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....

laurie I agree.

It’s not real life so I can take her burning the entire city! To be honest there is a couple of days in the month where if I had a dragon I may do that myself ...

I wouldn’t mind if Danny kept the throne - she has it now. After what she has done I don’t think there is any going back for her but look at her journey. No one else has been through what she has.

I think it would be a bit meh if anyone else took it tbh

And every one thought Cersei was a cold bitch.. they clearly underestimated Danny!

Dany did way more devastation than the mad king ever did. He might have ended up being worse had Jaime not killed him but he never got the chance.

Dany cant live.

On that note what annoyed me about this episode is them having Jaime say he never cared about innocents. Yes He bloody did he became Kingslayer when he found out the innocents were going to be burned! Shoddy writing

@Prequelle I agree. After reading your second sentence I was thinking to myself “It should have been Davos”. Unfortunately, there is a significant proportion of casual show-watchers who just don’t know who Davos is. My sister just calls him ‘that bloke with Jon’. Arya is still a fan favourite.

Hes a cracking actor too and would have blown us away. It's sad that there's a lot of casual-fan service going on in this season IMO.

Took me ages to work out where I'd seen the lady Ayra helped before. Line of Duty.

I can't decide if I liked it or not, need to watch again. Having followed it all
I was disappointed with the last two episodes. I think it was always going to be a bit of an anti-climax after the amazing episode with the white walkers. I think they should have reversed it so they ended with the white walkers battle rather than the battle for the throne.

Agree, it's rushed. Key scenes are rushed and plot lines are a bit too easily tied up. After so many complicated characters, plots and intrigues, I thought it's all ended up being a bit simple. They have lost the cleverness of it. Last weeks episode was pretty dull and not a lot happened they could have used that to develop better storylines so this feel so rushed. Appreciated the screen play and filming and acting though. Liked TL and Jamie's farewell. TL bit naive yet again though to send Jamie to try and talk to cersie yet again. He has suddenly made some huge mistakes in the last two series.

Annoyed at cersie's death, she should have had a much harsher death given everything she's done. Her death was a disappointment. I thought they could have made it much more clever using arya s many faces story like- that's what I thought would happen.

TL will die now, Dany said one more mistake and you're dead. Her and John will fight it out now. We routed for Dany all the way through for a better world and she ended up like all the other rulers. I think she knew she was going to burn the innocents when she started. She really didn't have to though.

On that note what annoyed me about this episode is them having Jaime say he never cared about innocents. Yes He bloody did he became Kingslayer when he found out the innocents were going to be burned! Shoddy writing

I may have misremember this, but I am pretty sure that at one point he confessed that he only killed the mad king because he ordered him to kill his father. It wasn’t anything to do with the people. It might have just been in the book though. Maybe someone with a better memory can confirm!

Jamie was always a nice enough ish chap who was hugely influenced by his family, especially Cersei. I would have rather him found true redemption but the ending seems rather fitting for him.

Overall I have no problem with the direction the story has taken, it’s just WAY too rushed.

My fear is that the books will be the same if they ever appear. Even more loose ends to tie up.

Part of the appeal is the richness of the storytelling and that has been totally lost at this point (well a couple of seasons ago truth be told).

My sister just calls him ‘that bloke with Jon’
Davos is the man. I was so proud of him walking alongside Jon and Grey Worm sword in hand.

Interested to find out if Dani has any regret and what she's going to say to everyone 😂 I love that Aegon and her forebears built KL and she destroyed it and that the whole 'burning stone houses to the ground' became reality.

I was a little disappointed at how quickly the scorpions where destroyed. They where the big and only threat to Drogon so when you find out they are gone, you know he's safe. I think they should have kept Rheagal for this episode and had them take him down before she destroyed them all, was my only real complaint about this episode.

Ah I can't remember that, I've read the books but I can only remember most of the programmes in which he didn't confess that he was horrified at the death of innocents.

His character arc just... I dunno. The whole Brienne thing was pointless.

I think D&D struggle with the complexity of Jaime as a character.

I think that Dany's story shows how even people with the best intentions can become very nasty rulers with enough power (the dragon) and pushed enough (feeling alone and unloved, plus the rage).

Nobody is all good or all bad and "absolute power corrupts absolutely".

I think they should have kept Rheagal for this episode and had them take him down before she destroyed them all

I don't agree. The way it was killed in the middle of an otherwise peacefulish episode was brilliant and its death made the result of the assault on KL much more unsure.

I don't agree. The way it was killed in the middle of an otherwise peacefulish episode was brilliant and its death made the result of the assault on KL much more unsure.
It did make it more unsure that's true. But as soon as you seen Dani flying over the sea it was obvious what was going to happen IMO and if he had died this episode I think it would have shown KL put up a bit more of a fight.
I guess though if that had happened, it would have been expected Jon would ride him and they can't kill him off. Even if Drogon had been clipped with one, I think it would have made it a little better.

So the ‘big man’ has debunked the ‘books are finished’ myth...

georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/13/idiocy-on-the-internet/?fbclid=IwAR1Qow3Z7IteyhukdIMKy4ZFEp_T3rSqpW_zN_IvZpADdE49ePHfzmAu-NA

Ha, I wasn’t dumb enough to fall for that one.

I genuinely think that if George doesn’t announce the release date for WoW next Sunday night, following the last episode, we’re never going to get it.

Actually, I quite like the Jaime end.

It’s too easy to fit Jaime into the Byronic Hero arc - the spoilt knight who redeemed himself of his earlier sins and died a noble death. Far more realistic and common is the story of a failed superstar who destroys themselves due to their own addictions.

He is the George Best of the story.

That should have read ‘spoiled knight’ and not ‘spoilt knight’. Bloody English language...

Far more realistic and common is the story of a failed superstar who destroys themselves due to their own addictions.

I think in George’s hands this could be epic. Not so much as we saw it here.

The fallout from this episode was ALWAYS going to happen - whether it had been 8 seasons or 2000. There was always going to be a single ‘snapping point’ for Dany.

In 10 years time people are going to look back on this TV series and laugh their arses off at the ridiculous overreaction to a beloved TV hero turning out to be a villain.

That's not wrong, but it overlooks that the execution of this storyline hasn't been as good as it could've been. Some of the noisiest complaining voices are those of us who like the theory but don't think it's been done well.

The seeds were certainly there way back, but she's supposed to have progressed to this level of Mad Queen pretty quickly and yet not a lot of screentime has been devoted to it. It's a snapping point yes, but it's also influenced by the things she has experienced.

They could've cut 10 minutes of battle time, which frankly all gets a bit samey once you marvel at the spectacle and cinematography, and used that to show us more of her going down this path. As well as satisfying those who are fine with the idea but not the way it was done, it would also potentially convince some of the fans who don't like it full stop.

RussianSpamBot I get what you’re saying, but there seems to be this outcry of ‘this season is so rushed’ as if that hasn’t been the case since season 6.

• Fall of Casterly Rock (narrated by Tyrion)
• Sack of Highgarden (happened offscreen)
• Beyond the Wall - supersonic ravens and dragons
• Euron’s telepathic fleet interception

These are not new faults with the series.

I suppose I resigned myself to ‘rushed and no character development’ several years ago, so it’s not coming as a shock now.

I think it should have been Arya running through the city. She needed to see what Dany had done. She will be instrumental to Jon's decision going forward. It also brought her down from her hero status as killer of the NK and she was suddenly a little girl just trying to survive with the common people.

Cersei's death was fitting as it mirrored the Sept explosion.

Do agree its rushed though. Something is missing this season. Can't put my finger on what it is.

@TinklyLittleLaugh yes, I completely agree with your theory, although think that Jon will probably kill Danny as he will deliver the punishment for the justice he had ordered.

Then the 7 will rule their own kingdoms individually and Jon will either die or go north. But, it wouldn't be out of character in my opinion for him to sit on the throne if that is what he believes is the only available "right" or honourable course of action. Much like the nights watch thing, I don't think he wanted to be in charge there either but reluctantly did accept?

They have lost the cleverness of it

I agree with this. I think that’s why posters are so underwhelmed with it because there was always an element of surprise where these past episodes have been very straight forward apart from Danny torching the place

Yes true the rushing certainly didn't start with series 8, and nor is this necessarily the worst example of it. The most important, but not the worst.