To conclude Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 2, this HBO epic delivered a lengthy battle scene on the sea that resulted in countless deaths and multiple key kidnappings.
But things slowed down considerably on Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 3.
At least in terms of action.
There were two major battles during the fascinating hour, but one took place over Tyrion’s narration, while the other was covered in a couple very quick glimpses and a conversation between Jaime and Olenna.
In place of endless sword play, “The Queen’s Revenge” moved the plot along via three significant meetings, one of which had been anticipated by viewers perhaps more than any other storyline over the past six-plus seasons.
So we have to start there, don’t we?
We have to start with Fire at least meeting Ice…
Jon meeting Daenerys was revelatory, interesting and, yes, even funny.
The introduction opened with Missandei running down all of Dany’s nicknames, only for Davos to respond with the very short, simple and straightforward, “This is Jon Snow.”
It ended with our two heroes on a similar page, but only after a few tense back-and-forths.
Dany wants Jon to bend the knee and pledge her his loyalty.
But why would he do such a thing?
Her father murdered members of his family; he doesn’t know her at all; and there’s a far bigger battle everyone needs to worry about than the relatively meaningless happenings in Westeros.
His argument made sense.
Conversely, Dany has been focused on the Iron Throne for years, through torture and rape and captivity and many, many stops before arriving at Dragonstone.
She doesn’t have the time or patience to consider The Night’s King.
She doesn’t really have any reason to believe Jon Snow and abandon the journey she’s been on this entire time, either.
Her argument also made sense.
In the end (for now), Dany allowed Jon to mine the Dragonglass for his supposed war, as a temporary truce of sorts was reached.
Over at King’s Landing, meanwhile, Euron delivered Ellaria and the surviving Sand Snake to Cersi.
He was awarded not with any sex with Cersei just yet, but with a prominent spot in her army.
And Ellaria was punished in the most evil way Cersei could think of, which boiled down to the following:
Cersei poisoned Ellaria’s daughter in the same way that Ellaria had poisoned Cersei’s daughter, only both Ellaria and her child were chained in the same room together.
The captured Dorne resident would be forced to watch her daughter wither away and die, and would then remain Cersei’s captor forever, sitting across from her child’s corpse for all of eternity.
Classic Cersei, right?
Finally, after taking Dorne with his men, Jaime encountered Olenna.
She was resigned to her fate. She knew she was about to die.
And after Jaime assured her that the poison in her wine glass would lead to a peaceful death, she took the opportunity to get the final, cruel say.
She admitted that she killed Joffrey and she told Jaime to pass this tidbit on to Cersei.
With that, Jaime left the room; shocked, angry, upset, shown up.
Also this week, Brann returned to Winterfell and told a confused Sansa that he’s the Three-Eyed Raven… and Sam cured Jorah, who was told to leave The Citadel.
In other words: a whole lot went down, even if most of it was conveyed via various conversations across the Seven Kingdoms.
What did you think of Dany and Jon coming face-to-face after all this time?
Did the meeting surpass expectations or fall beneath them?