The meta-symbol for me is in season 1 when Arya throws rocks at Nymeria to make her want to run away for her own good. The showrunners are Arya, we’re Nymeria, and the rocks are the last 3 episodes. I’m definitely not as bummed about the show ending as I was two months ago.

Honesty that would fit the shows overall tone.  

Thats fair. I do think the story would benefit from more episodes so the series could end on a higher note.

My one change that would have saved this story: don’t have Cersei execute Missandei.

People are spending so much time debating this heel turn and the change to Jaime’s character arc that they are ignoring the more important issues with this season so far:

First post and first point. Myles. It’s nice to see an honest, thoughtful and thought-provoking article/review, especially one that shows us that time constraints alone aren’t a good enough excuse for shortcuts in writing.

Way to toss out 8 years of character development. Apparently growth is pointless, wanting to be better is useless, everyone just reverts to the worst version of themselves and/or goes randomly crazy because of their evil targ blood.

That white horse was obviously led to Arya by a warging Bran. Use your heads, guys.

Okay predictions for how this all ends

That was as disappointed in an episode of TV as I’ve ever been. Marvelous spectacle again (though not their high-water mark in that regard). But on a writing level, almost wall-to-wall disappointment.

Jaime waving his golden hand above the crowd to catch the eye of the soldiers was in the top 3 absurd moments of this episode, right behind Cersei tiptoing past Sandor Clegane, who should have gutted her right then, and Jon Snow telling a damsel who almost got raped by one of his soldiers, “Go find somewhere to hide!”

The thing with Jamie and Cersei’s deaths is that no one witnessed it, and their bodies would require years of excavation to discover. They’ll just be among the missing which is not a particularly strong way to end either story line.

No, more accurately:

The problem with seeing Drogon so easily obliterate the Iron Fleet & all the ballistas on the walls is it just highlights the pointlessness of not having Dany do it right off the bat. I mean, in the moment, when she just lost another of her babies, doesn’t THEN seem like the time she’d go apeshit on them? And it…

LOL i just texted my friend “she didnt’ even ask to see the manager first”

I mean, I guess it was cool watching Drogon go all Trogdor and burninate King’s Landing, but the heel turn just didn’t ring true to me. Yeah, I know, Targareyans are crazy, it’s a flip of the coin, but sure give her everything she’s ever wanted and she’ll lose it anyways, that makes total sense.

Euron can sense main characters from 100 miles away. It’s one of his powers that he has.

It turns out the Night King was within us all along.

What’s important to note here, is that Ghost is very safe in the North, the REAL North, mind you.

I get how, on paper, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” can make sense but the show really hasn’t made the case for Danerys’ heel turn of this scope. I wonder if GRRM's book will make the case better.