and instead of them killing her second dragon for shock purposes in the previous episode, they killed it this episode just prior to ringing the bell. 

Seriously, the writers are hacks.

This is how incompetent D&D is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBYSfnFZKQA

They literally contradict themselves left and right, but this video is a single example of just how out of touch they are. I do not blame the actors. The actors are doing their best with a shitty script... but the writers. They can't write worth shit since running out of book material. I read that they don't even have a writers room, so no one can tell them, "hey! This doesn't make sense!" Benioff is an egotistical narcissist who not only rejects criticism of the show, but actively avoids even listening to it.

I wish I didn't get bored reading books, because I really would love to get the book story since I feel so dissatisfied with the show the last 3 seasons.

The fucked up part is that they still had two books of source material to work with but they chose not to.

Duh, of course she will be forgotten quickly if she's killed in the next episode. Now if she takes the throne, which she believes is her destiny, then it's just a beginning of  her reign as a godlike ruler. It's a bit funny how you're trying to downplay her burning the city that has never fallen before and destroying an army and Iron Fleet in a matter of minutes.

Tywin surely was a powerful, intelligent, feared and respected man. I still don't get why you're bringing him up. Him not obsessed of taking the throne or being some sort of savior also made him a better tactician and politic. But he was also just a man, not a dragon king :P

There's complexity in the massacre, sufficient depth is debatable. Just read Angelus' post again. If you still take the "ooo she wasn't kissed by her boyfriend so she torched it all" stance then I don't know what to tell you. At least you're watching the episodes again, I'm sure you'll find out why so many fans were expecting her to turn mad. She threatened to burn cities down before, including King's Landing during later season.

I don't remember defending C4 explosions but yeah I do find stuff like that nitpicking. I wrote a more detailed post of what I liked about the episode and how they executed the mayhem. I used to do this nitpicking stuff when watching movies when I was younger but these days I try to look much deeper for themes and stuff. It doesn't have anything to do with being easily pleased, it's more about focusing different things. Speaking of dragon fire, technically every movie where characters storm into burning buildings or in this case, standing close to dragon fire would kill you. The hot air will burn your lungs so you can't breathe anymore. 

Interesting.. I don't know why at any point you thought this show is taking the "lesson learnt" route. Jon destroying the throne would be the most obvious ending and that's what I'd expect if GoT was like any other show. It would also be a bit lame considering it would be naive to think destroying the throne would lead to 7 Kingdoms to rule in autonomy.

Yeah I agree the quality of story has been worse since they ran out of bookmaterial. But I think it's also because GRRM didn't do himself favors setting up so many plot lines the way he did. I think there's a reason he hasn't continued his story and it's because he's struggling with it himself too. 

As far as I know, the show will have an ending GRRM outlined for writers. So take it or leave it. Books should, of course, have a more detailed buildup. 

It would be an obvious trigger for the audience but it would wreck the tone of the events. 

They surrender, there's silence and relief.. then boom a surprise shot killing the dragon sending her to rampage. Sounds like a staple from any other show ever made lol. Yes it would've perhaps lead to better reviews but at the cost of the scene.

And a word about Jamie's arc since it was brought up.

He was one of my favorite characters because he was so controversial. At first he seemed like a total scumbag but then we were introduced to a more sympathetic side of him. But he was still going back and forth a bit and his past actions were hard to forget. It's interesting so many viewers thought he would turn into a completely good man. 

His ending was pretty much the only possible one. Well I expected him to kill Dany before going back to Cercei but still. It was obvious he'd return to her and try to save her. He always went back to her during the show. 

Then remember the line "we are the last of us". Jamie going back to Cercei was pretty much the same as the end of "The Last of Us". It wasn't the matter of choice, it was something he simply had to do. Just like Joel saving Ellie. A bond between lovers, a bond between siblings and she was carrying his child. 

The dude had a peculiar taste in women though.

nnnnnnnn this mess

I'm bringing Tywin because I'm right now at the end of season 3 again, when Tywin gives a lesson of "Game of thrones" to everyone in the series, and shows what a smart ruthless leader is. But sure, it was the time when the characters were still smart, before Dumb&Dumber made Tyrion, Varys, Littlefinger and any other "smart player" as dumb as themselves because they were unable to write any smart plot.

"He was just a man, not a dragon king"? But Dragon kings and queens are just men and women. They die just like any peasant out there. 

And I'm not saying that she shouldn't turn mad, I'm saying that it was handled in an embarrassing and stupid way. Several people already said ways to make this episode a lot better (like killing Rhaegal during the battle), in this state it's just garbage writing.

The city fell before, by the way. Cersei saying "The Red keep never fell" is just another proof of the writers' stupidity, since Ned and Robert took the Red Keep and the city at the time. Armies are destroyed in every season of the series (just saw the red wedding, with the entire north army destroyed in a matter of minutes), and the Iron Fleet was just a teleporting plot device with a random strength changing depending on the will of the writers. I'm downplaying what she did because it was stupid, unnecessary, and will lead to her death. She could have been a godlike ruler and bring her family's glory back. But because of that, she will die and her family with her. She threw everything away with that. If you admire her that much, you should also see that.

It will surely happen in the books, but it will be handled way better, with a real evolution and real reasons and not just 10 seconds of "look at her face, she's mad now". Because no, like I said before, "they don't love me" doesn't hold up at all, neither does "if they're not with me, they're against me". It's BS invented by drunk writers who surely wrote the massacre first, and then asked themselves "Crap, we didn't justify that at all, what kind of excuse can she say at the beginning of the episode?".

And for the dragon fire, that's what I meant. People who receive dragon fire die. Then why did Arya survive at the end, when everyone else around her died? Once again, garbage writing.

Are you sure she survived? 

Was there much else, besides the prophecy, to suggest Jamie would end up killing her though? Was this something that just had to happen to satisfy you?

Well I was actually surprised her story arc ended with her letting go of revenge. At least Clegane's story ended the complete opposite way heh. But when it comes to Game of Thrones, I think many liked the show because of how unpredictable it is. So the solution may not be the happiest or smartest one. Would probably call it conclusion instead.

It's been hinted in the show why it would make sense to put Jon in the throne. While a Targaryan, he's never wanted to be the king and people tend to love him. And he doesn't seem to act out of his own interest and has always been almost completely good character. Would you consider it a braindead ending if this was to happen?

Not sure how you can say Dan&David only care about subverting expectations. Do you think every viewer has the same expectations? There's been lots of speculation and possible outcomes talked about.

Anyway, I'll get back to this thread after the finale. 

Tyrion and the city guard kind of forgot bells never meant surrender. Much like Davos kind of forgot Tyrion burned his son to death with wildfire.