‘Game of Thrones’ Finale Mini-Recap: Cersei Got Her Revenge (and Then Some)

(Photos: HBO)

UPDATE: Read our full recap of the Game of Thrones season finale HERE.

FINALLY: Cersei got even with the Sparrows. Yes, she may have created that problem in the first place, and yes, her method of vengeance was unbelievably over-the-top and tragic, but still. Never mess with a Lannister scorned or she just might BLOW UP the joint.

That’s right, in this week’s season finale of Game of Thrones, Cersei and her co-conspirators detonated a cache of wildfire underneath the Great Sept, destroying it and killing everyone inside. The High Sparrow, Margaery (!), Ser Loras, Mace Tyrell, Lancel, and hundreds of onlookers were all instantly vaporized by green flames as Cersei grinned from her bedroom window. (King Tommen had been barred from leaving his bedroom by Zombie Mountain). I think we all expected Cersei would do something memorable to get out of her trial, but her severity and callousness was truly next-level. (And, in the case of Margaery’s death, completely devastating.)

But the bad times at King’s Landing didn’t end there: Distraught and heartbroken over the disaster, Tommen committed suicide! He simply placed his crown on a side table and jumped out the window. Worse, Cersei’s heart had so hardened that she barely even looked sad when making funeral arrangements (“burn him”). By episode’s end Cersei had fully decked herself out in a fierce black dress straight out of Maleficent and as she was pronounced Queen again, she barely registered an emotion of any kind when a freaked-out Jaime arrived on the scene. The once proud and golden Lannister House was now officially a mausoleum of nightmares.

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Another important thing in this episode? We finally found out once and for all that Ned Stark was not Jon Snow’s father. As Bran discovered during one of his walks down memory lane, Jon’s birth mother was Lyanna Stark (her screams in the Tower of Joy were from childbirth). Though the show still hasn’t confirmed who Jon’s true father is, Lyanna made Ned Stark swear to protect the child, so it stands to reason the lineage has some major significance. But this also might have awkward consequences when Jon Snow’s newly faithful army of Houses finds out he’s not actually Ned’s son. And now that Littlefinger has told Sansa outright that he intends to sit on the Iron Throne someday, I think we can bet he’ll be finding out Jon’s secret in order to betray him down the line.

“The Winds of Winter” boasted several other important moments: Walder Frey ALSO met his maker at the hands of a disguised Arya Stark, whose kill list just grew one name shorter. She too grinned with sick pleasure as Walder Frey fingered his own gaping neck wound (which was splashing all over the pot pies that Arya had filled with HIS SONS). In other words: Arya is now past the point of no return, and this moment, while gruesome, felt nothing less than crowd-pleasing. Take that, you crabby jerk!

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This episode also brought about some surprising alliances. Devastated over the loss of most of her family, Lady Olenna traveled to Dorne where she hooked up with Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, only to be joined by none other than Varys! It seemed they were all now going to work together to take down the Lannisters, which, in Varys’s case is convenient in that he’s also working with Daenerys and Tyrion.

The episode’s stirring final shot showed Daenerys’s thousands of ships sailing alongside her three dragons on their way to take back the Seven Kingdoms. It was a chills-inducing moment — the sweet pay-off of years of anticipation — and though she won’t make landfall until next season I think it’s clear that Game of Thrones is gearing up for its bloody end run. Playtime is over.

So much more happened in “The Winds of Winter”! Please do check back here shortly for our full photo recap.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.