Nothing, literally nothing, gave me more joy than watching Brienne of Tarth get knighted by Jaime Lannister. If anything perfectly encapsulates the series: the redemption found by its worst characters combined with the triumph found by its best, the hope of the future and the betrayal of the past, the importance of friends and honor in the face of death. The central role of women in the male-dominated world of Westeros (although with the current storyline, it occurred to me at this point there’s only one male character left with any real power: Jon Snow).

Sir Brienne of Tarth earned her knighthood, in the words of Tormund Giantsbane, “hundreds of times over,” and it is fitting that in this lowest moment of the show, where the hope of the characters is bleakest, she gets to see her duty, honor and dedication pay off. It is unfortunate, that like many women, she has to work ten times harder than any man to earn the same honor–and perhaps this was an intentional choice by the writers to highlight this common inequity–but now that she has earned it, I hope that she survives the coming storm in time to get it on with Tormund (because who isn’t rooting for that).

In all, I really appreciated the “calm before the storm” nature of this episode, that we got to see characters interact who hadn’t before, old enemies becoming friends, and of course (no spoilers) the big reveal that Dany had to face in the crypt.

I won’t speculate on who lives and who dies in the next episode, but I hope that no matter what, humanity survives. And given that there are at least 5 more episodes left in the season, that seems like a good bet to make.