which could indicate a beast of some sort. The battle looks intense, and I for one, don’t mind taking a break from the other storylines to see how the fight on the Wall pans out.
Game of Thrones is a big fan of realm hopping, switching between the perspectives of many of the major players in the series each episode, including Dany, Tyrion, Cersei, Jaime, Littlefinger, Sansa, Margaery, Ser Davos, Jon Snow, The Hound, Arya, and Stannis. However, once in a blue moon the show will hunker down and invest in an important moment, as happened in the Season 2 episode “Blackwater.” For the big moment, Game of Thrones dropped all of the other narratives that were currently going on to focus on what everyone was doing in King’s Landing when Stannis came to take over the throne. It was a risky move, one that even caused the ratings to dip a bit, but I think it ultimately set off enough chains of events that it was worth it to spend time watching the epic battle. Hopefully, a lengthy episode on the Wall will play out in quite the same manner.
HBO’s Game of Thrones airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET.
