This leaked episode also sorted out possible true spoilers for the last two episodes, posted months ago. Oh boy. We're in...

Can't wait for tonight's episode. I may have hurried up with my school work so I could be done in time to watch it, worth.

Writing has been lousy at times in prior seasons but with those great moments that still kept me hooked.

But the way that they are handling Dany and Jon and Sansa and Jaime and the nonsense they are making them say, it's worse than if they were killed off from the show.

This whole episode felt like a soap opera.

They are ruining Dany for me. Dany can be vengeful and can take drastic measures, but the whole thing she's seems to be about to do is so against how she was portrayed as a ruler in the first seasons.

Either they had to write Dany scarier and bloodthirstier in the first seasons or they should have written a better transition for her character to how she is now, we got none of that.

These characters are bipolar or have split personality or some nonsense. This may be the worse season from the whole show, and this is the most important one...

You're projecting your own image of what you want Dany to be. She's shown many hints that she could have the latent madness (keyword being 'latent' as it's described pretty clearly in the lore) of her family, and it's become more clear as the seasons have gone on and she's become more obssessed with the throne.
One of the biggest hints was actually given in the very first episode of the series: "He who passes the sentance should swing the sword." For all the times Dany has ordered her soldiers to behead, or her dragons to burn, has she ever actually passed out judgement herself? The last episode was the first time we even saw her holding a sword, when she was fighting for her life.
Don't forget that Aerys, 'The Mad King', actually had a very positive outlook in his first dozen years of ruling, before the 'latent' madness started to kick in.

The soft rule has always been, "Whenever a Targaryen is born, the Gods flip a coin..." The last four Targaryens to be born: Rhaegar, Viserys, Daenerys, and Jon (not including Rhaegar's other two kids who died as children). Viserys was clearly shown to be mad early on, which led people to believe Dany would be the good one. But Rhaegar was one of the most beloved Targaryens ever, and died a hero. And now we know that Jon is also a Targaryen, and he's one of the most noble and honest men alive. So where would that leave Daenerys in the equation?

Seems to be a common complaint amongst people who want to hate on the recent seasons, that Game of Thrones is a show which is supposed to subvert tropes and expectations, and yet it's generally the same people who complain when everything doesn't go the way they believed it was supposed to.

Dany has not done anything that Jon hasn't done in order to maintain respect. This "crazy" and "full of rage" Dany is a last minute insertion that could have worked out if it had been fleshed out as I said.

How good and kind and such a good ruler, as Dany was portrayed in the previous seasons, was the whole point why Tyrion and Varys came to her side. She was portrayed as the best option to rule Westeros and now in this last season they are shoving her away so that they can give it to Jon.

There should have been another season to flesh out Dany's madness, give some proper hints, make people talk, if they wanted it to go that way. This whole Dany is cray-cray stuff is rushed and another demonstration of bad writing.

I have defended this series up until the previous season in spite of the issues in previous seasons everyone admits, but in this season they dropped the ball.

Some people will defend anything.

Just finished watching it and I knew it would be a bit of a slower one. I'm thinking they saved people from the battle of winterfell so they can kill more off in the final battle here. Two more episodes. I knew this season wouldn't act as a satisfying conclusion but I'm with it till then end now.

I'm not going to go back and fourth with you pointing out everything you've missed, when this season has already made several references and comparisons to past events.

It's your choice if you don't want to pay attention, or you just block out everything that doesn't follow the narrative you want, and don't want to actually go through the past episodes and lore to check if any your beliefs hold water. But immediately attributing that to bad writing is just sad.

I mean you literally have Varys, Tyrion, and Sansa, the three clear-cut smartest people on the show all agreeing Dany has lost her marbles, and a whole 80 minute episode clearly seeing her act like a psycho, and you still think otherwise? The only reason they began conspiring against her is because they've all seen how unstable she is. She was begging Jon to keep his silence because she saw how everyone naturally gravitates towards him, and she felt threatened about losing what she believes is hers, even though she can tell by now he's clearly a better leader, as well as the true heir.

And your spiel about Jon 'can't play the game' makes no sense. When has he been lead around by Sansa or anyone else? Sansa has made a point of expressing her frustration that he never listens to her and just does what he wants. If he did always do as she said, he wouldn't have gone to Dragonstone last season and they'd all be dead. But he also acknowledges her opinions on several matters, is always open to her, and trusts her with the safekeeping of the North.
The reason Jon is being so obedient to Dany is because of love, but mostly because he's honour-bound to her after bending the knee. And he only did that after Dany risked her life for him last season while losing a dragon, which she only did because she loves him.

I was a bit mixed on the latest episode. Not going to share thoughts at length - but there is one thing people could help me with. I've seen a few comments that this latest episode proves season 8 leaks were on the ball. Anyone idea where or when these leaks happened? I know pretty much all of season 7 leaked before hand through scripts.