‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 8, Episode 5 Preview: Dracarys

Spoilers through last week’s Game of Thrones follow.

With two dragons dead and many of Daenerys’s closest allies slain, the Mother of Dragons holds a tenuous alliance with the Starks and even her own advisers. Meanwhile, Cersei commands powerful defenses in King’s Landing. Let’s take a look at what’s coming in the next episode of ‘Game Of Thrones.’

“Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.”

Yes, dearest readers, we are down to just two episodes of Game of Thrones. Two episodes and 160 minutes, so we can comfort ourselves and pretend that there are three remaining, even if it’s a lie.

I’ve had such mixed feelings this season. The first episode was quite good. The second episode was even better, drawing together so many of our favorite characters and giving them truly wonderful scenes together, like the knighting of Ser Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) by Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

And while the third episode and the Battle of Winterfell ended up being very divisive and controversial for a whole variety of reasons, I still enjoyed it immensely (while at the same time wishing we’d had more time to expand the Night King conflict).

But then last Sunday’s episode aired, and I was left feeling at first overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff that just happened, then–the more I thought about it–more and more disappointed and distraught. It was more than the stray coffee cup left near Daenerys on a table in Winterfell. The episode was a mess in more ways than I care to list here–you can read the previous link for all my griping, or listen to our latest podcast at the bottom of this post.

In any case, with the shadow of ‘The Last Of The Starks’ hanging over the remaining two episodes, I find myself less excited than before and quite a bit more trepidatious. Will the show end in an unsatisfying manner? Will we be left reeling for all the wrong reasons? Nobody can say, but I’m certainly worried. I’m still eagerly awaiting this coming Sunday’s episode, but the dread is there, too.

So let’s watch the trailer for Sunday’s episode and then look at all the images HBO has released and talk about what they mean and what they may portend.

Here’s the trailer:

So there’s no speaking in this one. No pesky transcribing. Just people standing around looking grim or smug.

At Dragonstone, Tyrion approaches Daenerys rather fearfully, as though he can tell something is very, very wrong with her.

Cersei stares out over King’s Landing with the Mountain like a dark shadow behind her. Outside the walls Jon, Davos and Tyrion stand among their troops. Jon looks as serious as ever. There’s the Iron Fleet out in Blackwater Bay. Euron swaggers out onto the deck of one of the ships.

Then there’s Tyrion again, this time in a dimly lit hall somewhere, looking worried still. We see the Golden Company marching through the streets, and Grey Worm with thoughts of vengeance dancing in his head.

We see men loading one of the magical dragon-slaying ballista, then Euron holding his hand above his eyes to blot out the sun as he looks up, way up, and we hear a dragon’s cry.

Much preparing for battle in this one, though I suspect much of the episode itself will be comprised of the battle, and of whatever horrors ensue as Daenerys takes the city–and I have no doubt she’ll take the city, and at great cost to everyone.

The Photos

Here we see Jon (Kit Harrington) and Varys (Conleth Hill) presumably landing at Dragonstone, though it could be any grey beach. I wonder if Varys is bold enough to whisper treason to Jon. That seems a rather foolish move especially right before the war. I still think Jon should have not told anyone about his true lineage until after Cersei was defeated, but here we are. Another casualty of rushing things to a conclusion.

Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) appears to be in the castle at Dragonstone and that blob of shadow in the foreground looks like Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) to me, but I’m not sure. He’s almost certainly advising her to be temperate in her assault and she is almost certainly saying something about how Cersei needs to go, the Iron Throne is hers at whatever the cost, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) said “Dracarys” and so it’s time to burn some suckers. Advising Daenerys Targaryen is not an easy job, especially as she’s grown more stubborn and jealous and determined.

I have a theory that maybe Euron (Pilou Asbæk) will be the one to kill Cersei. He is a little brother, after all, just not her little brother. Either that or he gets burned up nice and toasty when Daenerys exacts her brutal revenge on the Iron Fleet, though how she’ll manage to do that when every ship has a giant magical ballista and all she has is a measly dragon, I’m not quite sure. Euron is a goner, regardless. He won’t live beyond this episode.

Davos (Liam Cunningham) has been to one King’s Landing battle already, at the Battle of the Blackwater where he lost his sons. I’m sure it’s the most pleasant place to return to, though he did sneak in with Gendry last season as part of that silly wight plot. The picture at the very top of this post adds Tyrion, so we can safely say he survived whatever happens at Dragonstone and is there ready to lend his wits in battle.

Go and give that image another look (and the one with the Golden Company below). My question is this: Why do these armies keep sending men outside the walls instead of just forcing the enemy to attack? Jon and Dany’s forces would have a hell of a time scaling those walls–why waste troops fighting them first? Ah well. Tactics are certainly not this show’s strong suit.

Cersei (Lena Headey) is looking rather smug and pleased with herself here. Is it fond reminisces over just how smooth the Mountain’s blade lopped off Missandei’s head? Or has she secured some new victory? Or is she just a little bit mad and taking all this in stride, as some game . . . some . . . game of thrones, perhaps.

It looks like both Tyrion and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) are in the same hall, probably both speaking with Dany and perhaps also Jon and others. I wonder if Grey Worm will urge Dany to be brutal and spare no one? He hasn’t offered up opinions much in the past, but he will still be deeply affected by Missandei’s tragic death, so who knows?

This would be Harry Strickland (Marc Rissmann) the leader of the Golden Company sellswords who, presumably, will fight for Cersei since she’s the one paying them. The whole business is much more complicated in the books, but there’s really no point speculating on any of that since the show and books are so far diverged at this point. It’s possible the Golden Company will vastly tilt the power balance in Cersei’s favor, but it’s also possible surprise allies (like the Dornish) might show up to tilt the scales back toward Dany and Jon.

I guess the remaining questions are:

• Will Cersei survive? I get the feeling she won’t, and that King’s Landing will be taken (burned badly in the process) and Cersei and her lieutenants slain. Like the battle against the Night King, I think this one will be resolved this week.
• That leaves us with no clear villains, suggesting to me that the final episode will be the conflict between Daenerys and whoever remains loyal to her, and . . . everybody else. The show hasn’t really earned this conflict, to be honest, so I really hope that it pays off.
• Will Drogon survive? This one is harder. If he dies, he’s going to do a ton of damage first. But surviving would be more interesting, as it would ensure that Dany remains enormously powerful if there is a final conflict.
• What will come of the conspirators? Presumably Varys is going to make a move, though it might not happen until the final episode. I don’t think he’ll make it. He’s rushing this whole thing in a big way. He served the Mad King, he served Robert the Fat, he served Joffrey, and he managed to serve them all more faithfully than he’s serving Daenerys who is the least bad of them of all.
• What will Arya and the Hound do? I suspect they make their way into the Red Keep and we get a confrontation with the Mountain. I’m not sure it will be the Cleganebowl many suspect. I think both brothers are goners, but Arya survives. I don’t think she’ll kill Cersei, however. Maybe she’ll slip away never to be seen again.
• Jaime will almost certainly arrive and find his way to Cersei, maybe to kill her or maybe to watch her be killed. Maybe he’ll kill Euron? I don’t think he’s going back to be with Cersei, however, but he may be going back to try to save her in order to save their baby.

And that’s all I have for now. I’m crossing my fingers that this is an amazing episode and wipes the memory of last week from our brains. What do you think will happen in episode 5? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook, and thanks for reading!

Here’s our latest podcast: