[Game of Thrones S08E05] "The Bells" review.

Slightly delayed review due to some Mother's day obligations -- Happy Mother's day to all, and let's not forget the 1872 Mother's Day Proclamation for the abolition of militarism and oppression.

But even after a climactic battle, better late than never. Note, spoilers follow. Yes, SPOILERS!!!!

Here goes:

1. Obviously the key to this episode is the way in which Daenerys transitions to full-blown villain by destroying the city. I did not like how this was done. Sceptics will say that it's because I am (or at least was) a fan of the character. Maybe so. But I think there were other, better ways to make her transition to villainy if that's what George R.R. Martin and the showrunners wanted to do. I could understand her becoming a villain because she decided it was the only way to get the Iron Throne and/or the only way to destroy her enemies. But she turns to the Dark Side in the very moment when the enemy was laying down its arms and victory (including revenge against Cersei) was at hand anyway. At various points in the show, Daenerys is ruthless in dealing with her enemies. But she never gratuitously slaughters innocent civilians until this point. It just doesn't make sense for her to start doing so when she has already won.

2. The above might make some sense if Daenerys simply goes insane, like her father did (though there has been zero evidence of insanity in previous episodes). But the showrunners' explanation at the end of the show suggests this is not the case, but rather that Daenerys just made a sudden decision to "make it personal" by destroying the Red Keep. Even if she felt she had to destroy the Keep to get back at Cersei, there is still no motivation for burning down the whole rest of the City.

3. To sum up points 1 and 2, there were lots of better ways to make Daenerys transition to a believable villain, if that's what they wanted to do. They chose a really bad way. Though it does have the advantage (if advantage it is) of making her villainy completely unambiguous. She commits a massive atrocity (worse than anything Cersei has done, by far), with no justification whatsoever.

4. It's somewhat academic. But the way the battle unfolded demonstrates the point I have repeatedly made: that Daenerys could have used her dragons to defeat Cersei and capture the City WITHOUT mass slaughter of civilians. She in fact accomplishes exactly that by breaching the walls and destroying the defending army and fleet early in the battle, with only ONE dragon. If she had gone straight to King's Landing and attacked with all three dragons at the start of Season 7, all of this would have been avoided (though perhaps something else would have caused Daenerys to engage in mass murder for no reason).

5. The ballistas were conveniently a lot slower and less accurate in this episode than the last one. It seems like their capabilities vary with the needs of the plot. Daenerys attacked the fleet straight on, and they didn't land even a single hit (in sharp contrast to their super-sharpshooting in Episode 4).

6. Tyrion continues to act stupidly in this episode. By now, we're used to it, I guess.

7. Yes, today's episode "proves" that Jon would make a better ruler than Daenerys (as he is unlikely to be worse than someone who engages in gratuitous mass murder). But it's still annoying how Varys and others talk about how what a wonderful king he would be, given his truly atrocious record as a political and military leader.

8. The Golden Company turned out to be completely worthless. That whole subplot turned out be a useless time-suck, except perhaps by giving Cersei an incentive to fight on. But presumably she would have done so even if she were down to the Lannister forces and Euron's fleet, alone.

9. Speaking of Euron, this character was pretty poorly developed. He goes from hyper competent to completely worthless depending on the needs of the plot.

10. Jaime's actions in this episode were among the few things that made sense. He loved Cersei more than anyone else, and it was in character for him to try to save her, and then die with her, when he failed.

11. After what happened in the episode to that point, I did NOT care about the stupid Cleganebowl (which ended in predictable fashion).

12. Yes, the episode is indeed telegraphing that Arya will kill Daenerys in the finale (presumably, hers are the green eyes Melisandre said Arya would close).

13. I can understand the Dothraki turning to rape and pillage when the city falls. It's more difficult to believe that the Unsullied do so, given that they are highly disciplined and have humanitarian scruples.

14. It will be interesting to see whether Jon survives to take the Iron Throne. Also, will there be any nod of any kind to "breaking the wheel" and institutional reform. The destruction of King's Landing might lead the Westerosi to finally consider the possibility that maybe it's not a good idea to have an all-powerful monarch.

15. I join in the general criticism of the last 2 seasons that many plot lines and character developments have been rushed. Had they taken their time and been more careful, what happened in this episode might have worked better.

16. While I am seriously annoyed at how this season turned out (and Season 7 too), the fact that I and so many other people care so much is something of an achievement for Martin and the showrunners. The show's earlier successes are what led us to have high expectations in the first place. Few would care if a mediocre show ended badly.