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

1. The Tragedy Of Jaime & Cersei

Another of the episode's most contentious points, The Bells brings the number of Lannisters alive in the world down to one, with both Jaime and Cersei exiting here - and, crucially, doing so together.

On the one hand, this could be viewed as a betrayal of Jaime's entire arc. That he's always been on the path to redemption, and deserved to earn it. It's certainly what a lot of fans *wanted* for him, myself included. So it's a shock to see it so completely go the other way, and yet it also makes total sense.

Yes, we can see that Jaime has changed. His character work over the last eight seasons is not entirely undone. But what matters are two things: one is his love for Cersei, and the second is that he cannot see how far he's come. He's become a much better man, but still can't give himself a happy ending. It isn't either/or, because characters in Westeros are too grey for that.

Jaime and Cersei's fates have always been intertwined, whether that was to lead to him killing her or not. That he doesn't try to kill her, but instead wants to save her, makes sense for him ("the things we do for love" and all that). They came into this world together, and are leaving it together. The performances of Coster-Waldau and Lena Headey really helps this moment: the former is so convincing, and the latter regains a sense of humanity at the very end, that it becomes a surprisingly beautiful and emotional goodbye to two of Game of Thrones' greatest characters.