FIRST TIME WATCHING: GOT S8E5!!

Yes, we all knew Nat would be a bit disappointed but of course we would never ask her to stop with season seven lol. The ending was rushed and the story had already deviated so far from the books (I'm told starting about season 5), the writers really had no idea which way to go and were likely bickering by then. Ideally, Jon (Aegon) and Dany should have ruled together but... *shrug* Now on to another topic regarding "...the best show I have ever seen..." maybe you have never seen Breaking Bad: A truly great production (without all the pageantry of course), great characters, great storylines and they NAILED the ending! Better Call Saul may be even better; it's debatable. Natalie has seen BB but it was probably LONG ago when it was in its first run, so she may come back to it for us one day.

MertzRocks

Enjoyed your GoT reactions very much. After seeing you on YouTube, I had to come to Patreon to see the full-length reactions. I knew you would be disappointed in Season 8 like most everyone else. I feel it really came down to the writing. Everything production wise in Season 8 was very good, the writing was just not up to the same standards as earlier seasons. GoT remains the best show I have ever seen despite it not nailing the ending. The show is more about the journey than the destination. Best show ever for reactions and I have seen a lot of reaction channels to GoT, and yours was one of the best. Thank you for doing it.

Dar

trolls gonna troll

Caedyn

Are you being serious?

DeadNotSleeping

Did you know that the International Space Station has a live stream of Earth as it orbits? I’ve watched it three times now and still can’t find who the hell asked you. But while we’re on the subject of letting people like or don’t like what they want, you should talk to Captain Butthurt up there who gets so annoyed when people don’t like the with season, he feels the need to start shit on strangers comments.

Leaf on the Wind

you automatically assume he's the one with bad taste?? maybe you do....Maybe you are just like the other mindless sheep that cry when every single thing doesn't go your way...just because he disagrees he's wrong? why don't you let other people enjoy what they enjoy and stop whining......whiney GoT fans are just as bad as whiney Star Wars fans....

Guy-on-Couch

I think the whole thing about burning the city was linked to Danaerys' saying "Then fear it is". She decided Westeros would never love her, so she chose to cause terror instead.

xChaoticKx

This is my favorite episode of the entire series. So it's weird seeing people saying it's bad.

Edwin Bertilsson

"I'm surprised he is still moving after he was impaled by Euron" Phrasing!

Edward Hill

Personally, I hate when scenes are so dark, I can’t see anything. Might as well make it a radio show. There’s your money saver right there. Or just have the show be one guy sitting in a chair reading the books. Budget wasn’t an issue for them, so the excuse you’re making for them doesn’t work.

Leaf on the Wind

Yeah I think the books will be very different. The writing in the show got SO LAZY you could tell they just didn't care anymore.

Laura Thornley

If you bothered to read what I said the lighting choice goes hand in hand with the CGI budget, if the long night was lighter the effects cost more to be photo realistic. The budget was $120m to put that into perspective that's less than the $200m Black Widow cost for triple the screen time and a fraction of the cast size. Personally I hate it when night scenes are shot like day..

Paul G

Not to mention SOMEHOW the entire army overtakes Arya and the Hound. They left before and would be moving faster! How did this get through the script editing?

Laura Thornley

"They just crossed the Trident, they'll be at the walls of King's Landing in two days." Uh, no they won't. The showrunners forgot how big Westeros is - it would take a week on horseback, minimum - twice that for an army! SO LAZY.

Laura Thornley

I sort of agree - but in a 'so bad its good' kind of way. Its not a good show at this point, but its so hammy and ridiculous that I often laugh at points that aren't supposed to be funny.

Laura Thornley

People will stop saying they hate it when it stops being terrible. You having bad taste doesn’t make it good. And saving money on the lighting? It was the number one show on HBO. They had a budget bigger than the Vatican, and your excuse for us not being able to see anything on the screen is saving money?

Leaf on the Wind

I wish people would stop saying everyone hates this season, I don't and the lighting saves money the lighter the shot the more money has to be spent on effects and sets.

Paul Gibbons

An Emmy too, another note Joseph Mawle (Uncle Benjen) is in the new LOTR show.

Paul G

And Brutus. Tobias Menzies always does a great job of portraying a would be hero, but I haven't seen yet The Crown, which he seems to the getting a lot of praise for.

Joe D. MacGuffinstuff

Can’t wait to watch you complain for another hour and twenty minutes

Travis

In this episode alone, you've covered almost all the reasons everyone hates this season. People are doing things that are stupid, or out of character, or instead of doing the obvious. The timeline is super rushed. The lighting is too dark to even see the scene half the time. Overall, I have little problem with where things ended up, but I have a problem with how they got there. If that makes sense. In the words of Deadpool, "That's just lazy writing."

Leaf on the Wind

P.S. Love Craft Cpuntry is only one season so far and would be perfect for the Halloween season.

NobleSon32

I would like to suggest Raised by Wolves and Love Craft Country on HBO Max. Your amazing Nat love you!

NobleSon32

Yes! That would be great! Since Natalie isn't much of a chess fan, maybe that show would get her into playing and liking chess. Plus, it's just an excellent show!

Matt D

That this was ultimately going to be how Dany ended was not surprising in the least. There have been more than enough hints over the progression of her character that this is where she was headed. That is not the problem. The problem is that I - and I would argue the vast majority of people - do not engage with a story just to get to the ending. We do it because we want our disbelief to be suspended between the beginning and the end. That is basically the ultimate goal of ALL fiction. And it is something that the show utterly failed at for season 7 and 8. Internal consistency and the plausibility of character actions and events within the confines of the setting was completely thrown aside for seemingly no reason whatsoever. This makes the entire show feel like a waste of time.

Tomas

Fine Bhrian, I'll take your word for it. Then I guess they simply didn't care and/or are incompetent film-makers and story-tellers. There's no other rational explanation.

Tomas

lol "why do we have to have *this* moment?" "this doesn't make sense" - YEP! Welcome to what happens when two showrunners - by their own admission - lose sight of the overall story and rush to the end so they can get to their next project.

Mike Api

Welcome to how two creators entirely ruin a show because they thought they were making Star Wars, only to have Disney say "No thank you!" because of how much of a shitshow this season was.

Connor Ellis

Oh, you'll totally love the next one too, Dani.

Trepanation21

Everytime I see this episode, I think about all the poor kids that got named "Khaleesi" and "Danaerys" before this season LMAO "Mommy, why'd you name me after a horrific mass murdering tyrant from a tv show?"

Trepanation21

Euron was such a piece of shit character in the show. Which why this is a great time to point out that Euron *in the books* was a fucking interesting and mysterious character. Here's a great rundown of the "real" Euron Greyjoy of the books - Anybody, book or show fan should watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbX_ak0N1EI The show's Euron is basically a completely different fuckin character, completely neutered, and completely annoying.

Trepanation21

Morten, it happens all over the place they just don't want to admit it. I watched Star Trek: Wrath of Khan yesterday at one point Spock tells Kirk It will be 12 1/2 hours to their destination they go for a quick scene elsewhere go back to the Enterprise and they are there.

Paul G

Can we add Queen's gambit to the list of potential shows?

Dmitry Ishkov

Remember when Cersei and Jaime made it from sitting in the Throne Room in Kings Landing, to arriving at Winterfell 6 minutes later, in the very first episode? No? Well, that's because you have selective memory.

Morten Larsen

I don't agree with your assessment one bit.

Morten Larsen

There were many Targaryen kings and queens who didn't go crazy. Most weren't crazy.

WackySwacky

She is the mad kings daughter.

Christopher Robles

Given your name, that's no surprise! ;)

Marc Van de Klashorst

Scroll down for your deleted post, not the first for you either. If by special you mean jolly and genial then yes which makes a change here.

Paul G

You know what, I find myself liking this episode the more I watch it.

Dani

They weren't innocent in Danarys' eyes. They choose to stay with Cersai even when Danarys offered what she considered a better alternative.

Chris H

Before the final episode, it's been exhilarating/nerve-racking/painful watching this series for the first time w/ you, Nat. About this episode in particular, it was the icing on the cake of poor pacing and poor character development for me. There were some aspects that I did enjoy in this episode (such as the Arya and Sandor scenes, and the parts before Daenerys started dracarysing innocent civilians) but the bad outweighs the good a hundred fold. I do not understand, for the life of me, how Dany went from freeing people to setting them ablaze. Just because your nephew doesn't wanna kiss you does not mean you need to set them on fire. But I suppose this is due to the showrunners, not the character BUT if she was really supposed to descend into madness like this then it would have been better if that started from S7, as someone else has said. Euron and Jaime's fight had me laughing my head off and crying at the same time. So pointless. He was literally going to die with Cersei in the hold even without that scene. I sympathize with Greyworm since he is one of my favourite characters. Tyrion, Jon, and Davos get no complaints from me this episode (mainly because they are also my favourite characters).

Ahadi Gitau

Well, it might be Bran in the end, but not OUR Bran. It would be Bloodraven warged into Bran, living a "second life". Meaning it wouldn't be a happy-go-lucky ending but a dark one where evil kind of wins.

WackySwacky

For all we know, it won't be Bran on the throne, but Bloodraven warged into Bran's body on the Iron Throne. It has been shown in both the show and the books that warging into humans is possible. It's called the "second life". Since Bran is another warg, warging into Bran would mean Bloodraven could keep the cycle of going and then warg into the next generations best warg, effectively living forever. This would be a lot more interesting to me.

WackySwacky

Ciaran Hinds and Indira Varma too. Forgot that was HBO did that and was axed for the budget despite the fact the BBC put up 15% of it and then blamed the BBC for it.

Paul Gibbons

And it shows!

Marc Van de Klashorst

Or Jaime. Given the prophecy of Maggy the Frog (granted, the specific line was left out for the show)

Marc Van de Klashorst

Keep in mind that that is one of the things about the book ending that GRRM has actually told them. So that will happen. Of course it will be far more logical and better written, and most certainly not happen in this way.

Marc Van de Klashorst

As long he does the Monty Python Lumberjack song!

Paul Gibbons

I don't see a deleted post. Is Randee ''special''?

The Dog Walker

They were given the ending of the story insofar as Bran ending up on the throne. The rest is only in broad outlines. And that's the problem. The decision to turn Daenerys into the Mad Queen has been made by D&D from the beginning though (as evidenced by them saying, "Look at how she reacted to Viserys' death in Season 1!"). Daenerys will certainly take a darker turn in the last two books, WoW primarily. Once the Long Night falls, we'll see. The foreshadowing that she will play a pivotal role in defeating the Others is clearly there.

Marc Van de Klashorst

The only mistake was turning two of the smartest characters on the show into a pair of morons.

Jordan Freemyer

Sorry Thomas, but the SW nonsense is complete bullshit. See the above comment for details, or better yet, simply check google for the timeline yourself.

Brian Jones

This is nothing but a fanboy wet dream..... One more time for the cheap seats..... The decision to make only 8 seasons of GoT was made LONG (multiple years) before the deal for any SW films was ever inked. The directors for season 8 of GoT were already chosen a year before the deal was ever inked. I know it's a wonderfully scandalous story that the internet loves to keep batting around, but FFS, just check the damn timelines before you carry on with the wild and completely unsubstantiated allegations.......smdh

Brian Jones

George R. r. Martin stopped being involved in the show in Season 5.

WackySwacky

"I've never known bells to mean surrender" - Davos, S2E9

Colton Scott

Arya once threatened The Hound by saying she'd stick a blade through his eye and out the back of his skull. which is how he killed his brother. Also all this that hatred started between the two brothers was because The Mountain shoved his brother's face into the fire. and it also ended with The Hound shoving The Mountain off the side of the castle into the fire... Just a few poetic things I noticed about that fight. Everyone can go ahead and keep trashing this episode, I enjoyed it. Thought I'd share one small reason why.

Mister Lou

Even when the bells rang, Dany still should have gone directly for the Red Keep. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Beeline to Cersei and burn her ass alive. That's how she should have died. If not, like I already said, let Arya complete her list. In no scenario should Cersei have been allowed to escape. She deserved to die for everything she did. Dany thinks in that moment that Cersei is just playing them again and she isn't going to fall for it. Unfortunately, it was better for D&D if Dany goes mad and kills everyone EXCEPT Cersei. Smh.

Jeff E

Dany didn't want to burn innocent people. The showrunners wanted her to. Like you said, it makes no sense for the story or for her character. Also, if you were Dany, which part of King's Landing would you attack and take out first? The Red Keep. No question. She wanted to do it before but Tyrion told her not to. Instead she goes street by street killing everyone EXCEPT Cersei. Why? So Cersei & Jamie can get the lamest deaths on the entire show? Not poetic, not fitting. Anticlimactic and pointless. If Dany didn't get to kill Cersei then it should have been Arya

Jeff E

As dumb, rushed and laughably bad as Dany's story was, so were the stories of basically every main character. No satisfying endings for any of the best characters. The deaths of characters were lame. All the build-up for nothing. And then next episode, the worst storyline of them all. The single dumbest decision ever made on this show. One that NO ONE wanted or asked for or ever expected because it's ludicrous. We just spent multiple seasons hearing "I'm not a Lord. I'm not Lord of anything. I can't be. I'm not Brandon Stark. I'm something else now. Bla blah blah. And then, " why do you think I came all this way?" 😂😂😂😂 I laughed out loud watching it. I was so over the finale at that point but that was the 💩 icing on the cake. The worst possible choice and one that went against what the character told everyone for multiple seasons and it was made clear to the audience too.

Jeff E

Yeah I get the fact that she goes mad, has a psychotic break, snaps, or whatever you want to call it. And I get that we've seen glimpses of her cruelty and desire to utterly destroy anyone who gets in her way. I mean the satisfaction and righteousness on her face watching as her brother died, as she burned the witch who brought Drogo back, as she burned the Khallessi Temple in Vaes Dothrak, or basically anytime she uttered the word, "dracarys," definitely reflected the madness in her. It's just that this still doesn't feel right. Yes, a lot has happened to her in a very short time, but every time before this she has loosed her madness on "deserving" targets. Maybe it's the pacing. Maybe it's the writing. But it just doesn't feel earned like Natalie said. The fact that we never see her again after the bells I think is part of the problem too. If we could've gotten some reaction to the horror as she is causing it, tears, hatred, even mad laughter or glee, it would have helped. Anyway, one more to go! Can't wait for the next reaction lol! A few people have mentioned The Expanse as a suggestion for next series. I also enjoyed the first 3 seasons of it (haven't seen the rest yet). Another sci-fi suggestion I would make is Battlestar Galactica. The 2000's reboot not the 70's. Like The Expanse it has a lot of real world social commentary peppered throughout. Not to mention Edward James Olmos is just a beast of an actor in the show.

Marty McGee

EXACTLY! D&D's Star Wars film and expected trilogy is not on HOLD. It was announced that they were no longer going to no longer be involved in Star Wars. They rushed GoT to move onto Star Wars for career advancement and they got the opposite of their desired result. Karma's a bitch.

Jeff E

She knew she would never be accepted by the people.

Jeff Szymanowski

Just when you think it can't possibly get worse, or disappoint you more, it does all that and then some!

Jeff E

No comment. Ok one comment. I'm just going to point out the fact that "Rome" was abruptly cancelled and had to wrap up in a very forced second season. And that show was great and would have been Fucking Great if it had been renewed for the seasons it was intended to run. But from a production stand point it was also fucking expensive. Fun fact and relevant: many of the same people who made Rome learned how to cut corners by working on that ambitious project, and went on to make Game of Thrones. That's also why if you've seen the Rome series, you see some familiar faces on Game, including in the credits, one of the true stars of both shows, Nina Gold, the casting director.

Joe D. MacGuffinstuff

there are many ridiculous things about this episode, but soldiers needlessly killing innocent people when sacking a city ain't one of em!

Tom Fehr

The issue here is that a Daenerys rampage in King's Landing will make more sense in the books, when Faegon is on the throne instead of Cersei. But what will make even more sense is that the events in season 8 will be reversed in the books: first the KL rampage, then the war with the Others (which will be longer than one evening), in which Daenerys will sacrifice everything, including her life, to save the world (and she will not be alone in this; Jon will too, and many others). To go North, you must go South. So yes, the two plotlines of season 8 will, in broad terms, happen in the books too, but in a completely different context and more importantly reversed. And think what that does for Daenerys as a character.

Marc Van de Klashorst

Catelyn did it in season 1 ON A BOAT.

Marc Van de Klashorst

Fair point! Still, after S07E01, never again. And we know she dragged a bag of faces with her to Winterfell, so it's not like she was out of stock.

Marc Van de Klashorst

Death by Dragonfire is not at all more painful than beheading. The fire from a fully grown dragon incinerates everything it touches instantly, as we saw during the loot train attack. There was nothing left of the soldiers but ash, immediately after being touched by Drogon's 🔥. I'd bet it's LESS painful than a beheading.

Jeff E

Frank Rosales

They make her into a lunatic and turn Tyrion into an idiot. Thank you note to the fans, I guess.

Joe Blankenship

It would have been brilliant if everything else wasn't SO LAZY. They had to do an extremely heavy-handed montage to try to get the audience to think about Targaryen madness and then they also had Varys say it to Jon because the writing had come nowhere close to indicating that Dany was "going mad" until a couple rushed moments in the middle of the final, and shortest, season. Then they made Dany LOOK mad in her early scene with Tyrion where he tells her Varys betrayed her. Once again, too little, too late, so they tried to bash the audience over the head with this idea of Dany's sudden madness in the penultimate episode. The fans and critics who have gone to great lengths to tie themselves up in knots trying to defend the horrible outcome for Dany by pointing out one or two moments in other seasons are kidding themselves. There's a reason the very large majority of fans HATED this episode and the final episode of the show. It was nothing short of pure character assassination. As Nat has said so many times the last 2 seasons, there was absolutely no logical reason to shorten the final 2 seasons to this extent. HBO was willing to spend whatever was needed to finish the show. They would have gladly given full-length seasons with longer episodes. Hell, they would have ADDED seasons if that's what D&D said they needed to finish the story. Instead, D&D were feeling lost as showrunners of the best show on television because they no longer has the source material to write scripts from. They also had their eyes on what they saw as a much bigger prize: a Star Wars film and likely a full trilogy. They rushed through the final seasons, throwing away the amazing character development and almost everything else that made the earlier seasons so great. The only things that remained were the visuals (VFX & cinematography) and the score, neither of which they are very directly involved in. The actors themselves didn't like the ending, except for one actor (I bet you can guess who that is). Bottom line, they didn't earn the ending of this episode. They didn't come close. They didn't earn any of it but they especially did not earn Daenerys' sudden "descent into madness." Saying Targaryens are just born that way and being good or evil is fate and they have no agency is the biggest copout ever. Even the script called it out when Jon told Varys it was nothing but riddles. Despite the show building up Daenerys for 7 1/2 seasons as the breaker of chains, destined to rule the Seven Kingdoms by breaking the wheel, they still had at least two full seasons to really illustrate and make the audience believe and understand Dany's "descent into madness." They had more than enough time but had no interest in using it. As a result, they botched it horribly, along with many other rushed and unsatisfying endings for other characters. Karma got the last word as Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilms understandably didn't want people willing to butcher their own product, in order to move onto the next chapter in their careers, handling their multi-billion dollar IP. D&D very quickly lost their opportunity to even participate in a Star Wars project, let alone make their own trilogy. Karma's a bitch lol. [End of rant] 😂

Jeff E

It's baffling how people defend her here. She was always flawed and had an angry side but she's spent years fighting for the weak and innocent. You don't go from fighting slavery to slaughtering millions over a lovers rejection and losing your best friends. Big things to be sure but not nearly enough for this Character assassination.

My_Cousin_Mose

Losing 2 friends, getting rejected by a lover, betrayed and failures by your commanders is a lot. Enough to murder 1 million innocent people? It's completely fucked up.

My_Cousin_Mose

The episode is completely full of bullshit so no surprise she'd complain about it.

My_Cousin_Mose

It is painful to watch Tyrion become so stupid. He is not written as the same shrewd man he once was. He now has 21st century morals and zero brains out of nowhere.

Myles Away

I feel like the little montage at the beginning reminding us of the madness that often infects Targaryens was a particularly brilliant touch.

Ellis Hugh

Stranger Things has gotta be next!

Ellis Hugh

Well, I now see why everyone I knew said I had made the right and smart choice by not watching any episodes beyond the battle of winterfell. Now I'm just expecting Jon Snow to fake his own death and become a lumberjack. To know that D&D refused all the money and extra time HBO was happily willing to give them, kind of puts a smoking gun in their hands when it comes to knowing where the issues really lie.

Jomero

And losing Jorah and Missande meant losing two of her closest confidants and advisors who might check her worst impulses. Add to all that losing two of her "children," losing the bulk of her armed forces, getting rejected by Jon, being let down by Tyrion over and over, and then Vary's betrayal. It was just too much. She snapped. She'd had enough. No more Miss Nice Girl. Time for some Fire and Blood. After watching it many times, both myself and via other people's reactions, I finally get her fury. I don't blame her.

Nathan Dickson

not only did it not surprise me but I was hoping for it since I started watching the show, and caught up on all the books around season 2. Dany is Darth Vader was the play all along and honestly I was cheering when it happened lol. not for people dying but just because I always thought it would be a cool story. And yes it could have been a whole lot cooler with way more episodes to develop it, it's a shame

Kenneth thomas

So Dany has a history of cruelty if you look at her actions through the seasons. But before she was only cruel towards people who deserved it, people we didn't care about. But now she's in westeros, and she lost jorah and missendei. She's always been cruel. She's always desired attention and to be the one everyone looks at. Losing those two has now began to unhinge her.

Christopher Robles

If they did care, I'd call it tragic, not funny. Two years instead of one as for all the previous seasons, and this is the resulting dumpster fire? Even though HBO offered them practically unlimited resources to extend the show a bit longer! Even the actors - whose performances were stellar as always, despite the mediocre scripts of the last seasons - have dropped pretty clear hints about their disappointment at these seasons and the unnatural way their characters suddenly turned into one-dimensional caricatures of themselves. Can't help but to feel really bad for them, after having been part of something that was really unprecedented in terms of fantasy tv-shows, only for it to end like this. You are of course free to disagree, but watching it - for a second time now - I feel like the showrunners just didn't care. Either that, or that the initial 5 seasons were some kind of fluke and D&D actually don't understand what makes good storytelling or compelling characters, or what internal consistency is.

Tomas

The teleporter has been around since season 1 and is used multiple times in every single season. It's just utilized more in the later seasons as the scope of the story expanded. That is literally one of the smallest issues with the entire show

Dante

Dyko, are you saying Dany will not go mad in the books?

Dante

I think she'd really like the expanse

Dante

I mean, I can virtually guarantee you the books will do something similar with her character. There's even more foreshadowing in the books about it than there is in the show, and that large of a plot point would have been given to D&D by GRRM. The difference is George would probably execute it better and it would be much more gradual. But he's never finishing the series so none of this really matters.

Dante

Is dimwit turning into our version of a cock joke?

Paul G

Good comment take the high ground.

Paul Gibbons

No I don't watch Anime, this isn't an animated Japanese adult cartoon.

Paul G

ahh i know! my fingers are crossed so hard in anticipation for that series

Matt Camburn

Well shit just look at the money for LOTR series $465m for 1st season.

Paul Gibbons

"I've never known bells to mean surrender" - Davos, season 2.

Brandon

They were given the ending of the story and the main characters (and I suppose some high level stuff like Dany going mad). They had to keep to those but still avoid being obvious, hence speeding it up. Many wish to have had a longer transition for Dany descending into madness, but the same people would have been loudly complaining having "such a predictable buildup with a predictable twist that you saw coming from miles away". Unsolvable dilemma from a showrunner perspective.

zulu

Funny they took 2 years of their life making this season that they didn't give a shit about why not do it in 1 then! Officially all films were shelved after the last trilogy even this Patty Jenkins film that was announced at the AGM hasn't been written or commited too yet.

Paul Gibbons

Well it is later seasons GOT so there is plenty to hate. You can't expect someone to pretend like the show is still great still.

Robjgood

A. I don't think we'll see them and B. GRRM has said himself that if you think this will have a happy ending you haven't been reading it properly.

Paul Gibbons

you were really in a moaning about bullshit mood this episode. damn

Roy Veenhuizen

They weren't supplied a plot my GRRM they were given bullet points and where things end up you fill in the blanks. Problem with fan theories is that you do 1 as an alternate the other 9 different ones hate it.

Paul G

Idk why people were so surprised that Dany did this lol this was not out of character. She's been talking about taking the throne with "fire and blood" since Season 1. This is what taking a city looks like. It's not pretty. She's been known what it takes. This was her original plan except she was gonna use 3 dragons but decided to take a different route due to her advisors like Tyrion and Jorah. If they had not been there for her when she got to Dragonstone in Season 7, this is exactly what would have happened. Also keep in mind that she lost the bulk of her army, two dragons which are like her children, Jorah and Missandei, and the throne she's been working her whole life for and sacrificed so much for could potentially be lost because of the people who would most likely support Jon's claims. And she feels completely isolated from everyone. To be fair, she had no right to come take the throne anyways. People were living their lives and she created a war just so she can be in power. I know the show writers confused the audience by making it seem like she's been a hero all along especially with all the music and emotional scenes but I never saw her as someone who's like a hero. She talked a lot about breaking the wheel but how you gonna do that if you just make yourself in charge? She presented no plans to change how things would work or how the "wheel" would be broken. All she focused on was "claiming what is mine by birth right." So yeah I saw this coming a long time ago and wasn't surprised. I was still upset but wasn't surprised and it's completely the writers fault for making everyone confused.

Jenny Tolls

I personally think if all the books had been finished, things would have ended differently. GRRM had 10 frickin' years to write. And one could argue the show worked best if it had book material to fall upon. I agree, the showrunners alone had an almost impossible job in the end.

Obie Brown

I agree with a lot of what you say Dyko, but come on. Adapting a manga into an anime is a night and day difference from adapting a fantasy novel series into a live action TV show with a 1 hour runtime. Anime is literally just animated manga and that’s the point of it, not so with more long-form live action adaptations, and it’s never been that way really.

Dante

I agree the ending and the steps leading to that were mostly nonsense - there were so many better theories out there! - but GRRM determined these plot points, and the showrunners had to keep to them. I agree the pacing seemed too fast through the last episodes. But logically speaking: not so many and not so surprising plot points + a show that airs 1 episode a week: had they tried to stretch it out further, everyone would've had a different complaint: predictability. E.g. cut the episode when the bells rang - everyone would have been like "oh no, Dany will surely ignore them". For the same reason you couldn't have split up the Battle of Winterfell into 2 episodes: after a certain point everyone would have guessed it might be Arya to take out the Night King. I agree with the majority of the hatred against S8, but purely from a showrunning perspective you have to surprise and impress people every week, so you can't just expand the plot with so few plot points without getting predictable - and the plot points were laid down by GRRM unfortunately. What I feel from the pacing of E5 and E6 is that they still wanted to suprise the audience despite not having provided the best plot & ending by GRRM.

zulu

I could maybe understand if she just flew up and burned down the castle where Cersei was. But flying around the city, torching everything, it was ridiculous. They wanted to shock us, I guess. But all they did was flush 7 seasons of Daenerys Targaryen down the toilet. I feel bad for Emilia Clarke to have to end it like that.

Joe Blankenship

I just don't believe you Michael.

WackySwacky

He doesn't listen Michael, the whole problem with the show v the books goes back to the beginning when the reason GRRM went back to novels as opposed to tv was that he couldn't get his stuff made as tv was so structured to episode lengths and numbers and budgets he would have to cut his stories and that was the same thing that happened when his expansive novels were turned into tv.

Paul G

Psst... FALSE. The next is worse lol

Todd Sonnier

Says the dimwit replying to Paul gibbons... oh shit. That's me

Todd Sonnier

at this point im sadder the got reactions are coming to an end, than the actual show coming to the end lol. Look forward to see what new stuff you react to. If i had to throw a show into the mix it would the expanse, there's tons of seasons already and from the few seasons i've seen its been really good. Plus i think jeff bazos had something to do with amazon buying it so it could have the richest funding source lol!

Matt Camburn

I think part of it was getting what she wanted for so long and probably feeling a little empty because none of her inner circle remained besides Greyworm. I also think the bells ringing might have seemed like she was giving Cersei the easy way out. I mean, there were certainly signs of insanity peppered throughout, but her charisma carried her. Isn't that how a lot of tyrants come to power? Honestly, I was ok with the idea that maybe, in the end, we'd been rooting for the greatest of the evils all along. I'm sure Natalie has seen the finale by now, and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the next episode is where I had MAJOR muscle-straining eye rolls going on

Todd Sonnier

At least we can enjoy the special effects and how expensive this show was. It looks neat. Like there's a actual real place called Westeros.

Joe Blankenship

Twice. She used one to kill Frey.

Todd Sonnier

Agreed. I don't like the direction the show took with Dany's character. I hope the books don't do something similar.

Tranquil_Gnome

Pacing was the only true crime at the end.

Michael Blankenship

My opinion, I understand that others have different. I think the main problem with the series is poor pacing. The first 6 seasons was way to slow and the last two way too fast. I remember falling asleep to many of the earlier season episodes. I had no idea about what happened behind the scenes at the time so I was not coloured by that. It feels that some people decided to just hate everything about the show. A lot of the story arcs made a lot of sense. For Denearys (spelling) it has been hinted that she had kind of psychotic way of dealing with things and we have heard this about dice-roll and Targearyans (spelling). The show made a good job of keeping us guessing and hoping that it would end good. So she always wanted to burn things for the "greater good" and hoping that people would love her for it. Her advisors stopped her but failed in other ways. So she thought that she had to do it her way because the advisors "sucked". Adding to this people in westeros didn't love her and she lost 2 of her dragons etc. Add to this sleep and food deprivation which doesn't help the brain to function. So it made sense. A happy ending for Daenerys would have been stupid honestly. All in all, Im not a fan of series that just drag out forever and ends because people stops caring, Im glad it ended. I wish the pacing would have been better.

Markus Johansson

They could literally have kept the same major plot points and events, but stretched the show out for a couple more seasons (like one entire season dealing with the White Walkers final battle, one dealing with ousting Cersei, and one dealing with Dany's fall into tyrannical madness) and allowed it to keep some internal consistency and it would have been fine, great even. The real answer as to why everyone turns stupid and nothing makes sense in the last 2 seasons is that the Producers no longer gave a shit about the show and just wanted it to end as quickly as possible, so they burned it all to the ground and scampered off to ruin Star Wars some more instead. But even Disney realized Benioff and Weiss are clowns, so they let some other people do that instead.

Tomas

I told you two or three times in previous threads I've read the books. More than once. Doesn't change the fact a LOT of show relative plot points and events are likely to end very similar, if not the same. For somebody so dreadfully annoying in their nonstop complaints about paying attention to details and the books, you sure do seem to miss some pretty obvious stuff when it's spelled out literally right in front of you.

Michael Blankenship

LoL

Michael Blankenship

Have you ever watched anime Paul? 99% of them are one-to-one adaptations from their source material (manga/novels).

WackySwacky

If you had read the books, you'd know that it is literally impossible for the books to play out like the show.

WackySwacky

I can't wait until George hopefully finishes the books. When a lot of these same events and plot points happen, it's gonna be hilarious to see pretentious book people have the nerve to act surprised and try to blame "bAd WriTiNg" for a lot of things that were hinted at since the start.

Michael Blankenship

Nobody will ever do a book literal adaptation of anything because it has no artistic merit.

Paul G

The books are the actual canon, and the first 3 seasons of the show are what I consider good adaptation. Adaptation means to take a story from one medium and translate into another. It doesn't mean abandon 50% of the source material and completely change the core narrative of the story. Otherwise you might as well make up your own show and tell your own story.

WackySwacky

Agree. I'l never, ever not chuckle at people somehow still thinking this was out of character and came out of nowhere. It was spelled out pretty plainly this was a likely outcome for over half a decade.

Michael Blankenship

However second guessing if this was the best any writer could have done leads to the enjoyment of nothing.

Paul G

Shit, I can't drink that much Dyko!

Paul G

gmail started dumping my Patreon notification into spam folder a couple days ago...

Steve J

I see you got another post deleted Lord and this is at least the 2nd time you've made a remark at Randee. why you say, because he always puts this nice comment below Nat's videos which makes a change from what the rest of us post.

Paul G

Bro who tf is everyone?? Speak for yourself instead buddy.

Rahkeem Valentine

says the dimwit calling people names.

Paul G

I actually like this perspective more, instead of the constant crying about the writers behind the show. Like these are HUMAN CHARACTERS making the mistakes IN THE STORY, people gotta stop stepping out of the story to bitch and complain about the creators behind the scenes ffs

Rahkeem Valentine

Because most people on the show were paid by the episode. Less episodes = less money.

Paul G

In season 2 we saw Stark soldiers hanging prostitutes who slept with Lannister soldiers. It's not above the Northman to do what ever other army does (rape and sack cities) in the Medieval era.

Eduardo

Yes and Catelyn did it in 1 ep in season 1.

Paul Gibbons

And just when would the people of Kings Landing have had a chance to hear about it? They literally started the march to Kings Landing immediately after defeating the army of the dead. And after Daenerys making that sacrifice she receives only grief in return. She loses 2 of her best friends in the process, one of her children, part of her fleet, and then John basically abandons her as a lover. Her isolation and turn to rule through fear makes total sense as it has been a tendency of hers throughout the entire show, not to mention her direct line to John, "all right then, let it be fear". It's been a ledge she has had to be talked down from multiple times throughout the entire show, and there is no one left to talk her down from it. The snap on the battlefield could probably have been made a bit more convincing visually, but it's totally justifiable for the arc of her character.

Brian Jones

No.... The show is simply not the books. It's a loose translation and always has been (as all TV and film adaptations are). Something you and many of the readers seem to have been struggling with for some time now.

Brian Jones

Psss indeed Nat. Psss indeed.

Valar Dohaeris

Yeah, it's really the pacing, not the character arc. Even with the show as it stands, one more scene on the battlefield showing Daenerys being triggered, possibly a wound of the dragon fired last minute after the bells rang or something, just something that sent her into that final rage, would have made the turn a bit easier to swallow for casual viewers. You never see Daenerys again after the moment where she does snap, so there's no way for the audience to emotionally process what's going on in her head throughout the slaughter. Personally I thought that her "All right then, let it be fear" pretty much made it clear what was going to happen. The amount of episodes were limited by budget though, so I see why they made the choices they made.

Brian Jones

Daenerys was always a self righteous tyrant who believed in her own greatness. She needed Jorah there to whisper "Remember Thou Art Mortal" in her ear

Nathan Swapp

So strange, I didn't get the email for this one today. Glad I came here to find it!

Lisa Tosti

Game of thrones is a show where knowing what went on behind the scenes makes the final product so much more frustrating.

My_Cousin_Mose

All of the smart characters get turned into dufusses in the last 2 seasons.

WackySwacky

This could have all been prevented if she hadn't listened to Tyrion and Jon in S07E04 when she said she was going to fly to the Red Keep and take it. Given that it took her 30 minutes flat to take the city with one dragon, I'm sure that attack would have caused casualties, but no destruction of the city and no mass slaughter. No Golden Company to deal with. No dozens of scorpions to deal with. No Lannister army to deal with (as they were still making their way back from Highgarden at that point). She has had some terrible advice in these last two seasons. If she had only listened to her impulses.

Marc Van de Klashorst

I know it kind of explains a lot.

WackySwacky

Kind of important to point out the differences. Really puts it into perspective how bad the show got.

WackySwacky

You could also not spoil the books...

Crwn

David Benioff actually said to a reporter: “Themes are for eighth-grade book reports.”

Opti_Frog

haha

WackySwacky

Cleganebowl was pure, unadulterated "fan-service", even though it was just a meme and fans didn't actually expect it to happen.

WackySwacky

There's a video on YouTube of a cast script reading and you can see some of them cringing. It's kind of funny.

WackySwacky

Quite a bs episode…but the last ep…Oye vey!

Charlie Keeler

Remember when it took Arya 3 seasons to try to get to Winterfell from Kings Landing and she still never made it? S08 it took one 60 second scene to get back...

Steve J

just because i hit the blunt before typing this comment doesn't mean it's wrong lol

john collins

Dyko, you saved me a lot of typing. Let's add Cleganebowl to the stupid as well. First of all, The Hound and Arya rode all the way from Winterfell to King's Landing (pretty fast too!) and he waits until they are INSIDE THE RED KEEP to tell her to leave? And then the sheer idiocy of the brothers fighting. The Mountain is a husk, he's already dead, the fight is pointless. So D&D had to add a bit of agency to the zombie, making him kill Qyburn and stop following orders.

Opti_Frog

"That was completely unnecessary". That's a nice summation of the episode.

Marc Van de Klashorst

says the dimwit lying throughout the thread lol

robingardner

Natalie: Daenarys, why?! D&D: Bacause fuck you, that's why.

Ariel Conde

"I wish you good fortune in the wars to come, which will last one episide."

WackySwacky

As long as it has a pointy end, I guess.^^

ThisOneHasNoName

Wow so deep bro, pass the blunt.

WackySwacky

For the fun of it, let's watch this scene again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOpQqVCt-Jc

Marc Van de Klashorst

I do accept what was done, do I agree with the way the writers wrote it No but what's done is done and as powerful as fans think they can be writers and authors and artists are funny people if it's their vision it's their vision and we have to accept it if they spell you because it was just that their vision not ours

Jayson Orlando

I always forget how "the GOLD CLOAKES" look like. I'm dying.

Jakub C

So the white horse at the end of the episode is symbolism for the god of death. We have heard in Arya's story that there is only one god in this world the god of death. A white horse has been considered an omen or symbol for death since it appeared before the end of times in the book of revelations in the bible. It is theorized that this horse appearing to save Arya was the god of this world helping her survive.

john collins

I feel like you just accept stories at face value and don't think about whether this was the best thing the writers could have done.

WackySwacky

It's too bad he has the exact opposite character arc in the books.

WackySwacky

That is factually incorrect, Morten Larsen. Can't believe there are people in the comments just straight up lying in order to defend this shit writing.

WackySwacky

Stick, sword, whatever. It's all the same thing, right? RIGHT???

Marc Van de Klashorst

There needed to be a timeskip of a few years in order to justify Arya's abilities. They certainly didn't explain how she got them in the show. She's just suddenly an expert Faceless Man one day.

WackySwacky

He didn't kill the Mad King to save the city. He did it to save himself, and help his father take the city.

Morten Larsen

Perhaps now you finally understand our anger, our hatred. True story, I was so infuriated at this point that I didn't even bother watching the finale and still haven't seen it to this day.

The Golgothan

It absolutely made sense. Every bit of it. It has been telegraphed since the very first season, when she almost jizzed herself over hearing Khal Drogo say he'd burn down their stone houses and kill the men in iron suits. Dany was always gonna go mad, and for every one of her closest friends that died, it just became more and more clear.

Morten Larsen

I guess the training was about becoming an expert sword-fighter without ever training with a sword.

ThisOneHasNoName

Natalie: "Why?! this doesn't make any sense!" Literally everyone watching: "We know girl..." Sad to watch it a second time. Already afraid for tomorrow. Thanks though! it's been a blast reliving it again with you. The first 5 seasons still make it worth. From there on out the only good thing about it was watching you get more and more confused and having the same doubts I had.

Robin Hulleman

GoT will never give you what you want.

James M

"It's kinda surprising Arya didn't use a face" Since returning to Westeros she used a face exactly once: Walder Frey's. And that was to murder his whole family. Back when mass murder for revenge was still okay, you know. What was that training in Braavos all about, actually?

Marc Van de Klashorst

Waaah... If you don't agree with me, I won't talk to you. Alright, little child. xD

Morten Larsen

"I never really cared for them, innocent or otherwise." And with one line, the noblest thing Jaime ever did, which ruined his reputation forever but he did it anyway, was wiped from history as if it never happened.

Marc Van de Klashorst

I think Tyrion himself is just tired of wanting people dead. He's not so much showing sympathy for Cersei as just not wanting to see her (or anyone else) killed. Tyrion changed a lot over the course of the show, and I think his biggest change is that he doesn't desire revenge as much as he did early on.

Sam Kimpton

no, now it ends

Adam Deakin

I mean Dany was abused for a long time, sold of and raped in the first episode. She got strong and went far but take away her dragons, her friends, her home, her love(Jon), even her claim to the throne - take everything away and yeah, madness in the blood gonna come out. It's not pleasant but it does make sense.

abz

Great reaction Nat, looking forward to hearing your thoughts when it's all said and done tomorrow!

Erik Stevenson

Tyrion shows sympathy for Cersei for this whole season.

WackySwacky

Dany, upon reaching Westeros, sacrificed her primary objective to defend the entire continent against an army of the dead, ultimately prevailing. At no point does she say "Gee, I bet when people hear about this and how Cersei did nothing to stop a literal army of zombies they might realize I would make a better ruler than her", instead she says "I must burn fear into the populace now that I've sacrificed thousands of soldiers to defend them". It's flatly illogical.

Erik Stevenson

The show is bullshit.

WackySwacky

Already dropping truth bombs while the show's intro is still playing. I'm going to love this!

Marc Van de Klashorst

great point about how her descent into madness was very similar to Cersei's. and both literally lit the city on fire.

Sean S

I love how flabbergasted you were at the end. It's pretty much how I was.

KoolKamal

i didnt find it random. from day one when she arrived in the north they didn't like her / show her love. also the previous references to her father the mad king and her following a very similar path - they both had lannisters as their hands who the mad king got jealous of and turned against and Daenerys getting upset with Tyrion and threatening him. plus lady olenna telling her to be the dragon. idk it was def rushed pace at the end.. but I think the clear character arc of her made sense, but yes obv rushed.

Sean S

It is you.

Erik Stevenson

in the books? it doesn't seem that way in the show. just my view.

Sean S

I agree that the change in Danny was a bad writing choice. But I believe that it was the death of her dragons that caused it not Jorah. She started to change after the first dragon was taken by the Night King and when the second died she started falling more into madness and became very cruel. It parallels Cersei's character change as well. Before Joffrey died she was calculated and cunning but all from the shadows, after she openly wanted to kill all of her enemies. After Marcella died she openly became cruel and even tortured her enemies. After Tommon she snapped and became the crazy tyrant queen.

john collins

The writers realizing they needed to insert a random line of extremely direct dialogue to try to literally tell their audience why a character is taking specific actions kinda sums up why people have a problem with it though.

Erik Stevenson

that drinking game would have us all in serious trouble during this vid

Sean S

The Northerners are still soldiers in a savage midieval times.. and I'm sure they remember what the Lannisters did to Ned

Sean S

internet at its finest right here. ;-)

Sean S

Yes, actually, but like Wildfyre it isn't easily contained.

Paul Gibbons

British and German royal families of the 18th, 19th and into early 20th had some problems, George III, The Lost Prince etc.

Paul G

I don't think Tyron wants Cersei to live. He wants Jamie to live. And he knows that Jamie is going back to Cersei, so if he has to keep Cersei alive to save his brother, then so be it. Also, I don't think the writers want people to feel sympathy for Cersei. It's just that in her final moments, Cersei is naturally afraid for her life. I agree about the Euron/Jamie fight. I really wanted Euron to be eaten by a dragon. Also disappointed that no one on the show even once pronounced his name like "urine".

Sam Kimpton

she said it flat out before the attack "here, all I have is fear" .. that's why

Sean S

"A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing" Maester Aemon

Gregory Snow

This was so hard to watch a 2nd time because of HOW INCREDIBLY STUPID THE WRITING IS OMG 🙄😒

Jon Parker

Happy Wednesday Nat the penultimate episode dany throwing her toys out the pram on a grand scale like it or hate it isn't going to change anything so I prefer not to comment instead to just enjoy your reaction and find out your thoughts on the madness that comes to pass, got a snack and a drink so let's begin 💛

Ian

Canonically, Jaime stops loving Cersei.

WackySwacky

Jamie going back to Cersi - love is irrational

Sean S

Northmen are just people and soldiers have always murdered, raped, and pillaged cities taken by storm, especially in medieval warfare. After years of warfare amongst each other, the dead, and now southern folk, they would absolutely pillage the city for all its worth.

Nathan Swapp

The Bells meaning surrender is a retcon. In Season 2, during the Battle of the Blackwater, Ser Davos says that "he's never known bells to mean surrender". But in this episide they make it seem like it's common knowledge to the people in King's Landing that the Bells mean surrender. The writers didn't even watch their own show. Jon has become a complete moron. He's been reduced to spamming the same line over and over again. "She's muh Queen!" Yes, Jon is honorable, but he's never been about honor above common sense. That's something D&D came up with. Another ruined character. Vary goes out like a true idiot. Nuff said. Tyrion is just out of character. Canonically, in fact (books are the source material guys, remember?). Tyrion HATES Cersei. He wants to murder her. It's his goal in life. But for some reason, he cares for her now? Wants her to live? What? Dany says no one loves her even though realistically a lot of the North should be thankful for her help in defeating the White Walkers. Not to mention, once she becomes Queen she would have the rest of her life in order to gain friends in Westeros and get the smallfolk to like her. Jaime saying "I've never really cared for the common folk" literally invalidates HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC throughout the show. He literally killed King Aerys, sacrificing his honor and good name, to save the people of King's Landing. Jaime has no reason to go back to Cersei. She's tried to kill him. In the books, Jaime has already abandoned her to her fate. The show directly contradicts this. Why is the Golden Company standing out in the open in front of the gates? Instead of being protected BEHIND the walls of the city? Why do cities have walls to begin with? For protection maybe? In the last episode, Euron's fleet hit Rheagal 3 TIMES in a row in a matter of seconds. And that was with less ships. That's hyper accuracy. But in this episode, they can't get a single hit on Drogon even though they have literally hundreds of scorpions shooting at Dany simultaneously, both from the ships and from the walls. Also, the term "fire!" comes from "give fire", a term that was first used when firearms started being used. Before that, people would yell "Loose!" because they used bows and arrows. A minor nitpick but I thought it was a funny error. Dragonfire is extremely inconsistent throughout this season. Jon in episode 3 is able to hide behind walls and rocks in order to avoid Viserion's Dragonfire (which took down the Wall in the Season 7 finale), but in this episode Drogon's dragonfire is basically a fricking laser beam that can obliterate entire buildings. Meanwhile, also Dany this episode: "Hey I got everything I wanted, might as well go on a killing spree to celebrate." What the fuck were the writers smoking? They never explained how Qyburn brought back the Mountain basically from the dead. They completely ignore the prophecy that one of Cersei's brothers is supposed to kill her. Instead Cersei and Jaime both get taken out by some bricks. Euron swam for 30 minutes straight to get back to shore and just happens to run into Jaime. It's clear Cersei has lost the war and yet Euron still wants to fight him for some reason. The show completely ruined this character. The writers are trying desperately to get us to care about Cersei when she has been completely irredeemable the whole show. She was never meant to be the final big bad. In the books she gets taken out by the Faith.  They made Arya have no relevance after episode 3 when really she's would have been the person with the best chance to take out Cersei with absolutely no bloodshed. The characters ignore this fact completely and Arya never tells anyone her plan despite it being vitally important and could potentially save everyone's life. Also Arya should've died like 3 times in this episode but the plot armor is super strong with her. And then we get "Death rides a Pale White horse" symbolism because that's deep or something LOL who knows what the writers we're thinking, what a mess. I could go on but that's enough I think.

WackySwacky

here we go boys

Garlicjr Made

You are correct, the saying came about because of how common incest was in the Targaryen family. As we know these days, incest can lead to a multitude of mental and physical disorders which is why so many Targaryen's had them.

Dante

The Dog Walker

I think these last 2 seasons suffered dramatically from the longer episodes. If we had gotten the exact same story but just chopped up into 8 55 minute episodes (while it would still be poorly written) it would feel a bit better I think. SO much happens in each of these 1.5 hour episodes that even though we're technically getting 1.5+ episodes worth of story it makes it feel even more rushed than it already is experiencing it in one sitting. Particularly with Dany's progression, imo it actually makes quite a bit of sense for her character to end this way, but the last 1/3rd of her development happened in 2 episodes. However, that being said, Dany has always shown these tendencies but Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah tempered them a lot in Mereen. After losing 2/3 of her children in front of her, Jorah in front of her, Missandei being beheaded in front of her, Jon pushing her away, AND finding out that her entire "Destiny" may have been a lie since there is a male Targaryen with a better claim to the throne than her, I think it's understandable that she snapped especially if its true that she has some of the genetic predispositions to mental health issues that many Targaryen's have. For me, Dany's story was not the worst of this season. The nonsensical killing of Rheagal, Dany "forgetting about the iron fleet", the stupid episode 3 plans, Jamie's story, etc. etc. there are MUCH worse plotlines than Dany's imo.

Dante

Why?

chicks dig me

This was actually a super entertaining watch on the second go around. I let the salt distract from the sheer scope and beauty on my first watch.

MikeWest

Ah don wan et!

RE

I really feel what Arya went through in King's Landing really gave her more humanity and value for life that she was missing... Up until then it was just anger and vengeance, and people's lives didn't really have value to her especially those who have crossed her or her family. But being caught in that seeing so much death and seeing it caused by one person that had an angry hatred agenda.... Really gave Arya a huge dose of humanity!

Jayson Orlando

I think above all else, the accelerated pace of the last season is what makes this episode so hard to fathom. Dany's irrational madness could have been -- I think -- much more accepted if there had been more time to see it played out. But things moved so quickly, it didn't have time to develop. On the other hand, the tight timeline did mean that the horrible things that happened to people close to Dany (Jeorah, Missandei, and Jon's true lineage that threatened her perceived destiny) occurred so closely together in the show that all of that stress/trauma piled up and made her snap. I can see it both ways. I always imagined that the "when a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin" saying was implying that Targaryens had some kind of hereditary disorder that gave them a high chance of having a psychotic breakdown under the right circumstances, and being corrupted by power was one of those circumstances.

Sam Kimpton

Hi Nat, and thanks for this penultimate day in Westeros! 😄 I loved your reaction, especially with the little reference to SW haha, but the scenes of the soldiers massacring civilians, these are unfortunately scenes that make sense in the way that they are things that can be explained by the side "we follow the movement, it's messy, we can do what we want" and they are simply war crimes (rape, murder, theft, etc) like it happened for all wars in the history. 🤷‍♂️ I'm curious for tomorrow haha I hope you're fine, take care, be safe and stay golden! 💛

Calo Grsf

When most of Nat's comments are "It doesn't make sense"...

Dmitry Ishkov

I can't imagine what the actors felt when reading the script for this episode.

Jorge

When the burning started, the look you gave the camera was priceless Natalie absolutely priceless... That was like the most shocked in disbelief look you gave the whole series!!! Amazing reaction!

Jayson Orlando

"It doesn't make sense, the Dothraki are killing inocent people". Of all the nonsensical things that happen during these 2 last seasons, that's one of the few ones that makes sense. That's what they do tbh. I could understand even the Unsullied just going all out. As for the northmen.... yeah, that doesn't make any fucking sense. Killing Lannister troops okay, but civilians? 0 sense.

Bou _

OMG... Totally hate that Natalie was so disappointed at the beginning already begging not to hurt innocent people... I kept saying to myself, "Girl you got no clue what's about to go down!" I almost felt bad for Natalie that she was that stressed already lol

Jayson Orlando

I believe that's the best way to go through these last three episodes.

Navjot Singh

She had blind rage...she didn't care who got caught in the cross fire at that point, there was no good innocent people or bad guilty people, they were just Kings Landing....look at the way she looks at the Red Keep...with utter disgust...and that is what she viewed all of Kings Landing as....representation of Cersei ...sad but true!

Jayson Orlando

Honestly....I will definitely admit her transition was certainly rushed in the laset season...but the signs have always been there...her decisions were always immediately to "eliminate" the problems she faced...the only one EVER to tell her to "light it up" was Lady Olenna ..."Be A Dragon!"

Jayson Orlando

Yeah those poor evil children causing her grief I feel soo sorry for her, I would have burned them alive too.

_Crimson_Fkr_

Don't forget Missande...I feel if it weren't for her at times, Daenerys would have been far over the edge than she was.

Jayson Orlando

People gotta realize...grief does some crazy sh#t to people inside! She lost Jorah, she lost Rhaegal, and then Missande...that's a whole lotta grief in a short period of time, and then Jon rejecting her, mixed with her hatred for Cersei, and throw in all the people around her failing her and some turning on her...I was NOT surprised she snapped like she did at all..."Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". She sure brought that saying to life!!!

Jayson Orlando

Take a shot every time Jon says "She's muh Queen!"

WackySwacky

This is where the fun begins* * for variable definitions of "fun"

RE

Arya's scene at the end of this episode, no meaning, just vibes

mike

Here we go folks, this is gonna get nutso

Obie Brown

Pssst I saw this

Christopher French

Daenerys has not always been pure of heart, good and gentle. She has qualities but she also has her flaws. She would have been a bad ruler if her advisors (Jorah, Tyrion, Ser Barristan) hadn't been there. She only wants the throne and now that she has it on her grasps, she cannot bear the idea of not getting it. I agree the evolution is pretty badly written, I think we all can agree to that. Making her a villain on the two last episodes making the shif of character so sudden was pretty lame. But the overall arc makes sense when seeing it in retrospective.

Bou _

We have arrived to the point of no return. I remember having hope, a fools hope...until this episode aired. Don't get me wrong, THE moment could have been an epic scene of tragedy for a beloved character, but as it stand now...it feels so un-earned and rushed that it slaps the viewer right in the face. Damn shame.

Petteri Ahlberg

Happy Westeros Wednesday, Natalie! 😊 Getting this downloaded right now so that I can watch it later tonight. Looking forward to watching this reaction later this evening. Have a great day today! 😊 Until the next video, Stay Golden! 💛

Randee Carreno

You will not see this then : ( - You are correct.

Petteri Ahlberg

The final Westeros Wednesday Nat. This episode annoyed me the first time around, and I think it annoyed me more second time around. After the bells toll, logic gives way to blood thirsty spectacle. Perplexed, I think, was the best way to describe your reaction today Nat. It was just so similar to the way I felt when I watched this episode when it was first shown. I await your final verdict tomorrow, and look forward to hearing yours and Tyler's summation of it all. Thanks, as always, for today's video Nat 💛

Darryl Low

Welp, here we are. The worst episode of the show. Yeah don't bother debating this I'm not going to read it. But if you agree--you're awesome.

Christopher French