'Game of Thrones' season 8 episode 5 got the worst reviews, but here's how the show's creators responded to the disappointed fans
Fans of 'Game of Thrones' have been raging on social media platforms about what a spectacular failure the final season's penultimate episode was. From Daenerys Targaryen's (Emilia Clarke) dragon Drogon being strong enough to decimate an entire army, which is not plausible considering how Rhaegal was shot down by Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) in episode 4 to Jaime Lannister (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau) and Euron's unwanted duel, the list goes on. So here's a look at what the makers DB Weiss, David Benioff and director Miguel Sapochnik have to say about it in their episode break down video.
1. Why did Daenerys lose control and rise as the Mad Queen?
It has nothing to do with mental health. Yes, her father was called the Mad King, and now she has been crowned the Mad Queen because of the all the anger that bubbling underneath. So many had complained about how Dany's transition from an insecure queen to a violent destroyer was accelerated. It all came too fast, too soon. One must understand the meaning of the shot after the bell rings. The time when Dany sees the Red Keep castle and she remembers years of pain, of vulnerability that she had to face after fleeing, how she was sold to the Dothraki - that moment culminates every wrong that she has ever faced. Co-Creator David Benioff said, "If Jon hadn't told her the truth, if Cersei hadn't betrayed her, if Cersei hadn't executed Missandei, if all these things had happened in any different way, then I don't think we would be seeing this side of Daenerys Targaryen."
2. Was Daenerys used for shock value by setting the city on fire?
While Tyrion and Jon see an opportunity after the surrender of Lannister soldiers to keep the fight bloodless, what changes everything is Dany's emotions. "She feels empty, it wasn't what she thought it was. It wasn't enough." Emilia explained, "Every single thing has led her to this point. There she is alone. We have all got this part of us, the part that goes 'I am going to put that chocolate cake down and I going to walk away. There are moral conundrums all the time. Not saying chocolate cake is a moral conundrum. Eat as much f****** chocolate cake as you want. But those things that wrestle within yourself."
DB Weiss adds to this, "She knows she has won that war, it's in that moment that she makes the decision. To make this personal." while David says, "She is who she is, she is a Targaryen and throughout the show, she has repeatedly said 'I will take what's mine, through fire and blood' and in this episode she does it."
3. The unwanted Jaime Lannister-Euron Greyjoy duel
The idea of the duel was for it to be a 'slut-fest' because the time for gentlemanly fights was over! DB Weiss explains, "Euron is a psychopath. A normal person would not swim to the shore so that he can murder one other person. He wants to know what new things are like so he says, with Cersei, life can be boring. The ultimate new experience that he never had before is death and I think he is strangely excited about having that experience as well because he dies with a smile on his face."
4. How did Sandor Clegane convince Arya to give up on killing Cersei?
This question has been plaguing the internet because Cersei was on the top of Arya's kill list. She has been reciting Cersei's name for years now in the name of revenge and all it took Sandor Clegane was a few minutes to convince her to leave. This abruptness among many similar instances was cited as one of the biggest problems of the episode. However, by having her leave, the creators managed to capture the ensuing destruction by Dany and by cutting back and forth between Hound and Arya; the scenes took on an emotional note. Every time Arya goes down, it was expected to elicit anxiety in the audience about her fate and similarly about Sandor's fate. The decision to intercut the scenes was made by Miguel and his editor Tim Porter. The fact that Hound also stresses by asking Arya if she wants to end up like him - lonely, half burnt, massive panic attacks during battle - also helps her decide.
5. Jaime and Cersei's emotional ending
"It is like a genuine discovery as she goes along. Each step she takes, something crumbles, something falls, the destruction is unavoidable. She loses people and finds herself totally alone," explains Lena Headey, the actor. So by having Jaime and Cersei together at that moment, what the creators wanted to show was even as horrendous a person as Cersei is, "in the end, she is just a girl". It was important to show that about this character.
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