Spoilers ahead!
Let's first address the elephant in the room: the Mad Queen plotline, which many fans hoped would turn out to be a red-herring after the last episode, turned out to be true, and it played out like a nightmare in the penultimate episode (episode 5), titled The Bells, of the Game of Thrones season 8.
To see the biggest fall from grace of one of the most powerful characters you rooted for through 7 seasons, can be a very hard thing. But definitely a raging madness cannot be put past Daenerys Targaryen's character, and very few would deny that. How the creators got to this point is surely worth debating.
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It is in that one moment when the soldiers drop their arms and the bell for surrender rings, the point where Danaerys was moments away from peace and the iron throne she had fought to sit on for all these years, that the story takes turn for the worse. All the pain, mistrust and the complete lack of love, takes over Daenerys, and she crosses over to the dark side.
Cersei, who until now was the biggest villain of the show (not even the Night King could dethrone her), stands on top of the Red Keep in utter disbelief as she watches the dragon and the Mother of Dragons from afar. She, after all, was the catalyst that pushed Daenerys Targaryen over the edge.
If Cersei burned down the Sept of Baelor, Daenerys burned down the whole King’s Landing!
When Daenerys made her choice
The episode opens with Varys writing letters so he can get the word about Jon Snow’s claim to the throne out to the other Lords of Westoros. It is the betrayal that had been foreshadowed several seasons ago. Varys doesn’t stop at that though. As soon as Jon Snow sails into Dragonstone, Varys coaxes him to claim his right to the throne.
The mother of dragons is completely broken and out of sorts. And she considers Varys’ betrayal as Jon Snow’s betrayal, as she begged him not to tell Sansa.
And Sansa Stark in complete Little Finger-style threw the bomb right into Daenarys’ inner circle, knowing it would explode, didn’t she?
If one thing the creators have failed in achieving, it is to get us invested in Jon Snow and Daenerys’ complicated relationship. He does absolutely nothing to pacify the woman he loves when he sees her down and out at Dragonstone. Jon Snow knows nothing, after all!
“Far more people love you in Westoros than me. I don’t have love here. I only have fear,” a despondent Danaerys says to Snow, as he stands there all quiet, only rattling off his favourite line, “I love you. You are my queen!”
“Alright then, let it be fear!” That was the moment when the title of the episode ‘The Bell’ became significant. Dany had made her choice right there, as Snow looked on. She knew that even if she won the battle, the people will choose him King. And the only way she can now take the throne is by using the ‘fear’.
And so, by the end of the Dragonstone portions, the loyalty of everyone around Danaerys is under question, even Jon Snow.
Varys’ execution as Drogon appears from the dark behind his mother was indeed the highlight of the first part of the episode.
These parts building up to the actual war, were shot and played out quite beautifully.
Jaime-Cersei get their happy ending
One of the most convenient plot points of today’s episode was the one where Jaime, freed by Tyrion Lannister, who now also could stand trial for treason, makes his way into the Red Keep to help Cersei escape from King’s Landing.
His fight with Euron Greyjoy was also quite cringe-worthy, as their Cersei connection plays out.
They gave Jaime his happy ending though, as his wish to “die in the arms of the one he loves” was fulfilled.
It was also poetic justice for Cersei as she finally died still trying to protecting her baby and holding fort at King’s Landing which crashed down on her and Jaime. The death and destruction she set into motion by refusing to surrender and putting her own people in harm’s way cost her everything.
Cersei’s character has been diabolical since the beginning, and not many would care how she finally died, but she got a better ending than many others.
Cleganebowl and Arya’s path
The makers played out another fan theory when they put the two Clegane brothers face to face for a battle until death, with devastation unfolding all round them.
Some of shots of the fight were majestic as fire rose in the sky behind them. While it didn't serve the narrative in any way, it juxtaposed the characters of The Hound and Arya Stark, and the path they would choose in the end.
Arya chose life over revenge. It is through her eyes that we see the brutality on the ground as thousands of innocent people are roasted by dragon fire.
The Dothraki and the Unsullied show no mercy to the innocent as they freely kill children (so does their queen riding the dragon) and even rape the women. And it is in these moments that you want the unstoppable pillage and incessant rain of fire from Drogon to stop. ‘Just please stop now, for God’s sake!’
Everything has been destroyed
There was a shot during the battle inside the Red Keep, where Jon Snow looks on hapless, and in utter disbelief, in the middle of all the mayhem, perhaps in a moment of realization that even if he doesn’t desire the Iron Throne, he should have stepped up a long time ago.
In this he represents the audience as they haplessly watch the most revered character on the show destroy everything they rooted for, which includes a more satisfying end to Game of Thrones. But could there have been a satisfying end to a show like Game of Thrones, a happy ending? If you think, yes, you’ve been watching the wrong show.
We rooted for a character that had the most incredible character arc only to watch her turn everything into ashes.
The episode then is aptly titled The Bells. There are no bells stopping the death and destruction that the show has always stood for.
Despite, Danaerys’ natural instinct to use force and her occasional ‘bend the knee’ moments (every character in the show is grey, so?), her character has largely been a positive one in GoT terms.
So this episode does not just burn down the King’s Landing and the thousands of innocent people in it, but also all your hopes.
No doubt, that the battle portions are brilliantly shot, and it was brightest episode (for all those who complained of the darkness during the Battle of Winterfell!) of the season. Daenerys’ initial attack, burning through Eruon’s fleet, the Scorpions and the Golden company within minutes was the only time we cheered. All hopes that one day we would root for Daenerys Targaryen when she swoops down on her dragons to claim the Iron Throne are dashed in the next few moments.
In the end, Danaerys’ faith that it is her destiny to end tyranny will come true. She turned into one herself, by completely and utterly destroying everything that King’s Landing stood for - the seat of power. She will ‘break the wheel’ as she claimed, but just in the most twisted GoT manner possible.
The episode will destroy you, as a powerful woman you thought would be apt to rule the seven kingdoms turned into the show’s biggest villain. The girl who was once sold into marriage for the crown and lost almost everyone and everything she held dear on her way to King’s Landing finally said 'F*** it!', and burned them all.
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