Catch up with ‘GoT’s ‘Queen’s Justice’
Consequences are mounting as games get more serious
Spoiler alert! The following contains details from Game of Thrones’ “The Queen’s Justice.”
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. But it’s hard to tell what winning looks like anymore.
The third episode of Season 7 was a reminder that no one on Game of Thrones is infallible, not even Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains and all the other increasingly meaningless titles. All of Dany’s names won’t win her battles. Tyrion’s smarts won’t work against a brother who actually knows him. Three dragons aren’t that much use if you can’t fly them.
Jon Snow accused Dany (and in absentia, Cersei) of being children playing games. He and Davos see from the audience’s vantage point, understanding that the true threat comes from without, not within.
“The Queen’s Justice” was a surprising episode that gave fans the long-awaited meeting between Jon Snow and Daenerys, “ice” and “fire” as Melisandre so unsubtly pointed out. The significance of those two in the same room, and of Bran’s return to Winterfell with the knowledge of Jon’s birth, the White Walkers’ origin and so much more, undercuts the seemingly large chess moves that Cersei made in her war with Dany. It may still be a game, but the stakes are a lot higher. And losing is a lot colder.
JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR BETTING
Cersei makes choices. Deliberate, exacting choices that sometimes turn around on her. But she never regrets, and never looks back.
Allying with Euron was a deliberate choice with an expected outcome, and for now, she’s done nothing but reap rewards. She got the woman who murdered her daughter. 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. Oh, and they’re lovers again.
This kind of power only lasts if she can keep it, and Euron is as much a wild card as he is an asset.
QUEEN IN NAME ONLY
There has been a lot of discussion of the cyclical nature of time in the series. Characters are reuniting. Battle strategies are being reused. Scrolls are being copied. But the most cyclical thing on GoT might just be Dany’s character arc, which is like a hit song on replay for just a little too long.
Dany see-saws between a place of incredible strength and power to a point that feels like her lowest over and over again.
Now, even with all her armies and allies and dragons, she’s losing the war with Cersei. It would be more worrisome, if the pattern didn’t indicate that somehow, she’ll be victorious once again. She’s needed for the end game; I just wish her road there wasn’t so familiar.
THE ONLY REASONABLE MAN IN DRAGONSTONE
Just call him Chicken Little.
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.
The much-anticipated Jon/Dany meeting was quite well executed. It’s gratifying that the series did not have them be instant besties. Ice and fire don’t really mix.
Their second meeting showed why fans had so long wanted them to cross paths. Dany’s coldness and pomposity have taken over, and it was nice to see a softer side come out, even in private. That Jon was the person to soften her feels right. The first step of their alliance came courtesy of the dragonglass Jon so desperately needs. And after Dany’s big loss in this episode, an alliance with the King in the North might not seem as unpalatable as before.
FAMILY TIES
Bran Stark, taking full responsibility as the Three-Eyed Raven, didn’t come back to Winterfell to reunite with Sansa or settle down. He came, it seems, to talk to Jon, but it’s unclear if that means to tell him his parentage or to help fight the White Walkers or both. And what he’ll do while he waits for Jon to return isn’t clear either, although please, someone get Meera Reed a nice bowl of stew. She dragged Bran to his mystic fate and lost her brother in the process. Hopefully, she’s not just hanging around uselessly for the remainder of the series.
Definitely not useless is Sansa, who is thriving in her new leadership role. She is, however, still taking advice from Littlefinger, which is never a good idea. Although his advice this week was striking, in that he used the kind of language we’ve been hearing about events repeating. “Every possible series of events are happening all at once,” he tells her. Coincidence, or does Littlefinger know more about the greater powers in the world than he’s let on?