7.3 The Queen’s Justice This is quite literally the endgame for all the warring parties on Game Of Thrones. It was said several seasons ago that when you play the game, you win or you die, and those words are proving to be prophetic. Daenerys might have had her fleet shattered, but she’s still got formidable ground forces, which are moving to take Casterly Rock from the Lannisters. The Lannister army isn’t going to wait around to engage the Unsullied; they’re going to get a little more revenge for Cersei and bring another house to heel. Euron has captured the surviving Sand Snakes, and he’s going to deliver them to the queen. Jon Snow is trying to make an alliance with the Mother of Dragons and Sansa is trying to make sure there’s enough food to get the Northern army through the long winter to come. Lots of stuff happens this week, and the episode sprints by at a blur at some points. Even conversations, like the one in the throne room between Daenerys and her counsel and Jon and Davos, seem to move pretty quickly. The exchanges crackle, with Jon refusing to bow to Daenerys while Tyrion and Davos try to keep things from becoming too confrontational. Jon and Daenerys are both strong-willed; she claims the Seven Kingdoms by birthright, Jon claims the North by election of his people. Both have sacrificed and worked hard to make the lives of others better, and both lay out their many impossible accomplishments to bolster their bona fides. Dany has brought the Dothraki to Westeros and raised a clutch of dragons while conquering Slaver’s Bay. Jon united the lords of the North to his side, he’s united the Night’s Watch and the Wildlings, and he’s come back from the dead (Davos lets that slip out despite Jon’s glare). The episode was built around such character contrasts. Varys and Melisandre, Cersei and Euron (Pilou Asbaek is having a blast as the ultimate troll and glory-hog), and Jaime and Olenna Tyrell. The Queen of Thorns made a crucial mistake throwing her support behind Cersei; Cersei might not be as smart, but she’s cruel, and cruelty goes far in this world. Cersei’s kiss on Tyene Sand is a great mirror of Ellaria’s kiss of Myrcella, except with one major improvement. Ellaria knows exactly what’s happening—perhaps before the viewer—and Indira Varma’s panicking, pained expression sells Cersei’s revenge. Is Cersei the bad guy in this situation, or is she the good guy getting revenge for her innocent daughter’s poisoning? It’s deliberately murky. The goal is to make the viewer as conflicted about Cersei as Jaime is. Sure, he loves her, but he’s aware that she’s evil, and that her evil might bring down the whole of Westeros. Olenna makes sure that he doesn’t forget that, while still managing to get in the last word (after ensuring a painless death for herself). Joffrey was a monster, but he was Jaime’s son. Cersei is a monster, but she’s Jaime’s love and the mother of his children. Jaime is also a monster (thanks to paralyzing a kid and quasi-raping his sister) but he’s been a friend of Brienne and Bronn, and he’s becoming a skilled general. Jaime allowed Casterly Rock to be captured as a distraction, akin to how Robb Stark split the Lannister forces once upon a time. Even the locations seem more beautiful this week, with both the Rock and Highgarden being shown in a new light. Jaime knows what Dany doesn’t; Casterly Rock might be beautiful and it might have some meaning to the Lannisters, but it is useless in this multi-front war. Dany gets another piece of territory, but it’s the other side of the world from where she is and it’s not left in useful condition for the Unsullied. Piece by piece, she’s losing her weapons. Taking King’s Landing by force isn’t as easy as it might have when she first arrived, assuming she could even get to King’s Landing now that Euron has destroyed her fleets and claimed the seas. The Lannisters have taken Dorne and Highgarden out of the fight, leaving Dany with mostly Dothraki as her support. Leading an army of Dothraki against King’s Landing would be a death sentence. However, Daenerys Targaryen has the one thing that no one else in Westeros has, and that’s air superiority. It might be time for the Mother of Dragons to live up to her name. Even though it’s a terrible idea, she wouldn’t be Daenerys Targaryen if she listened to reason or did what was easy at the cost of what is right. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Stormborn, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan is very sorry he called the Night King the Winter King last week. It’s been awhile, okay? He could have used another exposition dump to catch up. Find more by Ron daily at PopFi.
