Game of Thrones S07E03 Review: A War on Many Fronts

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 3: The Queen's Justice

I keep having to remember that season seven of Game of Thrones only has half of the episodes that they had in the last six seasons, and that makes me sad. It almost makes me wonder what the show could've been if this opening volley in season seven had been given one or two extra episodes to breathe. Because, jeez, as much as the war stuff is important, the character-building stuff -- not just the long-anticipated Jon/Daenerys meeting but also everything surrounding Cersei, Jaime, Sansa, Bran, Olenna etc -- are also important. Honestly, like, adding an extra episode or two -- it doesn't have to be much -- for pacing's sake would've done the season a lot of good.

That said, though, the episode itself is a treat to watch, in no small part due to the fact that there's so many payoffs in the episode. It begins with the Jon/Daenerys meeting, of course, and the bulk of the episode is centered around that. And it seems that in trying to put Daenerys on the backfoot so she would have no choice but to ally herself with Jon, the rapid pacing and dismantling of two and a half of the forces that comprise Daenerys's allies is in service for that. Which I don't mind, I just really, really wish there was a fair bit more buildup compared to what we got. 

Skipping away from the Jon/Dany stuff which I'll cover at the end of the review, the slew of action scenes that cap off the episode quickly show how the power plays moved around, which is pretty amazing. Jaime compares it to a similar gambit to how he was ambushed by the original King in the North, Robb Stark, like six seasons ago, except on a far larger scale. Cersei is apparently not as inept in tactics as we're led to believe, though Jaime is definitely a factor that helps her out in that regard. We get this absolutely badass scene of Tyrion talking about how his former role as the man assigned by Tywin to build the sewers of Casterly Rock meant that he was able to make a whore-delivery system that allowed Grey Worm's forces to infiltrate the impregnable keep, let an army of Unsullied in, and take over the seat of power of the Lannisters.

And then we get the revelation that Jaime left a mere skeleton crew to guard Casterly Rock, allowing Grey Worm's Unsullied to enter the keep and leave their ships to be burned by Euron's Iron Fleet. Meanwhile, Jaime (and Bronn!) leads the actual Lannister army to besiege the Tyrells' castle and take over (mostly offscreen), essentially removing them from the equation. It's some clever back-and-forth plays. I'm not sure if Dorne's actually removed from the conflict, but the head of the snake has certainly been cut off by Euron. Yara's Ironborn and Olena's Tyrells have certainly fallen, which is pretty amazing considering how when last season ended I was absolutely convinced that it was going to be a cakewalk for Team Daenerys. Although I guess if there's a man on Westeros who can outwit and guess what Tyrion is planning, it's probably Jaime Lannister. 

It's a week of victories for Cersei. In addition to military ones, Cersei gets a gift from Euron, who drags Yara, Ellaria and Tyene through the streets of King's Landing where they are humiliated in the traditional King's Landing way (i.e. spit and thrown vegetables -- they have a lot of that, apparently?). I don't think we get to see what happened to Yara after that, though I imagine Cersei let Euron keep her. Cersei's monologue to Ellaria in the dungeon is amazing stuff for the actress, Lena Headey, where she alternates between her haughty devil-may-care queen persona and briefly breaks down about how Myrcella was taken away brutally from her and while she understands the why, Ellaria still killed Myrcella and Cersei will not let that go unpunished.

There was a cool bit where Cersei monologues through a list of 'poetic' ways that she could have Ellaria and Tyene killed, including a repeat of the 'Mountain smooshes head' death, and the constant threat of the Mountain doing something graphic, which was delightfully portrayed by the actors involved... but instead opts for a literal poetic justice, because Qyburn has replicated the same type of poison Ellaria used to kill Myrcela. Cersei leaves Ellaria and her favourite daughter chained in a dungeon far enough that even stretching themselves from the walls they were not able to touch each other, while Ellaria is forced to watch (Cersei makes a point to leave orders to change the torches) her daughter die and rot. It's probably going to be the end for Ellaria as well, which, while abrupt, is also kind of okay because honestly I never really gave much of a shit about the Dornish side of the plot which was woefully under-developed in the show. 

Meanwhile, Olenna's death I actually cared a lot about because the old woman is easily one of the coolest characters in the show, this fearless old lady who's a master at politics. Her death is one that's honestly pretty obvious if we're betting, I just thought she would be allowed to do more stuff before it. We did get a pretty cool exit scene about Olenna, reflecting briefly about her life and facing Jaime unflinchingly. Even near death, she remains unfazed about everything, and still acts as that cool grandma even to Jaime. She's accepting of her death, that she's lost, and has a fun bit of conversation with Jaime about the qualities of the poison she took... before as one last act of spite, recalls how horribly Joffrey died and finally revealing her hand as the mastermind that murdered the "little cunt", as the Queen of Thorns puts it so delicately. Jaime might be the one of the only sane person in the show at this point, but while he's done a fair bit of good in his time, the show's probably still going to punish him for all the dickery he did in the first season and the timeline before it. It's also a magnificent, low-key exit for Olenna (even if, again, I'd like to see her in the show more), still not taking shit from any person in Westeros, and accepting her painless death with dignity while twisting the knife into Cersei's heart even more.

I really, really wished that the Highgarden-vs-Lannister bit was shown in somewhat greater detail, in no small part because I've always been under the impression that the Highgarden forces aren't such pushovers. But I guess Jaime just managed to scrounge up enough troops from the Casterly Rock troops and Randyll Tarly's forces? I guess?

Before her death Olenna also makes a very astute observation about Jaime. As horrible of a bitch Cersei is, Jaime is so hopelessly in love with his sister that he will do all the terrible shit that Cersei asks him to do out of love. Olenna did leave behind the wise words of wisdom about how Cersei's going to drag everything down with her, how Cersei's much much worse than even a long-term manipulator like Olenna, and as much as Jaime tries to justify it to himself with words about how the people won't care as long as they have peace, the seed of doubt, if they were not there already, were planted. We did get an offscreen sex scene between Cersei and Jaime, and Cersei's just lapping up the whole Queen of the Seven Kingdoms bit, not caring if random aides see the incestuous relationship in bet.

We also have a brief talk between Cersei and a representative from the Iron Bank, something I legitimately forgot was a plot point. With all the dragons and wights and wildfire and giants and whatnot, the fucking Iron Bank has kind of been the last of my worries. The conversation was succinct and okay, and basically Cersei won herself another ally, by the simple fact of convincing them that Cersei will deal with them like business partners, something that Daenerys Targaryen will sure as hell not do. 

Euron doesn't get a lot to do this episode, though he did get his gift postponed by Cersei to something that'll happen after the war. Whether Euron will be strung along with this (because Cersei immediately fucks Jaime afterwards, showing where her heart lies) or if it'll be the card someone plays to get Euron to turn against Cersei I'm not sure, but what I'm sure is that Euron taunting Jaime and asking him about just how Cersei likes it in bed is hilarious as all get-out. 

Let's talk about the Winterfell and Oldtown scenes pretty quickly. In Oldtown, the Arch-Maester has given Jorah a clean bill of health, and quickly realizes that Sam did the procedure. Sam doesn't get expelled from the Citadel, contrary to how I thought it would play out, because he at least did the procedure perfectly and saved someone's life. I'm not really invested at all in the Oldtown stories, although I guess Jorah can now show up in Dragonstone and hang out with the main characters? Jorah's storyline has always been relatively weird and while it's a bit too abrupt for my tastes, at least we don't have to see him deal with fake-leprosy for too long. 

In the North, Sansa is taken to ruling relatively well, giving orders and being obeyed. Littlefinger is still trying to get inside those furs, although he's significantly less creepy this time around, actually giving Sansa some advice -- see everyone as both enemies and friends at the same time, and you'll never be disappointed. Sansa's biggest problem this time around isn't just the Lannister invasion or the Army of the Dead, but also the potential of starvation, especially if the civilians of the North start showing up in their castle. 

Oh, and finally, Sansa and Bran get reunited. It's a pretty amazingly crafted scene, and while probably wouldn't be as tearworks-inducing as the inevitable Sansa/Arya reunion, the way Sansa just breaks down when she hugs Bran is a bit of amazing acting. It quickly goes south pretty quickly, though, as Bran, or the new Three-Eyed Raven, speaks almost exclusively in weird cryptic statements (as much as Sansa tries to get Bran to tell his story, the man's being super-obtuse) or a creepy recalling of the night Sansa was raped. Dick move, Bran. Dick move. Not particularly sure what Sansa took away from the conversation with Bran beyond 'god, my brother turned so weirdly creepy', but hey, there you go. 

Oh, and Theon gets pulled onto one of the surviving Yara-allied ships and gets disapproving looks for abandoning Yara to Euron's clutch, which is exactly how the internet reacted when he GTFO'd out of the boat last episode. 

We also get a brief conversation between Varys and Melisandre on the hilltop, where Melisandre makes a swift exit from the plot, at least until it's time for her death -- something she blatantly acknowledges. She also drops hints that Varys is going to die in Westeros before all of this is over, and that's fair -- Varys and Littlefinger are characters I don't expect to survive the end of the series anyway. It's all cool cryptic stuff, for sure. 

I think that is everything other than the big Jon/Dany/Tyrion/Davos conversation, and we'll tackle that behemoth. Clearly, with the clearing of the board of the more outlying factions, the show's speeding things forwards so the only forces that are going to clash with each other -- Jon/Sansa's forces, Daenerys's forces and Cersei's forces -- are ones we're super invested in. Which I definitely can respect.

The conversation between Jon Snow, King in the North, and Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons and way too many titles for me to count, is amazingly done. Both characters are reserved enough as to not make it too epic, but I do like how the two aren't just friends immediately. Daenerys doesn't buy into the whole White Walker stuff immediately but keeps an open mind. Jon isn't unfriendly and is willing to cooperate, but has too much pride to immediately kowtow and lick Daenerys's boots right then and there. The two's interactions are pretty interesting, and while many people like to criticize Emilia Clarke and Kit Harrington for brooding their way through most of their scenes, this was one episode where they clearly did not disappoint. 

The differences between the two is highlighted very well without making it too obvious, too. They've both been through some shit, and Daenerys Targeryen is a queen who fought for her birthright, through crapton of assassins, manipulators, dismissal over his crazy father, and general shit the world threw in her way, and she is extremely assertive and makes it clear in her first words that she is the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and no one is going to say otherwise. (Also, I'm pretty sure she told Drogon to fly and scare the pants off Jon and Davos as a show of strength.) However, this episode also highlights Daenerys's flaws, namely that while she's not a psychotic ruler like Cersei or Joffrey, she's relatively uncompromising and is far more concerned that Jon refuses to kneel and accept the Warden of the North position.

Meanwhile, Jon Snow's as honest and earnest as before, but while he's proud enough not to bend the knee, he makes it known several times that he didn't ask to be King in the North, and was a bastard with no rights who had so much responsibility shoved into his lap. Hell, even the episode itself does some pretty neat differences on how it decides to shoot Daenerys scenes compared to how Jon's scenes in that room are shot. Jon's confident and all, but he doesn't look too kingly and looks like an equal to Davos, whereas Daenerys just has this amazing aura of regality and takes up the screen whether she's sitting on the Dragonstone throne or not that there's no mistake who's the boss in the castle. It stood to Davos Seaworth to step up and actually introduce Jon Snow as the Lord Commander and King in the North that he is, and one that's faced down myths and nightmares and survived. Jon is way, way too insistent that they drop everything and just go North and fight the undead, which... yeah, there's no way that's going to work.

Were there ways that they could've gotten around this? Should Daenerys and Jon be more polite to each other (Jon in particular knew Aemon Targaryen, right? No reason to immediately insult Dany's family. Likewise, it felt odd that Daenerys, considering what she's been through, would be so intent on having Jon bend the knee) but I buy that both characters were trying to act regal and throw their proverbial political weight around that I can let it slide. 

Thankfully, Tyrion is around, and the man's just amazing, yeah? I mean, neither Jon nor Dany could be faulted for behaving the way they did, but between Tyrion's happy exchange of 'bastard!' 'dwarf!' with Jon and how he tries to broker a deal between Daenerys and Jon -- basically giving Jon the dragonglass, a strange act that is so out there that makes Daenerys start to believe in all the whole undead white walker army stuff. I mean, jeez, Daenerys, in addition to your three dragons, didn't you already see weird magic necromancer stuff in season two or three? Our two main characters, Jon and Daenerys, are cooperating, and while they're different types of rulers -- one that fought all her life to rule, and one who didn't want to rule but is forced to -- their scenes are a delight not only because this is a culmination of so much foreshadowing, but also because they offer us a look at Jon and Dany as proper characters and not pieces on the board. (Oh, and they kept the shipping at a bare minimum -- the two clearly respect each other, but not in the sexual tension way, which is something I appreciate so much) And in that regard, yeah, the episode worked amazingly well.