Oh my god, you guys! It happened! After seven seasons (and multiple decades for book readers), Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow have finally met!
Last week, we explored why this meeting was so monumental, and how the pair have been on parallel journeys that have literally been leading them up to this point. We knew it was going to be a big scene. And boy, did it deliver. There's so much to unpack – so let's dive in.
First up, let's take a moment to appreciate the reunion of Jon and Tyrion. It's actually quite touching...
...with some nice callbacks to when they were last together in Season 1.
Meanwhile, Davos is on a trip down memory lane himself.
His throwaway line about how much the place has changed was a reference to when he lived at Dragonstone with Stannis Baratheon. He set Gendry off in his boat, never to be seen again (yet), from these very shores.
Tyrion addresses the whole awkward "I was kinda your brother-in-law once but not really" thing, and acknowledges how smart Sansa is.
I am so here for this, and especially Jon's reply of "she's starting to let on". People recognising and appreciating Sansa Stark is my aesthetic. Also I am super interested in seeing Tyrion and Sansa reunite at some point.
And then it gets REALLY GOOD. Tyrion mentions that Stark men don't fare well in the south (referring to Ned and Robb's deaths, as well as those of Rickard and Brandon), to which Jon says "I'm not a Stark." It's at this moment that Jon sees his first dragon.
Talk about ramming home R+L=J.
Cut to Melisandre saying she's done her job because she's brought ice and fire together, confirming just how important this meeting is.
But we haven't even gotten to the meeting yet! And what a meeting it was. First off, the contrast between Daenerys and Jon was so beautifully done in the recital of their names and titles.
It was hilarious, but also immediately established a whole yin-and-yang-type complementary connection between them.
Then they speak to each other for the first time.
Daenerys, being Daenerys, shows no respect for Jon's title, while Jon, being Jon, does the opposite.
"The winds were kind" also feels like a small nod to the inevitable jokes about how quickly Jon has travelled from Winterfell to Dragonstone.
Dany wants Jon to bend the knee, but he refuses, and the tension is so damn good.
There was a lot of speculation about how Daenerys and Jon would react to each other when they met, and whether they would fight or fuck, as Kit Harington once put it. As it stands, they're somewhere in the middle. There's friction, there are lines being drawn, it could go either way...but I'm pretty sure it's gonna flip to fucking. See above re: pregnancy theory. The later scenes in the episode also suggest the pair are coming around to each other (more on that in a sec).
And yeah, they're related. But this is Game of Thrones, where, for better or worse, incest happens – in fact, it's even desirable for Targaryens.
Then we get this nice callback to the last episode, reinforcing the parallels between Jon and Dany and how they're basically two sides of the same coin.
There's a great moment where Jon throws Dany's words back at her, saying if she can't be blamed for her father's actions, he can't be held accountable for his ancestor's oath to the Targaryens.
Meanwhile, all the talk about the "sins of the father" could be foreshadowing the reveal that Rhaegar is Jon's father. The ~popular~ tale is that Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna Stark, and it's likely Jon will have to grapple with that when he finds out his true parentage (even though a lot of people believe Lyanna actually ran away with Rhaegar).
Daenerys declares that she's the last Targaryen, which we know isn't true. It's so perfect that she's saying this to the very person who disproves it.
Then Daenerys brings up how Robert Baratheon tried to have her killed, and references Ned's potential part in it.
We know the opposite is true, of course – something that takes on SO MUCH more meaning after the Tower of Joy scene in Season 6.
Ned resigned as Hand over Robert wanting to murder Daenerys back in Season 1. But he also sacrificed his honour and spent his whole life keeping a secret to protect another Targaryen baby from Robert. (That'd be Jon.)
Dany's speech here is a very "yaaass queen" moment. It's the first time Jon is really getting an understanding of who he's dealing with. It's also the first time Daenerys has explicitly mentioned the fact that she was raped.
She was clearly traumatised by being sold to Khal Drogo – her passion to free Slaver's Bay stemmed from feeling like a slave herself. And though she went on to love him (she noted in Season 3 how "people learn to love their chains"), he DID rape her. Repeatedly. In a show that has relied heavily on sexual violence against women, and indeed puts Danaerys in a romantic relationship with her rapist, it's great to finally see some of that acknowledged on screen. It builds on the scene where Sansa confronted Littlefinger with the fact that Ramsay raped her back in Season 6.
Of course, Jon has tales to tell of his own. But, as with the titles (or lack thereof), it's up to Davos to recite them. And rather than pulling out his trump card of being revived from the dead (really, Dany, the unburnt? Try being THE UNDEAD), Jon cuts Davos off.
Presumably the truth will be revealed to Dany at a later point, perhaps in a moment that will cement their alliance (*cough* ice and fire baby *cough*). Jon has really tried to downplay the fact he was dead ever since it happened. Aside from probably being a touchy subject, it's likely he feels uncomfortable with the connotations. This was evident in the scene in Season 6 when he questioned Melisandre about why he was brought back, why he was ~chosen~. Of course, there's also the fact that since he's having trouble convincing people that White Walkers are real, he probably knows that claiming to have come back from the dead himself won't help his cause.
(Although don't ask me why Daenerys, who has emerged unscathed from fire TWICE and who brought dragons back into the world, has any doubt about the existence of White Walkers, but here we are.)
Jon, as upfront as ever, explains he doesn't trust Daenerys because he doesn't know her. But there's a VERY interesting reference to how her claim to the throne rests on her father's name.
Let's skip ahead to the next scene between Jon and Daenerys (yes, we were blessed with TWO in one episode). Jon approaches Dany as she watches her dragons, and Dany actually mentions Rhaegar's name to him (and I just about died).
The reference to how they've both lost two brothers once again reinforces the parallels between them. And that last line is the kicker: "People thought dragons were gone forever, but here they are."
People thought the Targaryens were gone forever, but here Jon and Daenerys are.
Finally, there's one more nod to Rhaegar – Jon says he doesn't enjoy what he's good at, which is obviously a reference to killing. Just like his father before him.
The scene ends with Dany giving Jon permission to mine for dragonglass, as he requested, and then looking rather thoughtfully at him. So yeah, they're coming around to each other.
Ahem.
In short: amazing scenes, amazing episode, bring on MORE OF THIS PLEASE.
