Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 3 "The Queen's Justice" Review

Man, I haven’t felt this giddy since the new episodes of Breaking Bad aired back in 2013 for those last 8 episodes. Breaking Bad reigns as my favorite show for reasons I can talk about for hours, but man is Game of Thrones creeping up. Three episodes into this 7 episode season, and they are bringing it with everything they’ve GoT.

Game of Thrones has often times been a show where they clearly dragged some scenes along or saved the juicy moments for the latter end of the season. Last week they set up the meeting between Jon and Daenerys, and I assumed we wouldn’t actually see it until at least half way through the episode, if we were lucky. WRONG. Opening scene is Jon walking onto the beaches of Dragonstone, where Tyrion, Missandei, and a couple of Dothraki welcome them. The reunion of Jon and Tyrion was lighthearted and just what I expected it to be, as they had some banter in their few scenes together early in the show. The walk up to the throne room was beautiful to look at, and the look on the Davos and Jon’s faces when Drogon swooped over their heads was priceless, to say the least.

And then we get one of the moments we’ve waited years for. Jon and Daenerys in the same room. Most of the scene was just a staring contest, sizing each other up, seeing who would bend. Neither really did, and I was impressed with how strong Daenerys stood her ground and asserted herself over Jon. But I also like how Jon sees the bigger picture and isn’t interested in squabbling with anyone, even Daenerys. I wish Melisandre would have at least mentioned the white walkers and the Night King to Daenerys so she wouldn’t have been blind-sided by Jon when he dropped the info. She took to it as I thought she would and I couldn’t think of a better person than Tyrion to be at her side, to guide her when things get tricky like this.

Varys and Melisandre have an interesting chat on a cliffside as Jon and company make the climb to the throne room. They both reveal some information, but the interesting part comes when Varys threatens her not to return to Westeros, where she replies “Oh, I will return dear spider, one last time. I have to die in this strange country, just like you.” Who knows if this is just her way of having fun by messing with people, or if this is a foreshadowing of his death.

On a side note, no Arya scene this episode, and that makes me sad.

Reek gets saved by some friendly Iron Islanders, who piece together that the only way he survived was by being a coward and not fighting. Man, if they don’t have Reek do some critical shit soon, I don’t see why they’d even keep him alive. My money is on him saving Yara and either he or Jaime getting to kill Euron.

Speaking of that psychopath, man is Euron fun to watch on screen. He is the epitome of a douchebag, yet I love seeing him on screen. He drags the Sandsnakes and Yara through King’s Landing, similar to when we saw Cersei do her walk of shame. They’re being humiliated and having food thrown at them, which I’ve never understood because I was under the impression that those people were starving. But anyway, they’re dragged into the throne room, where the Sandsnakes are presented to Cersei as a gift. (Which I called last week!!) She happily accepts and even promises Euron her hand in marriage, but only after the war is won. Also, I’m still loving all the really messed up things Euron whispers to Jaime, and Jaime’s facial reactions are hilarious every time.

The darkest part of the episode was of course at the hands of Cersei. She has Ellaria and her daughter Tyene chained up in a dungeon where she gives a long speech about her innocent daughter’s murder, by Ellaria’s hand. (Or kiss) I noticed Cersei’s lips were strangely pink, but I was so enthralled by her calmly vicious monologue that I didn’t connect the dots right away. And the scene ends with Cersei kissing Tyene with the same exact poison that killed her daughter. Now Ellaria has to sit in the cell and watch her daughter die a slow painful death and there’s nothing she can do about it. It was such a heavy scene, but also pretty much what I expected when Ellaria was captured last episode.

Jaime and Cersei have a sex scene. We hadn’t gotten incest in a while so I suppose we were due some. Totally love the fact the Cersei no longer needs to hide her relationship with Jaime, because who in God’s name is going to do anything about it?

In case you guys forgot, a Lannister always pays their debts.

Another scene on a cliffside consisted of Jon and Tyrion, this one of a bit more consequence than the last. They both leveled with each other, resulting in Tyrion coming to terms with the army of the dead and what’s to come, and Jon realizing how ridiculous it was of him to think Daenerys would just drop everything to help a man she doesn’t know fight an enemy she doesn’t believe in.

Tyrion convince Daenerys to work with Jon by allowing him to dig for dragonglass, while she focuses on the battles ahead. Speaking of which, things aren’t looking good with most of her fleet being destroyed last episodes and most of her allies being captured.

Sansa flexes her skills and wit when it comes to ruling and giving orders, and of course we get some Littlefinger whispering in her ear. But one of the highlights of the episode comes when a guard comes running to Sansa telling her that someone is at the gate. I began yelling “ARYA OR BRAN ARYA OR BRAN” and Bran it was.

I hope I wasn’t the only one concerned and creeped out by how cold and emotionless Bran is. I understand he’s the Three-eyed Raven now, and being able to see everything must be rather depressing, but I didn’t realize it was going to consume him like this. It was amazing to see Sansa hug Bran, but that was kind of ruined by his retelling of the night she was raped, and how beautiful she was that night. WTF? Puts a damper on the whole Stark reunion thing, but I’m just patiently waiting for Arya to roll up to Winterfell.

Thank the Gods Jorah is healed from his Greyscale, or so it seems. Really enjoyed that small scene between Sam and Jorah, two characters I never thought would have a reason to share the screen. Now the question becomes, what’s Jorah’s bigger purpose in this show? Why did they save him? I hope it’s not just to kill him in some trivial way a few episodes down the line.

Another side note, no Hound in this episode. I’m assuming he’ll get to Winterfell or The Wall sometime soon?

Finally, we get the siege of Casterly Rock. Our boy Greyworm is out to battle Lannister forces, and I was worried that since we got such a steamy goodbye between him and Missandei last episode, that he may be kicking the bucket. The battle sequence was beautifully narrated over by Tyrion explaining the siege to Daenerys. The Unsullied cleaned house, almost too easily. And in Game of Thrones fashion, it was too easy for a reason. Jaime, predicting that Casterly Rock would be taken, decided to lead the majority of the Lannister army to take High Garden, a much more strategic area to hold than Casterly Rock. He misled Daenerys’ forces, just as he was deceived by Rob stark all those seasons back.

The episode ends on a beautifully crafted scene. Olenna is seen at the top of a of a castle at High Garden with the massive Lannister army headed right to her. That whole battle sequence isn’t shown, as it’s hinted that the Tyrell army isn’t well trained and didn’t put up much of a fight. Jaime marches single-mindedly to the room where she awaits his arrival. They go back and forth, talking about mistakes of the past, and mainly about Cersei’s cruelty. Olenna even tells Jaime, “She’ll be the end of you.” And I think she’s right. Jamie and Cersei will fall, and I think it will be by their own doing. Still calling that Jaime will be the one to kill her, but alas we still have some waiting to do.

There’s always something gravitating about a scene with two people, when one of them knows they’re about to die. Olenna has been around for the majority of the show, and she’s been one of the smartest characters to grace the screen. Her still being alive at this point in time is telling of that fact. But even though it is her last scene, and she willingly drinks the poison that Jaime gives her, she still wins. She tells Jaime that she killed Joffrey, his son, with poison and that she wants Cersei to know she did it. Even as she’s effectively dead, she manages to win. “I’d hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck. Foam and bile spilling from my mouth. Eyes blood red. Skin purple….Not at all what I intended. You see, I’d never seen the poison work before.” Game of Thrones own “I watched Jane die” scene. Now not only does he now the truth, but he knows for a fact that it wasn’t Tyrion who poisoned Joffrey. Beautiful. A complete badass to her last breath, and the screen goes black.

I NEED the next episode NOW. The preview for next episode looks explosive as usual, and seeing Drogon flying through the clouds at full speed gives nothing but chills.