Review of Game of Thrones 7.3

A conversation for the ages between Jon and Daenerys on Game of Thrones 7.3 last night, with each not giving an inch, dignified and persuasive, and in the end, Daenerys agreeing more or less to help in the fight against the dead in the North.

Daenerys is not doing well in her other fight, against the Lanisters in red. Jaime faked out the Unsullied, had them attack a place where the bulk of the Lanister army was not, and in the process sent Olenna Tyrell to her just desert, too - just insofar as she horribly murdered Jaime's son Joffrey, who more than deserved to die, though not from Jaime's point of view -- at least, not completely.

In this episode, every word in every conversation, every second, counts -- much more so than in previous seasons. So it was also powerful to see Bran come home after all of these years, and it was good to see Mormont saved -- especially good because the agent of the save was Sam.

A few more words about that. There was something truly mythical about that saving, in the sense that Lord of the Rings and King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable are the stuff of myth. Not only that, but as I mentioned in a previous review, something Asimovian too, with Sam toiling in the Game of Thrones of equivalent of the Library of Trantor.

So what will Mormont now do with his second life? No doubt something crucial on behalf of his beloved Daenerys. And to return to the beginning of this reflection, she'll certainly need it. Though her dragons and their fire are no doubt the best weapon against the frozen hordes of the North, they're not invincible, not even against Lannister cunning and preparation.

Let the battles ensue and escalate.