After a raucous ending to the second episode of “Game of Thrones” Season 7, with some of the Daenerys’ most trusted allies being captured by Euron Greyjoy. In Episode 3, “The Queen’s Justice,” she starts by making a new one — Jon Snow (Kit Harington).
The show opened with a big meetup we’ve been waiting for between Jon and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). And one between Jon and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), who haven’t been in the same place at the same time since Season 1. Their meeting is a pretty cordial one, even though Tyrion and Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) ask Jon and his men to turn over their weapons.
“This place has changed,” Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) tells Jon, right before the two hit the deck as Drogon flies just past them. They’re a little out of their depth when it comes to dragons.
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Tyrion and Jon caught up on one of the key events that’s taken place since they last saw each other — including Tyrion marrying Sansa (Sophie Turner). Tyrion assures Jon the sham marriage went unconsumated, although Jon doesn’t give him a hard time about it.
“She’s much smarter than she lets on,” Tyrion says about Sansa. “She’s starting to let on,” Jon returns.
From atop the cliffs at Dragonstone, Melisandre (Carive van Houten) watches Jon and Davos’ arrival. Varys (Conleth Hill) finds her there and asks why she didn’t meet the man she spoke so highly of on the beach. Melisandre suggests she’s going to take a back seat in the coming intrigues as the war against the dead looms. Varys doesn’t buy it. But when he suggests she should leave Westeros, she says she’s not going anywhere.
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“I have to die in this strange country. Just like you,” Melisandre tells him.
Jon’s reunion with Tyrion was a pretty easygoing one, but the meeting between Dany and Jon was a little more tense.
The big thrust of the meetup was Danaerys asking Jon to bend the knee. In trying to convince him to pledge fealty, she asks for his forgiveness for the sins of her father, Aerys Targaryen, who killed Ned Stark’s father and brother.
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“I ask you not to judge a daughter by the sins of her father,” she says. But she still demands Jon’s fealty, and he refuses to give it. The gist of the discussion is that Jon doesn’t care about the Iron Throne — he’s only worried about the the Night King.
Davos takes his turn at trying to convince Daenerys to back Jon, with one of his great, impassioned speeches. “He was named Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, he was named King in the North,” Davos tells her. “It wasn’t his birthright. He has no birthright, he’s a damn bastard.” He also mentions that Jon took a dagger to the heart for his people, something Dany notes for later.
It doesn’t quite work, though, and Jon and Davos are kept on Dragonstone without the ability to leave — not quite prisoners, but not quite guests.
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Out in the Narrow Sea, we find Theon, not quite dead yet. He’s yanked out of the water by the last remaining ships of the Iron Fleet.
Meanwhile, Euron rides through King’s Landing with Yara, Ellaria (Indira Varma), and Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) in tow. He offers the captives as the priceless gift he mentioned last time he saw Cersei. In return, Cersei promises him “what his heart desires” when the war is won. She names Euron commander of the crown’s naval forces to go with Jaime commanding the Lannister armies. Euron takes the opportunity to taunt Jaime again, this time with the fact that Euron will soon be with Cersei.
Cersei heads to the dungeons next to get her revenge on Ellaria for murdering Cersei’s daughter Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free). She gets her poetic vengeance by murdering Tyene the same way Ellaria killed Myrcella — with “the Long Farewell,” with Cersei giving the last Sand Snake a poisonous kiss. She leaves both of the women locked in their cell, ensuring that Ellaria will have to watch Tyene die.
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Next, Cersei meets with a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos, to whom the Iron Throne owes a ton of money. She needs to convince the Iron Bank not to back her enemies, and makes a solid case for why investing in her rule is a safer bet than investing in Daenerys, especially since she cost the Iron Bank a ton of money by destroying the slave trade in the Free Cities.
Back at Dragonstone, Tyrion and Jon have a broody meeting out on the cliffs, where Jon tries again to convince Tyrion about the threat of the White Walkers. Tyrion admits he believes Jon, but he can’t convince Dany, who has no reason to believe him. So he asks Jon for something he can do to help. Jon mentions the huge amount of Dragonglass in Dragonstone.
Tyrion goes to Dany and asks him to give Jon a concession to ease tensions between them: Let him mine the dragonglass. When Dany meets with Jon, she takes Tyrion’s advice, offering him the Dragonglass as a sign of good faith.
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Meanwhile back at Winterfell, Sansa flexes her leader muscles, making some smart calls about preparing for winter. She notes that if there’s a war during the winter, Winterfell is the place everyone is going to fall back to defend. And it’s going to need a ton of food to survive.
Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) gives Sansa some decent advice for not trusting anyone — she should consider all outcomes all the time of every event, so nothing ever surprises her. Easier said than done, one expects. But their discussion is cut short by another major reunion: Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) showing back up in Winterfell with Meera Reed (Ellie Kendrick). Bran tries to explain what being the Three-Eyed Raven means to Sansa, although he’s not especially clear. When he brings up her wedding to Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), though, she gets overwhelmed and takes off.
At Oldtown, Archmaester Marwyn (Jim Broadbent) inspects Jorah (Iain Glenn) now that he’s seemingly been cured of greyscale overnight. He gives Jorah a clean bill of health but knows the risks Samwell Tarly (John Bradley-West) took to cure him. After Marwyn departs, asking Sam to meet him later — presumably for his punishment — Jorah tells Sam he’ll seek Daenerys now that he’s cured.
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Later, Marwyn asks Sam how he managed to cure a man with a procedure lots of other maesters have failed to execute properly. “I read the book and followed the instructions,” Sam tells him. Marwyn doesn’t punish Sam, instead telling him he should be proud of his accomplishment. Then he makes him copy a bunch of gross, rotting scrolls.
“You expected a reward?” Marwyn asks him. “Your reward is not being immediately expelled from the Citadel.” Sam can’t catch a break.
Next, we see a location we’ve never been to before on the show: Casterly Rock. In a lengthy montage, Tyrion explains the fight Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) and the Unsullied will face at Casterly Rock. The fortress is impregnable, which means the fight over the walls will be tough. Luckily, Tyrion has some insider info — his father, Tywin (Charles Dance) put Tyrion in charge of Casterly Rock’s sewers. Because of that, he knows a secret entrance that will get Grey Worm into the Rock. He and the Unsullied manage to take Casterly Rock, but they’re struck by Euron’s navy, losing all their ships.
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Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) took a page from the strategy book of Robb Stark and went where his enemies weren’t — attacking and taking the Tyrell fortress of Highgarden.
With the castle occupied, Jaime finds Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) alone in her room. They have a discussion about how bad Cersei is, but Jaime isn’t swayed. “She’s a disease. I regret my role in spreading it. You will too,” Olenna says.
Jaime finishes the discussion by offering Olenna a quick and painless death by poison. After she drinks it, Olenna admits to killing Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). “Tell your sister. I want Cersei to know it was me,” she says, as Jaime walks out. Even though she’s lost, Olenna at least gets the last word.