A lot of people were disappointed in this episode, but I wasn't. I guess I didn't invest all that much in the first few meetings of Jon and Dany. I didn't expect there to be rays of light and rainbows. It was formal and awkward. Everyone wanted something they weren't going to receive. At the end of the day though, this episode wasn't about Jon or Dany. This was the episode where Cersei and her allies shined. It wasn't something most people wanted to happen, but there we are. I think I'll go by location here because we don't have tons of them and a lot of stuff happens in each.
Ice and Fire at Dragonstone
Mel brags that she brought Ice and Fire together, but really it's Tyrion who connects Jon and Dany. He and Jon formed a nice trust and friendship in the first season and that is quite important in this episode. On the way up to the castle, they talk about how much things have changed. Tyrion asks about Sansa and confesses a lot of respect for her. A dragon flies overhead and it freaks out Jon and Davos.
Davos is really out of his element here, but how could he not be? Dragonstone was his home for many years. They don't address this on the show, though I hope they do, I'm assuming being back at Stannis's base of operations is difficult for him. If there is anything I'm not liking about the shorter season, it's the fact that a lot of emotional scenes that we need are being skipped. This can't be easy for Davos and I think that's why he's less charming when he meets Dany than he has been when addressing others on behalf of his king.
Dany and Jon have a lot of presumed bad blood. Her father killed his grandfather and uncle. His father's best friend had her family overthrown and sent assassins after her. Dany loses her cool around Jon and overcompensates. Jon just looks confused so he keep repeat/mumbling about white walkers. Tyrion tries to keep things moving, and in the end brokers the start of trust between the two of them by finding something Jon needs that he can reasonably ask Dany for, dragon glass.
Queen's Landing
Tyrion needs all the wins he can get because he's seriously screwing up Dany's invasion plan. When it comes down to it, this is really just a Lannister war. Tyrion planned Dany's side of it, Jaime planned Cersei's. Euron maybe planned some, but he's psycho so who cares? I kind of want him to die very soon. He parades Ellaria, Tyene, and Yara through Kingslanding while people scream obscenities at them and pelt them with rotten food. He hands the Dornish women over to Cersei, who agrees to marry him after he wins her war. Jaime is angry about this and even angrier when Euron quietly taunts him about the fact. Euron leaves with Yara to go magically be in a battle he really has no time to get to.
Lena Heady has two masterful Cersei scenes in this episode. The first is with Ellaria, where she doles out her punishment. She poisons Tyene with the same poison that Ellaria used to kill Cersei's daughter and tells the woman she will watch her daughter die and then watch as she rots. Now, normally I LOATHE IT when someone uses a family member to punish someone else, but only when that family member is innocent. In this case, Tyene was fully in on Ellaria's murder plans. Ellaria honestly had no cause for killing Myrcella and deserves whatever punishment Cersei gives her.
Cersei's next great scene is a meeting with the representative from the Iron Bank. Instead of acting like an idiot about the whole thing, she handles herself quite well, gives the rep plenty of reasons to back her and not Dany, and promises him payment within two weeks. This is the most professional and rational she's acted in a while. This is the woman who understands the world around her, the woman who spoke with jaded wisdom in the first couple of seasons. I wish this was the Cersei we get in the books and I wish it was the Cersei we always get in the show.
In between those two scenes, she also had sex with Jaime and doesn't plan on hiding that anymore. We'll see how that goes.
The North and Competent Women
They are pulling in some of Sansa's book storyline on how well she runs the Vale into how she's managing Winterfell now that she's in charge. She's focused on preparing for winter, making sure there is enough food and warmth for everyone. Sansa handles her scene with her advisers very well, even if Littlefinger is lurking around. He is right about one thing. She is a very good leader. She doesn't seem to pay Littlefinger much mind and even ignores him after word comes that Bran has returned home.
One of the things this series manages to do, on occasion, is to complete someone's quest. One of the things I like about that is that these quests are not just completed by men. Brienne completed her quest to get Jaime to Kingslanding. She completed her quest to find and protect Sansa (and almost with Arya too). Now we see Meera completing her quest to get Bran back home. They don't dwell on Meera as long as I wished they would, but there is a shot of her and her look of tired satisfaction. She completed her mission and more than likely never doubted she would.
Sansa's clearly overjoyed to see Bran. She hugs him lovingly and is clearly prepared to let him take charge of everything. She doesn't even seem to mind. Bran can't do that though. He's weird now, emotionless, and cryptic when he speaks. Sansa tries to understand, but can't. Then Bran starts talking about things that disturb her and she has to get away.
The Westerlands and the Reach have a lot of Bait and Switch
Greyworm takes Casterly Rock, using Tyrion's plan. Okay, I would like to point out that Tyrion's plan isn't all THAT innovative. It's basically how they took Meereen and also what Tyrion did to get out of the Red Keep to attack Stannis. Yes. We sneak in. We get it. This time it backfires though because Jaime uses the Rock as a trap for Dany's army while the bulk of his forces descend on the Reach.
In what is probably one of the best scenes of the show, Olenna and Jaime meet to talk about her defeat. She tells him Cersei is horrible and will be the death of him. Jaime is respectful to her, even pointing out that he talked his sister into allowing Olenna to have a quiet and merciful death. The Queen of Thorns drinks poison and as she waits to die, she confesses to Jaime that she's the one who murdered Joffery. She asks him to tell Cersei. While this will be a blow to Cersei, who can now get no more revenge on the older woman, more importantly, it proves Tyrion's innocence.
Also in the Reach, at Oldtown Sam manages to cure Jorah of his greyscale. His master maester scolds him for this because he could have screwed it up and infected everyone there, but because he didn't, he won't be expelled, he just has to copy a bunch of moldy old scrolls. Hopefully, they'll have information he needs to fight the white walkers. Jorah decides to go be with Dany, because what the hell ELSE can the man do? It's like his only plan ever.
Overall, I was happier with this episode than I was with last week. I'll miss the Queen of Thorns. I will not miss Ellaria. I hope Meera gets more screen time.
Also, as this is about to become a zombie story, I think it's time for the Zombie Asshole Rule to apply. The rule is that if you're dealing with zombies, if someone in your group is an asshole, kill them first because they're only going to make everyone miserable, betray you, and cause problems. Under ZAR, Littlefinger should be the first to go.
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