Preoccupied with the ending over the journey to get there, the writing often fell apart in the seventh season of Game of Thrones. Though it was filled with fan service and the reveal of a number of popular theories, the penultimate season of Game of Thrones moved too fast and carelessly between the big battles and twists. But the most egregious plot disaster was the latter half of the season, which saw Jon Snow and a small team go north of The Wall to capture a wight as proof for Cersei and crew back at King's Landing. This was a very bad idea!

There's absolutely no way seeing a wight would convince Cersei to just give up her bloody war to become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Tyrion knows his sister better than anyone else. He knows she's stubborn. He knows she just committed mass murder and blew up half the nobles in King's Landing. He knows she's ruthless. Based on all of that information, why would it seem worth it to go on this idiotic and dangerous mission to capture a wight behind enemy lines? It wasn't! It got a dragon killed and turned into a White Walker (flyer?) And in the end, Cersei still wasn't convinced. Though she told Daenerys and Jon that she'd work with them, Cersei plans on betraying them as soon as she can. The whole meeting at the Dragonpit, the dead dragon, Dany swooping in to save the day—all of it was for absolutely nothing.

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However, there is a way that this entire plot could have been less bad. As Media Muse points out, it could have all made sense if it had been Cersei's idea. Pretend that Jaime and Bronn get captured after the attack at the loot train. Tyrion negotiates to keep Jaime as prisoner and use him as a bargaining tool with Cersei. They then go meet with Cersei who tells them she'll negotiate a truce but only if they can bring her proof of the wight's existence. With no other choice, Jon and his team head north to get a wight for Cersei. Just by making the mission Cersei's idea, it kind of justifies the really stupid decision to do it at all. There's also more that could have been done to fix the entire narrative. Dany could have agreed to transport them as far as Eastwatch on her dragons and waited there for Jon and his team to capture a wight. That would have put her closer to the action to swoop in and save the day and gotten rid of at least part of the deus ex machina inception that was Episode Six. Oh well.

From: Esquire US