Much like last week’s premiere, the second episode of Game of Thrones’ seventh season mostly involved a lot of plotting and setup work for later episodes, but it did deliver a pretty significant naval battle that struck a blow against Daenerys Targaryen’s plans for conquering Westeros. Additionally, we saw quite a few storylines begin to converge, an unconventional sex scene, and a reunion we’ve been waiting for since the first season. Here are my 10 biggest questions after watching “Stormborn.”
10. Can Varys Be Trusted?
One of the best scenes in this week’s episode was the speech Varys gave to Daenerys about why he supports her claim for the Iron Throne/why she should spare his life despite him helping plot an assassination plot against her while serving King Robert. We got a fascinating dive into why people might be distrustful of another Targaryen ruling the Seven Kingdoms (they don’t call Dany’s father the “Mad King” for nothing) and how Varys is at heart a champion of the people and is only loyal to rulers he believes are loyal to the people.
While Tyrion vouches for Varys and helps convince Dany not to feed the eunuch to her dragons, the whole scene does draw attention to the fact that Varys would be a hard man for any potential king or queen to trust. Though Varys swears that he will be straight with Daenerys if he ever takes issue with the way she is ruling, it’s hard not to get the sense that the Master of Whispers may be up to something.
HBO