Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 2 Review
What the second episode of this season’s Game of Thrones lacked in “action”, it more than made up for with the continuous placement of dominoes destined to fall. An expedited meeting of two of the show’s most prominent characters, an actual meeting between the growing legion of characters seeking to overthrow Cersei and the Lannisters, and a brutal confrontation highlight another quality episode in Stormborn. Now is where you should stop reading, because SPOILERS.
Episode 2 begins where 1 left off, in Dragonstone. Daenerys is displeased with what she hoped would have been a “homecoming” of sorts for her. She listens to Varys’ claim that most of Westeros despises their new queen, and would love nothing more than a revolution led by the Mother of Dragons. Daenerys is skeptical of Varys’ loyalty, and she reminds the Spider that he preferred her “cruel, stupid and weak” brother as a ruler. She also points out Varys’ history of disloyalty to his kings, including her father. Only slightly shaken, Varys maintains his loyalty to her, and “the people”, above anything else. Afterwards, Melisandre arrives to advise Daenerys to meet with the chosen one in the North, Jon Snow. Daenerys agrees, as long as Jon “bends the knee”.
Jon is skeptical when he receives Tyrion’s raven requesting the meeting with Daenerys. Sansa praises Tyrion’s kindness, but reminds Jon that he is a Lannister. Ser Davos intervenes and mentions that dragon fire is one of the very few weapons that can kill white walkers. Which, you know, could be a major fucking resource for the North’s fight against the Night King and his army. Still, Jon is unsure.
Another quick transition brings us to King’s Landing, where Cersei is cooking up some Donald Trump-esque fear-mongering to a group of lords loyal to the Crown. Sam’s shitty dad, Randyll Tarly, is one of the more prominent lords Cersei addresses, claiming that Daenerys’ cruelty knows no bounds, and she emailed, err, crucified several noblemen in Mereen to claim the throne. Jaime approaches Randyll after the meeting, and beseeches him to pledge allegiance to House Lannister, going as far as promising him the title of Warden of the South. Lord Tarly maintains that he isn’t an “oathbreaker”, but it’s obvious that he’s interested in Jaime’s offer. Later on, Qyburn introduces Cersei to a revolutionary crossbow that’s been designed to kill dragons. Cersei launches a shot at the skeleton of one of the Mad King’s dragons, and the skull nearly explodes.
Lady Olenna and Ellaria Sand join the council in Dragonstone to discuss Daenerys’ plans. Immediately, Ellaria and Tyrion trade shots (I’m partial to Tyrion’s echoing of Oberyn’s “we don’t poison little girls” line), and Daenerys shuts it down immediately, reminding everyone that they’re on the same side. Despite the revenge-oriented ideas from her new contemporaries, Daenerys holds steady in her desire to not attack King’s Landing right away. Tyrion, who has a more familiar military mind in Westeros, suggests using Westerosi soldiers if a siege were to occur, because the people of King’s Landing would respond more positively to locals fronting the attack. When asked what the point of the Unsullied Army is, then, Tyrion unravels his plan to engage an attack on the unsuspecting Casterly Rock, to the unanimous approval of the council. (Side note, the “goodbye” scene with Missandei and Greyworm was cute as fuck).
Meanwhile, at the Citadel, Sam finds himself engrossed in another heroic endeavor: curing Jorah of Greyscale. Which, yeah. Jorah’s been a good, sometimes even great character. Same with Sam. But come the fuck on, guys. What’s a 60-year-old dude gonna do other than die a martyr for Daenerys? What’s a portly guy who’s fifty shades too nice for this type of show gonna do other than pose a suggestion to a higher-up (we’ll get to that later) to have an auxiliary role in saving everybody? But alas, Sam goes against the Citadel’s increasingly frustrating disinterest in treating its patients and begins to scrape off Jorah’s gross, crusty scabs.
After much deliberation, Jon tells his men that he’s going to meet with Daenerys, and the men predictably freak out. Sansa, again, challenges his decisions in front of of everyone, reminding him that the Mad King fried their grandfather. Jon reacts with a much cooler head this time, naming Sansa the interim “queen” in his absence. Jon admits that he never wanted to be king (fueling speculation that he’ll have no problem helping Daenerys reach the Iron Throne). Before departing, he visits the cemetery below Winterfell, and is encroached upon by the worst person to be encroached upon by, Littlefinger. Petyr again oversteps his boundaries, professing his love for Catlyn and now Sansa, as well as a self-congratulatory pat on the back for his role in the Battle of the Bastards, and Jon nearly chokes him out. As Jon rides off with Davos, Littlefinger is left with plenty of room to plot, which is never a good thing.
Arya apparently restrained herself from killing Ed Sheeran, and we find her at a tavern reunited with Hot Pie, whom I dearly missed. Hopefully this means they fucking bring back Gendry, too. But anyway, Hot Pie relays some very crucial information Arya was unaware of: The Boltons are dead, and Jon is King of the North. Which is great, but Jon just left, meaning Arya’s going to stumble into Winterfell without a family to greet her (assuming Sansa’s been sold into a sex trafficking cult by Littlefinger by the time she gets there). After leaving the tavern and her old friend, Arya is ambushed by a pack of wolves, led by her long-lost pet direwolf from Seasons 1, Nymeria. Arya pleads with her wolf to come with her to Winterfell, but Nymeria is despondent and walks away. It was a strange, sad moment, because Arya’s allies are so thin at this point.
The final scene of Stormborn will likely be the most memorable. It begins with Yara and Ellaria salaciously flirting (so much for the Yara-hooking-up-with-Daenerys fan theory). A passionate kiss is abruptly interrupted by a loud bang, and dread begins to set in without even advancing to visual proof: Euron’s attacking the ship. Sure enough, Yara and Theon head upstairs from the ships cabin to find just that. Several ships with Greyjoy banners are launching fiery shots toward their modest vessels. Euron himself jumps aboard the ship and kills two Sand Snakes. After a brief battle with Yara, he gets her into a chokehold and yells out for “Little Theon”. Theon stares at his uncle and his sister, who’s either dead or going to dead. He looks around at the others, all of whom are in the same boat (no pun intended) as his sister. And at that moment, Theon decides to be Theon, and jumps ship, inciting gleeful cackling from Euron.
Now, did Theon bail because he’s the same coward we’ve known to hate from the beginning of the series; or, did he know that charging to save Yara meant he was a dead man, and that jumping would catch Euron off-guard and keep his sister alive long enough for him to formulate an attack? I’m very, very inclined to believe that latter, because I like Theon’s character a lot. He’s one of three characters (along with Jaime and Sandor Clegane) that have gone from deplorable to very likeable. He became borderline heroic when he saved Sansa from Ramsay. To throw away his burgeoning legacy as a former shithead redeemed as an unlikely savior would be disappointing, but also not out of question. The next episode’s impeding meeting between Jon and Daenerys will be the dominant plot-line, but with precious few episodes left, I’m looking for Theon’s character arc to be a focal point in the very near future.
