Episode five is the real beginning of my rage towards this season. 

The part that really grinds my gears is Cersei.

Cersei is smart, one of the smartest characters on the show. So why is it that she has yet to consider the possibility that she might lose this war? It DOES NOT fit with her character. That's why she was so good at being bad, such a perfect antagonist. She was always ten steps ahead, ready to get things done with whatever means necessary to protect the things she cared about. She was never this naive, never this unprepared. She should have been planning for this.

Honestly, I thought she would taunt Daenerys into going mad in an effort to persuade her followers against her. I thought she would use Daenerys's twisted lineage against her, mentally at least, and give her the little push she needed into becoming the mad queen.

That would have made more sense for both of their storylines. Yet that isn't what we got. Not even close.

Daenerys is a Targaryen. She is descended from a long line of inbred madmen. Cersei, never once, thought to use that to her advantage? Cersei certainly has a talent for pushing people to the brink, yet for all of her scheming and plotting, this never occurred to her? A person like Cersei never once considered that Daenerys might actually be capable of going mad? Of burning down a city?

Dany herself later says that she believed Cercei was playing on her mercy towards the people, using them as a shield. I find it hard to believe that Cersei wouldn't have had a proper plan in place for either outcome. She should have been prepared for all outcomes,  and even suspected Daenerys's mental vulnerability.

I suppose it's not all that surprising considering Cersei only had a mere twenty minutes of screen time in season eight.

Cersei, you were a badass bitch and you deserved a better ending.

I know I'm jumping ahead a little, but damn, this is where they could have made the story make so much more sense, especially when we all know what's about to happen, what Dany is about to do. Where are the clues? Where are the signs?

Sure, Cersei beheaded Missandei in front of her, but it's war. No surrender = dead best friend. 

And, the way Jaime and Cersei died was just... so confusing and drawn out, with no payoff. 

THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER:

Instead of having Jaime run into Euron entering the secret tunnel into the Red Keep, why not have him and Cersei run into him coming OUT of the tunnel. It would have made for so much more drama and suspense. 

Euron learns of Cersei's true feelings of hatred for him. Maybe, he even learns that she lied and the baby is really Jaime's. Euron and Jaime begin to brutally battle it out, meanwhile, the cave is starting to collapse around them. Time is running out and it's all coming down to this one moment. Euron lands a good blow to Jaime, mortally wounding him. Terrified, Cersei tries to help Jaime, bashing Euron in the head with a rock. He turns on Cersei, stabs her in the stomach, right into the baby he thought was his. Suddenly, a large boulder comes crashing down, killing Euron. Jaime crawls to Cersei, tries to help her out of the cave, but it's too late. They are both bleeding out and the walls are tumbling down. They hold each other in their final moments, before being buried in falling rubble. Both of them coming so close to escaping, but ultimately dying because of a man Cersei brought into their lives, for the purposes of revenge and carnage. Poetic Justice!

Nearly the same outcome. So much more drama and suspense!

This would have been so much better. Anything would have been better than Jaime, very miraculously surviving Euron's attack, making it all the way to Cersei, the two ambling around in the cave, then being crushed, all without so much as a conversation saying I'm sorry. 

That was major-problem number one.

Now on to major-problem number two:
Daenerys going mad on a rooftop... for seemingly no reason.

The bells ring, the city sounding their surrender. Then suddenly, Daenerys's face starts to contort in anger, or madness, or whatever that was while staring at the Red Keep. This shot of her angry face lasts for about a whole minute, until she flies off and begins to waste the entire city. 

I'm all for Dany going mad. I'd been suspecting it for some time. There were a few little clues here and there, but this moment was just so unexplained. What is she thinking suddenly that makes her lose it? The showrunners commented something like: staring at the red keep, Daenerys suddenly realizes how personal this all is to her and swells with rage. 

Yeah, well I'm not buying it. 

It's always been personal to her. Her entire family was slaughtered, she was forced to flee her home, she was in hiding for most of her life. And after all of this, she snaps in a single moment? 

I could see if she was angry at Cersei, flew to the Red Keep and... surprise... no Cersei, because Cersei and Jaime are making their way to the secret tunnel to escape. Furious that Cersei got away, she begins to burn the red keep, and the soldiers surrounding it. Maybe, her dragon fire accidentally ignites the old stashes of wildfire, and sets off a chain reaction of explosions, causing chaos and killing even more innocents. She becomes even more infuriated, blaming Cersei for the death of these innocents and flies through the city, burning and devouring in search of her. She sees people fleeing in the streets and doesn't want to take the chance of  Cersei getting away, so she decides to kill them all, believing she has no choice, that Cersei has to be stopped. 

This would have at least made a little more sense, given us a little more time to warm up to the carnage. Maybe she didn't fully intend to lose control, but one small outburst and two hours later, the city is leveled. That would be more Daenerys' style. A slow decent into madness. 

Jon Snow was rightfully horrified, as was Tyrion, as was everyone, except for Dany?

It would have been more believable to me if Dany was just as much terrified as she was angry.

Also, it's obvious at this point that Jon Snow is having doubts about Dany, and is very soon going to be facing a big decision on what to do about those doubts. So, why completely shove her into madness, making the choice easier on him? If it was me, I would've made her act remorseful but still have her try to justify her actions. This way Jon is confused and doesn't exactly understand what's happening to her, if she's going mad or just made a tragic mistake. Up the fucking anty so that if he does decide to betray her, the act will feel that much worse. Because at this point, it's almost too justified for people to care if he does kill her. And, where's the good TV in that?

Arya's parts were awesome, as usual. Her mad dash through the burning city made you feel like you were one of Daenerys's victims, along for the ride. The hound-versus-the-mountain scenes—or the Clegane Bowl, as some fans are calling it—were brilliant and gorgeously shot. A heavenly apocalypse!

But, the thing with Dany just set me off. 

What the fuck David Benioff and D.B. Weiss!? I guess that's why these two are called, showrunners and not, show-writers.