MAJOR SPOILERS for last night’s episode of Game of Thrones.

Last night’s penultimate season episode was “The Dance of Dragons.” It was a reference to a book of history being read by Princess Shireen of House Baratheon, but it was also a reference to the actual dragon at the end of the show. Last week, I asked if the White Walker attack on the Wildlings’ basecamp at Hardhome was a mic-drop moment, so now I have to ask: are Dany’s dragons another mic-drop moment just waiting to happen? Look at what Drogon can do just by himself. Imagine three dragons, working in tandem, with their mother. Incidentally, George RR Martin wrote a reference piece last week, justifying his (and the show’s) use of violence against women – go here to read. Here are some highlights and moments from the show:

Jon Snow’s Sadface Opens the gate at The Wall. I thought Ser Aliser was going to go rogue and deny entry to the Wildlings and Jon Snow, but after waiting a moment, the gate was opened and the Wildlings were allowed to pass through to the other side of the Wall. Ser Aliser is playing the long game, which is smart – no one looks happy with Jon Snow and Ser Aliser probably believes that Jon Snow isn’t going to be long for this world anyway.

Ser Davos says goodbye to Princess Shireen. Stannis orders Davos to return to Castle Black to request more food and horses after Ramsey Bolton and his men launch a highly successful guerrilla attack on Stannis’s camp. Davos knows he’s being sent away for a reason, but I’m not sure Davos even realizes the extent of Stannis’s depravity. So we got a lovely moment with Davos giving Shireen a carved wooden sculpture of a stag (the animal representing House Baratheon). The scene was so sweet and gentle, you knew something terrible was going to happen.

Stannis loses what’s left of his humanity. I’ve always been a Stannis apologist. No more. A few episodes back, Melisandre told him the power of king’s blood and that pretty please, she’d really like to sacrifice Stannis’s daughter Shireen to the Red God. Back then, Stannis was all NOPE. But as he sees that there is no way to launch a successful attack on Winterfell, he decides to do it. And it’s awful. Shireen carrying her little wooden stag as she’s being lead to the stake is one of the most horrifying images ever shown on GoT. Her cries for her father as she’s being burned alive? Ugh. I hate Melisandre now too. And at long last, Selyse finally wakes up and realizes that her only child is being sacrificed and her soul dies along with her daughter. On a superficial note, kudos to the GoT makeup people for what they did to Stephen Dillane in those scenes. He looked like death too.

Meanwhile in Dorne. It feels like this Dornish plot is really going nowhere, right? There’s no drama, mostly because King Doran Martell is an utterly reasonable man and a seasoned diplomat who hates war. King Doran should be king of the Seven Kingdoms, that’s what I come away with. He’s willing to forgive the family that killed his beloved brother in order to avoid war. Doran brings Jamie Lannister into a lovely living room with Myrcella, Prince Tristane and Ellaria. Doran gives his orders, which are perfectly reasonable: Myrcella will return to King’s Landing AND she will marry Tristane and Tristane will be given a spot on the small council. Bronn is freed (and punched in the face as punishment for punching Tristane in the face). Then Doran orders Ellaria to stop trying to instigate a war and she submits in front of the Sand Snakes.

A Girl Is Still Arya Stark. She will never really be A Girl. She will always be Arya Stark with an ax to grind. Jaqen H’ghar has ordered her to poison that old dude but the she sees Ser Meryn Trant arrive in Braavos with Lord Mace Tyrell (a good-natured moron). Ser Meryn is on Arya’s death list so she decides to stalk him instead of fulfilling Jaqen’s assignment. She follows Ser Meryn to a brothel where she finds him ordering up very young girls. I honestly thought that scene was going to end a lot differently, but Arya got out of there and then she flat-out lied to Jaqen. A Girl better watch her ass.

Game of Thrones goes full Neverending Story. Everything was building up to the Meereen story. Dany starts the games with one clap and she and her fiancé Hizdahr – who I truly do not trust – are bickering. Tyrion interjects here and there. Then Ser Jorah appears in the fighting pit and even Daario is surprised to see him. Blah, fighting, Jorah wins and he looks up to Dany and throws a spear towards her. But not AT her – at one of the Sons of the Harpy sneaking up behind her. Daario turns around and sees that the Sons of the Harpy have assembled behind the royal box and they multitude in the hundreds, at least. Ser Jorah helps and Daario screams “Protect your queen!” Hizdahr dies at some point, but that doesn’t negate the theory that he was part of the Sons of the Harpy terrorism. And Tyrion saves Missandei (does Grey Worm have some competition?!). Dany, Daario, Tyrion, Jorah and Missandei are surrounded in the pit and all is lost… until Drogon comes and fire-blasts everyone hurting his mom. The Sons of the Harpy are trying to spear Drogon and he seems to be waiting for Dany to figure something out. Finally, she climbs on top of him and flies away (which is the ending of Neverending Story).

Next week, Brienne hopefully gets into gear, Winter is taking a break and no one knows where Dany is.

Photos courtesy of HBO/Game of Thrones.