When I first heard people bitching about GoT episode 5, “The Bells,” I wasn’t terribly bothered. I hadn’t seen the episode yet, and a lot of the complaints really seemed like they were saying “This didn’t go how I expected it to.”
The biggest complaints seemed to be that Daenarys went “evil” or “mad” and how it didn’t fit with what had gone before. And I was not agreeing with that, because Daenarys in the show has always been a little too close to madness for me–her refusal to take any advice that didn’t tell her what she wanted to hear, her draconian–if you’ll excuse the pun–punishments and her tendency to regard any disagreement with a retainer as them failing her–all of this together made her seem a little too Targaryen.
But then I watched the episode.
Holy crap, you guys. At first it seemed fine; she was executing Varys for a difference of opinion, really, but okay, I can sort of see that. Why she had to use dragonfire again I don’t know; that girl is obsessed with fire.
But then King’s Landing surrenders, and she decides to torch it all anyway, killing thousands of innocents. And that made no sense at all. It was totally not in keeping with her character in previous seasons, it wasn’t a logical progression from what she’d been before.
I can sort of see how she might have snapped after the death of Jorah, but the show didn’t really telegraph that at all.
HBO does these “explications” of the episode right after the show. I’m not sure why these things are becoming so common; they’re kind of awful and unnecessary. I tend not to bother with them unless I really liked the episode, but I watched this one. And the showrunners “explain” Dany’s mindstate and the reasons for her snapping, but none of the explanations really work, because none of it is actually “on the page.” I mean, it all sort of made sense, but it was a sharp 90° turn from what had gone on up to the beginning of Season 8.
Now, I did like Arya’s story, and Sandor Clegane’s end seemed fitting for the character. But it didn’t make up for the terrible.
Now some bullet points:
- I’m not one of those people who gets upset when the dog dies. But little children? Not Okay, show. It’s one thing to know children die in an apocalyptic setting, but breaking my heart by making me watch a child cowering in fear, knowing she’s going to die? Fuck you, show.
- Jaime’s end was pathetic. After all that, he fucking actually went back to Cersei to save her ass? Fuck you, TV-Jamie. I hope Book-Jamie turns out better than you did.
- Cersei dies stupidly. I wanted her to die, but that particular end? No, that wasn’t enough. I mean, I wanted Jamie to off her, which is kind of awful, but jaysus.
- I get that dragonfire isn’t exactly fire, but since when does fire destroy stone walls? That was a bit much.
At this point I’m not even sure I want to see the ending. I mean, I’ll probably watch it, but more out of curiosity than anything else.