Season 7 Episode 3 "The Queen's Justice" - "Book readers"

Jesus Christ Jon you had the entire trip to Dragonstone to rehearse what you were going to say and that was the best you could come up with.

What we're starting to see is the consequences of shortening the season to just seven episodes. The Jon and Dany reunion was fine, the Sansnakes one-way ticket to the dungeons was great, but the rest of the episode was terribly compressed.
The Jorah/Sam/Marwen scene was unnecessary and badly written, Bran and Sansa finally meeting up after six seasons should have been one of the most heart lifting moments in the whole show. Two full blooded Starks are finally back in Winterfell and all we get is Bran talking in riddles and Sansa saying "okay you're a bit mental, talk to ya later". Casterly Rock was won and lost by the Unsullied and Highgarden was lost to the Lannisters and all that was only given around ten minutes.
I get that they're trying to cut any loose ends by ridding themselves of plots that won't be essential in the long run but they knew when they were writing the scripts that the western part of Westeros was going to be taken by the Lannisters. Something that huge deserves way more screen time than it got. I just can't get how shortening the series by 3 episodes was justified.
Still, it was a good episode. Olenna wasn't going out without fúckin with a Lannister. I reckon Jaime will take Olenna's words to heart, if he doesn't it will be the completion of Dan and Daves destruction of the Jaime Lannister redemption arc.

I always go into each episode with high expectations, but find myself coming out wanting more then i've got.

Jon Snow and Deanerys' meeting didn't feel right to me despite all the anticipation I had for it all week. Deanerys just comes off as really unlikable sometimes, and a self entitled brat. It was like listening to a child the way Deanerys was talking. I guess I shouldn't have expected any less from her after watching all the other seasons.

I was kind've hoping that Jon Snow would mention Aemon Targayren to Deanerys. It might have been a way for Jon to break the ice. Telling Deanerys all about him. Maybe he still will.

Sansa and Bran's reunion was a little flat. I kind've felt sorry for Sansa trying to talk to Bran but not getting much out of him.

I thought the battle scenes were rushed but I guess they're strapped for time. Nonetheless smart move by the Lannisters pulling their forces out of Casterly Rock and attacking Highgarden. Now House Tyrell is out of the picture and another ally for Deanerys has been defeated.

Hope Sansa doesn't hold the door...

Bronn and Randall Tarley now that's an intimidating duo of stooges.

Lady Olenna leading Jamie down the betrayal garden path step by step, just perfectly done.

Ser Davos has some mouth on him.

The obvious thing now is that bran would know what little finger was up to?

Kunkka wrote: »

Bran: i see everything. I saw you on your wedding night. you were beautiful in your white wedding dress.
Sansa: I have to go
Bran: Theon wasn't the only one watching. It was hot.
Sansa: STOP IT

Jaysus.

Good episode but very rushed.

Great episode. I know it has a 'rushed' feeling to it, but that's just relative to what's gone before. The battles are really just skirmishes in prelude to the 'great war' against the Night's King. I think we're heading towards a kind of stalemate and that's what these battles are about.

Bran's getting more and more detached from the present. Anything he says now is intended to shape events. So I think his vision of Sansa's wedding night is to remind her of Littlefinger's part in that. He also has 'things to tell Jon'. I think we can figure that out...

awec wrote: »

They've gone from one extreme of having too much filler and build up to the other extreme of having hardly any. It does seem very rushed and will take a bit of getting used to.

Was a decent episode but the Bran and Sansa reunion was really underwhelming. Initially I thought it was going to be an Arya reunion, I guess that'll be next week.

What does Bran have to tell Jon? I have forgotten most of Bran's backstory.

Perhaps that he isnt a Stark at all and is a Targaryen? Perhaps all he knows about the white walkers and dead? Or about the runes in the wall? Bran has done lots. Actually felt his spacey act in this episode was a little disappointing. Hope 'something' plot devicey doesnt come along and stop Bran from telling everyone all he knows.

Quick paced episode but enjoyed it.

Tyrion / Jon banter was good.

Davos was great.

We got a battle in there at the very least. (and got to see the unsullied fight - they seem good at it).

Also relished the Olenna reveal. Sad to see her go.

It did feel like a tying up loose ends episode, but there are so many to tie up, it was bound to come along. Good to see some closure on stories from previous seasons.

neirbloom wrote: »

Jon is actually Rhaegar Targaryens son Daenerys brother, which would make Daenerys Jons aunt.

Or at the very least, that he's Lyanna Stark's son.

That in itself would be important.

I bet my house that Sam will find something important in those books/scrolls he has to copy.

Daleyza Better Headphone wrote: »

Euron handing Ellaria over ("finger up her bum" come on ffs..)

Perhaps foreshadowing the mockingbird being used

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Yeah, she's an absolutely brilliant character.

I know we've all to suspend our disbelief about the time hoping and geography skipping, but my understanding was that the planned Dornish and Tyrell siege of Kings landing would be more or less simultaneous with the unsullied attack on Casterly Rock. Euron and his boys are fairly getting around with that navy of theirs.

Well they probably would have been had Yara actually made it to Dorne. If we work off the sequence from last week, Cersei and Euron's 'alliance' came before Daenerys' arrival at Dragonstone. So Cersei has been a temporal step ahead of her. Olenna got back to Highgarden, presumably to rally her bannermen and move on KL. But we also know that one of those bannermen has sided with Cersei. That may have delayed Olenna even if she had got to Highgarden earlier than Yara was supposed to get to Dorne.

So the timeline would be something like this:

1. Euron allies with Cersei and heads off (presumably to Dorne). Cersei's plan to attack and weaken her enemies is formulated around now. Jaime heads to Highgarden with the Tarlys.
2. Daenerys arrives at Dragonstone.
3. She sends the Martells back to Dorne with Yara and Olenna back to Highgarden to gather their troops.
4. Euron waylays Yara and destroys her fleet capturing Yara, Ellaria and Tyene.
5. Euron heads back to KL with his prisoners, but sends some (or most) of his fleet on to Casterly Rock. Since CR is a trap, the assumption is that Jaime/Cersei have already lined him up to do this.

Now I'm making a few assumptions here, but it was clear from last week's episode that the Euron Cersei alliance happened before Dany even arrived at Dragonstone.

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

I think you might be giving the writers a bit too much credit there.

My impression would be that they're just going to use the various armies and fleets however they feel like it, even though it might not make the most sense geographic-or-timeline-wise.

They've never made any secret of the fact that they don't want to fill the show with meaningless travelogues. It's a given that we won't see people travelling long distances the way we did in the first season. Most of that time was spent in developing the characters anyway, like Jon and Tyrion getting to know each other.