Game of Thrones Review: Beyond the Wall (Season 7 Episode 6)

Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 6 “Beyond the Wall,” if nothing else, very much feels like the sort of penultimate episode that we’ve all become accustomed to seeing in the series.

The main problem with it is that, whereas past penultimate episodes have felt like they had a significant edge to them, “Beyond the Wall” feels rather toothless in comparison.

It’s the problem with having a group of likable characters go off to do something dangerous: There needs to be some sense that the majority of these people will not make it out of the episode alive. The opposite feels true — most of this “Magnificent Seven”-type group feels a bit unkillable.

Jon (Kit Harrington) isn’t going to die because, y’know — been there, done that. You don’t bring back Gendry after multiple seasons just to have him killed in the very next episode. We just got Jorah (Iain Glen) back, so he’s almost guaranteed to not die. The Hound’s story doesn’t feel over yet, for whatever reason. And, of course, Tormund isn’t allowed to die until he sees Brienne again.

There need to be stakes and consequences in this profoundly stupid endeavor besides the deaths of Thoros (who we don’t care about) and Viserion (who we also don’t care about, since Drogon is really the only one of the three dragons that we actually have an emotional attachment to).

As viscerally enjoyable and entertaining as it is to watch characters battle Ice Zombies — although, let’s be honest, this is no “Hardhome” — “Beyond the Wall” does far too many things wrong. Too much seems simply unbelievable or just flat-out ridiculous for this to considered an all-around good episode.

First, we need to have a conversation about what the rules actually are on this show. Do they even exist anymore?

Look, it’s been made very obvious this season (and, to lesser degrees, in previous seasons) that time is not at all a factor and characters may or may not have developed the ability to teleport.

We’ve gone beyond that now. Gendry supposedly has acquired super-speed, and ravens can teleport as well, apparently.

Fine, Gendry’s a metahuman. But is the show honestly trying to tell us that the Night King is such a good shot with an Ice Javelin that he can bring down a dragon — and, more importantly, that it would even work in the first place?

You’re asking a lot here, Game of Thrones.

Now, onto the thing that “Beyond the Wall” gets worse than anything else and is almost at the point of being unforgivable: the mess it’s made of Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa (Sophie Turner).

Earlier, it was believable that these two sisters who had always had a certain level of mutual animosity and distrust would pick it up again years later after reuniting. It was pushing things but still rang true for the most part.

What the series does to these two in this episode is too far over the line.

It’s not believable for a single moment that Arya would hold that letter against Sansa. Through the course of surviving this unimaginably brutal world of theirs, they have both had to do regrettable things. Arya became an assassin, and Sansa became a politician.

Neither one of them came out of this scot-free, and they both know it. We know it, too. The need for the writers to have this false conflict is simply unacceptable.

The fact that these two incredibly smart female characters cannot discern that Littlefinger is so obviously playing the both of them is just mere steps away from character assassination.

The writers should know better — or rather, they would if any women actually wrote on the show. That in itself is a problem that has become increasingly clear over the years.

Alternately, the best bits of the episode are the scenes of the men in the snow discussing angst, various backgrounds, and connections.

Even then, certain characters don’t bring up things that seem like they should be rather obvious to say, such as Jorah not mentioning that Sam cured his Greyscale, or Jon not telling Jorah that the sword he’s refusing can kill a White Walker.

Beyond that, the hope that the White Walkers will kill everyone continues to be unmet. What a shame.

What did you think of this episode of Game of Thrones? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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