By Staff Writer

Now that I am done with the fifth episode of Season 8, time for some spoilers.

We lost Missandei in the last episode and her last words; “Dracarys” called upon her queen to burn the city. Daenarys does just that in this episode. She destroys the city despite the bells sounding in surrender. From the iron fleet to the civilians in the city, none is left standing.

Even Lord Varys is sentenced to death. He’s bathed in fire by Drogon. “They say every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath.”

That is all we do in this episode, hold our breath. Tyrion is given one last warning by the Dragon Queen; “next time you fail me will be the last time you fail me.” As Varys is about to burn off; “he hopes that he was wrong.” What an honourable man even in death!

It is chaos in the city. Kids, mothers, fathers burning, running from the rubble. For the common man, does it really matter who sits on the iron throne?

Then we have Tyrion freeing Jaime Lannister. The Lannisters indeed pay their debts. He lets his brother run off to die with his love. Although I hated Cersei, their love with Jaime is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. They are born together, they die together. “Nothing else matters.”

The Hound settles his score with the undead Brother. The mountain after all can’t be uprooted, and off they die together. It is confusion, all written on Arya and Jon’s faces.

Who will contain the mad queen? Is it fear, is it love? Who gets to sit on the iron throne? Power is power! The greater the risk, the greater the reward!

It was a bittersweet episode!

By Staff Writer

May contain spoilers.

Emotional stability, good temperant are the least of qualities one could ask of a leader. Daenerys aka Dany lacks these. She will eventually die by her own qualities. I now know why Sansa was always skeptical of her as queen.

In Episode 4, we see the fight for the iron throne get to her head. It blinds her to making rational decisions. Perhaps, it’s all destiny, that legacy of her father’s madness. And this madness is attributed to the inbreeding among the Targaryens.

And Cersei knows this, she intentionally stirs it. That could explain why Cersei chooses to have Missandei murdered. Cersei’s strategy is to have Dany commiting self-destructive errors. She wants to hand Dany a pyrrhic victory. She would have to kill thousands of innocent city dwellers and destroy the city in the process.

Lord Varys thus faced Dany in the eyes and tried to advise her against her moves. “Do not destroy the city you came to save. Do not become what you’ve always struggled to defeat.”

On a beautiful note; men and women have been to crazy things after the long night. Although Arya lost her virginity before the war, she rejects Gendry’s marriage proposal.

Brienne finds love but for a short time. Although Jamie had never slept with a knight, Brienne had never slept with anyone. No wonder she tries to ask him not to go to King’s Landing. But hey, Jamie has done everything for Cersei. How will he handle the fact that Cersei is pregnant with Euron’s child. Whatever Cersei holds, it must be exceptional. The things Euron and Jamie have done to earn her are beyond explanation. Euron even killed a dragon.

Finally the man himself, Samwell Tarly. Gilly is pregnant. Tarly’s explanation? There are not many books a man could read. He had to find some books within Gilly.

But on the other hand, may be Dany’s madness is justified. She’s lost so much. She’s done much but no one seems to be grateful.

Some of the best quotes from this episode:

“Every good ruler needs to inspire a bit of fear.”—Tyrion

“I once pushed a boy out of a window and crippled him for life because of Cersei. I strangled my cousin with my own bare hands because of Cersei. I would murder every woman and child for her. She’s hateful and so am I.”—Jamie

“She’s a girl who walked into a fire with three stones and walked out with three dragons. How could she not believe in destiny?”—Lord Varys

“The longer I leave my enemies alone, the stronger they become.”—Danys

“If a handful of people know then it is not a secret, it is information.”—Lord Varys

“Jon’s funeral speech.” “Gendry’s marriage proposal”

As they often say, power is power.

By Staff Writer

It was such a long night; the epic battle of Winterfell. Tyrion Lannister down in the crypt thinking he ought to have been outside. “If I was out there… I would see something.” The master strategist thinks he could see something that everyone is missing. He could have the key to winning this battle. Sansa openly tells him; “You’d die.” And that reality penetrates so deeply.

But the crypt is not as safe as we imagined. For when the Night King arrives, he awakens the dead. And he does it after the army had slayed many of them. Imagine seeing the people you just killed come back to life. You could see the exhaustion, the emptiness in the eyes of the great army. It was all written on their faces. Suddenly the crypt is not as safe anymore.

The moment comes; Bran commends Theon for being a good man. Theon with the last of his energy charges at the night king only to die at his hands. The night King approaches Bran, death is coming.

And yes; Arya has already said; “not today” to the god of death. The dagger drops from one hand into another and off it plunges into the night king. And with the destruction of the night king, the dead too return to bones. But wait a minute; none of the wights died at this battle. Because what is dead may never die.

It is an episode that shows how every army tactic falls apart once battle announces its presence and the opponent shows his face. All the assumptions fall apart. It’s women on top. It’s women ruling over Westeros.

Not watched such a perfectly woven series anywhere. GOT is GOAT!