SPOILERS for Game of Thrones Episode 7.4, “The Spoils of War.”

It’s going to be difficult to recap this week’s Game of Thrones because the last 10 minutes are seared into my memory, at the expense of the first 40 minutes. No, I’ll try. But obviously, there are some parts of The Spoils of War (aka the Spoilers of War) which need more discussion than others. Chaos is a ladder, peeps.

Chaos is a ladder. Littlefinger is trying to do his creepy-uncle bit with Bran, because clearly Littlefinger doesn’t buy this whole Three-Eyed Raven thing. Bran shuts him down by quoting Littlefinger TO Littlefinger: “Chaos is a ladder,” which is what Littlefinger told Sansa last week. Littlefinger gives Bran the Valyrian steel dagger that was used in an attempt on Bran’s life in Season 1 (I totally forgot about that). After Baelish leaves, Meera comes in and she tries to tell Bran that she’s leaving and he’s all “bye,” and she’s like “OMG IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME” and he’s like “Girl, I’m the Three-Eyed Raven now, I have no emotions.” Meera: “You died in that cave.” For real, Meera.

Question about the Three-Eyed Raven. Bran now sees all of history, so he obviously knows that Littlefinger plotted with Lysa Arryn to kill Jon Arryn and literally set the entire Game of Thrones plot into action, right? So why isn’t Bran telling anyone? Why isn’t Bran like, “Oh, you know Littlefinger set all of this in motion, right?” Not that I’m a GoT-plot-apologist, but I think Bran is making a choice here not to say anything because he “sees” that Littlefinger is important to the plot in the future. Maybe?

Arya Returns. Unlike Bran’s return, I didn’t feel like Arya’s return was grossly overdue, given the story-timeline constraints. Arya came to Winterfell in what seemed like a fair amount of time. She was told to piss off by some dumb guards, and Arya outwitted them easily. When the guards tried to fake-news Sansa, Sansa was like “Oh, I know where she is.” Arya was in the crypt, which I hope is not foreshadowing. Arya and Sansa have a pleasant reunion and then, almost as an afterthought, Sansa is like “Oh, Bran is home too.” And Sansa’s look says it all: prepare yourself because Bran has changed man.

The List. Bran did seem to perk up a bit with Arya’s arrival, and he mentions that he thought she was going to Kings Landing to kill Cersei, who is on her list. Arya doesn’t seem fazed by Bran knowing that she has a list, and Sansa is like “Okay, tell me more about the list.” Bran also gave Arya the dagger (which was given to him by creepy Uncle Littlefinger).

Brienne is given a moment. GoT so rarely rewards the “good” characters, so it was nice that Pod gave Brienne props – both of Catelyn Stark’s daughters are safe and at home in Winterfell. Brienne kept her oath. She acknowledges she had very little to do with Arya’s return, she still feels pretty good. After that, Arya asks to train with Brienne and there’s a good training session between them, all while Sansa and Littlefinger look on. Arya really does have some great ninja skillz.

The Obsidian Cave. I love the idea of an “obsidian cave,” btw. Jon has found the cave and he will begin mining the dragonglass, but first he wants to show Dany the cave drawings. The Children of the Forest made some lifelike drawings of the White Walkers, eh? After some weighted glances at each other in the torch-light, they leave the cave and Dany gets the bad news about Lady Oleanna. Jon and Davos are somehow included in the session, and Jon advises Dany not to burn Kings Landing to the ground.

Theon arrives. Theon and a handful of dudes arrive at Dragonstone and Jon looks like he’s ready to kill Theon, but Jon grabs him and says that what Theon did for Sansa is the only reason why Jon is NOT killing Theon. Theon’s like, “where’s Dany?” And Jon’s all, “she’s gone.”

Jaime and Bronn. Jaime, Bronn and the Tarlys are bringing their loot back to Kings Landing – loot including all of that gold, plus all of the food and supplies in, I don’t even know how many miles. Bronn is suddenly like “what’s that sound?” That sound was the Dothrakis. They were coming for the Lannister forces, which was bad enough, except suddenly there was another sound: Drogon, flying into battle, with his mom on his back.

Dracarys. The battle scenes are fraught, as Drogon’s stream of fire takes out huge portions of the Lannister forces in one breath and the Dothraki seem to be fearless in their assault of Lannister forces. For a moment, the action focuses on Bronn as he goes on foot to find the weapon he’s looking for. The way this was shot, it reminded me so much of Hardhome, and the way Jon Snow watched in horror as the undead destroyed everything around him. That was an icy scene – this was a fiery scene. I think it was a meant as a visual callback, ice and fire. Bronn eventually finds the weapon he’s seeking: the dragon-killing machine or whatever. He aims it at Drogon. Bronn wings Drogon on the second attempt.

Tyrian watches the battle unfold. Tyrian is on a hill, watching the action below, as the Lannister forces are effectively decimated. Tyrian sees his brother and watches as Jaime sees Dany, now on the ground, trying to remove the spear from Drogon’s side. Jaime decides to take his chance and try to kill Dany. “You f–king idiot,” Tyrion says to his brother. Jaime can’t hear him.

Is Jaime dead? Jaime races to Dany, who sees him too late. Drogon saw him too, and Drogon swivels his dragon head protectively, shielding his mother and sending out a blast of fire. At the last moment, Bronn jumps on Jaime and they both go into the water (??). Jaime sinks. Fade to black.

Photos courtesy of HBO/Game of Thrones.