Game of Thrones Season 8: Here’s why we think that Episode 5 of Season 8 was not bad
Game of Thrones is currently in its eighth and final season. With only one more episode left for the hit TV series to come to an end, this particular season has been facing a lot of flak from the otherwise loyal audience they have had for the past decade. It began with the third episode of this season, which showed us the fight against the Night King and how Arya Stark killed him. While the fight was epic to say the least, it left fans bewildered that the makers did not dive deep into the backstory of the White Walkers and why they were doing what they were doing. In fact, it upset so many viewers that out of the 73 episodes released so far, the third episode of season eight is rated the worst on RottenTomatoes.com.
However, that was until Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5, titled “The Bells”, released on Monday morning in India and the internet lost its calm. If you still haven’t watched the episode, you should look away right about now. While people are shocked that Daenerys Targaryen burnt King’s Landing to the ground and are calling out the makers for lazy writing, we have a contrary opinion. While it is known that Game of Thrones is based on George RR Martin’s books A Song of Fire and Ice, it should be noted that the author has still not completed his story and the TV show has since taken a life of its own. With that being said, let us now get into why we think that “The Bells” episode was pretty iconic in itself.
GoT S08E05 Review: Character deaths, new revelations and why ‘The Bells’ was great –
Varys tried poisoning Daenerys
Let’s keep the fact that this episode alone showed the death of key characters who have been with us since season one aside for a moment. Let us first make you aware of the fact that in the first scene, where Varys is seen writing a letter revealing Jon’s lineage to be sent somewhere. However, he is interrupted by his little bird, a girl, who comes up to him looking visibly scared. Upon prodding her, she reveals that the Unsullied have been keeping an eye out on her and then in relation to Daenerys, she says “she won’t eat”, to which Varys replies, “greater the risk, greater the reward.” This clearly shows how badly Varys didn’t want Dany to sit on the throne or attack King’s Landing. When Tyrion informs Dany about Varys’ betrayal, it is clear that Dany has had enough. From Jorah, Jon, Tyrion and now Varys. After losing two out of her three children as well as her best friend and confidante, Missandei, Dany is just about done. In that moment, with her braids completely undone and bags under her eyes, we see the misery that Dany is really facing. She then meets with Jon, who rejects her kiss and makes it clear that she must make a choice between love and fear. She also can’t tolerate the fact that despite her begging Jon to not reveal the truth about his parents to Sansa and Arya, he did exactly that, and in turn gave the people another option to consider besides him, leading to Varys’ betrayal.
Is Daenerys the real villain of Game of Thrones?
She then meets with Varys on the very beaches of Dragonstone, the same ones he was overlooking with Melissandre , when Jon and Ser Davos Seaworth first came to Dany, where she tells him that he is also destined to die in this “strange land”.
And for treason, Drogon burns Varys, putting an end to the Master of Whispers. Dany now knows that the love she seeks from the people of Westeros will never be hers, even if Jon abdicates the throne. So what works better than a leader who is loved? A leader who is feared. Going back to season seven, Lady Olenna of Highgarden sits Dany down and tells her about how her hand, Tyrion is a smart man, but she is a dragon and she shouldn’t follow everything he says to a T. So when Tyrion, who has betrayed her before and his council has proved to be less than fruitful (trying to renegotiate with Cersie and in turn losing out on Missandei), tells her that she should fall back if the bell rings and the city surrenders, we see Dany’s merciful side one last time. She also gives him the warning that he shouldn’t betray her once again and then tells him about Jamie being captured. She fully well knew that Tyrion would release Jamie and that is exactly what he did. So was she really going to listen to him after he has betrayed her once again? No.
So when you have a dragon by your side, an army waiting to destroy you and your own men turning against you, what do you do? Do you just sit by and let them dictate the terms? Or do you get on your dragon and make a point. The biggest problem Dany had was that her reason to not attack with her dragons directly all along was to not kill thousands of innocents, and that was perceived to be her weakness. It was used against her, to control her power, over and over again. But her main goal wasn’t saving innocents, it was to sit on the Iron Throne and have the Targaryen dynasty rule the Seven Kingdoms once again. So why shouldn’t she be the Mad Queen, who did burn them all along with every possibility of doubts anybody had about her? If being her father’s daughter is exactly what every person in Westeros expected out of her and all she wants is that damn Iron Throne, why should she even try to be different? While yes, the genocide at King’s Landing was completely cruel, but it shouldn’t be forgotten this easily that she also fought to protect the Realm of Men, while delaying the fight for her lifelong dream and at great personal cost.
So that brings us to the question, is Dany the real villain of Game of Thrones? No, no she isn’t. But this is her character arc, just like how Jamie’s was to become a better person, how Cersie’s was to being an all-powerful Queen to having nobody by her side and how Arya’s was from being a timid little girl to the faceless assassin. Daenerys starts off wanting to liberate people, but every time she tries to do good by the people, another group will come attack her (Looking at you, Sons of Harpy). So instead of even trying to be a good person and have nothing to show for it, she’d rather just be what everyone expects of her and at least that way she gets what she wants.
Even when she hands Greyworm Missandei’s neck brace, she remembers that it was these two who were the only ones who never betrayed her. Even in her final moments, Missandei tells her queen to burn them all. And when she hands Greyworm his love’s only possession, he throws it in the fire, because he doesn’t want to remember Missandei as some slavebound girl, but as the strong loving woman that she was. His simple gesture shows Dany what he desires as well. Greyworm hasn’t even cried for her until now but we finally see a little bit of his human side when he is slaying the Lannister soldiers.
When those bells ring, Dany almost breaks down trying to decide whether she should still be a powerful puppet in the hands of those who advice her, or should she be the Queen, who’s power should never be underestimated. And isn’t that exactly what Dany does? Every time she is underestimated she finds a way to prove her enemy wrong.
With that being said, there is no taking away from the atrocities committed by Dany in the Capital. The images of men, women and children being burnt, butchered or bludgeoned will not leave our minds anytime soon. But this war, unlike any GoT war, showed the real sufferers of a situation like this. Even though the fight was between Dany and Cersie, they never even exchange a word or share a frame all throughout. Cersie dies in the arms of who she loves, but due to the ceiling crashing on her head. Whereas the brunt of Drogon’s fire and destruction is faced by those innocent civilians living in King’s Landing, who might not even know Daenerys’ name. The gore, the sadness, the ugliness of all of it was brilliantly depicted with outstanding cinematography in “The Bells” episode.
What about Jon Snow and Arya Stark?
Coming to the Starks, despite being a trained assassin, Arya realized that you do need allies after all, thanks to that mother, who lifted her up before she was crumpled in a stampede. It also teaches Arya that no matter how good you are at swinging your sword, you can’t do much in the face of an insane tyrant. The only reason the Stark girl is alive is due to sheer luck.
Coming to Jon, even though everyone thinks that he would be a better King and leader than Dany, he couldn’t control his own forces who dumped their morals and attacked the unarmed Lannister soldiers who wanted to surrender. It should somewhere make him and the others realise that no matter how good you are as a leader, your people will never be that good. That one rape that he stops is symbolic of how even your own people will turn against you in the face of greed.
Jamie and Cersie Lannister’s death
Coming to the Lannisters, Cersie goes from being really optimistic about her chances of retaining the throne, slowly loses confidence with every message from Qyburn and realizes that she really is alone until Jamie arrives. The two pick things up exactly where they left off, right on top of the map of Westeros. Cersie has never been this vulnerable and you almost feel sorry seeing this pregnant woman, who has been used to getting her own way all her life, realizing that this time around she isn’t going to make it out and her decision to invoke this war is going to cost her the only three lives she cares about; hers, Jamie’s and their unborn child. In a poetic sense, Jamie, who always has and always will give up anything or go to any lengths for Cersie, the person he has loved since the two came out of the womb, comforts her knowing that they have each other and that’s all they’ll ever need. They then go down to the cellar to escape from the Red Keep but its too late. Maggy the Frog’s prophecy about Cersie comes true, word for word. She even dies with her brothers hands on her neck, but in an embrace, and the two die together as the ceiling falls on them. While you would want a Joffery like death for Cersie, she will always leave you feeling complex emotions for this woman who’s all stone on the outside and soft on the inside.
Clegane Bowl
As for Qyburn, his poetic justice comes when one of his own sinister creations kills him. Which now brings us to the Clegane Bowl. The whole buzz behind the fight between the two brothers began as a theory among fans and it is fantastic that the makers gave fans what they could think of and more. Not only do we see the Mountain in his true zombie form, we also realise that literally not even a knife in the eye and through the skull will kill him. We see the Hound realising that he may die without really even getting the revenge he wanted all his life. But when the Hound steps up against the Mountain and wants to destroy him, he finally faces his fear by jumping right in it.
The only prophecy now left is Arya’s, where she is to still kill someone with green eyes. And guess what, Daenerys, the mad queen has green eyes. The faceless assassin also has a Dornish spear made out of Dragonglass, which she may use to first kill Drogon to avoid being burnt to death. Will Jon, who absolutely doesn’t want the throne, then be King of the Seven Kingdoms? We have only one more episode and a week’s wait to know for sure.
For the second last episode of the entire series, we think that the makers did a pretty good job helping the characters almost reach their destiny. While it is an acceptable character arc for viewers to see a bad character becoming a good person, we don’t understand why it’s so unrealistic to see someone who was a really good person finally turn evil, due to the things this world has done to them.
As George RR Martin once said, “The battle between Good and Evil is waged within the individual human hearts. We all have good in us and we all have evil in us and to me, that’s the great human drama of fiction. I believe in gray characters, as I’ve said before… In the case of war, a villain is a hero of the other side, as someone said once, and I think there’s a great deal of truth to that.”
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