Game Of Thrones Season 8: 7 Ups And 3 Downs From 'The Bells'

The Last War arrives in the last ever penultimate Game of Thrones episode.

Game of Thrones Daenerys
HBO

It's time - for the last time - for a penultimate episode of Game of Thrones.

These are the episodes - usually the 9th of each run, before the seasons started getting shorter - where Game of Thrones really made its name. It's where Ned Stark lost his head; where wildfire exploded over Blackwater Bay; and where a wedding turned blood red.

It was in the penultimate episode the Wildlings fought the Night's Watch, Shireen Baratheon was burned at the stake, Jon Snow fought in the Battle of the Bastards, and the Night King killed and then reanimated a dragon.

These episodes have, collectively, given us more "holy s**t" moments than most TV shows combined, so what about the final one? As set up by last week's episode, this brings us the Battle of King's Landing, in an episode titled The Bells.

Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, and directed by Miguel Sapochnik, it's one last, epic hurrah for Game of Thrones as pure spectacle, while still making way for some strong character work, even if there are still issues therein.

Warning: contains major spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.