The Nights Watch. GAME OF THRONES. SEASON 8 EPISODE 5. May 13 UK. SPOILERS AFTER 2am.

[OneInAMillionYou]

So, now we battle for King's Landing and the Throne.

The penultimate episode of this most epic of tales. Can Cersei survive? Will Euron catch on and wonder how Tyrion could have known of the pregnancy? Will Arya and the Hound beat Jaime in the race south?

As ever, no leaks or spoilers please until we watch the episode live together. Our Watch begins....

I’m enjoying this season. I think it’s really exciting.

@BlackCatSleeping I agree! I feel a bit out of step on this thread sometimes.

I enjoyed that episode. It started off so dark that I thought, oh no, not another episode where I peer at shadows and wonder what they are doing, but then it brightened up a good bit.

I thought it was more in keeping with the previous seasons. Less predictable in the outcomes and more horrible deaths. I like that Cersei´s death was rather mundane. Same as what happened to the normal people of King´s Landing. I would have liked it better if Jaime had killed her though.

For all the criticism of it though, surely no one can deny that cinematically that was epic? (yay to it being a daytime battle!)

Which Reddit spoilers are people reading?

Definitely, Beyond, some of the shots were breathtaking, particularly those with Arya going through the streets and the general aftermath. And Cersei on her floor map with everything collapsing around her.

I know he’s not popular but I really fancied Euron. Ridiculous leather clad camp pirate that he was.

I thought the scenes between Cersei and Jamie and Tyrion and Jamie were touching. Jamie, I think, has always loved his siblings and it made sense that he would try and help Cersei in her hour of need.

WTF was Tyrion thinking by turning Varys in and revealing Sansa had told him about Jon. Might as well paint a huge target on her back!

I kinda fancied Euron too! I think it is something about those leather trousers...

Moominmantra Reddit Freefolk has a compilation of spoilers for episodes 4-6.
Please, do not look at them. You will regret it forever. Maybe they are wrong.

Sneaky little foreshadow-y thing I have just thought of. Seeing comments about Arya's "pale horse = death"... along with the dragon eggs, Dany was given a white horse at her wedding.

They couldn’t be bothered to do more.

I never thought I’d find myself defending D&D, but the reason they did 6 episodes is because the main actors (Nikolai, Lena, Emilia, Kit, Peter) are all paid $1million per episode.

That’s a third of the episode budget.

To be honest, I don’t blame them for having fewer longer episodes.

What is the Mountain? I thought he was just a super big and strong human, but when he didn't die at all, I realized he was something else, so what?

But disappointed in the episode really, expected a better death for Cersei.

How in frig's name did Jaime arrive at King's Landing at the same time as the Hound and Arya though, they set off way before.

Just had a horrible thought.

If Jon kills Dany then it is likely that she will die by Jorah Mormont’s sword....

That would be quite tragic.

He was poisoned by Oberyn Martell (before he died in the duel where he squished his head). Should have died but Qyburn did magic-y things and made him undead

Everything's gearing up to my Gendry/Sansa on the iron throne theory!

Noooo not Gendry! I can kinda see it but no! Tyrion for the throne! 🤣 I love him so much.

No one really knows what Qyburn did to unGregor.

In the books he is taken down to the black cells after his poisoning and Qyburn experimented on him (as he did with Felyse Stokeworth - Bronn’s sister-in-law if I remember correctly).

Later, Cersei has a new member of the Kingsguard - Ser Robert Strong - who is going to represent her in her forthcoming trial by the faith. It isn’t actually specifically revealed that he is Gregor, but he fits the description. I think Qyburn even mentions that ‘no man can withstand him’.

I'm honestly surprised there were significant budgetary constraints. Thought with something that successful and with that much backing there'd essentially be a blank cheque. I mean, not enough to sink the world economy obviously, but an extra few million if they wanted another episode, that type of thing.

RussianSpamBot unfrotunately that’s what’s known as flogging a dead horse. I don’t actually think another episode or even two would be able to rescue the crap writing.

I was watching Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, also an HBO programme. He had a good laugh at how "HBO is f*ed in a week's time". (Meaning their network-defining show is ending.)

I think the plot development is quite logical - the signs that Dani was a tyrant in making were there from the start. What I am afraid of is that both George Martin and the series creators are heading towards making a totally banal point - that tyrants are awful even when they style themselves as liberators. None of the characters in the show, even wise Varys, seem to see how ridiculous the idea that somebody just has to park their arse on the Iron Throne is. Nobody questions the whole setup and thinks outside the existing system.

However, this point is made without offering us any viable alternative. Or are they going to propose some kind of democracy? Gendry, the working class poster boy, an elected president? The whole direction of the show smacks of the old cliche about how great Western democracy is and how awful tyrants are (especially those who come from the East, like Dani did).

The only person who is giving me any kind of hope is Sansa. She is the only one who seems to be at least looking at the system if not questioning it (Varys did look at the system too, but he had the ridiculous notion that you can have the right kind of ruler on the throne). She is very much aware that you rule by the grace of the powers around you and that you don't really get to make the choice of whether to rule or not. Sansa isn't going to change the system, but she could probably make it function the best that it can because she understands how it works.

I'm pretty certain the white horse Arya rides off on is the same horse shown midway through the episode as leading the Lannister army, whose rider was thrown off )and killed by Grey Worm with a spear in his back) as ran back to the Red Keep.

Anyway, that was a dreadful episode. Lazy writing. Cersei and Jaime killed by rubble? Really? This is what we've waited 8 seasons for?

Also, I don't think Danerys has gone mad, she's very very angry and full of rage which is an entirely different thing.

There has to be another Arya face change doesn't there, otherwise why have her going to KL? I can only think it would be as Grey Worm to kill Dany, there'd be no one else left with shock value.

I hope that's true re GRRM and the books being finished just not released but I'm not sure I believe it. Surely the publishing contract pre dates the show contract so he would have to honour that. I can't see why the publishers would agree to delay so the show can get the scoop (like I say hope I'm wrong). If they are finished Dan and dan can't have seen them otherwise why did the writing and pacing change so completely!

No way does Euron have the skill to best Jamie like that. Even in the chaos. Cersei’s death was crap. She didn’t give a shiny shit about the other mothers and their burning children.

Greyworm is going after Jon, I’d bet on that.

Both Tyrion and Arya looked utterly distraught in all the ash