Game of Thrones, S07E03:
“The Queen’s Justice”

The Season’s Strongest Episode Yet Flows Nicely, But Loses Some Points for Clunky Writing

 

Out of respect for the fact that there are too many fucking characters in this show, all of whom are to be found spread across every corner of Westeros, these reviews will be divvied up into sections. Each section will be titled after the main character(s) in each area, focussing solely on the developments therein.

 

Also, if you’re reading this and get upset at the spoilers within, I have a small but potent vial here that you should really consider sculling.

 

“The Queen’s Justice” has more meat on its bones and blood pumping through its heart than the last two episodes of GoT combined. Jon and Dany’s meeting isn’t explosive but certainly sends sparks flying, while Cersei takes centre stage both to antagonise and old enemy and finally learn an unexpected truth.

Rating: 8/11

 

Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion et al.  – Dragonstone

I will be the first to admit how impressed and pleasantly surprised I am that Dany and Jon are meeting this (relatively) early in the season. Tyrion and Jon reuniting on the shore at Dragonstone after six seasons is stirring enough, and something about the Northern bastard seems to have brought out the best in the surly dwarf. Still, the main event is that Khaleesi and the King in the North are finally in the same room together, and their scenes are quite something.

Throughout their initially heated exchange, it’s startling to see how unlikable each appears to the other. Of course we know Jon and Dany’s virtues, but it’s good to be reminded that – without the context of their entire journey up to this point – neither seems particularly fit to rule or join arms with. Jon’s insistence on their being a greater (absurd-sounding) threat than Cersei and refusal to bend the knee reads as stubbornness. What’s worse, at one point he refers to everyone involved as a child, belittling Dany and her plight.

On the other hand, Dany comes across as having an insanely over-inflated sense of herself and a weirdly tyrannical desire to rule. Yes, the speech she gives about everything she’s suffered to get here is true (and well-delivered by Clarke), but her conviction slips into a weirdly Cersei-like realm of desire for power above all else. I imagine it’s a tone that Tyrion and her other acolytes aren’t hugely fond of, and it’s telling that Jon’s retort comes in the form of Davos, gladly speaking up for his king while Dany is made to talk herself up.

These scenes were always going to be tricky, because it’s hard for the show to present a matchup that it’s been promising for years going so poorly. But the writers do a great job of not making it seem like this is an argument that needs to happen – though, of course, it is – but rather an organic dispute. They mostly forego the typical nattering about honour and tradition for a much more simple conflict: these two have no reason to trust one another and, after all they’ve been through, will not yield on their chief interests. Dany wants what is her birthright, the Iron Throne and to rule the people of Westeros; Jon wants to fight a devastating force to the North that few have seen and fewer believe in.

Of course, for the sake of the plot, Tyrion uses his diplomacy skills to convince Dany to allow Jon to mine the dragonglass beneath them, even though he still refuses to pledge allegiance to her. This is a great example of the show convincingly developing a conflict and – in the severely limited time it has left – finding a realistic way around it. There’s a benefit to each side here, which Tyrion lays out masterfully, and it gets us that much closer to seeing Jon and Dany fucking… I mean, working together. Yes.

 

Cersei, Euron & Ellaria – King’s Landing

So, don’t ask me how, but over the course of three episodes and a handful of scenes, Euron became one of the show’s best characters. Hate him if you must, but he injects a perverse vitality into every frame he occupies. He straddles the line perfectly between a believably coarse pirate king and the show’s new comic relief, without tipping too far into either camp. Alas, he appears for all of two minutes this episode, but I’m unreasonably excited to see what else he gets up to before someone inevitably kills him.

Anyway, Euron brings Cersei the gift he promised, the hostages Ellaria and the remaining Sand Snake… I wanna say… Tammy? Whatever, the point is that Cersei gets to revert back to sadistic killer mode which (and I’m not sorry) is actually a lot of fun to watch. Seriously, it’s hard not to revel in Cersei’s vengeance, for several reasons:

1. Ellaria has not been a good or interesting character in a long time, nor were any of the Sand Snakes.
2. Ellaria killing Myrcella Lannister was not only morally fucked up because she’s a child, it was a super dumb move on her part that lead directly to this moment.
3. Blaming Cersei for the death of Oberyn considering he entered the combat of his own free will and, honestly, kinda got himself killed is pretty weak.

So yeah, I fully get that there are two camps of people watching the show at this point, and I’m in the minority. These scenes don’t bolster my desire to see Cersei’s downfall, because I don’t hate her. Hell, I really do kinda like her, because I can see the version of this story where she’s the protagonist. Every horrible act she’s committed has been, on some level, mirrored by one of the “good” characters on the show which they see as justified. I can’t blame her for what she’s done, or even why she’s done it, because everything has been in the best interests of herself and her children, regardless of the fact that they’re all dead now. I know that she has to die, eventually, but goddamn would I be totally fine with her winning this whole thing.

 

Sansa, Bran & Littlefinger – Winterfell

Sansa has developed quite nicely into a competent ruler, as we might’ve expected. It’s interesting watching her adapt to this role, willing to admit the limits of her knowledge but fiercely capable of making adept choices in the face of the impending winter and enemies all around her. Still, Littlefinger keeps slithering around like a rapey snake and it’s getting past the stage of creepy to just downright boring.

Petyr Baelish is so beyond the pale at this point, with his breathy, gravel-Irish come-ons and pedo stash that nothing he does subsequently is going to make up for it, unless it’s a slow, painful death. No amount of cunning or tricks up his sleeves could possibly justify the level of overt creepiness he keeps displaying, and I hope Sansa realises this sooner rather than later.

Moving on, even though we fucking begged and pleaded that it would be Arya at the gate, it’s Bran who’s arrived at Winterfell. Fuckin’ Bran. Apparently, he’s taken a vow of virginal apathy, because his already limited ability to emote has now been reduced to Keanu Reeves-level. He says the words, “It’s difficult to explain” no less than 70 times, which means he really needs to work on his explaining skills. And, oh yeah, he gives Littlefinger a run for his money by reminding Sansa of her wedding night when Ramsay raped her for the first of a billion times.

Ugh. This was a weird week in Winterfell.

 

Sam & Jorah – The Citadel

The story of Sam growing into the grand maester he was born to be continues as the show’s most successful delay tactic. People can grumble about the relative placidity of his plots, but Sam has always been an endearing character, proving himself a wise and brave soul on many occasions. And, while his storyline last season wasn’t great, it at least contained legitimate forward progression and little repetition, which was in tragically short supply.

Now, we find him in the position to do little else but expand his knowledge of the world, sometimes putting it to use moving Jon’s story forward (as with the dragonglass discovery) or aiding other ancillary characters (curing Jorah of his greyscale). There’s nothing propulsively necessary to the plot happening here, but watching as Sam’s curiosity outgrows his cautiousness is the quaintest satisfaction currently offered by Game of Thrones.

This is especially true when his risks pay off, as is the case with the once-doomed Jorah Mormont. Despite the fact that ridding him of greyscale turned out to be stupidly fucking easy (just cut it off, who knew?!), we can overlook that because Sam and Jorah shaking hands is such a quietly moving moment. GoT is at its best when it reveals a benevolent cycle at play, one rotating slowly before our eyes that we never notice until the right time. What began with Jeor Mormont saving the life of a tubby kid at The Wall slowly comes around to this place and time, where Sam can save the life of Jeor’s son. Not essential to the plot, but a huge boost for its characters.

 

Olenna & Jaime – Highgarden

That final scene between Olenna and Jaime was truly masterful. Playing off the developed histories of these two characters whom – if I’m not mistaken – have never actually shared a proper scene together was a great choice to end the episode on. The acting, from both Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Diana Rigg, was perfectly measured, retaining the icy courtesy of two enemies after the battle has already been fought and won.

There’s a tension that built throughout this scene, as they discussed the horrors they have witnessed and committed, that grew to an almost unbearable level. As their conversation flitted back and forth, from almost playful banter to aggression, I was reminded of the episode “Fly” from Breaking Bad‘s third season. In one scene, a sedated and jabbering Walter White begins talking about Jessie’s dead girlfriend Jane. Unbeknownst to Jessie, Walt watched her die and did nothing, and throughout the scene Walt comes this close to telling him, before finally passing out.

I felt the same pit in my stomach as Olenna casually mentioned Joffre for the first time, the anticipation that she would suddenly throw caution to the wind and admit her part in killing him. Then the moment recedes for a little bit, before Jaime offers her the most tender of deaths in the form of a painless poison. She drinks it whole, turns to him, and confesses. It’s an astounding moment, from a show that has been running short on them for a few years now. “Tell Cersei for me”, she concludes, as a seething Jaime storms out of the room.

I’m happy to confess myself: I’m starting to get a little excited about the show again.

 

Quotes, Random Thoughts & Housemate Contributions

 

• Housemate Contribution #1 – [When asked if they would fuck Jon Snow even if he was their brother; before I could even finish the question] “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAASS!!!”

 

• “I have to die in this strange country… just like you.” Jesus, Varys, you need to stop talking to red priestesses. It never goes well!

 

• “I ask you not to judge a daughter by the sins of her father.” This scene was pretty great, but I fucking groaned out loud at this. Repeating word for word a line that Jon said back in the season premiere isn’t clever, it’s terminally shitty writing.

 

• Oh yeah, there was like ten seconds where Theon got rescued and he’s all “This is a story about PTSD”, and everyone was like “That doesn’t make it interesting, though.” Whatever, he’s been on my shitlist for a while. But hey, was that Brendan Cowell?

 

• Euron mocks Theon’s cowardice (“What a twat!”) and asks Jaime for sex advice with Cersei (“A finger in the bum?”). I’m not kidding, he might be my favourite character on TV right now.

 

• Housemate Contribution #2 – [When Cersei appears in the dungeon with pink lips] “What’s up with the lip gloss? They wouldn’t have had Maybelline back then, bitch!”

 

• So, the creators of Game of Thrones and actress Indira Varma claim this is the last we’ll ever see of Ellaria. God, if only that were so, but I’m gonna call bullshit. Remember when Kit Harrington insisted he wasn’t coming back to the show, and how convinced we all totally were? In the last two year the show has not, unfortunately, been quite as good as it used to be at surprising us with return characters or shocking twists. Mark my words: Ellaria will be rescued next season and have a big hand in bringing down Cersei. Hell, she might even be the one to kill her.

 

• Forgot to mention the scene where Cersei meets with the head of the Iron Band to discuss how much of a badarse she is. Not strictly necessary, but it still goes to show how much better she is at this than almost anyone else.

 

• Ok, everything that pissed me off about Dany’s repeated line of Jon’s goes tenfold for when Bran arrives. He and Sansa go and sit by one of the Old God trees and he says almost exactly what Littlefinger said about seeing everything happening at once from about five fucking seconds ago! That is some of the worst writing I have ever witnessed on a regularly good to great TV show.

 

• The battle at Casterly Rock continues the show’s trend this season off showing pretty half-arsed fight scenes. Luckily, it’s not as detrimental this time, as all of the real action takes place afterwards in Highgarden.

 

• “He really was a cunt, wasn’t he?” Olenna, giving Joffre’s eulogy.

 

• Though Tyrion was more fun this episode than he’s been in eons, him suddenly being such a shitty tactician is starting to feel super silly. This seriously needs to be addressed soon.