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Spoilers through Season 7 of “Game of Thrones’ follow.
Credit: HBO
The Queen’s Justice indeed.
Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones was given a misleading title. Far from ‘The Queen’s Justice’ this episode was all about the queen’s vengeance.
Cersei already took vengeance on many of her enemies in Season 6, when she used wildfire to blow up the Great Sept, killing not only the High Sparrow, but also nearly all of House Tyrell and her own uncle, Kevan Lannister.
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 live out the rest of her days alongside her own daughter’s corpse.
And Jaime and his army take Highgarden, with the help of Sam’s father and Bronn, where he gives Olenna ‘The Queen Of Thorns’ poison as a mercy, before learning that it was in fact Olenna herself who poisoned Joffrey—not Tyrion or Sansa, after all.
In a sense, this is the second meaning of ‘The Queen’s Justice.’ Yes, Cersei has lopped the heads off three of Dany’s allies and gotten her revenge on two of her powerful foes, but the Queen of Thorns gets her own justice in the end, by revealing the truth of Joffrey’s death.
This was another episode filled with great moments, genuinely funny exchanges, and miraculous fast travel. Let’s leave the Lannisters and their wildly successful military campaigns and sail across the bay to….
Dragonstone
Credit: HBO
Jon arrives at Dragonstone.
Here, on Stannis’s former island, Jon Snow and Davos Seaworth arrive. Sure enough, Tyrion is waiting for them on the shore. I mused that images hinting at this released earlier this week could have been misdirection to throw us off the true scent, but I was wrong. I was also wrong in my prediction that Jon and Daenerys wouldn’t meet until the final season. Oh well, I’ve had some on-point predictions this season as well. You have to take your wins with your losses.
In any case, Jon arrives in Dragonstone and reunites with Tyrion. This is a perfectly lovely scene, and then it gets better. We probably got more Tyrion scenes tonight than we’ve gotten in…well, a very long time. And it reminds me just how much I love Tyrion and how much more I want of him—even when he’s being outsmarted by his siblings.
Actually, this was a pretty neat twist. Tyrion stands in the battle-room of Dragonstone describing how he built a weakness into Casterly Rock (sort of like Galen Erso with the Death Star) and we see Grey Worm and the Unsullied use this exploit to capture the Lannister’s seat of power, overwhelming the Lannister forces. But even as we learn of Tyrion’s clever plan, we discover that most of the Lannister forces are gone. They’ve marched south to Highgarden, where Jaime and his forces take the prosperous, but not terribly well-defended seat of House Tyrell without much resistance.
Why is Olenna back in Highgarden, anyways? She could have raised armies with ravens. Oh well. Mistakes and more mistakes, and now Cersei is in a far stronger position than before.
It doesn’t hurt that she has Euron’s magical fleet. Speaking of which, let’s talk about…
Teleportation
Credit: HBO
Tyrion had his finest episode in a long, long time.
I’ve been complaining about magical fast travel lately, and I think at a certain point we just have to accept that Game of Thrones has simply abandoned any pretense at “sensible chronology” or “travel time” “distance” and so forth. Last week Jon Snow was in Winterfell; this week he’s at Dragonstone. And yet, it’s only after he’s at Dragonstone that Daenerys learns of the loss of Yara’s fleet and the fate of Ellaria. A battle that must have taken place only days away from Dragonstone is discovered….weeks later? It would take Jon Snow at least a couple weeks to travel all the way from Winterfell to Dragonstone, even with “kind winds.” Possibly much longer.
Meanwhile, Olenna has made it all the way around the continent to Highgarden, Grey Worm has made it all the way up to Casterly rock, which is at least a month away from Dragonstone if not longer, and Jaime has ridden from King’s Landing where Ellaria was turned over to Cersei to meet with his armies and storm and capture Highgarden.
Suffice to say, time and distance have become….arbitrary…that’s the word…these small considerations have become entirely impossible to fathom or follow. I can either gnash my teeth and rend my garments at each illogical, impossible fast travel, or I can accept that this is the Game of Thrones we now have. Gone are journeys and voyages. Gone are long, plodding adventures through the desert or the forest or the frozen north. Now, time is fluid. Our heroes just show up places. So what if the distance between Slaver’s Bay and Dragonstone is comparable to that of Dragonstone and Casterly Rock—distance is immaterial now. Time is a fiction.
So I’ll do my best to let it go. It’s a small world, after all.
Bend The Knee
Credit: HBO
Daenerys really likes talking about how awesome she is.
In any case, we were in Dragonstone, and in Dragonstone we shall remain.
Jon arrives and meets the Queen. Missandei introduces her with all her glorious titles and accomplishments. When she’s done, Davos awkwardly announces Jon as…Jon Snow, King in the North.
The first meeting between Jon and Dany is a frosty one. Jon, bless his soul, refuses to ‘bend the knee’—something that Daenerys is oddly intent on getting him to do. They trade barbs. Daenerys talks up all her achievements, her steely resolve and fiery faith in herself. Her struggles. She imagines, I suppose, that her struggles are unique, and misinterprets Jon’s own lack of boasting as a lack of struggle on his part.
You know nothing, Daenerys Targaryen. I suppose you’ll learn. Soon enough.
Tyrion, naturally, is the savior here. He convinces Jon to ask him what he needs, and then convinces Daenerys to let Jon mine the dragonglass. That’s a step in the right direction, and at least nobody is being burned alive.
It’s interesting, though. Daenerys is warring between two sides. On the one hand, she’s coming across as an icy tyrant who’s become far too arrogant and entitled for her own good. I don’t blame Jon for not trusting her, and I admire his refusal to call her queen.
On the other hand, I’m quite certain that Dany means well, and wants only the best for the realm she believes she’s destined to rule. You can hardly blame her for not believing Jon Snow’s tales of an army of the dead. Nobody believed about the dragons, either, of course. She should consider that before dismissing the Night King.
Meanwhile, in the Frozen North….
Credit: HBO
That one may smile and smile and be a villain.
Sansa is showing off her leadership skills by constantly thinking of things that old men who have lots more experience than her aren’t thinking of. She even knows more about blacksmithing (specifically smithing breastplates) than her smiths.
What she isn’t prepared for is the return of her younger brother, Bran, who arrives for a joyful reunion—only, just a little too late for the joy. Bran has changed, not just from when Sansa last saw him, but from when we last saw him. Over the intervening…time?…he’s become the Three-Eyed Raven entirely. Much of his humanity appears to have drained from him.
When he talks to Sansa and tells her what he becomes, he says he’s sorry for what’s happened to her. He speaks of her wedding night (I assume with Ramsay) and there’s no malice in his voice. But it’s still a brutal memory to dredge up, and yet he speaks with almost no emotion. Sansa understandably flees. No matter how glad she may be to see her brother again after all this time, he’s no longer the Bran she once knew.
I keep wanting happy reunions between these Stark children, so long separated by tragedy and betrayal. Each time, it’s bittersweet. I suppose it could be no other way, but I hope they all realize that in the end they’re all they have. Littlefinger tells Sansa to trust no one. “Everyone is your enemy, everyone is your friend” is a lie. Jon Snow is someone Sansa can trust unconditionally; Littlefinger is a viper.
Varys and Melisandre
One of the most interesting scenes in the entire episode took place between Varys ‘The Spider’ and the red witch, Melisandre. Varys is curious why she’s hidden herself when Jon and Davos arrive, and won’t accept vague answers like “my days whispering in kings’ ears are over.”
He almost certainly already knows the answer to his questions and is well aware of Stannis’s crimes. He tells Melisandre to leave and not come back, as Westeros won’t be safe for her. Curiously, she tells him she must return one day. She’s destined to die in Westeros, as is Varys. What do you think that means? Something she’s seen in the flames?
I wonder also if Varys has any inkling of Jon Snow’s death and resurrection. He’s not present when Davos let’s slip that Jon took a ‘dagger in the heart’ for his people. Jon is quick to shut Davos up, but not before Daenerys takes notice, confronting Tyrion about the odd statement later on. Have Varys’s little birds told him about Jon’s magical return to the land of the living? I’m guessing not, though I’m also curious how such an incredible thing could go unnoticed this long. Surely rumors of his death have preceded him.
Verdict
All told, a far better episode than last week. Yes, it still drives me crazy how fast and loose Game of Thrones has become with its plotting and travel times. They’re taking far more liberties in this regard than they should.
On the other hand, I loved all the Tyrion we got this week. I miss Tyrion. He’s one of the best things about Game of Thrones and until tonight he’s played far too minor a role for far too long.
It was also gratifying to see Jon Snow not only meet Daenerys Stormborn, but not be cowed by her. He tells her straight to her face that her father killed his grandfather and uncle and that he owes her nothing. I also loved the exchange between Jon and Dany when he tells her Tyrion talks a lot. “We all enjoy what we’re good at” she replies. “Not me,” he answers. Jon Snow is good at killing, but he doesn’t like it. He’s a reluctant leader, a reluctant hero with no time for boasting, and no time for the ‘game of thrones’ everyone else is playing.
He’s the hero we need, dammit, not the one we deserve.
I also enjoyed Euron this episode. He’s not Ramsay, that’s for sure. He’s not Joffrey either. He’s a rogue, a swashbuckler and a man unafraid to poke at Jaime Lannister. And he has a magical fleet of ships capable of traveling the seas at light speed. What’s not to love?
But seriously, his goading of Jaime over how best to make love to Cersei was pretty funny.
Oh, and lest we forget, I enjoyed the scene between the Arch Maester, Sam and Jorah Mormont. Jorah is cured! It’s a miracle! And Sam isn’t in trouble, though he’s also not being rewarded for his mad healing skills.
So I guess Jorah is going back to Dany. What’s his purpose in all of this? I can’t figure this out. What’s the point of Jorah now? He was a spy, a traitor, a hopeless suitor, and then a leper. What is he now? What will he achieve?
Let me know what you think in the comments, fellow Game of Thrones fans. I’m just happy this episode was so much better than last weeks.
You can read my review of last week’s episode here. I also wrote a follow-up piece explaining my issues with the show’s plot here.
I’d love it if you followed me on Twitter and Facebook and subscribed to my channel on YouTube. Also feel free to subscribe to my posts by email. Thanks for reading.
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CARACAS, Venezuela — The latest on Venezuela’s political crisis and the vote for a constitutional assembly (all times local):
12:05 a.m.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council says more than 8 million people voted to grant President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling socialist party virtually unlimited powers with a constitutional assembly — a turnout more than double the estimates of both the government’s political opponents and independent experts.
Council president Tibisay Lucena announced just before midnight that turnout in Sunday’s vote was 41.53 percent, or 8,089,320 people.
The count was met with mockery and anger from members of the opposition, who said they believed between 2 million and 3 million people voted. One well-respected independent analysis said 3.6 million appeared to have voted.
The electoral council’s vote counts in the past have traditionally been seen as reliable and generally accurate, but Sunday’s announcement appeared certain to escalate the polarization and political conflict paralyzing the country.
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10:30 p.m.
The U.S. State Department is officially condemning Venezuela government for holding a vote to elect a powerful National Constituent Assembly, calling it a step toward authoritarian rule.
The new assembly would concentrate near-total power in the hands of socialist President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters. In a statement released Sunday night, the State Department says the new body seems designed to “undermine the Venezuelan people’s right to self-determination.”
The U.S. had already joined Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Panama in saying it would not recognize the vote results. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted that earlier that the vote was a “sham election” which takes Venezuela “another step toward dictatorship.”
The State Department says Washington will “continue to take strong and swift actions against the architects of authoritarianism in Venezuela.”
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9:45 p.m.
Venezuelan opposition leaders are urging their countrymen to protest Monday in the capital against the constituent assembly expected to take power and in homage to those killed in demonstrations against the government.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles says the political foes of socialist President Nicolas Maduro also plan to mount a protest on the day that the new assembly takes office. That is supposed to take place within 72 hours of the final results being announced from Sunday’s election.
Organizers with Venezuela’s opposition say 15 people were killed across the nation Sunday while the vote was underway. The office of Venezuela’s chief prosecutor has confirmed on Twitter that it is investigating at least seven deaths.
Opposition leaders are blaming state authorities for the violence.
In a briefing on state-run television, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said the military was not responsible for any deaths.
More than 120 people have died during four months of protests.
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9:20 p.m.
A key ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says there was “record” participation in Sunday’s election for a constitutional assembly that he says will surprise the opposition, whose leaders contend turnout was exceptionally low.
Ruling socialist party leader Diosdado Cabello says that while the official National Electoral Council results are still being counted, “I can assure you there was record participation.”
Across Venezuela’s capital, dozens of polling centers were virtually empty Sunday, including at many that saw hours-long lines of thousands voting in previous elections over the last two decades.
Organizers with Venezuela’s opposition say they stationed observers at every polling site and the preliminary results show Sunday had a small fraction of the turnout seen in previous elections voted.
They say that any official numbers showing high participation are invalid.
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8:55 p.m.
The leader of Venezuela’s ruling socialist party is brushing off criticisms from foreign governments that say they won’t recognize Sunday’s vote for a special assembly that will rule with nearly unlimited powers.
Party leader Diosdado Cabello says Venezuela has decided to be free from foreign meddling. In his words: “What do we care what the world thinks?”
He called Sunday’s election “an ethical and moral victory over Venezuela’s right.”
A rising number of foreign nations are vowing not to recognize the constituent assembly that President Nicolas Maduro and his allies have promised will remove opponents from power.
On Sunday, Peru, Argentina, Canada, Spain, Costa Rica, the U.S. and Mexico all announced they would not recognize the results. Colombia and Peru earlier said they did not consider the assembly legitimate.
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6:50 p.m.
A growing number of countries are vowing not to recognize the results of Venezuela’s divisive election of a constituent assembly that could dramatically reshape the South American nation’s government.
Officials from Argentina, Peru and the United States said Sunday that their governments would not recognize the vote, following similar statements from Colombia and Panama.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has tweeted that the vote a “sham election” that takes Venezuela “another step toward dictatorship.”
Peru’s government says the vote violates the Venezuelan constitution and deepens already significant divides within society.
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3:40 p.m.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor’s office is reporting three deaths on the day of a controversial vote for a constituent assembly that opposition leaders fear will trigger the end of democracy in Venezuela.
The office tweeted that 28-year-old Angelo Mendez and 39-year-old Eduardo Olave were killed at a protest Sunday in Merida. Thirty-year-old Ricardo Campos was killed in a separate incident in Sucre.
Few details were provided on the deaths.
Leaders with the opposition Democratic Action party on Twitter identified Campos as the group’s youth secretary in Sucre, a state in northern Venezuela east of the nation’s capital.
The deaths bring to at least 116 those killed in nearly four months of political upheaval.
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1:10 p.m.
Venezuelans appear to be abstaining in massive numbers in a show of silent protest against a vote to select a constitutional assembly giving the government virtually unlimited powers. Across the capital on Sunday, dozens of polling places were empty or had a few dozens or hundreds of people outside, orders of magnitude less than the turnout in recent elections.
An Associated Press reporter toured more than two dozen polling places in neighborhoods across the capital, including many traditional strongholds of the ruling socialist party in southern and western Caracas. Virtually all the polling places had seen hours-long lines of thousands of people in the elections of the last two decades of the socialist administration.
One site, a sports and cultural complex known as the Poliedro, had several thousand people waiting about two hours to vote, many having traveled from opposition-dominated neighborhoods where polling places were closed. Of the dozens of others sites seen by the AP, two in the loyalist-heavy neighborhood of El Valle had lines of approximately 200 to 400 people. All the others had at most a couple of dozen voters, and many had less than a half-dozen or were completely empty.
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9 a.m.
Dozens of Venezuelans are gathering early at voting centers in Caracas’ Petare neighborhood, saying they plan to cast ballots because they hope for improvements in their lives.
Hairdresser Luisa Marquez said she hoped to get a house as she waited with her daughter in a line outside a center to vote Sunday for an all-powerful constitutional assembly that Maduro’s opponents fear he’ll use to replace Venezuela’s democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.
“I hope things get better,” said Marquez after acknowledging that Venezuelans are experiencing tough economic times.
The run-up to the vote has been marked by months of clashes between protesters and the government, and the Trump administration has imposed successive rounds of sanctions on high-ranking members of Maduro’s administration, with the support of countries including Mexico, Colombia and Panama.
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7:50 a.m.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is asking for global acceptance as he casts an unusual pre-dawn vote for an all-powerful constitutional assembly that his opponents fear he’ll use to replace the country’s democracy with a single-party authoritarian system.
Accompanied by close advisers and state media, Maduro voted at 6:05 a.m. local time, far earlier and less publicly than in previous elections. The run-up to Sunday’s vote has been marked by months of clashes between protesters and the government, including the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old nurse by men accused of being pro-government paramilitaries during a protest this month at a church a few hundred feet from the school where Maduro voted.
“We’ve stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence,” Maduro said. “Hopefully the world will respectfully extend its arms toward our country.”
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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