Who knew Daenerys could be so dangerously awesome? Oh wait, we absolutely did! Spoilers ahead!
Who let the dragon out?
Well, we know for sure that Game of Thrones means violence. Bloody deaths, jaw-dropping twists and poetic justice (always!).
The episode begins with everyone back at Dragonstone after Cersei showed them just what she thought about them in last week’s confrontation.
Varys is seen writing a tell-all letter describing Jon’s parentage. He asks a servant from the kitchen?—?Martha, with a task.
Done with this, being the eternal gossip queen, he pulls Jon aside and tries to convince him to become the ruler that he truly is. Unfortunately for him, Tyrion is eavesdropping.
Dany is licking her wounds and Tyrion decides to snitch to Dany about Varys’ stand about the throne, saying he betrayed her.
She thinks its Jon who betrayed her in the first place because if Jon had not blabbed to Sansa in the first place, Sansa wouldn’t have told Tyrion and Varys would never have known!
She lets Tyrion escape with a warning but now Varys has to die, of course! The Unsullied lead him to the Drangonstone shores and it’s deep fry time. “Dracarys!’ goes Daenerys and Varys is burnt to a crisp.
Fear or love?
Jon in his hurry to not get burnt alive by the Mad Queen, goes to her to clarify that his loyalty lies with her. But Dany, ever so slightly threatens Jon that Sansa could meet the same fate as Varys since she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
She also thinks that the citizens of Westeros fear her but don’t love her, whereas, Jon inspires love in their hearts. Jon, who’s not ready to die yet, tells her that he loves her and she’ll always be his queen.
Dany, not so impressed with the wordplay, kisses him, but he pulls away and in that she realizes that even Jon fears her. Aptly, she says –
“Let it be fear.”
Bells
Tyrion, Dany, and Grey Worm start planning their attack on King’s Landing, but Tyrion pleads Dany to show mercy if the city bells are rung in surrender.
Dany is displeased and declares that her mercy shouldn’t be considered her weakness. But she does show a little humanity and agrees to back down if the city surrenders.
Jaime Lannister, our in-house heartbreaker, who by the way always seems to get captured, is currently held captive by Dany and is trying his level best to escape.
Tyrion, who has been fond of his elder bro even though they’ve had such a dysfunctional childhood, plans to set him free.
But of course, not one to back down without a fight, Dany warns Tyrion that if he helps Jaime escape, that will be the last thing he does with a very sweet –
“The next time you fail me will be the last time you fail me”.
Prison Break?—?GoT style!
Tyrion, in his infinite wisdom, decides to help Jaime anyway. He asks Ser Davos Seaworth for a favor while everyone is waiting for sunrise to attack the city.
He then goes to Jaime’s tent and asks him to take Cersei and their child to Pentos via the sea to start a new life. He tells him to take them and escape through the dungeons of the Red Keep and sail away in dinghy arranged by Davos after ringing the bells of surrender.
Jaime who is visibly relieved, wonders out loud, what consequences await Tyrion when Daenerys finds out that he helped him escape. Tyrion says, that if a million people could be saved in exchange for his life, so be it!
The brothers hug and at dawn, Jaime manages to escape but is locked out of the Red Keep’s gates. Arya and the Hound, who’ve been merrily riding their horses till this point, do make it through.
The Golden company stands guard outside the city while Euron Greyjoy and his Iron Fleet man the waters.
Sweet Surrender
Dany in her mission to overthrow Cersei decides that total surrender is necessary. But how does she go about getting the city to surrender? By torching them, of course!
The ‘Bells’ didn’t start ringing early enough in the episode as Dany decides to burn the whole Iron Fleet as well as the Golden Company. The Lannister army surrenders, but not soon enough.
The bells are eventually rung, but too late! Dany evidently, is enjoying this too much and burns thousands of innocent people to prove her superiority. She’s the ‘Mad Queen’ alright!
The city is collapsing and what does Jaime do? He runs off to save Cersei (after crushing Brienne’s heart)! But look who’s blocking the way? Euron Greyjoy of course!
Jaime finds him near the escape boat. Euron starts goading him to a fight and chooses a very wrong time to inform Jaime that he banged his sister & finds himself in a totally unnecessary fight with Jaime.
Jaime, who’s jealous as heck, tries to handle Euron as he gets stabbed (twice)in his ribs. However, Jaime lives up to his ‘Kingslayer’ title and impales Euron on a rock!
Meanwhile, after what seems like ages, Arya and the Hound reach the Red Keep but he realizes that Arya’s unsafe and tells her to escape. She’s hesitant but relents when he points out that a life of seeking revenge has led him to this.
GOT’s Frankenstein
Qyburn, Cersei’s Hand of the Queen and ex-maester, and also the ancient era Frankenstein, tries to do one last heroic act by saving Cersei in the middle of all the burning.
But as fate would have it, the whole gang (Cersei, Qyburn and Ser Gregor Clegane with the Queensguard) who’s trying to run to safety, find themselves confronted by the Hound.
Qyburn instructs the Mountain to protect Cersei, but finds his skull cracked open when his own creation flings him against a wall like a rag doll!
Now it’s WWE match time, as The Mountain faces off with the Hound (ooh, awesome names!).
It’s a battle of strength versus agility, as Sandor and Gregor pummel each other. The Hound aims for his opponent’s eye while the Mountain aims for the skull (like always!).
Nothing seems to make a dent in the Mountain, even a dagger to the eye! This is the point where the Hound thinks enough is enough and hurls the Mountain through a wall, only to fall down a pit to their deaths by being burnt alive.
The death of the incestuous Romeo and Juliet
Jaime who is now wading his way through the crumbling city to find his sister (& the love of his life) – Cersei, manages to reach her just in time!
Finding their path to freedom blocked by debris, Cersei cries and tells Jaime she wants their child to live, but Jaime says that they’re what matters at this moment.
They reach their end when a ceiling falls on them (oh the irony!). Jon who’s been helplessly watching the massacre unfold finally manages to make Dany’s army fall back.
Arya, who’s been badly hurt in the wake of the attack and wandering the streets of the collapsed city, sees a woman embracing her daughter’s corpse. Unable to bear this, she spots a horse and rides away.
All in all, we now know that Arya might just have a new name on her list?—?Daenerys!
