Came to 'Game of Thrones' fairly late in the game and due to being so busy the binge-watching was gradual. Have found myself truly loving the show, very quickly becoming one of my favourites. It totally lives up to the hype and not only does it do the brilliant source material justice (a rarity in television) it is on its own merits one of the finest, most addictive and consistently compelling shows in recent years and quality-wise it puts a lot of films in recent years to shame.
While mostly liking "Dragonstone" and "Stormborn", the previous episodes of Season 7, they were of the "starting the season promisingly and decently but not entirely satisfyingly" kind. "The Queen's Justice" is quite a big improvement, and definitely one of Season 7's better episodes as can be seen by it being one of the best-received episodes of the season. It may not be 'Game of Thrones' at its very best or quite prime 'Game of Thrones', but it very nearly is.
"The Queen's Justice" starts off a little too slowly perhaps and Euron is still not particularly well written.
It is well worth the watch however for a lot of things. The Jon and Daenerys scenes have a lot of passion and intensity, there is a lot of tension and emotion and the climactic scenes are just riveting and sees a great character go out in style. In an episode that largely is a perfect mix of intricate character writing and interaction and pointed action.
It follows on from the previous two episodes setting things and putting it all into place, and expands on them and even more. Things are more eventful than before, more intricate, have more tension in the character relationships, characters and storylines show better progression, there's very little if at all padding and nothing really jars.
All the acting is on point, with Diana Rigg in particular giving the season's first proper tour-De-force performance.
Visually, it looks amazing, as one would expect for 'Game of Thrones'. The scenery is throughout spectacular, the sets are hugely atmospheric and beautiful on the eyes with a real meticulous eye for detail and the costumes suit the characters to a tee. The make-up is beautifully done. As well the cinematography and editing, which are cinematic quality as well.
One cannot not mention the thematically, orchestrally and atmospherically multi-layered music scoring and the unforgettable main theme. Again, worthy of a high-budget fantasy/action/drama film.
Layers, passion and sensitivity galore in the writing as well. The characters are very compellingly written and the interaction is handled intelligently. Most of the episode is very well paced and tight when it gets going.
Overall, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox
