Returning for Season 7 to gangbuster ratings, Game of Thrones is close to being the most popular show in the world; its newest installment has also received glowing reviews. But as elegant as the show and its storytelling can be, it’s not without its awkward moments—and one of them came roaring back in Season 7, Episode 2, “Stormborn,” which presented a brutal solution to what we’ll call the Dornish problem.

One of the more frustrating storylines (though not the most controversial) of Game of Thrones Season 5 was the Dorne plot. Despite the beautiful location—it was largely shot in the Alcázar of Seville— the elaborate costuming, and high-profile casting, scenes in Dorne fell flat for many show watchers—and downright irritated book readers, who expected more from the Sand Snakes, a.k.a. the daughters of the beloved Oberyn Martell.

Two of those snakes—Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Nymeria (Jessica Henwick)—violently bit the dust this week as Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) murdered them with their own signature weapons. This promises that our time in Dorne may almost be at an end, and represents the Thrones writing staff making the best of a bad hand they dealt themselves. It’s also the first time in a long while that the show has presented violence against women as part of a fight scene that’s more thrilling than overtly tragic.

Show-runners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have repeatedly insisted that none of the complaints about Season 5 influenced their scripts going forward. But according to actor Alexander Siddig, who played the late Dornish Prince Doran, the show-runners originally had much bigger plans for Dorne, and the actor was contracted for more episodes. Henwick, too, thought her role would be bigger eventually, and said in advance of the Season 5 finale: