SPOILERS for last night’s episode of Game of Thrones, “Hardhome.”

There’s a problem with ending a GoT episode with twenty full minutes of insane, life-or-death drama, with packing so much horror/fantasy at such high costs into what was already a good episode full of worthy, dramatic moments: the viewer sort of forgets about everything else besides the high-drama. Even though what’s happening in Meereen is a worthy storyline, and even though we’re finally getting a major payoff on years of Cersei’s bitchery, it all seems mundane and unimportant after the events at Hardhome. So, here are some highlights.

Arya’s Training Continues. While everything in Westeros and Meereen seems to be moving very quickly, it seems like Arya’s story is moving at a glacial pace. It’s good to see her out of The House of Black & White and out in the Braavos world. She adopted the persona of Lana, an oyster lady. Jaqen H’ghar is going to get her to kill a gambling mafia type with poisoned oysters, I’m assuming. While I enjoyed this story, they need to speed it up!

Sansa & Reek. I liked that Sansa was waiting for Reek and that she seemed prepared to interrogate him. She got a new piece of information: her brothers Bran and Rickon are still alive (but where?!). Reek also told her that Ramsey had basically cut “pieces” off of him and Sansa was all, “Yep, you totally deserved that.” I like that she didn’t try to kill Reek with whatever weapon she stole from Ramsey. No, she should save that weapon for Ramsey.

Ramsey Wants to Fight Stannis. Ramsey and Roose are talking about their plans for the war with Stannis and Roose is all, “Stannis will never breach Winterfell, let’s just wait him out.” And Ramsey is all “Let’s be proactive!” So Ramsey wants 20 good men to go on what I’m assuming would be a guerrilla-style attack on Stannis and his troops.

Cersei in the jail cell. It kills me a little that she’s still so regal even after being in that jail cell for weeks (?). King Tommen isn’t taking his mother’s and his wife’s arrests too well – he’s not eating and he’s refusing to see visitors. Cersei’s uncle is coming back to King’s Landing to be The Hand of the King, and Uncle Kevin HATES Cersei. Cersei keeps getting whacked in the face with a spoon too. It was an emotional payoff, but I ended up feeling sorry for Cersei a little bit. Terrible, I know.

Jorah, Dany & Tyrion. Jorah & Tyrion standing before Queen Dany was a great scene, made better by Peter Dinklage’s superb acting all-around. Tyrion basically told Dany to spare Jorah’s life because even though Jorah didn’t follow Dany’s command, Jorah is loyal and he loves her and thus deserves to live. It was a moving scene made better by Iain Glenn’s dignified emotion. After that, Tyrion finally gets some wine (he’s been detoxing for weeks!!) and he and Dany make plans for the future. She quickly realizes his value as an advisor and Tyrion is… Tyrion. He’s at his best when he can talk to people, persuade people and find a way to tell people the truth (even if they don’t want to hear it). I feel like that scene was a preview of Varys coming back into the picture, right? Basically, I wouldn’t mind if they did an entire episode of Dany and Tyrion getting drunk together.

Hardhome. I really don’t have a lot to say about this other than the special effects were crazy, the action was insane and everything else in the GoT world just seems like fluff compared to what is happening and what will happen with the White Walkers. Kit Harington told EW that it took about a month to film 20 minutes of Hardhome and you could really tell that HBO spent some real money on those scenes. I’ve never really cared that much about Tormund (the big, ginger wildling), but he was great in this episode, as was Karsi (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen).

The Night’s King. The Night’s King is apparently the freak White Walker at the end, dressed in a fancy uniform, and able to raise the newly dead into silent zombies with a wave of his hand. Vanity Fair did an interesting breakdown of who the guy is and who he was. As in, he might be a former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Damn, bro. One question though: do the White Walkers not like water? Can they not swim? Because it seems like it would have been pretty easy for them to get to Jon Snow’s little boat.

On next week’s episode… Jamie in Dorne, Dany watching the fights and Jon Snow returns to the Wall with the Wildlings.

Photos courtesy of HBO/Game of Thrones.