Game of Thrones (HBO)

I liked the ruthlessness of it. In that regard, it felt like earlier seasons, where it was carnage, and it felt like anyone can go at any moment. I know there is some criticism towards Dany's mad queen arc feeling very rushed, which I can agree with, but I always felt she was someone teetering on the edge, and I also feel like that's one of the big themes of the show. The idea that, regardless of who is in power, it will corrupt, and despite what that ruler may say, they are going to do whatever it takes to achieve what they want.

Thrones always operates best in the grey area, and with her actions last night, it was intense. With that one action, she has basically done one of, if not the worst things on the show, and I like they went there. It was inevitable, and yes maybe even a little rushed, but once she started burning, it didn't let up.

Not loving the whole Jamie/Cersei ending though. So much for that prophecy.

Arya's ultimate motivation to kill Cersi was to end the war before it began and prevent the bloodshed. Mission failed. Bloodshed's already happening and one way or another Cersi is doomed. Any further attempts to kill her would have served no purpose other than pure revenge and The Hound's pep talk had already dissuaded her from that.

Ditto Jamie. His ultimate goal in sneaking into the city was to talk Cersi down, having failed at that he tried escaping with his life but got mortally wounded by Euron. As such the only logical thing to do with the remaining moments of life was go back to Cersi and see what happens.

They both had logical-ish plans, they just didn't work out as expected.

It's all there in her last conversation with Jon where she invokes what we know as the Machiavellian rule of monarchy: that a prince must either be loved or feared. Dany finally realizes she's never going to be greeted as a liberator in Westeros and that her one hope of leveraging Jons popularity to prop her up was dead all that she had left to really prop up her future dynasty was to demonstrate that she had a WMD, that she was willing to use it, and that resistance was futile.

Presumably she's going to pump the brakes after the battle and tell everyone that she's only going to be "mad" to the people who are against her, resulting in most people bending the knee immediately. I doubt she sees Tyrian as much of a threat and she probably plans to have Jon killed to snuff out his claim to the throne. From there she just needs to take her chances with Arrya.

Yeah... so like he said, in just mere days she went mad. This was an opportunity to show mercy and gain love/respect in addition to fear, so I don't buy the logic train. She should have been smarter, but even if she was going to be stupid, there was ways to show her having gone stupid/mad without going full on RETARD-stupid/mad.

I'm more annoyed if George RR Martin told them that this is where she ends up, and they didn't build her up to this point until this season, over maybe the last couple episodes at most. If you're going to have her flip, build up to it over the last season at least. She hasn't been totally seeking power from the get go or anything. It's not like we saw her rush back to take the iron throne. She even stayed behind longer to try to make sure cities she helped liberate remained slaveless. They built her up as someone wanting to do good, more than just simply claiming her birthright. Which of course is fine. That's good. It makes her fall all the more tragic. I just wish they dealt with it a little more than simply burning a couple guys who wouldn't bend the knee.

Even this sudden jump could have been done better, though. I figured as soon as the soldiers laid down their swords she was going to torch them all (and as a result maybe some innocents on the sidelines). That alone would make people doubt her. She didn't have to burn the entire city down with every single person in it. It just felt forced and unbelievable.

I'm honestly not caring for the season at all. That was just one issue I had with the episode, but there were plenty of others that I found myself rolling my eyes at. The Jamie fight, the Cleganebowl, them lining up while they wait for possible surrender(?), and Cercei's demise. No idea how it's going to recover in the final episode. This has felt heavily like GOT fan fiction more than actual Game of Thrones.

He's not. I mean, obviously they don't have the books anymore, but he at least helped on previous seasons. He stopped helping on the show altogether for some reason. But at the very least, supposedly all the final takes on the characters, where they end up and how they are, are supposed to have been told to them long ago. Just how they're getting to those takes is written fresh from D&D.

I’ve heard it’s so he can focus on the books, but those obviously aren’t getting made anytime soon, so....

Yeah, I’m not sure why only he would know that either.

But where are the boobs?

I hope Danyrus becomes MAD QUEEN by trying to fight everyone naked