Tyrion almost
convinced Cersei to back off. Invoking the one positive trait of his sister,
her love for her (dead) children, he got the queen to wobble a bit, a crack
showing in her smirking façade.
But no. A moment
later, Cersei steels herself and Missandei loses her head. The scene is an
obvious echo of Ned’s beheading. Both times, they told you what would happen if
someone didn’t comply with an order, and it happened, and heads rolled. I feel
bad for Missandei. She finally escapes slavery, learns 19 languages, and with an
easy life at the beach with Grey Worm close enough to taste, she goes down. All
the foreshadowing of the death of one of them before the Battle of Winterfell
was accurate, just a little early. It was painful to see one of the show’s
nicest characters die, and the implications of killing her are unfortunate.
Losing two
dragons and two advisors, and realizing her nephew/lover has a better claim on
the throne than she, Daenerys all but audibly snaps this episode. Like, they
could have added a “snap” sound effect and had her eye start to twitch. She
holds back from ordering the remaining dragon to BBQ Cersei, even after Missandei
gives her blessing with her last word “Dracarys,” but she’s only barely hanging
onto self-control. Who could blame her for feeling the pressure? She held back
earlier from BBQing Euron’s fleet when it was clear he had a weapon that could destroy
a dragon.
Game of Thrones has for some time been building to the
idea that Daenerys may become a Mad Queen after all. I think this is a
compelling story idea. Varys lays it out as clearly for her as anyone ever has:
Don’t let your destiny mislead you into destroying the people you want to save.
Cersei works this dynamic by placing the people of King’s Landing as human
shields, so even if Dany takes the city, she’d do it by killing untold numbers
of people and would lose the trust of her new subjects.
It was a
surprise to see Bronn pop up and make the clever move of negotiating a bigger
salary from the Lannister boys, ensuring he’ll be Lord of Highgarden. He’s
smarter than a lot of the people contending for the Iron Throne. Gendry also gets
his prize, becoming Lord of Storm’s End, a move that on Dany’s part is as much about
rewarding Gendry as removing him as a legitimate claimant to the Iron Throne
while gaining an ally in one of the Seven Kingdoms. (At the same time, this
move could backfire, since she legitimized him as a Baratheon, giving him a
stronger claim to the throne, although, realistically, I don’t think Gendry
doesn’t have a power base.) However, Gendry misses out on getting a wife, as
Arya makes what I think is the right move for her character in turning him
down. Jaime does get a non-incestuous love interest in Brienne (it was fun
seeing them play drinking games and I’m glad Brienne got a piece of happiness).
But it doesn’t last, as he leaves her in (out-of-character) tears to go kill
Cersei. I have long thought it would be the most poetic, Shakespearean option
for one twin to kill the other.
Hilariously, none
of the Starks can keep their mouth shut that Jon is Aegon Targaryen. This sets
up a fascinating conversation between Varys and Tyrion, who flirt with the idea
of a coup to install Jon instead of Daenerys. This is the part of Game of Thrones I like: Thoughtful
debates on leadership, succession and politics. I don’t think Jon’s a great
choice for leader. The audience likes him and all that but he’s failed in
several battles, and his followers did actually mutiny and murder him, which
doesn’t bode well for him assuming a throne he doesn’t even want.
Daenerys could
go Mad Queen and set everything on fire, and that would be an interesting end
to the story. At this point, I’m rooting for her to topple Cersei and keep her
shit together as the queen.
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