The finale was packed with these scenes, like a Thanksgiving dinneryou know what the meal is going to consist of, but its still a feast. It began with a meetingThe Meeting, reallywhere most all the shows principal characters came together in the Dragonpit of Kings Landing for Jon Snows almost certainly unfeasible attempt to convince Cersei Lannister to help fight the White Walkers and their army of wights. There were three daises set up on the floor of the shattered arena where the Targaryens once imprisoned their dragons. The people sitting in them are as follows Cersei, Jaime, Qyburn, Euron Greyjoy, and the Mountain Jon Snow, Davos, and Brienne Daenerys, Tyrion, Jorah, Missandei, Varys, and Theon. And, after several tense moments and several even more tense conversations, there is one person in the center of the all The Hound, who carries a giant chest by himself. When he opens it, nothing happensno movement, so sound. And when he kicks the chest over, the wight inside bursts out growling, and runs right for Cersei. In terms of showing the woman who currently sits on the Iron Throne of the threat that lies beyond the Wall, it honestly couldnt have worked out any better if they planned it and it almost makes you wonder if they did. Sandor Clegane yanks the wights chain back at the last second, so Cersei gets the most horrifying look possible. When the wights attention is focused on him, Sandor cuts the wight in two at the waist, allowing Cersei to see both halves trying to crawl towards someone to attack them. When the Hound cuts off a hand, Jon Snow picks it up to demonstrate the wights weakness to firethen stabs the torso with a dragonglass dagger, demonstrating its other weakness. All in all, Jon makes his caseso effectively, in fact, that Euron asks Jon if the dead can swim. When he answers no, Euron says and Im paraphrasing, I. Am. Outta here. He announces that he and his fleet are heading back to the Iron Islands, and leaving everyone on the mainland to die. Cersei also recognizes the horrific threat the living face, but she agrees to Daenerys request for a truce, and that shell send her forces north to fight with Winterfell and Daenerys Unsullied and Dothraki to fight the enemy of all of them. If Jon Snow, King of the North, agrees to stay up north and at no point take his soldiers anywhere near the eventual war between herself and Daenerys. Jon explains he cant do that because hes already bent the knee to Daenerys. And Cersei storms out of the Dragonpit. Jon tells the truth, and dooms humanity. It was as infuriating a moment as anything Ive ever seen on Game of Thrones. Oh, I know Jon has his honor, and his desire to always do the right thing has gotten him into trouble before, trouble that includes being murdered by his own men. But this moment this is beyond the pale. Knowing the truth would end the nascent truce, negating everything theyd worked so hard for, rendering the death of Danys dragon meaningless, and indirectly consigning god knows how many inhabitants of Westeros to death, Jon tells the truth anyway. Davos is pissed. Tyrion is pissed. Daenerys is extra pissed. Jon gives a pretty little speech about how lying is bad and people need to keep their word and blah blah, which might have had an ounce of weight to it if heal so hadnt been talking for seasons about how the war against the White Walkers was the only thing that matters, nothing elseincluding Jons goddamn honor. Everyone on Team Daenerys and Team Stark knows it, but Jon doesnt. Its a decision so stupid, even for a Stark, it feels like it almost erases everyones development over the course of the entire series, like it reset everyone back to the beginning of season one. But the worst thing about it isnt how dumb it is, but because its so selfisha truth told for his own self righteousness and self image, and nothing else, because it certainly doesnt benefit anyone else. In fact, it leads directly to Tyrion making his own terrible decision To go see Cersei, the sister whos tried to have him killed at least twice that he knows of, by himself and convince her to return to negotiations. Last week, in my recap of Beyond of Wall, I used the headline Game of Thrones Is at Its Best and Worst Right Now. I was referring to the shows powerful ability to give us amazing, epic fantasy scenes unlike anyone has ever before tried of television. What I wasnt referring to was the shows original strengthgiving us characters of depth, but also scenes between these characters, usually just talking to one another, that made them and Westeros rich and real and so captivating that even people who think stories about dragons and made up places are dumb have gotten completely invested in the series. Tyrions reunion with Cersei is one of those scenes, and, somewhat surprisingly, powered by the characters honesty wth each other. Cerseis still mad that Tyrion killed their father, but more upset that he left the Lannister family so vulnerable that their enemies felt bold enough to kill Myrcella and wrest control of Kings Landing from her, eventually leading to Tommens suicide. Tyrion explains the reason he follows Daenerys is because she actually wants to make the world a better place, while Cersei only cares about her ever shrinking list of who she considers family. Tyrion baits Cersei and tells her to have the Mountain, looming behind him, to kill him when Cersei doesnt, he pours himself a large glass of wine. Cersei reveals shes pregnant. The two will never love each other, but they end up making their own sort of truce together. Or so it seems. The Wolf and the Dragon is filled with these sorts of wonderful, character driven scenes, more than the entire rest of the season put together. Its as if season seven was sprinting through the plot for the first six episodes, in order to make sure it had plenty of time for these scenes after virtually all the main characters got together in one place. Id argue Tyrion and Cerseis reunion is the highlight of the episode, but heres a few more of them, some large, some small, all gratifying Brienne discovers the Hound is still alive, and the two of them share a small smile over what an ass kicker Arya has become. Tyrion gets a few moments with Bronn reminding him of his eternal offer to him Ill pay double and his former squire Podrick. The Hound reunites with his undead big brother the MountainYoure uglier than I am nowand postpones Clegane bowl to another day, although he declares the day is indeed coming. Euron waits until the meeting starts and immediately interrupts to call out Theon, announcing hell kill Yara if Theon doesnt surrender, annoying literally everyone else in the Dragonpit.