Keep an eye on it. (Although the scene in which he attempts to explain his whole deal is hilarious until he mentioned the first night of her abuse.) You know who's a Targaryen and might be able to ride one? But as an episode-to-episode experience, it’s starting to make for a show that’s circling in on itself. These far-flung characters need time to understand what each other understands, and it’s made for a repetitive Season 7 so far. Hopefully, she's not just hanging around uselessly for the remainder of the series. Sam is confronted for his actions. He and Davos see the series from the audience's vantage point, understanding that the true threat comes from without, not within. And what he'll do while he waits for Jon to return isn't clear either, although please, someone get poor Meera Reed a nice hot bowl of stew. But the most cyclical thing on Game of Thrones might just be Dany's character arc, which is like a hit song on replay for just a little too long. Tyrion plans the conquest of Westeros. [Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” Season 7, Episode 3, “The Queen’s Justice.”]. She is the fire, after all. Olenna was never after survival, not after Cersei destroyed her family. They’re set against gorgeous cliffsides, under the shade of tree with leaves like brood droplets. Actions matter more than ever in this world. That's two failed battle plans for Tyrion. Shackled in a dungeon, her torture is meted out by Cersei inflicting the same poison-lip punishment on Tyene that was afforded to Myrcella upon leaving Dorne. Dany wanted to send the dragons out to destroy Euron's fleet, but she couldn't do it by herself. Three dragons aren't that much use if you can't fly them. Maybe her reunion with Sansa will be a little more fun than Bran's. Daenerys receives an unexpected visitor. Now, much like a freshman philosophy student coming home for winter break, he's a stoic, wizened man whose problems extend beyond his family. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. The sky may not be falling, but the dead are quite literally at war with the living, so you'll forgive a poor bastard (pun intended) for being a little panicky about the whole thing. Bran, taking full responsibility as the Three-Eyed Raven, didn't come back to Winterfell to reunite with Sansa or settle down at home. Neither wants to alienate the other. Cersei gathers her allies. Their second meeting showed why fans had so long wanted them to cross paths. Jon and Tyrion even share a Sorkin-esque walk-and-talk before getting interrupted by a dragon swooping just overhead. Sansa receives an unexpected visitor. When Bran Stark left Winterfell, he was a long-haired naïve little boy fleeing certain death and betting on dreams and whisperings. The first step of their alliance came courtesy of the dragonglass Jon so desperately needs. But she never regrets, and she never looks back. She got the woman who murdered her daughter (although that scene in the dungeon noticeably dragged, like it was phoned in, and was far too much like the Septa Unella scene last year). At every turn, “The Queen’s Justice” breaks the ancient exhortation to “show, not tell.” As the season nears its halfway point, the stage is set for a series of showdowns, but with the exception of a Greyjoy here and a Tyrell there, the board still remains largely as it was when Dany asked “Shall we begin?” As a means for laying the historical groundwork for an ongoing, world-ending struggle, that’s not unforgivable. Tyrion is now on the same side as his Battle of the Blackwater foe Davos Seaworth, and a hint of the old enmity came out at their meeting. It has to be rehashed and diagrammed on atrium floors and on carved tabletops until it’s firmly established where everyone stands. ', Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy, Sam cured Jorah of greyscale and now he's off to find his Khaleesi. But those may be. Oh right, that's Jon. Daenerys greets Jon Snow in her court at Dragonstone, but their first meeting doesn't proceed as either one of them had expected. (Think: pregnant with Drogo's child then he died, ruling Meereen and then lost in the Dothraki sea, etc.) He might know Cersei, but Jaime knows him, and his advice to Dany might be useless at this point, which is not good for his continued survival. And after Dany's big loss in this episode, an alliance with the King in the North might not seem as unpalatable as before. Macall B. Polay/HBO [Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “ Game of Thrones ” Season 7, Episode 3, “The Queen’s Justice.”] It’s no surprise that David Benioff and D.B. Cersei gains a new ally. “Game of Thrones” has always woven powerful verbal spats into the fabric of its drama, but as all of its major players begin to hurdle toward a final showdown, there’s a trend we see in these conversations descending into recapping what the audience already knows. She's needed for the end game, I just wish her road there wasn't so familiar. In the third episode of Season 7 she's given Ellaria Sand and her last remaining daughter, who she poisons the same exact way Ellaria poisoned Myrcella, leaving Oberyn's lover to … Jon Snow accused Dany (and in absentia, Cersei) of being children playing games, but, when you think about it, petty lords who treat the lives of their subjects as pawns in a "game of thrones" aren't really that much better. While figures of power take their time deciding who gives orders, the enemy is always regrouping out of sight. When you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There has been a lot of discussion of the cyclical nature of time in the series as of late. The following contains spoilers from Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 3, “The Queen's Justice.” Read our recap of Episode 2 here. July 30, 2017. The seventh and penultimate season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on July 16, 2017, and concluded on August 27, 2017. Spoiler alert! Weiss are listed as the writers on “The Queen’s Justice,” Sunday night’s episode of “Game of Thrones.” Much has been made about the changing of the guard in the series’ authorship as the show has outdistanced the source material. Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Oh, and they're lovers again. She and Jaime used Euron's ships to turn the war on Tyrion and Dany and buy some credit with the Iron Bank of Braavos (nice to see you again, Mark Gatiss). Cersei makes choices. This Article is related to: Television and tagged Game of Thrones, HBO, TV Reviews. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! This meeting of totemic “Game of Thrones” characters held promise for book readers for ages, but their eventual meeting proves that the show is still fighting a war of words, while the eventual end goal has been seemingly fixed for quite some time. It was fun the first few times, but now it's getting old. Euron was painted as a lecherous troll the second he walked into the hall of the Iron Throne in the Season 7 premiere, so the “finger in the bum” line to Jaime feels particularly reductive, even if Nikolai Coster-Waldau continues to be the king of reactions. Sign up for our Postcards from Westeros newsletter. Luckily, as the show incorporates the more visual storytelling elements, these important discussions of characters’ fates aren’t happening in a vacuum. 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