Game of Thrones
Episode 7.3 “The Queen’s Justice”
Directed by Mark Mylod
Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Starring Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen
HBO
Air date: July 30, 2017

WARNING: Spoilers for HBO’s Game Of Thrones….

Last week’s episode of Game Of Thrones saw Arya reunite, briefly, with her direwolf Nymeria while on her way back home to Winterfell; Jon Snow was heading to Dragonstone to join forces with Daenerys (!!!) while leaving Sansa in charge of the North in his absence; Samwell Tarly was attempting to cure Jorah Mormont of Greyscale, while his father Randyll Tarly was in King’s Landing with all the other Tyrell bannerman where Cersei and Jaime Lannister were trying to convince them to turn coat; and the show gave us what was possibly its most loving sex scene between a man and a woman, one of whom is a eunuch. It all ended insanely with crazy Uncle Euron Greyjoy attacking Yara and Theon’s fleet, which was carrying Ellaria Sand and her daughters, the Sand Snakes, back to Dorne to raise an army to fight Cersei. During the attack, not only were two Sand Snakes killed (Obara and Tyene), but Ellaria and Nymeria were taken captive, as was Yara. Theon, though, took the cowardly way out and jumped ship.

Episode 7.3, “The Queen’s Justice,” sees King in the North Jon Snow arrive with his entourage at Dragonstone. Daenerys’s people, led by her Hand Tyrion Lannister,” are there to greet them. Tyrion and Jon, who we know are fond of one other, shake hands and smile – they obviously have high hopes for this meeting. Tyrion even mentions his former wife Sansa Stark, sarcastically asking, “Does she miss me terribly?” (He also makes it a point to say that their sham marriage was never consummated.) He also says Sansa is smarter than she lets on. “She’s starting to let on,” Jon says. Jon confesses that his bannermen think he’s a fool for coming there, and Tyrion understands why – the Stark men don’t fare well when they travel South. “True,” Jon agrees, “but I’m not a Stark.” (But you are, Jon, you are!!!)

Oh look, dragons! It was quite amusing to see Jon and his gang hit the ground in disbelief as the dragons flew low overhead. “Come,” Tyrion leads, “their Mother is waiting for you.”

Before they get inside, we see the Red Priestess Melisandre watching their arrival from above. Varys finds her and asks why she isn’t there to greet Jon as well, considering it was she who spoke highly of him and told them to contact him for this meeting. She mentions how things didn’t end well between them the last time because of “terrible mistakes” she made (he then exiled her from the North). She says she did her part – she brought ice and fire together – and now she’s leaving for Volantis. He suggests she not return to Westeros because it’s not safe for her. She says she will return one last time – “I have to die in this strange country,” she tells him, “just like you.” He doesn’t like the sound of that! His calm, smug demeanor is shaken, knowing how the priestess can sometimes see the future.

Inside, Daenerys greets her guests in the throne room. She’s courteous, but expects Jon to bend the knee to her as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Here it is everyone, Ice and Fire together at last — little do they know they are Aunt and Nephew as well! Jon has no intention at this time of bending the knee – he doesn’t know her and his people made him King in the North and trust him to protect them. She doesn’t like this response, and proceeds to school Jon about their history – how his Stark ancestors swore fealty to the Targaryens in perpetuity. But he reminds her that her father, the Mad King, burned his grandfather and uncle alive. She does ask for his forgiveness for her father’s sins, but she still expects his loyalty. But that’s not why he’s there. He tries to stress to her that squabbling over who the true ruler is will mean nothing when the army of the dead led by the Night King arrives and kills them all. She, of course, finds all of this hard to believe (although, she rides around on dragons, so why is the belief in ice zombies so hard?). She goes on to tell Jon that she’s been through a lot, how she was almost killed countless times, was sold, raped, and defied, and so on; therefore, she’ll defeat whatever comes at her whenever it comes, but she doesn’t seem interested in changing her current strategy. Varys then arrives with an urgent message, so Daenerys cuts the meeting short. Before he’s escorted out, Jon asks, “Am I your prisoner?” “Not yet,” she replies.

Varys has come with the news of Euron Greyjoy’s attack on Yara’s fleet, leaving many killed or captured, including the Sands of Dorne, all of whom are allies of Daenerys.

Back near the attack site, one of Yara’s ships rescues Theon from the water. It’s clear to them that Theon was a coward in the battle, or else he wouldn’t have survived it. Theon confirms that Euron captured Yara.

In King’s Landing, Euron rides boastingly through the streets to the Red Keep with this captives in tow, as the people cheer for him. This guy is SO dangerous, yet he manages to keep the humor up with his mocking and smugness. The people cheer as he enters the throne room, where Cersei sits upon the Iron Throne. He pushes Ellaria and Tyene forward, presenting them as the “gift” he promised Cersei. He now expects Cersei to accept his marriage proposal – she says she will… once the war is won. Quick shot to Jaime’s “what? what?” face. Having won the favor of Cersei and the people isn’t enough for Euron; no, he has to go rub it all in Jaime’s face. He points out that Jaime wouldn’t know what it’s like to have the adoration of the people — his nickname is the disparaging “Kingslayer,” after all. But Jaime brushes this off, saying this same mob was spitting on his sister not long ago, so they’ll turn on Euron too if necessary. That’s when Euron really hits him: “Does she like it gentle or rough?” Euron asks Jaime, who looks in shock. “Finger in the bum?” he continues. But Jaime can’t do anything because they’re in front of the crowd. You know Jaime is going to kill this guy eventually. It’s happening.

Cersei has Ellaria and Tyene chained up in a cell. Ellaria killed her innocent daughter Myrcella, so now Cersei will have her vengeance, and you know what? I’m with Cersei on this one. Here, Cersei shows us the motherly, redeeming side of her, talking about how she nursed her daughter instead of succumbing to the pressure to have a wet nurse do it. We’re meant to see how much she truly loved her daughter, and this women killed her. In a moment of total vulnerability, Cersei tears up and asks why? But then she bounces back from it, going on to explain that now Ellaria will have to watch as her daughter Tyene dies in the very same way — a poisonous kiss of death, executed by Cersei. (Her Hand, the former Maester Qyborn, was able to figure out what killed Myrcella.) “You’ll be here the rest of your days,” Cersei tells Ellaria. “You will live to watch your daughter rot, all the while contemplating the choices you made.” While Ellaria does have this coming, I think Cersei does too, so there will definitely come a time where Cersei will be facing the consequences of the choices she made.

Jaime’s now back in his chambers talking off his prosthetic golden hand, but goes to put it back on when Cersei bursts in. She stops him, and starts kissing him. “No,” he says to her, but she keeps going, going so far as to go down on him. (Hmm… remember when she said “No” to him in the Sept, but he wouldn’t stop?) She’s obviously very turned on by her recent triumph of revenge, but did she use some extra-strength mouthwash before she went there? Because she just had POISON on her lips. Either we’re going to see some unintended dire consequences soon, or this was just plain stupid scripting.

In the morning we see Cersei and Jaime in bed together. He’s worried that people will see them together, but she’s like, “I’m the fucking Queen.” She goes to the door, where a startled servant announces that a visitor from Braavos has arrived.

And that visitor is… the Iron Bank, coming to call in the Lannister’s debt with them. But Cersei knows that the bank is just playing the game, betting on a winner of this multi-front war. She reminds him that the Lannisters always pay their debt, and soon, she will be able to repay the Iron Bank.

Back on Dragonstone, Tyrion meets up with Jon on a cliff and hilariously teases him about “brooding.” Oh Tyrion, you are so awesome. To Jon’s surprise, Tyrion does believe what he is saying – the Night King and the walkers are coming, but he points out that it’s not reasonable for Jon to want Daenerys, who doesn’t know him, to just go along with what he’s saying. BUT, she is a person who protects people from monsters, he says. So, he asks if Jon has any reasonable requests.

Flash to the war room, where Tyrion tells Daenerys that Jon is there for the Dragonglass. He advises Daenerys to give it, as it’s a meaningless property for her, but would be useful to Jon and make him more prone to be her ally. And they need more allies now that they’ve lost Dorne and the Greyjoys. It’s clear to him that Jon is telling the truth, since he came to Dragonstone against all advice from his council.

And now we get what we want: Daenerys and Jon meeting for the first time alone. As they watch her dragons fly, she tells Jon how she named them for her deceased brothers, pointing out that he has deceased brothers, too. “We all enjoy what we’re good at,” she tells him (referring to why Tyrion talks a lot), to which he replies, “I don’t.” She tells him that she will grant his request for the Dragonglass and will even provide him with the resources his men need to mine it. When he asks if this means she believes him, she tells him he’d better get to work. Ok, so, NOT the interaction we were all hoping for – it was a little too cold instead of the instant chemistry we all craved.

In Winterfell, Sansa demonstrates that she is a natural leader. Littlefinger is once again trying to whisper in her ear, but she shoots him down expertly once again. Just then, Sansa is summoned to the Gate — her brother Bran has returned! She’s elated to see him, but he is stoic now, no longer the little boy she once knew. They go alone to the God’s wood to talk. She says as the last Stark male, he is now the Lord of Winterfell, but he says he can’t be because he’s now the Three-Eyed Raven. She doesn’t udnerstand what this means, and he doesn’t know how to explain it, which makes for a dull exchange. He basically knows everything, but it’s all jumbled – he’s gonna have to work on that. He mentions that he really needs to speak to Jon – undoubtedly to tell him about his true parentage! For some reason, he recounts some of the moments from Sansa’s wedding to Ramsay, which we all know ended horribly. What the hell, Bran! If you wanted to show her that you KNOW EVERYTHING, couldn’t you have picked a memory that wasn’t horrendous? Wow, way to come home.

Over at the Citadel, the Archmaester confirms that Jorah Mormount is cured of Greyscale. Jorah doesn’t give up Sam, but the Archmaester knows the deal. Jorah later thanks Sam for saving him, and reveals that he plans to go back to Daenerys. Later, Sam expects a reprimanding from the Archmaester, but instead receives praise… and a light punishment, for his actions. It’s clear the Archmaester now sees what Sam is capable of.

Back at Dragonstone, Daenerys tells her council she plans to ride her dragons to find Euron, but they think that’s too dangerous. She wonders what the Unsullied will face at Casterly Rock now that Yara and Ellaria’s armies didn’t make it there. Tyrion narrates what he thinks is happening as we see it unfold on the screen. We see the Unsullied use Tyrion’s foolproof Lord Of The Rings vulnerable sewer grate tactics to secretly enter the keep and fight to victory. The thing is, they realize that the army they are facing is a helluva lot smaller than they were told. Where’s the rest of it? Oh, and in the harbor, their ships are burning, courtesy of Euron Greyjoy, so there goes the victory.

And where’s the rest of the Lannister army? It’s laying siege to the Tyrells at Highgarden, decimating another one of Daenerys’s allies and securing all the gold that Cersei promised to pay back to the Iron Bank. Jaime leads the charge, going himself to see Lady Olenna Tyrell, who asks how the Kingslayer will kill her. While Cersei had some wicked plans to end Olenna, Jaime convinced her to let him kill her with a painless poison. Here we once again see Jaime’s humane side. Olenna warns him that Cersei is a monster and that she will be the end of him. Before she dies, Olenna makes sure to tell him that she was the one behind Joffrey’s poisoning, and that she wants Cersei to know this.

Wow, Game of Thrones is just wiping out EVERYONE! I really think that the series finale is going to see everyone dead and the Night King victorious at this rate.

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