Lessons stemming from failure must be learned.
What They Say:
The Queen’s Justice – Daenerys holds court; Cersei returns a gift; Jaime learns from his mistakes.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With so much going on in each episode there’s still that aspect of where your favorite characters or plot doesn’t get much attention. While I wanted more with Arya and Nymeria the last time around I also wanted that extended sequence with Euron and his attack on Yara’s ships – and even more of it, just with bigger views of how it was all unfolding. There are a lot of things moving at a good clip here, though once again time flows differently in each subplot, and I find myself drawn to all of them at this stage. We can still see the larger threads and how they’re tying together and each episode seems to reinforce that, though I continue to expect more twists and turns to come as it progresses. But even knowing some of the basics of how things are likely to go doesn’t mean there’s no thrill or excitement in watching it actually play out through the cast, direction, and locations.
The arrival of Jon and Davos at Dragonstone is one that’s amusing from the start with Tyrion there and a grin exchanged between the two before they get into things. It’s tense to be sure with the way they have to go unarmed and that their landing ship is put away for the duration, putting Jon and his men in a position of uncertainty. That becomes even moreso when they first see the dragons flying overhead and realize what they’re really dealing with. Tyrion and Jon catch up in some very good ways here, especially in regards to Sansa, but it’s also what’s not there that’s intriguing. Melisandre watching from afar has its reasons and Varys tries to suss the true reason why, which at least gives us a little bit of her path and potential closure for the character with her talking of going to Volantis. But she also makes it clear that she will return, and like Varys, she will die in this strange country. It’s one of the few times you really see Varys unsettled.
When it does shift to the first meeting between Jon and Dany we get a lot of fun with the verbal sparring that gets underway. Dany’s looking to establish dominance in this with Jon bending knee but he’s not intent in doing that in the slightest, almost kind of bemused in a way. There are a lot of little pieces to poke at here in how they view their place in the class scale and Dany is most definitely putting herself in the highest of positions. The two put through a solid dance here but it takes a very different tone once Jon begins about the Army of the Dead that’s coming south and that they need to align together properly to face the true threat, to stop squabbling like children. This isn’t something that Dany was expecting in this meeting and it’s not something that she can believe, even though she should be able to considering dragons have been gone for quite some time until she showed up. And this provides Davos a great opportunity to advocate for Jon in a way that Dany just did for herself. This is the closest to a plea that the two men can make in this regard.
Euron’s return to King’s Landing is one that’s definitely amusing to watch as he’s treated like a conquering hero, not so much because of Yara but because he has Ellaria. And with Ellaria having been the one to set Myrcella’s death, well, this is a true prize for Euron to bring to Cersei. This has Cersei agreeing, in a kind of light and less that committed way, that they’ll marry but only when the war is won. That gives plenty of time for Euron to get killed along the way and one can see Jaime being the one to do it considering Euron asks him for advice on how to have sex with his sister. There’s a lot of fun spectacle to this but also some welcome nods to the past surfacing again, especially with the Mountain in the mix in his hidden armored form. But even Ellaria knows subconsciously who it is and what it means with Oberyn and his death. And that’s something that Cersei just pokes and prods at like an open wound, taking great pleasure in it.
In an episode with a lot of great encounters and dialogue between characters, including the first meeting of Dany and Jon, the one that won me over is with Tyrion and Jon on the cliffside. The back and forth between them is just delightful, especially as Tyrion’s sharp wit always makes for a very good time. The two men have quite the relationship over time and seeing how he’s trying to work both sides to get the right things in place for what has to be done. This turns into a solid conversation between Tyrion and Dany that could smooth over a potential relationship between her and Jon when it comes to the dragon glass that’s needed. Both leaders have objectives and while Jon at the moment is looking at the bigger picture he really needs to get Dany to do the same. And that, in turn, leads to the two of them finally talking in private, which is wonderfully done.
We also get some time back at Winterfell where we’re seeing that Sansa has taken to command well. While she’s not grasping each important point and their meaning, she’s got the broad strokes and knows how to delegate and does so well. This also includes some sharp time with Littlefinger but he’s still teaching her in several ways, much to her own frustration. But the real winning point here is the return of Bran to Winterfell, which has her seemingly ready in a way to relinquish control under the old rules. But Bran isn’t interested in that at all as he’s moved semi-mystical here and is trying to put things to where they need to be in order to deal with the coming threat. It’s so weird to have these two together once again, for him to draw up things from the past, and his own very detached way of talking after all he’s been through that it’s simply unsettling.
In Summary:
Mixed in with some dealings with the Iron Bank as well as some Cersei x Jaime sexytimes, and a little more with what’s going on with Jorah, this episode covers a lot of ground in moving things to where they need to be. Though not a big set piece in a lot of ways the apparent capture of Casterly Rock is nicely done if only for what we get out of Tyrion about it as well as what Jaime is up to with the bulk of the Lannister army. We get a much larger military mission set up there with him going after the Tyrells and that even brings Bron back into play, albeit far too briefly. There’s a lot going on here and the winds are shifting things with who is where and what power rules but it all still feels like it’s very light and could break with a blow of the wind.
Grade: A-
