Image taken from IMDb.
dir. by Mark Mylod
written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss
Game of Thrones's recent push towards the finish line has led to a lot of episodes consisting primarily of exposition and foreboding. Small character moments and striking outbursts of violence, often the bread-and-butter of the show, still appear, but have tended to be buried under a lot of straightforward table-setting. This isn't to say that the first two episodes of season 7 were at all bad - both were fairly solid for what they were - but the real meat of the story only begun midway through last week's episode, and much of the season's setup could be awfully dry.
Because of that, the quiet, lingering tension of "The Queen's Justice" feels genuinely triumphant, focusing entirely on dialogue and performance while focusing primarily on a small handful of storylines. Narrative progress is only incremental, and yet the episode is so patient with those small jumps forward that each one feels earned, and in some cases even relieving. It's the later scenes, which more briefly cover the other storylines, which feature more surprises, but this week, Game of Thrones made foregone conclusions feel thrilling.
In the episode's first storyline, Jon Snow has finally arrived in Dragonstone to negotiate with Danerys Targaryen. Dany invokes the ancient vows of Stark kings past and demands that he bend the knee, but unsurprisingly, the new King in the North refuses. A long, tense scene of verbal sparring commences, with Dany's every word carrying a tone of suppressed indignation, and Jon brashly informing her of the White Walkers while continuing to assert his independence. The scene features many close ups of the actors avoiding each other's gaze, which only makes this gripping sequence all the more nerve-wracking.
The show has given several hints that an alliance between Danerys and Jon is inevitable, so it's no surprise when Dany finally acquiesces and allows Jon to mine the dragonglass, and yet the actual process where he acquires it is surprisingly suspenseful, which largely comes down to the slowly-paced yet riveting conversation between Jon and Danerys, which ends with Jon having his ship confiscated, effectively rendering him a captive. Counteracting the tension is Jon's rapport with Tyrion, which is fittingly restrained - the two haven't seen each other in a very long while now - but clearly built off a mutual respect. Tyrion believes Jon's story about the Ice King, and the two briefly chat about how some would prefer to fight a "comfortable, familiar monster" like Cersei rather than consider the bigger perils which are out there.
The thing is, as this season has spent so much time establishing, both Jon and Dany have broken free of the comfortable and familiar. They've done this in their alliances (Jon with the Wildlings, Dany with the Unsullied and the Dothraki) as well as in their claim to their respective thrones (Jon being a bastard and Dany being a daughter). A conversation with Tyrion, who the show finally allows to start cracking wise again, reminds the Mother of Dragons that those flying creatures were thought just as mythical as the walking dead which Jon Snow speaks of. Earlier, Danerys had attempted to intimidate Jon with a story about how she survived countless horrors solely through faith in herself. Perhaps now it's time to put faith in someone else as well.
In comparison, the side characters at Dragonstone don't have as much to offer. Melisandre comments on how she doesn't intend to leave Westeros, and has some minor conversation with Varys. As with Melisandre's scenes last week, her dialogue is painfully on-the-nose, and her role can at times feel extraneous. Still, seeing her express regret for her actions in Winterfell does provide some closure. Meanwhile, Ser Davos accompanies Jon, providing some levity with his brief, to-the-point introduction of the King in the North, which amusingly contrasts with Danerys's many titles. His presence provides a blunt counterweight to the Lords' word games, and while he only gets a few lines, his discomforted facial expressions serve as a solid mirror for Tyrion's.
For once, the King's Landing storyline has some actual nuance and texture as well, although opening those scenes with Euron's hammy antics might lead one to think otherwise. The leather-clad Greyjoy brings an offer of the surviving Sand Snakes, and again requests Cersei's hand in marriage, which she again delays. As entertaining as Euron can be, the King's Landing scenes improve once he is gone, as Cersei proceeds to confront her Dornish captives and torment them. As she taunts Ellaria, her voice is shaky, her grief and anger over Myrcella's death evident. She's entirely in control, and yet there's a hint of vulnerability to her aggression. Ultimately, in the season's second creative murder, she kisses Tyene Sand with poison, drinks the antidote, and leaves Ellaria to watch the poison take effect. As uninteresting as the Sand Snakes have been in the past, the scene is no less horrific for their involvement.
Following this, Cersei is summoned by Tycho Nestoris from the Iron Bank, and has no qualms about letting the messenger see Jamie in her bed. At this point, she couldn't possibly care less what others think about her. She's lost all of her children, and her kingdom is under threat from two sides. She has done horrific things to hold her power, and in the face of all of that, a few people knowing about her incest hardly matters. The banker congratulates her on her seizure of power, but requests that she repay the Iron Throne's debts. Cersei delays this, too, but this added complication promises to finally return some tension to King's Landing.
In the latter half of the episode, progress is made on a handful of other storylines. Sansa chats with Littlefinger, who tells her to be cautious, when he's interrupted by Bran finally making his way through. It's another reunion in a show which increasingly relies on them for pathos, but this one has been a long time coming. Both Sansa and Bran have changed significantly over the past few seasons, and while Bran doesn't show much emotion, that speaks a lot to all that's happened to him, and the reunion is made a little more awkward by Bran struggling to explain what it means that he's become the Three-Eyed Raven. Perhaps more exciting are the nuances preceding Bran's arrival, where we see Sansa easing into the command of Winterfell and doing a pretty solid job of it. With Bran now rejecting his lineage, Sansa is essentially the last Stark in the kingdom.
Over at the Citadel, Sam has successfully healed Jorah, and gets the reward of not being kicked out. I'm still not entirely sure what the point of this storyline will be, but Sam describing his method as simply following the instructions provides some solid comic relief in a frequently tense episode, and it's somewhat impressive to see him having succeeded at such a notoriously difficult procedure. If he ever graduates from Maester school, he should be quite the asset against the White Walkers.
Finally, we get to see what's happening on the front lines of the battle, with the Unsullied finding Casterly Rock curiously empty and struggling at sea against Euron's forces. This particular sequence is accompanied by narration from Tyrion, where he explains to his partners at Dragonstone that Tywin made him build the sewers, so he added a secret passage. Watching the Unsullied exploit this secret passage to get into the Rock and open the gates is about as close as this show comes to being conventionally fun, but the excitement is purposefully undercut by the revelation that most of the Lannisters are conspicuously missing.
As it turns out, they're actually attacking Highgarden, and once they've overcome the Tyrells' meagre forces, Jamie has one last battle of wits with Olenna. Jamie reveals that the Lannisters had largely abandoned Casterly Rock, drastically lessening its significance, and offers Olenna poisoned wine as a form mercy. Cersei had wanted a much more painful execution, but Jamie has ensured a painless death. As always, Olenna's confidence and wit are a delight, and even after drinking the poison, she has the last laugh by revealing to Jamie that it was she who poisoned Joffrey, which she recounts in great detail. She will be missed.
"The Queen's Justice" is where this season really kicks into high gear, even if the patient first half is better than the rapid developments of the second. Rather than ratcheting up the action, this episode dwells on character interactions, and reinforces this season's main themes: change has come to Westeros, and the old rules don't apply. Hopefully there's still more action-packed episodes to come, but this slower episode is tense and exciting in its own way. Seven season in, this show can still find ways to captivate.
8/10
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Todd Throndson
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