SPOILER ALERT: There are numerous spoilers in this, so if you have not yet seen Episode 5, Season 8 – Please wait until you have seen it before you read this.
That being said, for those that have seen it… Here goes. In a word “Wow.”
I intentionally did not post anything earlier today or last night after the show because I really wanted to absorb the whole episode. I will admit, I was seriously pissed off by the way the whole episode really went down once Daenerys snapped. However, now that it has sunken in a little and I have thought about it, there are elements that do not sound as crazy as I initially had thought.
Before the bells have tolled
Grey Worm’s reaction to the collar that Daenerys gives him
Initially, I thought it made sense, to throw Missandei’s collar away, that it was a statement that she was dead and thus her belongings ceased to have a purpose as well. Or perhaps that his anger over the loss of Missandei was too strong. But the more I think about it, the more I feel that it was simply a foreshadowing of Kings Landing and what Grey Worm and Daenerys would do.
Tyrion releasing Jamie
I thought that this particular scene was poignant in their relationship and also Tyrion’s desire to look after both Jamie and Cersei. I must say though that Jamie leaving Brienne was just plain stupid. There are those that would say that his heart was with Cersei or that he was concerned about the baby, or even that he had come to terms with the fact that he was a monster (which I believe that Brienne did a good job pointing out he was not and that people change). But I personally, find it stupid that Jamie should make this forward progress, knight Brienne and realize his place in things and want to return to the insanity of Ceresi.
Breaking the city and destroying the Iron Fleet
The Red Army stands at the gates facing the Unsullied and we know that the shit is about to hit the fan and suddenly the gate explodes from behind them to find that the attack was actually coming from somewhere else. Great scene and I found us strongly cheering on the destruction of the Iron Fleet. I am a little confused why she didn’t just do this in the previous episode but I suppose they needed to show the isolation of Dany in the beginning of Episode 5.
The destruction of the scorpions, the reaction of Cersei, the battle of the Unsullied as they traipsed through the city and destroyed Cersei’s men. It was all perfect until the tolling of the bells and we all know how that went.
The breaking of the good queen
Here is this woman that we have been rooting for, hoping she will lead as well as she has tried to for so long and then it happens. She is sitting upon Drogon looking out at everyone as the bells are ringing, she has won the last war, she is now the leader of the seven kingdoms and then she snaps. Or does she?
This is the part that we all stand questioning. What happened? Why did she break? Was it Jon turning her away? Was it her choice to rule through “fear”? I don’t think it was any of this and now I’m not completely convinced she broke. I know, that sounds crazy but hear me out.
We have this woman who, yes she feels isolated and alone and now threatened by Jon to a degree. But I don’t think any of this is enough to break her the way she appeared to be broken. She is much stronger than that. Think about the fact that we never saw her face after she made the decision. Daenerys takes a moment and as the bells toll, she looks toward the Red Keep and the entire city that layout before her. She looks out on a city that is not her city, it is Cersei’s city. A city built by her Mad Father, overthrown by the Lannisters and ruled by everyone that follows. The horrific things that Ceresi has done and all that has gone down with this. I think that she just wanted to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch.
Do I think there isn’t a level of insanity here given that she is killing men, women, and children? Yes. There is absolutely a level of insanity. But she also has no loyalty to these people. They have followed the Lannisters for a generation and she did not want any uprising from followers of previous leaders. I think that although she wants to rule over the seven kingdoms, she wants to destroy the iron throne and make a name for herself in all of Westeros and beyond.
Maybe I’m wrong?
Episode 6, Season 8 – End Game
Moving forward I think that it’s going to be some serious clean up that is going to have to occur next week. I have heard many people say that the writers are just sick of it all and they will kill everyone off. I don’t think it’s going to be that straight forward.
We still have Arya Stark who is trained as the faceless man. One theory I have is that she can appear as Missandei to Grey Worm, kill him, take his face and kill Daenerys. But I believe this would be trite and too easy (but hey, look how they killed off the Ice King).
Jon may retaliate on her as may Davos. It’s hard to tell. But we also can’t forget that now Sansa is in Winterfell and she is considered treasonous to Dany. So it really is hard to see where the next episode is going to go. I have a feeling we will see someone ruling that we would least expect. If the writers of the show have proven anything, they have proven to be less than predictable.