Originally Posted by
Sarethion
First of all... I think that after this episode there's no doubt that the leaks were legit. I guess all we have left now is to see the great finale in which Jon kills Daenerys and takes the black, leaving the kingdom to Tyrion and our new king - Bran "I don't want anymore and mostly live in the past" Stark. Sigh.
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As for the actual episode... I'm not going to lie - I didn't like it, but before I explain why, let me mention some of the good parts, because luckily there were a couple of nice moments in this episode too:
1. I loved the horror of the city being destroyed. It was a little dragged out, sure, but overall it was both beautiful and terrifying to watch. The best part about it was how eventually the Lannister troops and Cersei were shown as "good guys" and I actually felt bad for them.
2. Arya and the Hound. They were literally the best thing about this episode. That scene where the Hound stops Arya from going after Cersei and she calls him "Sandor" and thanks him... Just perfect. A great end to a great story between two great characters. Then was the whole sequence of Arya trying to escape, while the Hound fought the Mountain. Yes, the latter was basically fanservice, but I liked it. Just as much as Arya trying to save that woman who saved her earlier. Good stuff.
3. Finally, I liked the scene Jaimie and Tyrion had together. It was touching and I'm really happy that Tyrion didn't "kind of forget" about basically saying goodbye to his older brother and the only real family he ever had.
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Now, the bad stuff...
1. Drogon wrapped in the plot armor.
I guess Daenerys smartened up and put some of that plot armor on her last dragon before the battle. It was so bad I actually laughed. I mean - you say that a couple of ships were able to easily take down Rheagal flying high in the air and basically force Daenerys to retreat on Drogon, but now Danny just swooped in and destroyed the whole Iron Fleet and the city walls armed to the teeth with scorpions without any issues despite flying super close to them? What the actual fuck?
2. The "LOL Company".
The Golden Company, heralded as the best mercenaries the money could buy, literally didn't do anything in this episode. They didn't even put up a fight. They just stood there looking cool and then they were dead. Their leader died running, the survivors died running. Like come on... If you set up this deadly mercenary company that's presented as a legit threat in earlier episodes and invest time to show Cersei figure out how to buy them, at least give them a short battle scene, not just slaugther them in a few seconds...
3. The "big battle".
It was very lackluster. Yes, the scene where the gate blows up from inside looked cool, but that's about the only thing that was nice about the whole battle sequence. The LOL Company didn't even put up a fight, the Iron Fleet burned in a few seconds, the scorpions on the walls didn't do anything... Even the Lannister forces, who at least tried to resist here and there, were ultimately just there to be slaugthered. I get it, this was supposed to be a decisive victory to emphasize that Daenerys didn't need to burn the city and make the viewer feel worse that she decided to do so. Fine, but you can't win a battle that just isn't there - and this wasn't a battle, it was a slaugther.
4. The elephant in the room - the city surrenders.
Let's recap - Daenerys used Drogon (now with +10 to Evasion plot armor) to rotflstomp the Iron Fleet and the city walls. The LOL Company and the Lannister troops were slaugthered, the walls breached... All of that in like what - 5 minutes? We saw clearly that Jon's army was comfortably marching through the city, the remaining Lannister forces were surrendering en masse, the bells were rung to signal that the city defenders give up. Just before she snapped, Daenerys was already victorious. King's Landing was basically hers. All that was left was to accept the surrender, take prisoners and march to the Red Keep to seize Cersei.
Why would I have a problem with that? Well, ever since Daenerys landed in Westeros, we've been told that the only reason she doesn't just attack King's Landing is because she doesn't want to risk killing innocent civilians. Today we've seen that Daenerys was perfectly capable of achieving a complete victory and taking the city with minimal collateral damage. She didn't burn the city, she didn't murder innocent people - her victory was overall really clean, much cleaner in fact than most sieges and city assaults in history.
Now, if Daenerys was able to take the city without any effort and with minimal collateral damage now when her forces were depleted in the North, two of her Dragons were killed and the enemy had the time to build a ton of scorpions and hire a huge mercenary company - why couldn't she have done it earlier when her advantage over Cersei was even bigger?
Back then there wasn't even any need for a battle. Daenerys could have just taken Drogon into the harbor to burn the Iron Fleet and destroy the city walls on her way back. Heck, it would have been even easier, because there weren't nearly as many scorpions... After that, just ask Cersei to parlay, show her the wight and basically say this: "well, we have this to deal with in the North, so I'll make it quick - your city defenses are destroyed, your fleet is gone, I have a lot more troops and two dragons that you have no way to deal with - surrender the city now, commit your armies to our expedition north and I will let you live out the rest of your life in an exile; either that or we'll storm your defenseless city tomorrow and kill you".
I doubt Cersei would refuse, but even if she did, Danny could have just taken the dragons on a couple of rounds above the city and burn some of that desert that apparently is around King's Landing now for extra fear value, while Varys uses his spies to distribute a message to the Lannister soldiers and the people - "we're only after Cersei, surrender now and you will be shown mercy". I bet that a lot, if not most would surrender and the Unsullied could just march into the city and take it without any issues. Bonus points for securing the Lannister forces for the expedition north.
So why didn't Daenerys do it? Or more importantly, why didn't Tyrion advise her to try something like that instead of constantly stopping her from attacking King's Landing? He's supposed to be smart. I mean, he was smart, because last season the writers have purposefully made him a total idiot that's only capable of giving bad advice that does nothing, but harm her queen, so that the instead of having a story that actually makes sense, the show could end with a surprise twist where it's Cersei, not the Night King, who is the final "villain". Sigh.
5. Northern Bloodlust.
I get that soldiers are often carried away in battle. I understand that Greyworm is not in a good place and wants blood. I get that the Unsullied are loyal to him and that the Dothraki are generally happy to kill and rape and other... stuff. Fine. But soldiers from the North and the Vale who have just been traumatized by fighting the dead and had to endure a long march for a queen they don't generally like? Why on Earth would they join the slaugther when their commander who they've previously elected as their king straight up orders them to stop? What? I get that a couple could have went berserk, but the vast majority of northern armies should have stayed in line with Jon.
6. The Ceiling Boss.
I went into this episode knowing that Cersei is going to die and thinking that the Night King dying to Arya's "Teleportation Strike" was the worst villain death D&D could muster, but man, was I wrong. My worst case scenario was that Arya will kill Cersei, but when I saw that the one who got to do the deed was the Ceiling Boss, I wish that it was Arya. Or anyone else. The Hound, Greyworm, Daenerys on the dragon, Jaimie... Not the f...ing ceiling. So disappointing.
7. The Golden Hand problem.
Let me get this out of the way - I'm fine that Jaimie abandoned Brienne to go rescue his sister/love of his life and their child. Despite what people might say about "throwing his character development and redemption arc out of the window", it actually made perfect sense as I've previously explained in this topic. In short, Jaimie was always set up as a dramatic character that can't catch a break and whatever he does, it will not lead to a happy ending. He has also always valued his family above all else. It would have felt more out of place if he just chilled in the North while Danny murdered his sister and their child. I have no doubts that Jaimie heading down to King's Landing felt bad for people who liked him, but that choice made perfect sense and it wasn't "bad writing" - just the outcome that we didn't like. However...
I get why Jaimie agreed to Tyrion's plan, even though chances are that Cersei wouldn't listen to him anyway. Whatever, let him try. What struck me as odd in this episode is Jaimie's journey to King's Landing. First of all, Jaimie has a headstart on Danny's army. Moreover, armies usually march a lot slower than a single person. So how on Earth did Jaimie reach King's Landing just before the attack started and not literally hours earlier? The only somewhat feasible explanation is that Tyrion fucked up and didn't provide Jaimie with a horse, though if this was the case then Tyrion is even dumber than I've thought. Why? Well, Tyrion's whole plan relied on Jaimie convincing Cersei to give up - if so, it would make sense to get Jaimie as much time with Cersei as humanly possible, so that he'd have more time to get her to listen. This could be achieved by getting Jaimie to King's Landing as fast as possible by, for instance, making sure he has a horse waiting for him. And if Tyrion was able to plant a boat near the city, he should have also been able to get one horse ready for Jaimie. But even if this was the case, most of Daenerys's army was marching on foot, so Jaimie should have been able to easily outrun them. Especially considering that they likely weren't that far from the city.
But nope, Jaimie had to arrive right before the battle for the extra drama. So now we don't just have a show that allows characters to teleport, but also slows them down to a snail's pace if that's convenient for the plot. Awesome. But wait, there's more. Jaimie says he was captured, because the northeners have seen the golden hand, even though he somehow managed to get all the way north and into Winterfell before... Anyway - why didn't Jaimie show his golden hands to the guards the moment he entered the city, but waited until the gates closed? It's not like the Lannister troops would have killed him on the spot, even if Cersei officially declared her brother an enemy of the state. For f... sake, Jaimie, just show the damn hand to literally the first guard you see. The worst that will happen is that they will seize you and escort you straight to Cersei, which is what you want. Like, come on...
8. The bells.
Finally... The big issue that most people will be angry about - Denerys. I liked her and I'm sad to see her become full on Mad Queen, but... I get it - she lost Jorah and Missandei, two of her closest friends. Plus two of her dragons/children are dead. Plus the people she was risking her life for don't love or even appreciate her. Finally the man she loves has a better claim to the throne, putting her life's goal at risk. And now also doesn't want to be with her, because they're family. No matter how you put it, that's way more than enough to break Danny.
She didn't go full on Mad Queen, because she's a Targaryen and her coin landed on the wrong side - she did it, because of all the trauma the writers put her through this season. It's a completely rational outcome - just like with Jaimie: it's not bad writing, just the outcome many won't like. Perhaps it should have been less rushed, the whole "Imma fly and burn civilians" part could have been skipped and some steps along the way (like Missandei's capture) could have been better written, but personally I'm fine with this development. I mean - I wish it was different, but it was actually one of the few things this season that were actually pretty well set up and make sense.
What I've hated, though, was that the straw that broke the camel's back were the bells... How? Why? Why not make some Lannister loyalist charge and kill Greyworm (he's useless now anyway) while Daenerys watches from that building? Or have Cersei detonate some wildfire on Danny's toops? Anything that could actually trigger Danny, not some stupid bells ringing to signal the city's surrender. Sigh.
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Overall, this was a really stunning episode from the visual side of things, but even though it has some nice moments, it once again gets dragged down by some really stupid and terrible writing, some examples of which I've listed above. It's a shame. Game of Thrones used to be this one show that made sense and even though sometimes it hurt your feelings, you enjoyed watching it. This season, though... It just hurts to watch. Bummer.
P.S. I know it's too long and nobody will read it, but damn... I really had to vent after this episode.