Game Of Thrones Season 7: 10 Ups And 3 Downs From 'Beyond The Wall'

2. Ice Versus Fire

We got an early look at Season 8 with this episode, which for the first time ever brought together the two most literal representations of ice and fire: the White Walkers and the dragons.

That is a huge deal, and thankfully the show handles it well. Once again the effects work on the dragons as they blast through the dead army is great, with visual splendour (and let's not overlook Dany's new outfit, because Michelle Clapton is killing it this year) up there with what we witnessed in The Spoils of War (and the fire cutting through the ice is a particularly great touch), and just as brilliant is how much chill (pun...unavoidable, really) the Night King has when faced with these beasts.

There were rumours even last year that a dragon would die beyond the Wall, but when so much gets 'leaked' it's often hard to know what's real and what isn't. This was very much real, but it didn't spoil the shocking impact of seeing a dragon hit by a, er, magical ice spear thing, and die.

The White Walkers have long been this far off threat, with only Jon and a handful of others knowing they're real. This step brings them much more into the fold, gives Daenerys a real reason to fight them, and shows us just how ridiculously powerful the Night King is. And it had to be Viserion who died, since he was named after such a horrible character.